Watch out: Unified Shouldn’t Mortify September 13, 2007

Working on a unified research model can cause stress within a school or district if it becomes too regulated.  For example, one of the important skills that students should learn, especially in the era of Web 2.0, is that there are many ways to demonstrate learning or findings.  Whenever possible, students should be given the opportunity to choose to share information in the form of a product that best demonstrates learning.  Of course, you have to be sure they know the proper way to cite information, construct a research paper, a science experiment, etc. where particular conventions prevail.  But whenever possible, children should be able to choose how to present information and be able to explain why they chose to create the product in a certain way.  The teacher will still need to set up guidelines, rubrics regarding expectations but expression should be owner inspired.  We too often assume that in the work world, information is presented in a paper.  I’ve been observing my own kids and their friends, who have entered the work world, and often, their bosses have asked them to send them their findings in the form of  PowerPoint or a spreadsheet.  Will our students be proficient in many forms and will they know when to use them? When should one use a survey, interview? Committees who work on unified models need to examine what elements of the model must be uniform and then allow students to creat voice within their own work.