Abstract:

Educators are being encouraged to change the way they think about education and use new tools to teach in a new way. There are two pieces to this proposed change – a radical change in the philosophy of education and a radical change in tools. However, progressive educators need only make the change in tools, as they have 100 years of experience with education that values experiential learning, collaboration, creativity, self-directed learning, learning as a social experience, etc. Indeed, there is much we can learn from the practice of progressives over the last century that will improve future education and help to make this new movement successful.

Progressive educators can bring real world experience to teachers who are looking to change their teaching for the future. For instance, progressives have long been experts in many different activities happening in one room – facilitating projects that span across disciplines all at the same time. This is an idea that is core to what many are suggesting education must become.

In this session, I will share projects in the elementary and middle schools at City & Country School in New York City and Westland School in Los Angeles, two long standing progressive schools, that have used our lost standing progressive principles to incorporate new media. These projects have led to the creation of learning experiences that use new technologies, such as social networking, podcasting and Google custom search engines, to enhance student learning. So many new education initiatives fail because those attempting to implement them do not have tried and true practices to build upon. In this new age of education, progressive practices can provide much of that foundation.

Keywords:

Progressive, 21st century, new media, collaboration, problem solving, experiential, Dewey, Pratt, Bank Street, City and Country, City & Country, Westland, elementary.