The Shared Work of Learning

The objective of teaching is learning, not teaching. Improving student performance means improving teacher performance. Research shows that teaching for critical thought isn't widespread in our classrooms. Teaching teachers new approaches to instruction demands effective professional development. This chapter discusses the role of teacher in the classroom. Additionally, a discussion on emphasizing social capital in the school network increases teacher ability to teach and learner ability to learn.

Rethinking Education Delivery for the 21st Century

Designing schools as learning centers is more than just about restructuring the physical space of schools. There are many variables that need to be considered when rethinking education delivery for the 21st century. Schools seem to just keep constructing buildings that merely reinforce an obsolete paradigm that will not prepare students for real-world challenges. The focus of this chapter asks the question: What does re-thinking education mean at the school leadership level? Numerous stakeholders, from policymakers to providers to end users affect the structure, content, and delivery of K-12education systems. A case study exploring the effect of district and school leadership styles on teaching and learning prompted by the question, Were the principals in High Scoring Schools (HSS) engaged in different instructional leadership practices than those in the Low Scoring Schools (LSS)? A significant feature of this study is the sizeable database that incorporated nine states, 43 school districts, and 180 elementary, middle, and secondary schools.

The Purpose of K-12 Education From a Theoretical Perspective

Teaching and learning theories have developed from the work of the psychology, sociology, and education academies. No single theory can account for learning development in humans. An obvious statement, of course, but a declaration that educators need to remember occasionally. Theories do provide a universal language for the purposes of enquiry, investigation, and implementation. This chapter seeks to make connections between theory development in advancing education priorities and the need for learning networks to associate with earning networks. Theoretical perspectives create an effective teaching and learning framework. This chapter will offer several definitions of theory, a review of the different types of theory – including description and range of education theorists from the 19th and 21st centuries. Subject matter, including the usefulness and suitability of using theory in developing constructs on learning; the accountability of learning and teaching; and learning as shared work, are discussed. The focus of the chapter includes a case study.

Becoming Aware

This chapter begins with a discussion on the paradigm of the centrality of the learner-student to every educational endeavor by highlighting the relationship between learners and teachers and the connections that exist between classroom learning, lifelong learning, and economic development of the individual learner. The two-fold purpose of teaching, at any level of education, is to ensure that all learners learn how to acquire knowledge and then attain the understanding of how to apply what is learned to their own lives outside of the classroom. In Section 1, the literature review highlights the concepts and connections between ‘becoming aware' and self-directed learning. Section 2 gives an in-depth look at integrated curriculum, noting the principles, methods, benefits, and types of integrated curriculum; making connections between learning and life skills; and negotiating class-room content with life outside of school.

Re-Evaluating Schools

Being educated to compete in a global workplace means developing informed citizens capable of making informed choices and decisions. Education today involves preparing students for uncertain futures, a priority for educators, school administrators, policymakers, and stakeholders. The call for schools to focus on developing student's cooperative habits while also acquiring the ability to adapt and learn how to learn has been a central theme of this book and of educators for the last several decades. Learning how to learn is a basic tenet of Dewey's philosophy on education and needs to continue as a basic premise of education in the 21st century. This chapter will look to the current trends in education delivery, highlighting recent developments and noting present-day education delivery challenges that are still waiting to be resolved.

The Development of Education in the United States

This chapter is an effort to understand the progression of K-12 public schooling within the United States so that we may then recognize how we will proceed in the digital expansion of this education system going forward into the 21st century. Discourse will address the philosophy, history, curriculum, organization, and responsibility of educators from the late 1700s to the present. Though often rooted in scientific findings or religious dogma, the day-to-day enactment of teaching and learning by educators and students involves continual re-imagining and pragmatic re-configuring to address the challenges of teaching and learning. Understanding the purpose of K-12 public education in the United States within the 21st century model involves the discovery and compilation of several different education interpretations and viewpoints. To understand where the direction of this particular nation's model, it is necessary to understand the direction from where it has come and how past events shaped the present education systems.