Pondering the Big Ideas

Today has been a busy day filled with discussions and reflection on some of the big issues facing education these days. I spent the day at the Westminster Teaching Symposium where the theme for the conference was “Building 21st Century Skills.” This week’s “Friday Four” includes some links to articles and blogs that I ran across this past week that look at some of these larger themes in education.

• Pat Bassett, the NAIS president, delivered the keynote speech this morning at Westminster addressing what he sees as the skills and values the 21st century will demand and reward. His blog has some thought-provoking pieces that all educators should read and consider.
• Are we stifling creativity in our students by controlling and limiting their freedom?   “As Children’s Freedom Has Declined, So Has Their Creativity“
• Is cheating a problem? A recent NYT article certainly made me ponder the role educators may be playing in the growing problem.
• We are in the process of trying to implement a new evaluation/affirmation process for veteran faculty members which made this recent article from the educationnext website of particular interest to me.

As always, I welcome and encourage your comments and suggestions.