Building

Better Schools
Version 2 (italics)

Commentaries by
Dr. Abraham S. Fischler
Quotations to
Guide
Teachers,
Principals,
Parents and
Students

With Hillary Gorski-Howrey and Steve McCrea

Graphic design by Hillary Gorski-Howrey

Note to Hillary: I think I got rid of all the LARGE

letters and the most unconnected photos. I have
more to do with references but now you can get
started with the changes that you need to make.

Lulu Press
 2 Building Better Schools

Contents

List of Educational Pioneers

Introduction

Short Quotations and Commentaries

Excerpts from the blog TheStudentIstheClass.com

Longer Readings

Links for Additional Reading

Questions

What’s Next

Endnote

About the Author and Editors

Abraham Fischler 3

The purpose of this book is to introduce teachers,

administrators, parents and students to ideas of
education that might be missing in their lives. As Dan
Pink has observed, most institutions have changed
dramatically in appearance and in how they operate since
the 1950s – banks, supermarkets, restaurants, hospitals
all have different procedures and employ architecture to
improve the customer's experience. The exception:
public schools. (2001, page 278).

List of Educational Pioneers

We have included quotes from over two dozen
educational pioneers, some who are not household
names. To give the lay reader an easy reference to these
experts, we begin with a short list of their
accomplishments.

Ernest Boyer (1928-1995), president of Carnegie

Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Thomas Friedman, columnist for the New York Times,

author of The World is Flat (2005). His call for better
teaching has inspired teachers to rethink how they
present information to students.

Alison Gopnik, clinical psychologist at UC Berkeley.

 4 Building Better Schools

Lou Holtz (1937-), motivational speaker and retired

football coach.

Ellen Langer, professor of psychology.

Dennis Littky, author of The Big Picture: Education is

Everybody’s Business. His school, the Met Center in
Providence, R.I., has spawned a chain of 25 schools in
the USA.

Tom Magliozzi, one of the Car Talk guys on National

Public Radio, author of In Our Humble Opinion: Car
Talk's Click and Clack Rant and Rave (2000).

Jamie McKenzie, Seattle, Wash. His article in The

WIRED Classroom provides a list of descriptors of the
role of a teacher who is a “guide on the side” while
students are conducting their investigations. His website
fno.org (“from now on”) is recommended for teachers who
want to teach better starting today.

Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and Free Agent

Nation, has several memorable lecturs on YouTube
(search “Drive Daniel Pink Motivation”).

Ken Robinson, author of The Element, has over 400,000

hits on his lecture describing how “schools remove
creativity.”
Abraham Fischler 5

Robert Sternberg (1949-), psychologist.

Mark Twain (1835-1910), author and humorist.

Tom vander Ark, “edu-preneur,” blog commentator at

EdReformer.com, former head of the charity that
distributed over $800 million to education.

W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) poet.

 6 Building Better Schools

Introduction

The excerpts from his blog (TheStudentIsTheClass.com)

and commentaries by Dr. Fischler are in standard
typeface. Editor’s remarks are in italics.

The Problem
At the present time, teachers are working hard but we are
still not fulfilling the demands of our students or our
society. Why not? The schools are set up with an agrarian
calendar and teachers are responsible for teaching to a
class as a unit. Time is fixed and the only
variable is performance – some pass and Rather than
others fail. And, if the persons who fail do punish the
not make up and achieve the proficiency student who
that the test is measuring, they drift learns more
further and further behind. The slowly, we must
consequences are numerous and treat each
punishing. How does this instill a love of student as the
learning? This approach does not take class.
into account a truism: “all students can
learn, but they learn at different rates and have different
preferential learning styles.”
Abraham Fischler 7

Instead of asking the student to fit the administrative

structure (i.e., the class and arbitrary time periods for
learning subjects and achieving competencies), we must
provide each student with the time and means to
succeed. Rather than punish the student who learns more
slowly than the arbitrarily chosen period, we must treat
each student as the class.
We must find a way of doing this. Other industries have
made similar changes* and it is now time for education to
do the same.
*FedEx can tell you where any package is at any time.
Look at banking, which is now available 24 hours a day
through ATMs and you can go to almost any ATM to
withdraw or deposit funds. Both industries invested in
information and delivery systems to meet the needs of
their clients rather than asking their clients to
accommodate to a fixed structure. Now the automobile
industry is enabling customers to order on demand rather
than requiring them to accept whatever is available in the
dealer’s lot. In the business world, however, there is
competition that requires companies to adapt – education
has not had this catalyst.

My vision and strategy for educational change

I believe that we in education must make the investment
to do the same for our clients, i.e., each student. What
investment is needed?
 8 Building Better Schools

There are three modes of instruction: 1) self-paced or

CAI, 2) project or problem-solving and 3) discussion. Self-
paced or computer-assisted instruction (CAI) requires that
each student have access to a computer and modem and
access to the curriculum on a server on a 24/7 basis.
Projects and problems should be relevant to students so
they can relate to the given subject area.

For English and Math, we should implement CAI in the

1st grade (and continue thereafter). The reason English
and Math are chosen is that these are the two cultural
imperative languages. If you know these two languages
and are motivated as a self-learner, you can teach
yourself almost anything you want to learn. And, one of
the goals of education is to create self-learners.

For all other subjects, the teacher can pose a project or

problem that is relevant to the student. Once the problem
is defined, the class can be broken down into groups of 4-
5 students in order to research the solution to the
problem. If complex, each of the groups may study an
aspect of the problem. With these subjects, the student
uses the computer as a research tool (after having
learned to read). Students are taught to use search
engines such as Google or Yahoo as well as the intranet
made available by teachers gathering information relevant
for the students.

Students working in a group learn cooperation, shared

responsibility and communication (face-to-face as well as
Abraham Fischler 9

e-mail). Having produced a written solution to the problem

utilizing the computer (power point) as a tool, they can
then present to the class for discussion. They can also
use email or a written report to other students as well as
the teacher.

Arbitrary learning within fixed time periods would be

eliminated, i.e., no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. grades. Instead,
students would be grouped chronologically with materials
appropriate to their learning level and style using the CAI
approach for English and Math, and the project-problem-
discussion modes for other subjects. The projects given
to the students match the level of English and Math
competencies and are related to the students (their
interests and their lives). For example, in 3rd grade, how
would you study the amount of water that a plant needs to
grow? I would utilize the students’ Math knowledge
(learned through CAI) for science learning. Likewise,
rather than studying history through memorization and
chronology, it can be studied through problems based on
the immediate environment for younger children and more
abstract concepts in later grades.

What do we need to make this happen?

In order for this to be implemented, what do we need?
1) We need the people on board – parents,
teachers, community leaders, etc.
2) We need the hardware – computers with
modems and Internet access for each student.
 10 Building Better Schools

3) We need the management system (many

existing solutions can be adapted).
4) We need the curriculum – Computer
Assisted Instructions (CAI) for Math and
English and creative, relevant problems and
projects for other subjects.
5) We need teacher training.
In order to begin to implement change, we need all of
these things in place. I would like to see a group of
elementary and middle schools, and the high school into
which they feed (a demonstration ‘zone’) of some size
agree to adopt a vision where time is a variable and
mastery what is expected from each student. A computer
company can be found to donate (or the zone can buy) a
laptop with a modem for each student. The zone needs
to build an integrated management system in order to be
responsive to what students do and how they learn. Part
of the management system is administrative, part is the
CAI component, and lastly, the management system
needs to record and reflect the student’s learnings in non-
CAI instruction (‘student portfolios’). The CAI component
must be self-correcting and use artificial intelligence so
that the component improves as more students utilize the
program for English and Math. Teacher training is critical
and must be done during the summer prior to
implementation.
Abraham Fischler 11

The Purpose of This Little Book

We will need teachers to “buy into”

this vision. Parents, administrators
and students will have new roles,
too. It will take a village to pull
together the transformation
described here. The process of
building the new school system
requires a new mindset: We must
agree that the Student is the Class.
From that central mantra we can
build a new way of looking at
education and the roles we play in
making schools work.
12 Building Better Schools
Abraham Fischler 13

Short Quotations and

Commentaries
 14 Building Better Schools

Commentary: The way that classrooms are organized,

because of the pressures that teachers and students are
under since No Child Left Behind, more and more time is
now being spent helping students learn at a
Education
comprehensive is not
level. thetime
Little filling of afor the skills of
is left
analysis,pail, but rather
synthesis and the lighting of a
self-judgment.
fire. W. B. Yeats
We put information in but we don't give them time to
massage the information and go through Piaget's process
of assimilation and accommodation at the concept level.
Abraham Fischler 15

How do teachers instill this “fire” quote in a school that

focuses on computer-based instruction?

The computer is a tool to be used in many different ways.

It is a learning tool, it is a research tool, and it is a
communication tool. So it depends on the environment
and how it's orchestrated.

Bloom's taxonomy talks about levels of learning.

Comprehension is the lower level. But the student also
needs time to utilize information for analysis and
synthesis. So the computer could be used for those two
purposes.

In the CAI approach you can reorganize students to solve

problems through projects. Small groups can improve
their communication skills, working in cooperative teams,
sharing research responsibilities, and giving presentations
to the entire class.

We have to provide an environment so that students can

use what they have learned through technology.

Rarely should you see a teacher standing in front of a

group of students lecturing. That would make the
assumption that all 30 youngsters are ready to receive
what you are presenting and to process the information.
 16 Building Better Schools

Ability is what you're capable of

doing. Motivation determines what
you do. Attitude determines how
well you do it. Lou Holtz

Commentary: This is one of those quotes that belong on

a wall to remind students of the importance of self-
confidence.
Abraham Fischler 17

I hope that in the century ahead students

will be judged not by their performance on
a single test but by the quality of their lives.
I hope that students will be encouraged to
be creative, not conforming, and learn to
cooperate rather than compete.
Ernest Boyer, president of Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching, 1993.

Commentary: My test is asking the following

question: Have we produced a motivated person
with the tools and desire to keep learning?

Our education system

should be creating mindful
learners. Dennis Littky
 18 Building Better Schools

I have been a psychologist for 21 years, and I

have never had to do in the profession what I
needed to do to get an A in many of my courses
in college. In particular, I've never had to
memorize a book or lecture. If I can't
remember something, I just look it up.
However, schools set things up to reward with
As the students who are good memorizers, not
just at the college level but at many other levels
as well. Robert Sternberg, psychologist.

Commentary: It is clear that our schools should prepare

students for “real world”conditions, where many workers
have access to information. Students and teachers
should practice using smart phones and the Internet.
Abraham Fischler 19

Too often we teach people things like

"There's a right way and a wrong way to
do everything." What we should be
teaching them is how to think flexibly, to
be mindful of all the different possibilities
of every situation and not close
themselves off from information that
could help them. Ellen Langer,
professor of psychology

Commentary: I agree. Flexibility is the key.

Sage on the Stage vs. Guide on the Side

"A good teacher knows when to act as Sage on the Stage

and when to act as a Guide on the Side. Because student-
centred learning can be time-consuming and messy,
efficiency will sometimes argue for the Sage. When students
are busy making up their own minds, the role of the teacher
shifts. When questioning, problem-solving and
investigation become the priority classroom activities, the
teacher becomes a Guide on the Side." Jamie McKenzie

The WIRED Classroom Jamie McKenzie

 20 Building Better Schools

"... the teacher is circulating, redirecting,

disciplining, questioning, assessing, guiding,
directing, fascinating, validating, facilitating,
moving, monitoring, challenging, motivating,
watching, moderating, diagnosing, trouble-
shooting, observing, encouraging, suggesting,
watching, modeling and clarifying."

The teacher is on the move, checking over shoulders,

asking questions and teaching mini-lessons for
individuals and groups who need a particular skill.
Support is customized and individualized. The Guide
on the Side sets clear expectations, provides
explicit directions, and keeps the learning well
structured and productive.

From Now On The Educational Technology Journal

The WIRED Classroom Jamie McKenzie
Abraham Fischler 21

I never let schooling get in the

way of my education. Mark Twain
(Samuel Clemens)

Commentary: What is the goal? To keep teachers

employed? To hand students a diploma? To transfer
skills to a workforce? I believe that the goal is to
produce a motivated person with the tools and desire to
keep learning. We need to have the humility to see that
we teachers and we principals don't have all of the tools.
Students need to take responsibility for at least part of
their learning. Can we shape the classroom and the
curriculum to the shape and dimension of the student?
 22 Building Better Schools

No matter how far you have gone on a

wrong road, turn back. Turkish proverb
(from The Big Picture by Dennis Littky)

Commentary: We have invested a lot of

money and training in the big-box public high
schools. Bill Gates has put a billion dollars or
so into making high schools smaller and into
technology for education. We need to stop,
turn around, and get back to square one. Let's
start with elementary schools. By adding a
layer of computer-mediated instruction over the
existing system and by engaging parents,
students, teachers and principals in a vigorous
re-connection with the goal of education, we
can move toward making the student the class.
Abraham Fischler 23

It seems to me that schools primarily teach kids

how to take tests, a skill one hardly uses in real life
(unless one is a contestant on a quiz show).
Elementary school prepares kids for junior high;
junior high prepares them for high school. So the
goal (if we can call it that) of schools is to
prepare kids for more school. Tom Magliozzi,
one of the Car Talk guys, writing in his book, In
Our Humble Opinion: Car Talk's Click and Clack
Rant and Rave (2000).

Commentary: Should teachers be entertainers? I

want to change
this quote:
Learning should
The teacher of the future be fun to the
learner.
is an “Edu-Tainer”: giving an
Classrooms
education that is entertaining
should be
Dennis Yuzenas exciting. Students
should be the
performers. Teachers should be facilitators and
motivators, asking students to think about challenging
problems. Teachers should reward success, using
language that make learners feel good about
themselves. “You can do it.”

As the saying goes: The teacher is a guide on the

side, not a sage on the stage.
 24 Building Better Schools

Commentary: For the learner, education is a continuum

and it is not important where the student is housed. What
is important at the end is have we produced a motivated
person with the tools and desire to keep learning? In
order to do that, the learner must achieve competency in
two languages, English and math. Everything else he can
learn if he is motivated to learn and to become a self
learner. Professors make it easier by picking out what
they think is necessary in the particular field of
knowledge. Thus you can achieve more knowledge in a
shorter time if you work with advisors. They also provide
guidance and help you achieve a number of life skills so
you can function effectively with others and assume your
share of the responsibility for achieving the objectives.

Have we produced a
motivated person with the
tools and desire to keep
learning?
Abraham Fischler 25

Children are working as if I did not

exist. Maria Montessori

Commentary: Self-motivated, interested in the problem

that they are working on, helping one another sharing
responsibilities. This will happen when students work
together in small groups on projects.

You need a certain level of comprehension which the CAI

delivers. Piaget says that we redefine a concept every
time we meet a discrepant event: An event for the learner
that doesn't fit the concept that he already has. So the
learner has to go through questions: Did that really
exist? How do I modify the concept to accommodate
the new information?

Students go through this when they learn that electrons

might not be particles. Electrons act more like clouds in
certain circumstances.

… [ ??? add more here ??? ]

 26 Building Better Schools

The principle good of education is to

create people who are capable of
doing new things, not simply of
repeating what other generations
have done. Jean Piaget

Commentary: In order to do new things, they have a

concept of what ought to be. But now they are
confronted with a surprise, something that doesn't
fit. That's the discrepant event. Then the
individual has to go through assimilation, asking,
“Does that really happen? Is that real? What is true?
What am I seeing or what have I been told ? What did
I expect to happen?”...and then it didn't happen. Then
I have to go through the process of accommodation. I
have to modify my concept to take into account
something that occurred that I didn't expect. Then I'm
at equilibrium, I'm happy again, until you introduce the
next discrepant event. When you talk to kids, you
have to know approximately what they have, so you
know what you can do to get them more sophisticated
and more knowledgable. That's what the individual
learner has to go through themselves. The teacher
introduces the discrepant event and the learners go
through the assimilation and accommodation.
Abraham Fischler 27

If the student doesn't have the basic comprehension,

you will miss the mark – the information that you think
is a discrepant event will go over his head. For
example, you can tell a six-year-old that the earth is
turning and that creates day and night at 25,000 miles
in a day. It's rotating on an axis. Why don't you feel
it? If you were in an automobile and you put your
hand out of the window, you would feel it.

With a six-year-old, you're going too fast. You better

start with “day is when the sun is out” and “Night is
when the sun is hidden.” You can ask, “Why is the
night dark? What gives light to the moon?” So you
can give a six-year-old a bit of this, but he doesn't
really understand much.

After introducing a discrepant event, we need to give

the student time to process the information.

We tend to start with what the child can observe.

Science for grades 1-to-3, the focus is over “what can
you see?”

To try to explain that the earth is turning is not going

to lead to understanding in younger students. Wait
until they begin to ask you about rotating. And they
weren't all going to be able to ask you at the same
time.
 28 Building Better Schools

Ability is what you're capable of

doing. Motivation determines
what you do. Attitude
determines how well you do it.
Lou Holtz

Commentary: Having a "can do" attitude and being

motivated to succeed are powerful behaviors.
Abraham Fischler 29

Given the widening array of

possibilities, there’s no reason
that every child must master the
sciences, algebra, geometry,
biology, or any of the rest of the
standard high school curriculum
that has barely changed in half a
century. Robert Reich, Secretary of
Labor (Clinton Administration)

Commentary: There is a core of basic knowledge

that one expects from a person at a certain point in
time. I don't expect people to be experts, but biology
is a science. You ought to have some knowledge of
the animal kingdom, relationships, the human body.
There are certain understandings that you can expect
from a person at a certain level. Science is not a
cultural imperative. Our language and mathematics
are cultural imperatives. I expect every child to have
a certain level. Knowledge and ability and with a basic
core of mathematics; able to handle fractions. But I
don't expect everyone to know everything about
trigonometry. Robert Reich is right, as long as we
don't say master. We need a core in all areas and
you have to have the tools for self-learning: we
can read English and we can do some math... we
know when to doubt and we don't jump to
conclusions.

You can teach yourself most of science if you have

English and math.
 30 Building Better Schools

One-third of the jobs that will be

around ten to fifteen years from
now haven't been invented yet.
We are now at a point where we
must educate our children in
what no one knew yesterday
and prepare our schools for
what no one knows yet. Margaret
Mead

Commentary: What can we do if we don't know what

we don't know? The education system of the future
needs to be flexible, more so than our current system.
Abraham Fischler 31

Excerpts from
TheStudentIstheClass.com

Beyond Memorization: Give 21st Century

Students Time to Understand
We can all agree that it is important for students to graduate
from high school. However, what happens when “graduating”
from high school does not necessarily represent an
understanding of the basic skills needed in college and the
workplace? More than half of the students entering public
colleges and universities in Florida need remedial classes in
math, reading, and writing prior to starting their college
classes. The problem is NOT the amount of money we are
putting into our public schools; rather, the structure and
curriculum of public education needs reform. Memorizing
information for the FCAT or College Placement Test is not
going to equip students with the skills needed for the 21st
century.
Students need to learn to analyze, understand, and explain
rather than memorize, recite, and regurgitate facts and
information. A student cannot be expected to master division if
he or she does not know what dividing numbers truly means.
Subjects—particularly reading and math—need to be taught
on a student’s individual timeframe. Learning should be
measured against each student’s past markers of progress.
We must enable students to learn at varying rates so they
 32 Building Better Schools

come to understand and analyze information in a way that is

useful and accessible both to them personally and for the 21st
century.
We must change our expectations about time and make
conceptual understanding (not rote repetition) our first priority.
Abraham Fischler 33

Time Must Be A Variable For Student Success

Nowhere in my readings have I found encouragement and
funds to reward systems that are trying to build an educational
environment As long as time is fixed, then student progress is
what is variable within the fixed time frame. Thus, 30% of the
student population is punished through failures.

If we moved in core areas - mainly based on students’

mastery and making time a variable. English and Math - to
Computer Based Learning ("CBL" or Computer Assisted
Instruction “CAI”), the student becomes the class and each
student is given time to master the materials. Further, what is
learned becomes a tool for future learning. In science and
social studies, projects that are meaningful to students can be
agreed and assigned. Small groups then may use technology
for research purposes as well as to make powerpoint
presentations to fellow students. This transformation cannot
be done without the community, without curriculum design and
without teachers who are trained to utilize the environment
correctly.

Student management also is important so that the teacher, the

student and the parent see the progress of each student. This
type of system provides accessibility to all partners, including
the principal and state, as well as a vehicle to help determine
the effectiveness of the learning environment in the
classroom.
34 Building Better Schools
Abraham Fischler 35

iSchool
A new model being used in select NYC schools, called
iSchools, seeks to integrate ‘innovative technology with project-
based curriculum’ and early results indicate highly successful
outcomes. In this model, groups of students utilize virtual resources
on the internet to complete research projects and in doing so
take pride in their work and ownership of final results. Each
student has his/her own laptop and access to a variety of
online resources, which can be monitored by teachers and
parents using a learning management system. These are all
steps toward creating an environment in which time can be
varied to accommodate the learner. As the student becomes
more inclined to utilize technology and group-based project
research, the skills gained will better prepare the student to
enter post-secondary education and the 21st Century
workforce.
Source: eschool.com
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/05/15/ischools-lift-hopes-in-nyc/
 36 Building Better Schools

Technology to Make Time a Variable

I propose the use of technology in a computer assisted mode
(CAI) to track the progress of each student. When each has
demonstrated mastery of what s/he has learned through CAI,
we then can seek validation through State-implemented
examinations. In this way, time is varied and competency
relatively fixed; a standard that should be applied to public
schools as well as charter schools, so that all children will be
given similar opportunities to succeed.
Abraham Fischler 37

It is Time for Change in K-12

No longer can we afford to lose more than 30% of our high

school students to the dropout pool. No longer can we tolerate
the outdated agrarian industrial model. No longer can we
tinker around the edges, substituting book A for book B or
modifying a time dimension within a few courses. No longer
can we afford to leave the structure and organization of K-12
education the same.

This is the moment - this is the time for real change in the
public schools of this country. We have the knowledge, the
tools and the necessary technology to create a positive
learning environment for the 21st century. We can focus on
the student as the class and offer individualized instruction
based on students' different learning styles. We can vary time
so that those who need more time to master a concept have
the opportunity to do so. The organization and structure of our
current K-12 system must be changed to accommodate all
learners.
 38 Building Better Schools

Don't Blame The Computer!

Some schools are dropping the computer because they failed

to get the results they wanted. This is a mistake. A computer
is a tool which must be integrated into the fabric of the
instructional process. By itself, it will not change nor improve
results. The curriculum must be modified; the teacher must
change his or her role from presenter to a catalyst for learning.
Opportunity must be given to students to work on real world
problems.

The computer can be utilized in many ways, including:

• as a learning tool
• acquiring and organizing information
• communicating within a group
• helping to analyze data
• creating powerpoint or other presentations to the class

Remember: Do not blame the tool…the learning system must

be changed, and teachers must be trained in a new learning
paradigm.
Abraham Fischler 39

Longer Readings

Techniques for Creative Teaching

I worked with a physics teacher who would tell students, “There will
be times when you will turn in your lab books where you will write
what you observe. Sometimes I will mark an exercise wrong and I
expect you to come up and argue with me.” The students generally
hated him because he appeared so arbitrary.

I loved what he did. He forced the kids not to cheat. He made sure
that one or two kids would get something marked wrong even
though it was right. This bothered kids. And they would come to me
to complain. I told them, “He's forcing you to think and If you don't
argue with him, you will get the the lower mark.”

'Disrupting Class', by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn

and Curtis W. Johnson, published by McGraw-Hill.

Commentary: The authors explain why major changes are

required in public education if we are to educate every child of
every parent to finish high school with the knowledge and skills
needed either to go into the world of work or continue their
education in the 21st century. This book appreciates the
uniqueness of each student (referencing the Multiple Intelligences
theory introduced by Dr. Howard Gardner) and recognizes that we
need to adapt instructional methods to match the learning styles of
each student. Its 'disruptive innovation theory' explains why it is so
difficult to move public education from its current focus on the
'class' to a new and needed focus on the 'student'. The authors'
concept of a future classroom is one that incorporates technology
and software to provide alternative methods and options for
students to achieve the required objectives. They also encourage
an environment in which students work together on projects and
share and conceptualize learnings rather than memories bits of
information. Whilst this book recognizes the need for flexibility
within the organization and structure of the learning environment to
 40 Building Better Schools

accommodate individual variations, it does not spell out sufficiently

the need to vary time because students learn at different rates.

Why Go To School? Steven Wolk, Phi Delta Kappa

May 2007, Volume 88, number 9

http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v88/k0705toc.htm

Commentary: The May 2007 issue of Phi Delta Kappan has a

wonderful article written by Steven Wolk entitled “Why go to
School?”. It is a critique of what we are teaching and how we are
teaching. In the article, he states the following: “If the purpose of
our schools is to prepare drones to keep the U.S. economy going,
then the prevailing curricula and instructional methods are probably
adequate. If, however, we want to help students become thoughtful,
caring citizens who might be creative enough to figure out how to
change the status quo rather than maintain it, we need to rethink
schooling entirely.” Mr. Wolk outlines what he considers to be the
essential content for a new curriculum. The essence of what the
article states is similar to the essence of the early writings found in
this blog.

Speak Up Survey: Is Technology Missing the Mark? by Dave

Nagel. T.H.E. Journal (March 2007)

Commentary: The nationwide survey polled approximately

270,000 students, teachers, and parents on "subjects ranging from
technology, math, and science instruction to communications,
collaboration, and self expression". The findings were very
interesting.

The article quotes Julie Evans, CEO of the non-profit group Project
Tomorrow-NetDay as saying that "[m]ost importantly, this survey
shows that technology presents a unique opportunity to engage
Abraham Fischler 41

students in their core-curricular subjects, such as math and

science, by providing them the high tech tools that raise their levels
of interest in this coursework." Students also expressed interest in
the integration of real-world problem solving, talking to
professionals, and using multimedia and interactive simulations.

We, as educators, must prepare the youth of this country to

creatively address problems and challenges -- some that may have
happened before and others undoubtedly that will be
unprecedented. We have gone through many ages as a nation and
world: agricultural, industrial, technological, information, and now
we must enter the age of creativity. Creativity involves imagination,
innovation, and entrepreneurship along with reasoning, problem
solving, and critical thinking. Listening, memorizing and
regurgitating learned information is no longer sufficient. We need to
do more in our schools through personalized education. And, in
fact, it is time even for us to consider how to integrate the home
environment into the fabric of the learning process.

"Jobs, Dell appraise technology, schools"

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6875

Commentary: Both Steve Jobs and Michael Dell make references

to changes and the encouragement of the use of technology as a
tool for learning, research, and communication. However, neither
speaks to the restructuring and reorganizing of a school system so
that “each child becomes the class”. By using computer assisted
instruction (CAI) for the core areas of English and math in a self-
paced mode, students are able to receive the next appropriate
objective. While working on projects in a cooperative learning
environment (groups of 3 or 4 students), they utilize their core
competencies to do research, solve problems, and make
presentations using computer programs such as PowerPoint to
involve the rest of their classmates who listen and ask questions.
 42 Building Better Schools

By learning these skills, students develop the ability to acquire

information via the computer, use it to analyze and synthesize
information related to the problem, and share their findings with
their student colleagues for the purpose of discussion. I am sure
that you all would count these among the critical skills required to
succeed in today's world.

A comment from a blog reader: ... about Computers in the

classroom...Creativity is the key to making good use of technology
in education. To our learners, computers are part of the everyday
infrastructure of life - nothing new, or different, just a box that
provides access to the the tools they use to communicate, find
information, collaborate, create, learn and achieve. The learners
we see in our classrooms now, are growing up with the web, the
ipod, digital TV, mobile phones, youtube, messenger, ip phones,
blogs & wikis, and to them, these are no more exciting and new
than the colour TV.We can't place new boxes in classrooms and
expect our learners to leap up and suddenly achieve. As a
minimum, there are two things that need to take place if we are to
take full advantage of new technologies in learning:

1. We need to understand that our learners now have access to a

billion libraries of information and a multitude of communication
tools. They use these tools every day for there own purposes and
on the whole (i know there are many exceptions) we are failing to
guide that use to ensure safe and productive learning. The world is
available to them anywhere, anytime and they don't need a
computer and a desk to do this. What they need, we aren't
providing - they need guidance and support.We must now move
away from Victorian era learning where remembering facts and
figures was the key to success in an industrial age. Memorizing
such information is now completely irrelevant, since information can
be obtained anywhere in seconds. The knowledge required is one
of how and where to look safely, how to filter, how to validate and
triangulate and then finally how to use such information creatively,
critically and accurately.That is not to say that memorizing facts
does not still have a place. Just that the emphasis should now be
on discovery, analysis, process, assimilation and creativity - in
other words, real higher-order thinking skills.

2. The vast majority of teachers were brought up under that old

Victorian system. To us the web, the mobile phone, the ipod are all
relatively new (and for some of us slightly scary) inventions. How
could we possibly relate to and teach learners for whom these tools
Abraham Fischler 43

are just an extension of their imagination? Simply throwing boxes

of tricks into our classrooms and proclaiming that we have invested
millions in new technology will not help our learners. We need help
in changing the culture of teaching.

It is possible and there are projects out there trying to provide these
tools. Check out: http://oc.intel-lehren.de/and:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-ICT-Classroom-Using-
Learning/dp/1855392070If you want to get involved - e-mail me!!Bill
Howbill.how@ssatrust.org.uk

http://www.thestudentistheclass.com/2007/05/dont-blame-
computer.html
 44 Building Better Schools

“Tough Choices or Tough Times” (Commission Report)

http://www.skillscommission.org/pdf/exec_sum/ToughChoices_EXECSUM.pdf

Commentary: A report by the Commission on the Skills of the

American Workforce (National Center on Education and the
Economy) entitled 'Tough Choices or Tough Times' has some
wonderful recommendations that should be taken in serious
consideration. Therein, Richard W. Riley, the former Secretary of
Education states “The question this report raises is whether our
country has the kind of education system that is needed to maintain
America’s standard of living for our children, our grandchildren, and
future generations. I very much hope that it will spark the kind of
tough, honest debate on that topic that it so richly deserves.”
Another notable quote from the report is by Thomas W. Payzant,
Former Superintendent of Boston Public Schools. He states
“Piecemeal reform of public education in America is insufficient to
deliver the promise that every child will receive an education that
leads to a good job, productive life, and responsible citizenship.
The New Commission Report is a coherent, comprehensive,
systemic plan for how to enable public education in America to be
the best in the world.” The report concludes that our current public
K-12 education system cannot be fixed, and therefore it must be
replaced.

The generalization which emerges relates to what I have been

advocating for a very long time. Every high school graduate has to
be competent not only in the two languages (English and
mathematics), but also must be able to analyze, synthesize, use
value judgment, and be able to communicate effectively using
modern technology. In addition to these outcomes, every student
must graduate with a salable skill to be employed, should he or she
choose not to go on to higher education. In order to achieve all of
the above, we must reorganize and restructure public education to
accommodate every learner.

Picture goes here...

Abraham Fischler 45

“How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century” by Claudia

Wallis
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568480,00.html

Commentary: On December 16th, 2006, we read the following

headlines: “More Teens Drop Out” in the Miami Herald and
“Dropout Rate in Broward Increases” in the Sun Sentinel. This did
not surprise me, nor should it surprise you. The higher the
standards, the more difficult it is for students to achieve their goals
if the structure and organization of the learning environment is not
changed. In my previous blog entries, my theme is consistent-
“Children learn at different rates and have different preferential
learning styles.” Time must be the variable and mastery the goal. If
students do not fully understand algebra, they will have a difficult
time learning trigonometry. If they have not mastered reading, they
will have a difficult time comprehending high school science
textbooks or the New York Times. The consequences of not
making this change leads to an increase in dropouts and eventually
to an increase in the poverty-level class.

TIME magazine recently ran an interesting article entitled ”How do

we bring our schools out of the 20th Century?” by Claudia Wallis
and Sonja Steptoe. It states “ The world has changed, but the
American classroom, for the most part, hasn’t…kids spend much of
the day as their great grandparents once did: sitting in rows,
listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from
textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed.” This
article also introduces a new commission on the skills of the
American workforce. The commission reports that standards of
living are being jeopardized by the current system. The report lays
out a series of steps designed as an integrated approach to change
the entire system. The recommendations include:
· Revamping the high school-college transition.
· Reallocating funds to high priority strategies for improving system
performance.
 46 Building Better Schools

· Pre-K for all.

· Redesigning how schools are funded.
· Redesigning how schools are managed.
· Educating the current workforce to a high standard.
· Creating personal competitiveness accounts.

I can agree with these recommendations, but the absence of

computer assisted instruction in the core (and the use of the
computer as a research and communications tool for all students),
as well as a learner-centric approach with time and learning style
as variables, are errors of omission. It is only through the use of
technology as a learning tool that will enable us to vary time and
allow each student to master the requisite objectives. Included
below is a link to the total press release from the commission on
the skills of the American workforce.

Each Student Needs Creativity, Time and the Basics

Commentary: On Monday, December 4, 2006, I read a wonderful
article by Dorothy Rich in the Miami Herald. In the article, she
incorporates much of what I try to say in my blog. For example, she
states “there are no magic answers for the many teachers and
students in our many classrooms…I would like to have a magic
bullet.” She points out that in every classroom there are individual
students, each with different sets of genes, learning at different
rates, and having different strengths.

Because of the state’s emphasis on testing, teachers are under

such pressure that there is little time for creativity, for allowing
students to derive joy from learning. Learners need hope and
Abraham Fischler 47

optimism but unfortunately in our educational environment their

natural imaginations are often stifled.

In New York City, there is an area superintendent by the name of

Kathleen M. Cashin, who is responsible for one of the roughest
areas in the New York City School System. In her schools she
reinforces the opportunity for students to utilize their creativity
through group learning. She encourages students to write stories
and discuss their ideas. She also encourages the teachers to take
the time to get to know each student. Through her efforts the
scores in Region 5 have been steadily increasing.

I call this blog “The student is the class”. I reiterate that we must
allow time for students to learn the basic core (English and Math),
allow them also to acquire the ability for self-learning through
working in groups, and finally do written and verbal presentations
where they can utilize their higher learning skills and interact with
their peers. The teacher is like a conductor blending all three
modes in a classroom setting, while the utilization of computers
facilitates in the process.
 48 Building Better Schools

Signs of educational change . . . How do we make these the norm?

Commentary: It has been gratifying to read about teachers,
schools and school systems that recognize how important it is to
listen and respond to students’ needs, to use technology to
enhance learning and teaching, and to involve students in
addressing real world problems through a multidisciplinary and
cooperative approach. Here are a few shining examples -- let’s
hope that these approaches become the norm.

1) eSchool News Online’s report on the The National School

Boards Association's 20th annual Technology + Learning. The
description of Kyrene Elementary School District in Tempe, Arizona,
which was named as one of three "Salute Districts" (“given to
districts that effectively use technology to enhance teaching and
learning”), said the following about the Kyrene Teaches with
Technology Project (KTTP):

“One of the keys to the project's success is that district leaders

started with the question of what students need for learning--and
then designed an environment around these needs, instead of the
other way around. Another key to its success is that teachers can
draw upon the support of a "technology mentor" to help them
integrate the laptops into instruction.”
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=6720

2) CNN.com’s coverage of the “School of the Future World

Summit”: “The conference, which drew 250 delegates from 48
countries, was held this week at Philadelphia's School of the
Future, where all students have laptops, there are few books or
Abraham Fischler 49

pens, and teaching is done in multidisciplinary projects in which

academic skills develop through work on real-world problems.”
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/11/14/life.education.reut/ind
ex.html

See also the article by Neal Starkman in T.H.E. Focus, which

discusses one-to-one learning and a student-centered rather than
teacher-centered orientation toward learning.
http://thejournal.com/the/newsletters/thefocus/archives/?aid=19217

By contrast, coverage of a recent National Research Council study

by 15 education specialists states: “U.S. Science Education lags,
study finds: Curriculum, teachers faulted for teaching too
simplistically.” Quoting such coverage: “Part of the problem is that
state and national learning standards for students in elementary
and middle schools require children to memorize often-
disconnected scientific facts, the report said.”
− "U.S. Science Education Lags, Study Finds” – Curriculum,
teachers faulted for teaching too simplistically
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14945518

Commentary: We must teach to each student rather than to a

class. We must teach more than reading, writing and arithmetic. We
must encourage problem solving skills, creativity, fluid enquiry --
this can be done by involving students in real world problems. If you
go back to the Education System Change Model in my second blog
post, you will see that my definition of tutorial is where we
encourage student-centeredness, problem solving, cooperative
learning, sharing of responsibility, and communication.
 50 Building Better Schools

The Future of Teaching

As change comes about, the work of the classroom
teacher will change drastically. Instead of leading
groups through standalone lessons, teachers will
increasingly match individuals with learning solutions
aligned with their interests and abilities. Content will
be packaged and delivered asynchronously, allowing
students to work independently and revisit lessons as
needed. Face-to-face experiences will be combined
with digital interactions; geographic boundaries
between teachers and students—as well as between
learners—will become increasingly irrelevant. Bill
Ferriter

http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radi
cal/

Commentary: He is on target. We have had individual teachers doing

exciting things but remember we are now speaking about total schools
with thousands of teachers.
Abraham Fischler 51

Links for Additional Reading

Websites (schools)
BigPicture.org, the Dennis Littky / Eliot Washor organization

CHADphila.org, Charter High of Architecture and Design, Philadelphia

HighTechHigh.org, San Diego, Calif.**

MavericksinEducation.com, chain of charter schools

MetCenter.org, Providence, R.I.**

NewCitySchool.org, St. Louis (publishers of a widely used workbook for

introducing multiple intelligences in academics)

Tracy.MHS.schoolfusion.us, Millennium High School, Tracy, California

Motto: Aspire, achieve, advance

UrbanAcademy.org, New York City** Motto: A small school with big

ideas

**These schools were profiled in High Schools on a Human Scale: How

Small Schools can Transform American Education (2003) by Thomas
Toch, introduction by Tom vander Ark, Beacon Press, ISBN 978-
0807032459

Websites (reformers, publishers)

ASCD.org, publishers of The Big Picture: Education Is Everybody’s
Business (2004) by Dennis Littky and Samantha Grabelle, ISBN 978-
0871209719

EdReform.com, Center for Education Reform

EdReformer.com, Tom vander Ark’s blog

edSpresso.com, newsletter, served hot with a twist

 52 Building Better Schools

emaginos.com, Jack Taub’s site

RevLearning.com, vander Ark’s investment group

EssentialSchools.org, Coalition of Essential Schools, formed by the late

Ted Sizer

GatesFoundation.org, funding for education reform

GuideontheSide.com, Steve McCrea, teacher training workshops

PZ.harvard.edu, Project Zero, Harvard University, teacher training

QBESchool.com, Will Sutherland, innovative curricula

StudentsFirst.org, Michelle Rhee (former superintendent of Washington,

DC schools)

theLearningWeb.net, Gordon Dryden, New Zealand, author of The

Learning Web with Jeannette Vos: How to quit school at 14 and
eventually write a top-selling book about learning.

TheStudentIstheClass.com, Dr. Abraham Fischler

2mminutes.com, Two Million Minutes, Robert A. Compton’s project

WhatDoYaKNow.com, Dennis Yuzenas, master teacher and trainer,

developer of workshops integrating digital portfolios

Youtube channels
Youtube.com/channelname

BPLearning by BigPicture.org

HTHvideo

QBESchool

AGuideOntheSide

VisualandActive

2MillionMinutes
Abraham Fischler 53

Send your suggestions for additional websites and YouTube channels.

 54 Building Better Schools

Questions

Fifty years from now, what will education look like?

The Student will be the Class. We will have had years of

developing the technology and skills and the communication banks
that exist. There will be new ways of communicating throughout the
world. Science experiments could be done remotely if we feed
information to a central point. We can be doing a great number of
things because of the network and because of our ability to
communicate. Thomas Friedman is not wrong. The world is flat. In
economics it's already happening. The assembly plant is in one
location and the component parts come from all over, fed into a
central assembly line. So cars are manufactured using components
made wherever people can get them made to meet the quality.
Education is the same thing.

Perhaps textbooks won't have answers

In the textbooks I wrote for teachers, I never answered the question

“What color did you get?” -- I never gave the answers to the
teacher. If you put too much acid in contrast to the base, you are
not wrong. Most books assume that you will do everything
according to the directions, so they assume that you'll get a specific
color. But if you are not so accurate, you'll get another color. You're
not wrong – whatever color you got, that's the color you got.

So, if I had described the color in the teacher's manual, the teacher
would have told the students “You're wrong. It says that the color is
intense pink and you have pale pink.” So I tried where I could not to
give the teacher the answer, especially with younger kids. Many
teachers didn't like my books.

Now imagine if the teacher says, “Come over and see what color I
got. Why are our colors different?”

That's where the learning takes place. It's not in the answer.

It takes time. It takes time away from pressure.

Abraham Fischler 55

While you are working in the reflective environment, the students

are not getting comprehension about what is being tested. So the
more we go toward the testing model, the more rigid the classes
have to become.

That's why the school of the future needs the second class area for
small-group projects. Teachers have to be ready to move students
into that area when it's time for analysis.

“Do we really need more charter schools?”

“What are the advantages of charter schools over public

schools?”
There is no reason that we cannot encourage public schools to
have the same liberties as their charter school counterparts.

Public schools tend to have a large number of children from low

income families and therefore have an increased need for the
freedom to accommodate 'each student as the class'. If children are
primarily in a success-oriented environment, they tend to behave
differently because they are rewarded in a positive manner. If they
have access to computers that contain software for computer
assisted instruction (CAI), then it is easy to vary time for each
student and give all students the opportunity to be successful. If we
combine CAI with a 'project approach' (i.e., working in small groups
on meaningful problems) in the areas of science and social studies,
students acquire the skills to use technology as a learning tool, a
research tool, and a communication tool. Such improvements --
which may be available in new charter schools -- must be available
in our public schools.
 56 Building Better Schools

Can schools be saved? If we combine CAI

Yes, of course. We have with projects --
to try. We can't not try. working in small
Everything we stand for in
the USA came through groups on
schools, so we have to
transform our system of meaningful
public education. problems, students
acquire the skills to
use technology as
a communication
tool.
Abraham Fischler 57

Why do so many students “hate math”?

A good teacher can guide the discussion and the
flow of problems so as to allow the students to
discover and invent mathematics for
themselves. The real problem is that the
bureaucracy does not allow an individual teacher
to do that. With a set curriculum to follow, a
teacher cannot lead. There should be no
standards, and no curriculum. Just individuals
doing what they think best for their students.
A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart

Commentary: Many math teachers do not know the beauty of

math. They took one required course in math in college which is
called College Math. Math is a cultural imperative, a language that
one needs to understand the world we live in. Where do you find
the teachers who can teach math the way that Lockhart describes?
 58 Building Better Schools

How should students be taught?

Dr. Fischler, do you have any comments about these two
statements that I received from a couple of my students from Italy?
– Steve

How do you want to learn?

I think a student like me should use really modern
methods. To learn English (or another language),
studying the perfect grammar at school is only the
beginning. The real way to learn English perfectly is
practicing. So it's a really good way using Facebook
(for example, my best friend's American, so I always
talk in English with her and it really helps me) and
then talking about things we like. You should give the
student all the things you know and then let her
choose the things he/she wants to do. Most teachers
think that being under pressure makes us give our
best. THAT'S NOT TRUE. When I'm anxious or
nervous, I really cannot do anything. It's like I am
blocked. So I think that the right way to improve is
feeling comfortable and doing things that interest us.
-- Arianna Costantin
<http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?
id=1283916007&v=info>, Milano, 13 August 2010

Most teachers What makes a

class
think that being interesting?
A student's
under pressure opinion-- I
makes us give our think this class
is interesting
best. THAT'S NOT and I believe it
is because we
TRUE. -- Arianna can lead the
lesson by
suggesting
topics, discussing and discovering new things on the
net and changing the program if we don't like it or find
it boring. I can't really suggest a way to make this
class better since we have a lot of freedom and can
change what we are doing according to what we
would prefer much more.
Abraham Fischler 59

What makes a class boring? The wrong topics, a

boring teacher, bad classmates are things that can
make a class terrible. Choosing a topic that is not
fascinating or not putting passion in teaching destroys
the attention of the class. Not helping in creating
cooperation within the students is the worst thing a
teacher can do.

I like the fact that students are nice and we get along.
I love choosing every day what I want to do and I'm
fond of discovering something I didn't know, such as
"Save the Last Dance For Me" (a song that was sung
in our class).

How can we improve the method? We could read

more books, like the ones about the method we are
experimenting with. And this would be interesting.
Or we could keep some books on our own as I would
like to do tomorrow, to practice with the reading with
chapters that are more difficult than newspaper
articles. – Giulia Mastrantoni, 6 August 2010

Note about “Save the Last Dance”: A teacher

brought his guitar and the lyrics for the song. He
started the class with this question: "Did you
know that the composer of this song was unable
to walk? Now let's listen more closely to the
lyrics." That's what interested Giulia...

Note: More books were brought to the class the

next week, giving the student a chance to read
quotes and longer chapters about educational
theories.
 60 Building Better Schools

Commentary: Two responses

1) It is best to know enough about your students that you can start
a lesson from their interests. If they are interested, then they will
work. You may have to set up small groups based on interest.

2) Give students the opportunity to share with others what they

are learning, especially when they reach a point when they are
ready to share. After they have completed their presentations,
positive reinforcement is important. – ASF

Give students the

opportunity to
share with others
what they are
learning.
Abraham Fischler 61

What’s Next
We invite you to subscribe to the blog, The Student is the
Class, at TheStudentIsTheClass.com. I continue to blog
about these issues and I invite you to send me questions to
comment about.
 62 Building Better Schools

References
[ ??? note to Hillary -- I will work on getting the accurate
sources. ]

Lambert, Paul (2009). A Mathematician's Lament

http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

McKenzie, J. (1999).

Pink, Daniel (2001). Free Agent Nation.

Comments from Reviewers

I was shocked when I witnessed a language arts meeting in my
school on Thursday. It was 100 percent FCAT test strategies.
There was no language arts at all!

When I brought up authentic assessment, I was shot down.

"This is what we're graded on." and, "We don't have time for
the cutesy funsey stuff" are two replies that stick in
my head. This is what NCLB hath wrought.

Dennis Yuzenas, school teacher, Bak Middle School of the Arts,

West Palm Beach, Florida
Abraham Fischler 63

Endnote by a taxpayer
Dr. Fischler began blogging in 2006 about the advantages of a well-
rounded, well-designed CAI system. His first entry at
TheStudentIsTheClass.com lays out the features of a three-tiered
system that could be introduced in a zone of a public school.
Careful implementation of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) could
invigorate a K-12 environment. As a pioneer who introduced
technology to higher education and distance learning, Dr. Fischler
aims to bring new learning methods and experiences to children
and teenagers currently stuck in school systems that have changed
little since 1950.

An informal after-class gathering of students, bringing together

people from South America and the Middle East. These sorts of
gatherings are possible when the teacher takes time to get to know
his students and looks for ways to “cross pollinate” classes. Why
not ask students in a math class to meet with international visitors
who are learning English grammar?

As a taxpayer, I'm always looking for better ways for my tax dollars
to be spent. As a teacher, I want to work in a school where students
 64 Building Better Schools

have a role in deciding what they will study each day. As a trainer
of teachers, I know my limitations: I can show teachers what has
worked in my classes, but I don't have the academic background to
explain why the techniques work that I pulled from Piaget,
Friedman, Littky, Gardner and Daniel Pink.

In 2009, I saw the need for a small book that the stakeholders in
schools could carry with them and refer to often for guidance. In the
classroom, under pressure to deliver results, I often slip back into
comfortable behaviors, copying my mentors and imposing on my
students the same disciplines that I suffered through when I was a
teenager. Some of the techniques work; others should be
improved. Dr. Fischler's perspective has guided me in selecting
more effective methods. Computers can help students learn – but
it's not a good idea to impose digital devices on students who are
not ready for the potential distractions of a multifaceted computer.

Dennis Littky, an educational pioneer in Providence, R.I., writes that

“Education is everybody's business.” This “quote and commentary”
project began with you in mind. Teacher, student, parent, principal,
taxpayer: you all will find something new and helpful in these
pages.

In the 1930s a little red book spawned a political and cultural

revolution in China. Eighty years later, why can't a small book of
commentaries by the president emeritus of a pioneering university
make a positive change in education?

If you have a favorite quotation about education that you would like
Dr. Fischler to consider commenting on in his blog, please send
your request to Fischler@nova.edu.

Steve McCrea

Taxpayer, teacher, advocate of CAI

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Abraham Fischler 65
 66 Building Better Schools

About the Author and Editors

Dr. Fischler is President Emeritus and University Professor at
Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He
served as President of Nova University from July 1970 to July
1992. Prior to coming to Nova in 1966, Dr. Fischler was
Professor of Education at the University of California,
Berkeley. He began his career in education as a science
teacher and earned his Ed.D. degree at Columbia University.
Subsequently, he became Assistant Professor at the Graduate
School of Education, Harvard University. After his retirement
as President, he served on the Broward County School Board
from 1994 to 1998. Dr. Fischler has been a consultant to the
Ford Foundation, to various State Departments of Education,
and to school districts in a number of states. He has authored
many articles and publications dealing with science education
and advanced teaching methods. He is a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science and a
member of numerous other educational and scientific
organizations.

Hillary Gorski-Howrey is a graduate student of psychology (?) and plans to xxxx.

She is working on a research project involving. As an instructor at Nova
University, she sdsfgsd sfdasdflj asdfasflj;w werqwer;l;lk;q wqerqwer
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Steve McCrea is an advocate of using video in the classroom. His channel on

Youtube (visualandactive) documents ways that teachers can support integrated
lesson plans with technology. He leads the team of teachers that developed the
blended curriculum for QBE schools (Dartmouth, England), harnessing the
cultures of Aiglon College (Villars), the Met Center (Providence, R.I.) and
Maverick Schools (Miami, Fla.): character development (planned hardships,
delayed gratification), mentors, and computer-based instruction (based on the
work of Dr. Abraham Fischler). McCrea is a candidate for Ed.D. in Distance
Instruction at Nova Southeastern University.
Abraham Fischler 67

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