1. Weight Bearing Walls a metaphor applied to education • Physical structures must have walls or other supports to hold the roof up . . . • If you have ever remodeled a house, it is good to know which interior walls are “weight bearing.” Not all interior walls are . . . • If you are going to remove a weight bearing wall (WBW), you must provide another support before that wall can be removed . . . • If you don’t, the roof will cave in . . . duh!

2. Weight Bearing Walls Grade Levels Courses/Curriculum Class Periods/Bell Schedule Students Assigned to Classrooms Textbooks ABC Grading System/Student Evaluation Learning Happens in Schools/Use of Space Nine Month School Year/Agrarian Calendar Report Cards/Informing Parents Paper and Pencil Orientation

3. 1. Grade Levels Allow us to group students and to move them through the twelve-year cycle What they do for us: What they stop us from doing: Allowing all learners to progress at their optimum rate of learning Allows for the mass customization of products and services Today’s power technology: Apple iTunes, Google, Amazon.com, Bing Who is doing it now:

4. 2. Students Assigned to Classrooms Allow us to divide/group students into manageable numbers and to assign staff responsible for control and accountability What they do for us: Bringing students with similar learning needs together with a master teacher to study and master a specific learner outcome What they stop us from doing: Allows for complex schedule coordination Today’s power technology: Microsoft Exchange Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar, Google Calendar, Apple iCal Who is doing it now:

5. 3. CLASS PERIODS/BELL SCHEDULE Provide logistical control of curriculum, courses, staff and students …we always know where everyone is…or should be What they do for us: Putting everyone…learners and teachers…in control of getting to where they need to be What they stop us from doing: Allows for complex schedule coordination Today’s power technology: Microsoft Exchange Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar, Google Calendar, Apple iCal Who is doing it now:

6. 4. COURSES/CURRICULUM Identify what we will teach/cover, and divides the content into chunks that fit into quarters, semesters, years, and ultimately into graduation requirements What they do for us: Allowing life-role learner outcomes to determine the direction and progress of learning What they stop us from doing: Allows any content to be available from anywhere at any time Today’s power technology: Wikipedia, Bing, Google, the Web Who is doing it now:

7. 5. TEXTBOOKS Provide authoritative and dependable content/curriculum in chunks that fit a specific course…teachers know what they are to teach and students know what they are to learn What they do for us: Accessing nearly unlimited content from anywhere that directly fits learner needs and interests What they stop us from doing: Virtually all known information is readily available on the Internet Today’s power technology: Bing, Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia Who is doing it now:

8. 6. PAPER AND PENCIL Provide written documentation/records of the performance and achievement of students What they do for us: Using digital records of student performance that are easily reconfigured into different formats What they stop us from doing: Thumb drives which hold 8 gigs of data, cloud technology, Dropbox, Google Drive. Today’s power technology: Thumb drives and larger digital storage devices available in all electronic stores, Target, Walmart…computer backup drives store and protect great amounts of information Who is doing it now:

9. 7. ABC Grading System Allows us to evaluate the progress of all students, rank/compare their achievement, and determine those who have met graduation requirements What they do for us: Allowing each student to create an electronic portfolio documenting his or her learner outcome demonstrations What they stop us from doing: Personal production of all types of media . . . with rather good quality . . . by anyone with a computer and digital camera Today’s power technology: YouTube, MySpace, Facebook . . . and many, many people from their homes or offices Who is doing it now:

10. 8. REPORT CARDS Allow us to evaluate the performance/achievement of students and communicate that evaluation to parents What they do for us: Providing learners, parents, and teachers real-time information regarding real student achievement What they stop us from doing: Secure, encrypted digital communication with anyone “with a need to know” Today’s power technology: Banks, online retailers, Amazon.com, eBay Who is doing it now:

11. 9. LEARNING HAPPENS IN SCHOOL Allows the school system to be in control of students, to create a system of accountability for the physical well-being of learners, and to efficiently administer a logistically complex organization What they do for us: Learning in real-life contexts, making effective use of community resources…both physical and human resources What they stop us from doing: Allows anyone to learn anything from anywhere at any time from worldwide resources Today’s power technology: Phoenix University and other online learning courses and degrees, cyber schools, exchange programs, learner “shadowing” opportunities Who is doing it now: