Shift #2: Teach Less, Learn More!

Teach Less, Learn More! is the educational framework Singapore developed to meet the demands of the 21st century. This chapter, within 21st Century Skills:  Rethinking How Students Learn, resonated with us because it is necessary and important that we face the reality in which our students and children are living, and it generates the change through the work of PLC teams. The world is a developing place and in order for us to best prepare students we must recognize this reality, rethink what we do and how we do it, and redirect our work into creating a model that engages students effectively. Communication and development within each PLC can make this a reality. Fogarty and Pete (2010) explain, "This vision is the frame and the fuel for the conversation within the school system's PLCs. What begin as ordinary conversations among colleagues evolve into practical missions for school teams" (p. 114). PLC efforts must generate a system wide shift in perspective, a call to action.  Understanding this perspective, the immense collective talent of each PLC team can forge ahead through the 5 R’s of recognize, rethink, redirect, re-engage, and re-envision, thereby regenerating education for the 21st century. Fogarty and Pete (2010) state, “The change process is about evolutionary thinking, not revolutionary thinking, and it all begins with these critical collaborative conversations” (p. 101). So what does it mean to Teach Less, Learn More? Well, read on to view my synthesis of this model:

Evolutionary thinking indeed!  ~ Ann

Robin Fogarty & Brian, M. Pete. (2010). The singapore vision: Teach less, learn more. In J. Bellanca & R. Brandt. (Eds.), 21st century skills: Rethinking how students learn. (pp.96-115). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.


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Shift #1:  RESEARCH IS CRUCIAL