Core Subjects?

Is there any such thing as a core subject in the Middle School any more? Considering that we are encouraging students to be innovative problem solvers, are these skills attached to any particular subject? Surely we have to consider Numeracy and Literacy to be the base of everything else we do, but are they core subjects? Does a 'core' subject vary from student to student? What emphasis should we be putting, in terms of time, on each subject?

Not technology - just living

Erica also talked about technology is not technology to the students of today. Just as we don't refer to the telephone as 'technology' because it's always been around, the students of today have always had laptops and cellphones and ipods, so they don't refer to it as 'technology' ... to them it is just living. What does that mean for teachers? What does it mean to teach someone who does not consider a laptop 'new technology'? What does it mean to teach someone who goes home from school and creates web content collaboratively, without ever being taught how by a teacher?

Unlearning Education

At the recent MYSA conference (Middle Year School Association), Erica McWilliams talked about unlearning some educational ideas, before we can start to re-learn education for the future.