By Brian Skeele, on March 7th, 2011
To me, waiting our car-dependent, sprawl suburbia economy to rebound is like waiting for the Easter Bunny to show up. Wisely renovating, retrofitting, redeveloping our neighborhoods and communities is the base of our future prosperous economy.
Easter Bunny Waiting for the Suburbia Economy to Recover
In other words, we are going to be studying and applying what works for the rest of our lives. Learning isn’t just for kids any more, learning is a way of life.
I’m reading Creating Learning Communities-Models, Resources, and New Ways of Thinking About Teaching and Learning, edited by Ron Miller.
24 years (as of 2000) of innovation has created a learning atmosphere that is “systemic or comprehensive” rather than piecemeal change, “transformational learning outcomes,” “real world linkages” for learning through experience, “learning experiences…that are child-centered, life-centered and brain-based,” Personal Learning Plans,” “elevating the position of teacher to ‘facilitators of learning,” “students viewed as powerful resources and participant in decision making, vigorously involved parents,” partnerships with other entities in the community, CLCs as “headquarters for learning for the community” and programs based on needs that are “family centered and family supportive.”…
The challenges of our times call for these kinds of creative responses, in every aspect of our lives. I call it “Mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods, with lifelong learning and open space”. School, learning, becomes a center piece of our lives. Together we can reinvent our lives and make sustainability real.
Image courtesy of Keepittrill.com