The "Fix-It" Series. (I'd Love Ideas)

I love three-dimensional art for the ability to repurpose things that seem useless and turn them into something creative. I feel the same way when I watch America's Test Kitchen.  I love the notion of taking bad recipes, experimenting with them and then creating something that actually works.

So, I'm starting a series about fixing the things that seem broken, but still have something useful left in them. It's easy for me to offer criticism of what's broken. It's easy, too, for me to dream of something grand and wonderful and edutopian. It's harder for me to find to figure out how to tweak and refine and reconfigure the things that instantly seem broken. So call this an exercise in educational repurposing.

Sometimes, I am slow to offer solutions for another reason. It can feel arrogant to suggest that I have the answers, like solutions grow on trees and I have the magical beans to make it grow. Offering answers feels even more awkward when I'm having a difficult year and I'm questioning so many of my own answers.

And yet . . .

I think we can be too quick to tear down ideas and practices that initially seem silly or harmful or archaic. However, I want to spend some time in a blogging series exploring the idea of repurposing the broken.    

Here are a few topics that come to mind:

• Using lectures in class
• Homework
• Sending a class to the computer lab 
• The use of textbooks
• Pizza party rewards
• The flipped model (my rethink is heavily influenced by Brian Bennett and Brett Clark)
• Making data-driven decisions

I would love suggestions on the things that suck about schools. Feel free to leave comments below. I think this is going to be a fun series.