Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id hAIHESm29592; Tue, 18 Nov 2003 12:14:28 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 12:14:28 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <143.1c64d732.2cebac98@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: MWPotts2001@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:2610] Purpose-driven X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Mac sub 39 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Status: O Content-Length: 2203 Lines: 65 Colleagues, Perhaps it is a stretch, but I could not help making a connection between the article below and the Purposeful instruction that is part of the EFF philosophical approach to teaching and learning. Warren notes that unless we understand our purpose, we cannot define beliefs, behaviors and actions. Somehow, I drew a parallel to purpose, standards, activities and transfer to real life contexts within our EFF environment. This excerpt is from the PEN Weekly Newsblast for Nov 14, 2003. All the Best, Meta Potts, Moderator 4-EFF List Glen Allen, VA mwpotts2001@aol.com PURPOSE DRIVEN SCHOOLS Purpose is paramount to the existence of organizations, institutions, and people. This quintessential subject is artfully addressed by Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life. Warren notes that all people are driven by something, regardless of whether they are cognizant of it or not. He argues that drive (understood as one’s guiding, controlling, directing force) is inextricably linked to one’s purpose. Purpose-driven schooling is the unwavering notion that without purpose a school would not exist, at least effectively. Rick DuFour, author of "Professional Learning Communities at Work," views a school’s purpose as one of four pillars upon which success is built. A school must establish why it exists (purpose) before it can define what it believes, how it behaves, and what it does first. If a school does not clearly articulate a meaningful purpose, it cannot be sure what it is providing in terms of an educational experience, or if it is cultivating young minds prepared to grapple with the complexities and dilemmas of living in the twenty-first century. According to Brooke O’Drobinak, in the new issue of HeadFirst, writes that too often schools resemble large systems that are little more that a conglomeration of disconnected programs and activities that don't link to a central, guiding purpose. And despite the recent craze for vision statements and school improvement plans, many schools are driven by unconscious agendas that ultimately are harmful to students. http://www.headfirstcolorado.org/adm/view_article.php?story_id=49
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