Howard Gardner, of the theory of multiple intelligence fame, mentions Socrates in his pathway to understanding, and at other times Plato who 2500 years ago believed we needed to make learning fun.  "Through education we need to help students find pleasure in what they have to learn" (Gardner,2001,p.10).  Over one-hundred year ago John Dewey, author of Experience and Education, felt "the function of education, then, is to help people, particularly students, direct, control, and guide personal and social experience for a more democratic way of life" (Kaplan,2002,p.158). 

Why have we traveled so far away from these valuable premises?  Learning should be fun, engaging, productive, cyclic, and on-going, forever instilling a natural enthusiasm for knowledge. As a school administrator, the purpose of education can be summed up with what Dewey said in 1916 when he stated we not only wish "to make (good) citizens and workers" but also we ultimately want "to make human beings who will live life to the fullest" (Ornstein, 1993, p.15).  The formation of attitudes, values, and beliefs were the goals Dewey proposed and he realized the most important attitude to be formed was the desire to go on learning. (Dewey, 1939, p.48)  Currently, Howard Gardner, of Harvard University, would add that we can not survive unless we pass on what we believe to be true, beautiful and good.  I feel that the purpose of education is to cultivate the whole child and instill a life long love of learning through quality learning opportunities that find and solve problems so that they become positive contributors in our technological, ever-changing society and global marketplace.

As a school leader, my role would be to involve all stakeholders - students, teachers, staff members, parents, the community and policy makers in this on-going process.  The parents should be active contributors to their child's education as well as the school's vision.  Everyone's specific talents, vocations, abilities, experiences and beliefs should enrich the educational process.  " Their artistry can galvanize a diverse group of people into a cohesive community whose members are committed to a beloved institution" (Educational Leadership, 2000, p. 214).  

The curriculum content and organization should be balanced integrated problem-focused core curriculum for general education that is relevant to the learners' lives so that they experience shared responsibilities and problem solving.  "The purpose of creating a universe of inquiry, discourse, and understanding among youngsters of different backgrounds and aspirations who, as citizens of a free society, are obliged to share certain common responsibilities and problems "(Tanner, Tanner, 1995, p. 391).  Children will be encouraged to comprehend in depth the problems of their environment and expand upon viable solutions.  This would be accomplished using a block-time schedule with team teaching whenever possible to advantageously use different teachers' talents.  Howard Gardner discovered in his research on human intelligence that elementary and middle schools should focus on long-term projects that integrate several subjects. (Glickman, 2001, p. 392)  I feel the preplanned problems core curriculum would work best initially because it offers the opportunity for a comprehensive group effort to be structured from the core faculty before hand and a variety of choices for the students.  Once the program is established and running smoothly, the open core curriculum could be instituted by a select group or the entire core faculty when they feel they are ready to totally plan with the students without a formal structure in place.   The complete open core curriculum demands extremely creative and resourceful teachers who are willing to spend an unlimited amount of time planning with their students.  "As students learn differently and their needs vary, using only one instructional strategy is not sufficient.  Teachers can use strategies to help students learn, assess the degree of learning and determine how well a learner has transferred the strategy into a personal learning tool.  The learning environment must take students beyond rote learning into a level of discovery and exploration" (http://www.kde.state.ky.us/oapd/curric/Publications/Transformations/teach...p.1). 

Teachers in my school will serve as coaches or facilitators of learning - designing, coaching, and offering constant feedback and guidance as well as encouragement.  The students will be engaged, then exhibit their knowledge or learning and reflect upon it.  (Gordon, 1998, p. 393)  The teacher and the student will work in this partnership to enrich each other's learning and expertise.  As Gardner stated, "The job of the teacher... is to help students be clear, systematic and rigorous about consequential matters" (Scherer, 1999, p. 14).   The more varied the students the more varied the strategies.  Since students have an array of multiple intelligences, a unique combination and degree of these intelligences, and children learn differently through their primary modalities it seems flexibility and creativity are of utmost importance when educating children.   My teachers must constantly assess and reassess if learning is taking place and shift gears to meet the needs of our students.  Stamping a child as a failure is not an acceptable teaching technique.  Finding the way that learning occurs for each child is an ongoing discovery process for the teacher.  Children develop higher order thinking when they are actively involved in the process.  Hands on projects, labs and experiments, field trips, community service, independent studies, collaborative groups, peer teaching and school improvement  projects to name a few are all techniques that should be ultilized to optimize student involvement.  I feel children should be grouped heterogeneously so that various abilites and strengths can work together (as in society) and built upon so students can then appreciate each other's strengths and weaknesses and learn how everyone is valuable to the working of the group. 

"We must move assessment activities closer to the actual work of teachers and children... assessment should empower students as learners (http://www.kde.state.ky.us/oapd/curric/Publication/Transformations/tle.h...p.12)." Assessment should be ongoing and evolve to suit the best of each student.  Alternate assessment can include any of the following:  varied projects, performances, organizers, artifacts, exhibitions, portfolios, journals, self- assessment, teacher-created records, rubrics, observation checklists, peer and/or teacher assessment, oral, etc.  Authentic benchmarks with models of excellence available can also be utilized.  Standardized tests should always be aligned with the core curriculum and only used to improve student and teacher performance not as an end all, gatekeeper or to pigeonhole students into frustrating bottom or low groups.  I'm a born optimist so I believe all this can happen.  We can overcome any difficulty with combined effort, beliefs, and hope.  Our undying hope for the future - our children and their needs must be addressed today and every day thereafter.  "Our culture survives, Dewey insisted, because education renews the human spirit" (Kaplan, 2002,p. 157).

                                 REFERENCES

Deal, T., Peterson, K.(2000). Eight roles of symbolic leaders.  In Jossey-Bass Reader on educational leadership (pp. 202-214). San Francisco,CA.

Dewey, John. (1936). Experience and education.  New York: Touchstone Books.

Glickman,C., Gordon,S., Ross- Gordon, (2001)SuperVision and instructional leadership.Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Google Search,  Images, School Scenes, Science. jpg. websites. ntl. com/ stjohn/around.htm.

http:/www.kde.stateky.us/oapd/curric/Publications/Transformations/teach...p.1,12.

Kaplan, J.S. (2002, Summer). John Dewey at the beach. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 38,156-159.

Scherer, M. (1990, November). The understanding pathway a conversation with Howard Gardner. Educational Leadership, 24, 12-16.

Tanner, D., Tanner, L. (1995). Curriculum development theory into practice.New Jersey:  Prentice-Hall, Inc.

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