A Timeline: When did you first hear "Time is a Variable" and "The Student is the Class"?

My journey toward  "Time is a variable" went like this:

TIMELINE

2005:  I heard Dennis Littky's interview on National Pubic Radio

www.TINYURL.com/littkyradio

2007:  I obtained permission from the publisher of Littky's book to translate it into Spanish

2009:  I visited Dr Fischler in his office.  

Steve: "Have you heard of Littky's book?"

F:  "No.  have you seen my blog?"

Steve:  "no."

So I volunteered to put his blogposts into a book (supplemented with his commentaries about quotations) and the result is attached:  www.TINYURL.com/Fischlerebook

I've used the phrase "Learning should be fun for the learner" (page 26) to engage students and to train teachers in the methods that Fischler promoted.

He told me about his testimony to the Miami Dade School Board to persuade them to allow Mavericks to open in Dade.  His testimony was key.

2010:  Fischler was standing outside the front of Mavericks High in Broward.  "They want to put my name on the front of that building.  I said, You have a Model T.  It's not quite there yet.  You have computers, but you don't use discussions and projects enough.   I won't let them put my name on the building until they improve the product."    (Mavericks never followed through.)

2011:  the Fischler commentaries book became available on Createspace (Amazon)

I also compiled some posters out of phrases that Fischler used.  www.TINYURL.com/fischlerposters

2013:  Alfredo de la Rosa gave a speech about "Time is a variable" and "Dr. Fischler" and "The Student is the Class."  August 2013   you can hear the speech  www.TINYURL.com/delarosaspeech    www.TINYURL.com/delarosa10    www.TINYURL.com/delarosa33 33 minute version

2014:  Littky's book in Spanish became available.   www.TINYURL.com/Spanish10Expectations  (the Spanish translation of Littky's 10 expectations   see www.LeavingtoLearn.org)

I mention Littky because many of his procedures appear to be similar to the xceedprep philosophy of letting students choose how and when to study.  "Own your day" is such a good phrase.  

The future.

The legacy of all of this writing is "spread it."  That's what Dr. Fischler asked.  Give away the ebook.

His story about the history of Nova is on video   www.TINYURL.com/historyofnova from a series of talks that Fischler gave to a class at Nova (graduate school)

The day of Fischler's funeral, I found a job announcement for xceedprep academy.

I love the Xceed poster with "School" and "Prison" and the features are identical.

It reminds me of an article in Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest did a review of schools.

http://www.rd.com/advice/parenting/american-school-system-damaging-kids/

PROPOSAL (for any school)

I would like to meet with you and find out how best to pass along what Dr. Fischler asked me to distribute:  He asked me to distribute the ebook "wherever."  The book is also translated into Spanish.

These ebooks are free for downloading.

www.TINYURL.com/freeforfamily  has many of the links

Projects and Portfolios   Matt Blazek  www.TINYURL.com/mattblazek  meeting with Dr Fischler

the ebook  www.TINYURL.com/blazekprojects

how to set up a digital portfolio  (to keep track of the projects)   www.TINYURL.com/sundp5

www.TINYURL.com/showyourwork  another way of showing the digital portfolio

This is all public domain.  Just give attribution.   

There is a delightful story about Arthur C Clark and the invention of the satellite

. In his authorized biography, Clarke admitted, "I never really expected to see it in my life; I also... seem to recall thinking it was an idea for all humanity, so I should publish to prevent anyone else from taking out a patent. As indeed I did..."

Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/special-features/articles/arthur-c-clarke-satellite-communications-patent/7/6/2010/id/28818#ixzz4dZM9iLuJ

That's what I feel about these ebooks.   Many of the ideas came because I was touched by the procedures and practices at Big Picture Learning (Rhode Island), High Tech High school (San Diego), Dan Pink (Free Agent Nation, A Whole new Mind, Drive, To Sell is Human), Seth Godin (and his many ebooks) and Dr. Fischler

So I'm happy to see what can be shared and improved by schools and teachers.

Boca Prep and other IB schools have a tradition of "sharing their procedures with other schools."  A certain amount of time is given each year to visiting other schools and giving workshops about "how to use the IB process in your school." 

Steve McCrea

Advocate of the Fischler method   "Learning should be fun for the learner and the teacher."

June 12, 2016  Dr. Fischler

Let's identify schools that are putting into practice some of the themes from Dr. Fischler's writings: a focus on Xceed Academy

The profile of Xceed academy mentions:

"the school will have a feel of a start up company rather than a traditional factory style school" 

This type of school offers some of the features described by Dr. Fischler at www.fb.com/TheStudentistheClass and www.TINYURL.com/FischlerEbook, a free book of commentaries by the former president of Nova University.

Xceed Academy's Instagram account has the following images:

These images relate to Dr. Fischler's blogpost from 2006:


The Problem

At the present time, teachers are working hard but we are still not fulfilling the demands of our students or our society. Why not? The schools are set up with an agrarian calendar and teachers are responsible for teaching to a class as a unit. Time is fixed and the only variable is performance – some pass and others fail. And, if the persons who fail do not make up and achieve the proficiency that the test is measuring, they drift further and further behind. The consequences are numerous and punishing. How does this instill a love of learning? This approach does not take into account a truism: ‘all students can learn but they learn at different rates and have different preferential learning styles’.

Instead of asking the student to fit the administrative structure (i.e., the class and arbitrary time periods for learning subjects and achieving competencies), we must provide each student with the time and means to succeed. Rather than punish the student who learns more slowly than the arbitrarily chosen period, we must treat each student as the class.

We must find a way of doing this. Other industries have made similar changes* and it is now time for education to do the same.

*Take FedEx, who can tell you where any package is at any time. Look at banking, which is now available 24 hours a day through ATMs and you can go to almost any ATM to withdraw or deposit funds. Both industries invested in information and delivery systems to meet the needs of their clients rather than asking their clients to accommodate to a fixed structure. Now the automobile industry is enabling customers to order on demand rather than requiring them to accept whatever is available in the dealer’s lot. In the business world, however, there is competition that requires companies to adapt – education has not had this catalyst.


See Dr Fischler's blog

Fischler asked, "How do you become a visible agent of change?"

Dr. Fischler spent time with teachers.  Here are some screen shots from a 2 minute statement made in 2011.

SPECIAL THANKS to all who visited Dr Fischler or took time to talk with him, including Francois Savain, Jason Trinidad Pucheu and others for being part of the team of educators who pelted Dr Fischler with questions. Others include Matt Blazek, Mrs. Qureshi (a science teacher, much like Dr Fischler because she taught high school biology), Dennis Yuzenas, Omar Vasile, Mario Llorente, Jeff Jeffery Hutt, Diane Grondin, Tammy Lara, DeeEtte Naukana, Jerrad Evans, abdulrahman alnofal, https://twitter.com/abdulalnofal?lang=en and others who visited Dr. Fischler in his office or who took time to talk with Dr. Fischler when he visited SunEd High, Boca Prep International, Oxbridge Academy and other schools. Thank you to you all for taking time to read and download the book of Commentaries that Dr. Fischler compiled www.TINYURL.com/fischlerebook and the posters that captured his philosophy www.TINYURL.com/fischlerposters ... and special thanks to Alfred de la Rosa for mentioning "TIME IS A VARIABLE" and "THE STUDENT IS THE CLASS" in an August 2013 speech to parents in Miami Arts Charter School. https://www.facebook.com/TheStudentIsTheClass/

TEXT OF THE SPEECH by de la Rosa
http://abrahamfischler.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-first-principal-to-use-phrases-time.html




The Complete Speech by De La Rosa in August 2014

Will Sutherland of England was on the Skype Call in 2011 when this video was recorded.

Here is Will's message to the community who remembers Dr. Fischler.

A message of support from Will Sutherland

======

I am very sorry to hear of the passing of Dr. Abraham Fischler. Please would pass on the following to his family and friends:

Having worked in European education for 55 years I was introduced to Dr Abraham Fischler by Steve McCrea. I had the honour of having a skype video meeting with them to exchange ideas on distance learning and experiential education. Over the past three years ideas discussed then have been implemented in our courses to the great benefit of our students. Dr. Fischler was sincere and profound in his values and educational concepts which were obviously based on years of experience in the field. He was a beacon in educational circles whose light will continue to shine across the world well after his passing. It is with thanks to him we offer our most heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

Will Sutherland.

Director QBE Education.

WS@qbeglobal.net

https://www.facebook.com/qbeels/


=======

Message from Mr. De La Rosa

Currently, I am about to take a flight to Barcelona. First vacation in about eight years. I will be there for ten days. I regret that I won't be able to attend. 

Please give my condolences to Dr. Fischler's family. He was a good man and a very influential educator. Many prayers to all. 

Thanks again, 

Alfred de la Rosa, NBCT

Founder & Chief Education Administrator

Instrumental Music Conductor

Miami Arts Charter Schools

95 Northwest 23rd Street

Miami, Florida 33127

Office: (305) 763-6257

Web: www.miamiartscharter.net

The first principal to use the phrases "Time is a variable" and "the student is the class" in a speech to parents, August 2013

Here is the link to the speech by Alfred de la Rosa, principal of Miami Arts Charter

33 Minutes   TINYURL.com/delarosa33

10 minutes  TINYURL.com/delarosa10
Here are screenshots from the speech that is located on Youtube.

You can see the text of the speech in a blog  HERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKMW3xvtTrQ&t=3s

TINYURL.com/delarosaSpeech is the blog where you can find the speech.

The text of the speech

Principal Alfred De La Rosa say, "We are looking to introduce a blend of the Fontán Method from Colombia, where Time is a variable and the arts."  On 14 August 




2013 De La Rosa announced a new theme at MAC school:  "The student is the class." You can learn more about his speech to parents by visiting the blog post that gives the entire speech, but here is an excerpt:

Now, here's what we're going to do.  

if you are a school like us, we're going to implement a time-variable model.  Students will be able to work at their own pace.  

It doesn't mean that they are going to have an unlimited amount of time.  They will be able to manipulate the time in cooperation with the teacher to serve their needs.  

An Example

Picture yourself going from one city to another in a car.  You are told that you have to go 50 mph to get there and you can never slow down and you can never speed up.  When you reach a sharp curve, you have to take that curve at 50 mph.  When you are on a straightaway, where you could make up some time,  you can't go any faster. 

When students are put in a strict timeline, those that can go faster tend not to be able to do so.  The teacher has to wait for certain people in the class to catch up.  A good teacher is going to try to keep as many kids on board as possible.  We call that "the proximity" or the "herd."  

If a student is a struggling student in that class, it doesn't help because the class is going to go too fast for that student no matter what.  The only students who benefit from this approach are the ones in the middle.

Because time is constant and the learning is variable, we have mixed results as we move from year to year.  As the material gets more difficult, the kids who do well usually continue doing well and the students who do 

How can we fix this?  What can we change?  The class moves forward when there is overall success.

Now we have the student is the class and the only way we can make this work is if we work individually with each student.  

If a student is capable in mathematics, they can move ahead.  

If a student is struggling, they can slow down.

Dr Fischler met with Mrs. Quresh, a biology teacher, in Jan. 2014