Whatever! The Conceptual Era & the Evolution of School v2.0
Mark Treadwell

The book that synthesises all the issues into one overarching theoretical and practical framework. The text provides a rationale for the exponential changes that lie ahead and then deals with each of the issues one by one addressing curricula, assessment, inquiry learning, the role of technology, professional learning, the transitions, an updated theoretical and practical model of thinking and how the brain works, the role of attitudes, values, principles and wisdom as we head into an era that values innovation and creativity. 

Available from http://www.schoolv2.net from October 2007

In Search of Understanding:
The Case for Constructivist Classrooms

Jacqueline Grennon-Brooks

The most succinct book available dealing with the issue of constructivist classroom practices. The book presents the case for developing classrooms in which learners are encouraged to develop a deep understanding of the underlying concepts as opposed to simply stopping at remembering facts and making work look pretty! This is an excellent practical classroom text which will greatly assist educators in implementing constructivist approaches to their teaching-learning within the classroom.

Five Minds for the Future:

Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner postulates that there are five key “Minds for the Future” being

·         The disciplined mind

·         The synthesizing mind

·         The creative mind

·         The respectful mind

·         The ethical mind

These "minds" need to be developed so that everyone can cope with the emerging  exponential rate of change that is being driven by unheard of levels of  innovation and creativity.

On Intelligence

Jeff Hawkins + Sandra Blakeslee;

A brilliant book for those looking to get up to date with some of the latest neuroscience that underpins thinking. Unless we can understand thinking then it is unlikely that we will understand learning and if we do not understand learning then it is even less likely we will develop good teaching strategies. The concept of invariant frameworks and how they are learnt as well as the concept of sequencing patterns and making predictions are well explained in this excellent resource for educators.

   The Big Picture: Education is Everyone’s Business

Dennis Littky

Defining the new purpose of education in a world where we have no idea what our young learners will need to know when they leave school is a huge challenge. The focus on developing confident, connected, actively involve lifelong learners goes a long way towards defining a schools purpose in the 21st century. Dennis Littky investigates the big picture and provides a powerful reference point with practical exemplars of how this can be achieved.  This book will challenge what a school can achieve and how learners can take hold of their own learning journey.

Breakthrough
Michael Fullan; Peter Hill & Carmel Crevola

"Breakthrough presents a revolutionary new approach to education reform, breaking away from  the conventional paradigm to help educators create focused instruction, transform the classroom experience, and dramatically raise - and sustain- performance levels for students and teachers alike." The central theme of breakthrough” is being able to use effective summative, formative and diagnostic assessment tools to individualise education programs for learners. mapping effective paths for development and making learning intentions clear are all critical success factors.

Catching the Knowledge Wave
Jane Gilbert

In this brilliant book by Jane Gilbert the scene is set for changing knowledge from a noun to an adjective and "if we reject the new capitalism and the new models of knowledge, or simply fail to engage with them, it is highly likely that more and more people will begin to see schools as irrelevant and peripheral to the concerns of the real world." This hard hitting book and the well developed arguments provide an framework around which we can develop our new understanding of what school needs to be become; right now.  Available online from http://www.nzcer.org.nz/default.php?products_id=1215

Wikinomics
Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams

The ability to access rich, multimedia  information resources and then apply the collaborative tools of the internet provides the essential toolkit for a paradigm shift in how we learn within schools and the workplace. Don Tapscott shows how MySpace, web 2.0 and school 2.0 are symptomatic of the confluence of the internet tools and culture allowing innovation and creativity on a scale never seen before and giving rise to the “Nouvelle Compréhension” (New Understanding); the second Renaissance.

Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World & the Way You Live in it. 
Thomas Zengotita

I though I understood the effect of the media on how we think and act  . . until I read this book. The subtle and not-so-subtle way the media instructs us to feel, think and act is frightening and as educators it is critical we understand this and educate our young learners to be able to see through and around this issue. With Departments/Ministries of Education now starting to mandate critical literacy this aspect of education is becoming; well. . . . critical and this text is an excellent and highly readable introduction to the issue.

Tough Choices : Tough Times
The report of the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce

This is brilliant; a must read for all educators and administrators. With the cost of education increasing over 2.4 times since 1977 but with test scores hitting the glass ceiling of the previous education paradigm questions are being asked and blunt and to the point documents such as this provide a great stimulus and a heightened sense of urgency to the situation.

You can download the executive summary http://skillscommission.org/pdf/exec_sum/
ToughChoices_EXECSUM.pdf  and the book from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Tough-Choices-Times-Commission-Workforce/dp/0787995983  Released Dec 2006.

Paradigms The Business of
Discovering the Future
Joel Barker.

Where it all began. Understanding paradigm shifts provide the keys to how to prepare for and manage them and this text is an excellent primer to encourage staff to look at how they can prepare their learner san dhow the entire education system needs to be radically revised in order to meet the challenges that lie ahead in the very near future.

The New Meaning for Educational Change
Michael Fullan

With the rate of exponential change via the paradigm shift having far reaching effects on almost every aspect of education the need for a text such as this has never been greater. The book acts as a strategic planning guide for administrators on how to manage change on this scale and the processes that need to be in place in order to continually adjust to changing environments. Chapters such as "Why Planning fails!", The Complexity of Leadership and "The Change Process" provide invaluable insight and resource to manage the unmanageable.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Malcolm Gladwell

Thinking on the fly; how reliable is it? Can we rely on intuition? The role of decision making "on the fly" versus our expectation that sensible logical thinking over time is a much better approach is now brought into question again. Plato and Aristotle had the same discussion thousands of years ago but now we have numerous scientific studies and the recent, dramatic improvements in the field of neuroscience that support the ability to make decisions in "the blink of an eye". If you teach thinking (hopefully everyone), then this is a book that you should be reading.

A Whole New Mind: The Rise of the Conceptual Age.  
Daniel Pink

The rise of importance of understanding, not just knowing is the central theme of this book but also Daniel Pink provides the six "senses" that will allow us to succeed in this seemingly chaotic environment. Increasingly these six senses need to be exposed in our education systems in order to empower our learners to enjoy a sense of balance and success that matters. The six senses; design (creativity); story (metaphor); symphony (synthesis); empathy (love); play (socialization) and meaning (purpose) are keys to unlocking successful futures for learners and ourselves.

The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts and Cultures.
Frans Johansson.

Where and why innovation and creativity happens depends on innumerable variables but there are some key changes and the biggest of these is that the majority of innovations today are happening at the intersection of disciplines not within discrete disciplines.  The consequences of this realisation are considerable for education. The development of concepts across numerous contexts is central to the 21st curriculum and Frans Johasson ably describes why in this well written book on the topic. If we are looking to creativity and innovation then we need to learn the lessons that this book presents. 

The World is Flat
Thomas L Friedman  

In the new paradigm the world is once again flat and the tyranny of distance is now a misdemeanour. The argument in the book centres around the notion that the Internet has fundamentally changed how we do business and how we learn, create and innovate. The ability to source information and resources by anyone from anywhere, anytime at costs that have reduced dramatically, couples with the fact that anyone can communicate with anyone else, anywhere at any time have created a "flat world" where anyone can be or create the next "greatest thing". The democracy of innovation allows this emerging next renaissance to completely overwhelm the first and it will change the course of history on a scale never seen before.

Leading through Values
Michael Henderson

All the books here are excellent but without a core set of values underpinning these that we can all agree on, most of the ideas within each of these books will come to nothing because the nature of our "humanity". Our tendency to put self first will overwhelm our desire to make a difference and hence the need for our communities, and in particular educators to establish a core set of values to drive and underpin the evolving new renaissance; “Nouvelle Compréhension”. This powerful book by Michael Henderson provides an excellent basis in establishing a values platform. Available via the website: http://www.valuesatwork.org/books.html

Key Competencies: Repackaging the
Old or Creating the New
New Zealand Council for Educational Research

The competencies are key to the way forward for schools in the 21st century and they will form the core of our curricula and the basis for our planning. At the core of the competencies though is metacognition. Without this capability the competencies are of little value. Being able to think about your own thinking is the key empowering tool in coping with and continually adjusting to a rapidly changing world. This collection of "conference proceedings" which were drawn from the 2006 NZCER conference. Particularly valuable is the work of Rosemary Hipkins. Available from the web site  http://www.nzcer.org.nz/default.php?products_id=1714

Scientific American Mind

This should be in every staff room across the world. The articles are challenging and at a level that is excellent for the teaching profession. Research results around the developments within the neuroscience community written in a format and style that makes then eminently readable makes this journal essential reading. Available from most stationary stores or online at http://www.sciammind.com

Teaching for Understanding with Technology
Martha Stone-Wiske

This excellent text puts the role of technology in its place. Technology is a tool that allows and facilitates "teaching/learning for understanding". The book investigates the role of reflective journals, and emerging web 2.0 technologies as a tool for effective metacognition and the ability of learners to build understanding. The book is about strategies to help learners generate their own understanding of concepts and apply them to a variety of contexts; some known and some new.