I’ve been disconnected for a bit due to the demands of being a school administrator and as a student working on my on education, so that explains why I missed the passing of one of the most passionate educators I’ve met online, Joe Bower. For those of you who didn’t know Joe Bower, he is the author of the blog For the Love of Learning, and was an advocate for transforming schools into places where real learning happens instead of the focus on grades and testing that so currently preoccupies educators, politicians, and policymakers. He and I connected on a number of occasions through Twitter on issues of authentically assessing what students know rather than “bubble-sheeting” them to boredom.
Joe Bower and I never physically met, but through the power of social media and the Internet, we met and connected on several occasions, and it was clear that I met a true advocate for changing education in ways that make it better for children. His ideas concerning doing away with grading and testing and focusing on providing students with opportunities to show exactly what they could do fits so well with my own thinking about teaching and learning. His voice in this area will be missed. I encourage all educators to visit his blog Love of Learning and experience his ideas for making education better in the 21st century. Joe Bower the advocate for children and for authentic education will be missed. He truly loved learning and shared that with all of us.
