Teaching: Let's Roll Up Our Sleeves

Before reading this post, check out this Ted talk by Ken Jennings, the one-time undisputed king of Jeopardy, as he discusses how it felt to be surpassed by a computer:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_jennings_watson_jeopardy_and_me_the_obsolete_know_it_all.html...

Over the last few weeks, I've been discussing my hypothetical school I'm considering opening. I'm still in the very early planning stages and have been soliciting feedback from as many respected sources as possible. 
Some ideas have been very well-received. Others have been met with a degree of skepticism. One such idea is the exclusive use of volunteers. The logic behind the idea gets muddled in my school because I also erase the distinction between students...

Mastery.
In the school setting, it usually refers to reaching a particular goal like a fourth grade reading level or a 90% or better on the state-mandated standardized test. It's a word educators adopted to use to describe benchmarks their students must strive...

The story of John Henry is a cautionary tale about the effects of modernization. The gist of the story- John Henry was a former slave working as a steel driver (hammered holes in rocks for the placement of explosives) during the railroad boom of the...