Hi! I am a portuguese teacher (I work with 5th and 6th grades, math and sciences... since 1985) and I'm doing my thesis - master degree in educational technologies (University of Lisbon - Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science)...
When I've started my career, I 've worked with logo... Now my thesis is a kind of Action-research (kids from 5th and 6th grades) about learning the curriculum and much more using programming activities with Scratch... in a much free way (they program at school, at home... ) ... So... it was really nice for me to have found your paper in Edutopia... cause I share the central idea with you... and your words will add a strong contribution to support my will in pursuing this adventure. I strongly believe that we must begin to see education in a completely new way and not try to use technologies in a poor way, reproducing traditional paradigms... but here in Portugal it is no easy to do it... Well, I'm trying... and my kids and families are loving it (cause I try to balance freedom, with some traditional ways, so parents donīt panic with the experience... step by step).
I wrote you just to say thanks... I'll "be watching you and your writings from close". We must learn with the best, the visionaries, the futurists...