Teaching Ideas and Resources
Beyond Barriers
Published August 11, 2009 @ 07:04AM PT
In my previous post, I introduced an idea for a different type of online class, one which is only possible because of available technology. Many people have, rightfully so, questioned technology's ability to seriously impact education. It is often over-hyped, oversold and overpriced, yet I still hold the belief that under the right circumstances, it can help learners (and their communities) reach new places. For me, the challenge will be to do more than simply move the traditional classroom model online, throwing in some Web 2.0 tools for good measure. It will rest on how to best combine current technologies with pedagogical approaches that lead to significance, flow, self-direction, group action, sharing, joy... and produce the type of learning that will help us tackle the distributed, complex problems of our day.
Technology has never quite lived up to its potential as a teaching/learning tool because critics have spent too much time analyzing the wrong thing. We've thrown billions of dollars of hardware and software into the classroom, analyzing it under a microscope without doing much looking at the pedagogy it's supposed to support. In a recent blog comment (post worth reading!), Ira Socol astutely points out, "It is the job of education to alter itself to prove itself of value to the world which now exists."
What would happen if education altered itself to take advantage of the mature, ubiquitous tools that let anyone become a mass publisher? Or that allow for the simple group forming that makes people and their ideas findable, that simplify sharing and collaboration, and that disrupt long-held power structures? What would happen if educational programs stopped viewing socializing and play as hostile to learning, but instead, in the words of a recent report (p. 35), "positioned [themselves] to step in and support moments when youth are motivated to move from friendship-driven to more interest-driven forms of new media use"?
A traditional class, with its small group of students, insulated from the outside world, fails to capitalize on what's happening beyond its borders. Bill Joy, Sun Microsystem's founder, points out that most good ideas and talent are not in your institution but outside of it. It would seem to make sense then to try to establish connections with those on the outside.
Today's technology has made it easy to create and join networks. This has drastically changed important quantitative variables involved in learning. When a networked class member connects to another networked class member, they do not simply add another person to their network--they add another person's network to their network. Interconnections grow geometrically. The possibility of finding just the right person for a collaboration, or to answer a question, increases dramatically. More people connected to more information and the minds that are producing it, improves the possibilities of getting better feedback, attaining quicker results, and connecting people to new ideas. All this connective growth has increased variety, catering to the long tail. Using social media, students can now join formal and informal affinity groups and take online classes that in the past, either didn't exist, or were prohibitively expensive for their schools to offer. The quantity of information available today due to the fact that anyone can become a mass publisher is greater than at any time in our history. Those using networks and social tools like Delicious.com, Facebook and TweetDeck, are figuring out how to take advantage of ever-increasing amounts of information, finding needles in the ever-deepening haystacks.
While networked learning has allowed us to access larger quantities of information and increased variety for learners, maybe even more importantly, it has the potential to improve the quality of ideas. In his must-read book, Here Comes Everybody - The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, Clay Shirky points out that, "... most good ideas came from people who were bridging 'structural holes', which is to say people whose immediate social network included employees outside their department. Shirky follows with a quote from researcher Ronald Burt, author of "The Social Origins of Good Ideas", who writes:
People connected to groups beyond their own can expect to find themselves delivering valuable ideas, seeming to be gifted with creativity. This is not creativity born of deep intellectual ability. It is creativity as an import-export business. An idea mundane in one group can be a valuable insight in another.
If we look at how schools are structured today with their often strict adherence to hierarchies and disciplines, it would seem there are plenty of opportunities for bridging structural holes.
As potential agents of change, schools spend too much time in the future, preparing their students for that fateful moment when they enter the "real world". Insulated classes, island teachers and outdated policies end up disengaging students from the very real (and current!) world just outside their classroom window. Millions of hearts and minds ready to engage with all types of issues sit idly, battling the clock. Here, technology has the potential to be a real game-changer. Not only does it put students in touch with important issues, it allows them to do something about them. Social media has changed power structures in unprecedented ways. With the ability to easily connect with others (often surreptitiously), take pictures, record video, mass publish, and share information with little or no interference from superiors, people today are taking on governments, corporations, mass media--and winning. Maybe it's time for students to be challenged to do more with their networked technology than simply check grades and hand in work.
Many of today's most pressing challenges like climate change, fisheries depletion, virulent disease, invasive species... are complex, distributed, messy, extend beyond borders, and will require cooperation and collaboration in order to solve. The traditional school model where a few people at the top provide scarce knowledge to passive individuals at the bottom in order to make them more competitive on the global stage, no longer seems to make as much sense. (If it ever did.) We're only going to get better at this when we realize that information is no longer scarce, that people actually do like sharing and helping, and that force and competition will not solve all problems. The tools to effect serious change are on our desks, in our pockets and in our schools. However, they'll never live up to their potential as tools for change while the pedagogy they're supposed to support goes unanalyzed.
Tell Your Teacher Where to Go
Published August 10, 2009 @ 09:08AM PT
Participatory Learning - Join Us from Plearn on Vimeo.
After 15 years of working in schools and observing and reflecting on the practice, I’d like to attempt something different. I’m curious to know if it’s possible to get fifty people (and possibly an institution or three) on this wired planet to take just one foot out of the mainstream of education and participate in a course that operates under a very different educational paradigm than the one they’re used to. I’d like to know if learners are willing to put their own creative desires and curiosities ahead of doing what’s educationally safe. Is the dissonance between how people learn on their own today and how they are taught in schools jarring enough to make them want to try something new? Can the Internet’s currently evolved state and the culture of sharing, collaboration and participation that it has fueled, lead to a new educational paradigm where independent educational contractors (IECs), working in more decentralized environments, are able to offer a variety of courses serving the long tail of educational consumers in a way that more hierarchical institutions cannot?
In order to try to answer these questions, I’ve quit my job as a classroom teacher for next school year and built an online space–-a class (ParticipatoryLearning.net)–-based on the principles of participatory learning, among others. The definition of participatory learning which I find most useful, is the one which was offered for the Digital Media and Learning Competition:
Participatory Learning includes the ways in which new technologies enable learners (of any age) to contribute in diverse ways to individual and shared learning goals. Through games, wikis, blogs, virtual environments, social network sites, cell phones, mobile devices, and other digital platforms, learners can participate in virtual communities where they share ideas, comment upon one another’s projects, and plan, design, advance, implement, or simply discuss their goals and ideas together. Participatory learners come together to aggregate their ideas and experiences in a way that makes the whole ultimately greater than the sum of the parts.
Here's the pitch:
Join international educator Bill Farren for two semesters as he travels through four different South American countries, connecting students to real people, real communities and real issues. The journey will begin in Peru. From there, the class will vote on what country they will visit next. Participatory Learners (Plearners) will be able to track their teacher who will be acting as their “reporter/guide in the field” via global positioning satellite. Through a request system, Plearners will be able to assemble information such as pictures, video footage, interviews, etc. for their learning use and for the creation of various learning objects including collaborative projects. Students will decide what projects (challenges) to tackle, and working with a variety of other people, get on with the business of changing the world today. Freedom of choice and expression will be an important part of this course. Students will be encouraged to extend their expressive abilities using a variety of tools and genres.
This class seeks to do more than simply take the classroom model and move it online. It seeks to challenge the status quo in various ways:
- Students will be active managers of their learning; with some guidance, they will manage what to learn, how to learn, who to pay attention to, how to learn from peers, how to assess their learning, and when needed, learn to redirect their efforts
- It will be democratic, bottom up.
- The class will self-organize, catering to the long tail. It will form itself, and it will largely run itself. We will investigate "the power of organizing without organizations". (Clay Shirky)
- Authority will be earned. It will be turned on its head.
- Outcomes will not be prescribed. We do not know how things will turn out. We may have to change direction as we see fit.
- Failure will not be punished. It will be treated as information.
- It will be open, inviting interested others to look in, collaborate, participate, assist... (There will be mechanisms for private communication between class members, as needed).
- It will not be graded. Assessment will come in various non-graded forms from teacher/guide, peers, visitors, and most importantly, self-reflection. The space will become a deep, rich electronic portfolio for each class member. Additionally, students will be provided with a formal, networked, electronic portfolio that they can manage as they see fit. They will decide what goes into their portfolio, who gets to see it, and when it's available for viewing. This holistic approach seeks to, “transform accountability driven by testing into richer conversations around inquiry into learning” ¹ (more)
- It will be multidisciplinary, anchored around various themes.
In their book, Disrupting Class, authors Christensen, Johnson and Horn state that innovation and change often happen when individual actors work outside of the regulated sectors, offering goods and services through independent commercial channels, eventually getting noticed by the regulatory systems once enough people, through their own choice, opt out of the dominant offering. The authors mention that change rarely happens from within institutions, being that those institutions are more likely to hammer down the sharp edges of innovation to fit their current way of thinking, in the process, sustaining the approach it has always used.
It is hoped that if this approach works, many other independent educational contractors will be motivated to hang out their own e-shingles. Students of all stripes and ages will have a much larger selection of courses and learning formats to choose from. Classes offered by experts, many in unique circumstances, connected to interested others, unshackled from obtuse regulations, could provide an incredibly rich, eclectic and tailored experience in ways that today’s institutions simply could never match.
Teachers with various specialties and interests, using a similar approach, could create some interesting learning opportunities by, for example, spending a semester:
- In a cloud forest, helping add to the EOL
- Traveling throughout the rivers of Europe, connecting students with local history and art
- On a sailboat studying themes related to oceanography, climate change, marine biology, meteorology...
- On a container ship learning about globalization, trade, economics...
- On an Amish farm, reflecting on appropriate use of technology
The possibilities are limitless. It seems like the TFA crowd and Peace Corps types might be attracted to this type of work, improving educational opportunities for all (including teachers!).
Will this type of learning obviate the need for schools or classrooms? Absolutely not. There are many times when people want and need to be in each other's presence. Often, that's the optimal situation. However, being together is not always feasible. What these technologies offer us today is the ability to find and then interact with people that we may never have had the opportunity to connect with otherwise. They offer us the ability to get information, create information, experience places, and work and learn with others in ways that previously were impossible. They lower costs. They make failure cheap and worthwhile. Clay Shirky reminds us that things get interesting when the technology gets boring. Today, nobody cares that you have a blog or use Facebook. It's time for things to get interesting.
I invite you to visit ParticipatoryLearning.net. In the spirit of learning from others, I ask that if you have ideas on how to increase the likelihood that a project of this type succeeds, please send them my way. I’d also kindly ask that if you find this approach good for education, to help spread the message via your own networks. Thanks for reading.
¹ from Making Common Cause: Electronic Portfolios, Learning, and the Power of Communication, Cambridge, Cambridge and Yancey
Teach Citizens' Journalism with YouTube Reporters' Center
Published July 01, 2009 @ 07:04AM PT
Older teachers often feel up against a wall when told to teach 21st century skills, and it's hard not to sympathize. When they were students, the classroom was a book, paper and pencil world, so it's no surprise that they resist the new media. They have little to no experience with it, academically.
YouTube is here to help, with the new YouTube Reporters' Center channel. Its blurb:
Ever captured a natural disaster or a crime on your cell-phone camera? Filmed a political rally or protest, and then interviewed the participants afterward? Produced a story about a local issue in your community? If you've done any of these things or aspire to, then you're part of the enormous community of citizen reporters on YouTube, and this channel is for you.
The YouTube Reporters' Center is a new resource to help you learn more about how to report the news. It features some of the nation's top journalists and news organizations sharing instructional videos with tips and advice for better reporting.
I've browsed a few, and here are four keepers -- and one stinker:
1. How to shoot two kinds of interviews
Reuters.com editor Adam Pasick describes how to shoot two different kind of video interviews, including lighting, framing and sound.
2.Katie Couric on how to conduct a good interview
Katie Couric chats with producer Tony Maciulis about what makes a good interview. This video is part of the YouTube Reporters' Center.
3. NPR's Scott Simon: How to Tell a Story
I really like his admonition to be conversational, instead of polysyllabically constipated. No need to throw out "osculate," I tell my students, when "kiss" is the much better word. Simon also discusses openers, purpose, organization, and sentence structure for audio -- an entirely different beast in comparison to print.
4. How to Catch the Latest News on YouTube
This is handy. I didn't know about these tricks.
There are many more good tutorials at Reporters' Center -- and a few eggs.
5. Lord a' Mercy, I don't recommend this one
WaPo White House correspondent Dana Milbank, for example, infamous for his recent hissy fit over Obama calling on HuffPo Iran reporter Nico Pitney during last week's press conference (and for allegedly calling Pitney a "dick" for outing his "journalism lite" propensities -- Obama swimsuit questions, Bush "Mission Accomplished" swooning -- on CNN), offers up a tutorial on "Comedy and News." Watch Milbank's attempt to be funny in the video below -- phew! -- and you'll see why I find his posing as a comedy expert to be, in itself, the highest comedy:
Somebody needs to school Milbank in one of the main commandments of the Church of the Subgenius: "If you're not funny, don't try to be."
J.R. "Bob" Dobbs icon by gordasm
How to Break into International School Teaching
Published June 18, 2009 @ 06:24AM PT
A reader who is also a teacher emailed me the following request, which I include as an example of how the current NCLB environment might be driving people to feel they'd rather teach than, you know, do whatever it is you do instead when you work for many of today's U.S. schools:
I just finished my first year teaching in CA, but like you I'm not big fan of "working for schools". I didn't realize how backwards the system is until I became a part of it. Now I'm stuck with the challenge of deciding whether I try to work within the system or search for other alternatives.
I've always loved to travel and thought it would be a beautiful thing if I could combine my love of experiencing different cultures with my love of true education (read: critical thinking and promoting creativity/autonomy). If you have time, I would love to hear how you got involved with teaching abroad.
So first the nuts and bolts, followed by a report from my last international recruitment fair in Bangkok back in January....
So You Want to Teach Internationally
Here's the skinny: Most schools require certification plus at least two years' experience teaching your subject area.
If you have that, then your next step is to sign up for an international schools recruitment fair. There are several companies that coordinate these, among them International School Services (ISS) and Search Associates. I've used both, and have no complaints: not perfect, not simple, but sheesh, it's a complicated world to enter. Other groups also run fairs, but I lack the experience and knowledge to opine on them.
Give yourself months to complete the registration process for these outfits; in fact, just get started now, since I think your file will remain active for at least a year, possibly more, after you sign up. You have to submit an online resume, cover letter, educational philosophy, copy of your teaching certificate, recommendation letters, teacher evaluations, and gobs more stuff to their database.
Once that's done, these services will let you search their databases for vacancies worldwide in your teaching area and grade level.
Lastly, you have to register for one of their fairs either in the U.S. or abroad. They normally take place from December to the following spring to fill vacancies for the following autumn's new school year. Register early in order to take advantage of the hotel discount where the fair takes place (you don't want to have to commute to your interviews from a neighboring hotel, believe me).
Packages, Pay, Benefits, Etc.
You'll have plenty of opportunity to learn about these things once you've registered with a service, but in general, you should expect health insurance, paid housing, a free round-trip flight to your home of record (or equivalent) each summer, and a shipping allowance. Pay scales vary widely. There is no union for international school teachers that I've heard of, but most teachers don't seem to mind. At the better schools, the working conditions are plenty good enough to satisfy.
There may be a bit of a "career ladder" to climb to get a job at the top-tier schools. Many people start in less selective schools, build a resume there and establish themselves as international school teachers, and expect their next fair to land them a job at one of the better schools.
From what I've seen, European schools have the least savings potential (i.e., they pay the worst), possibly because they consider their location attractive enough from a quality of life perspective. South and Central American and African schools also have a reputation for paying on the low end of the scale. Middle Eastern and Arab schools can pay from middling to very well. Ditto Asian schools.
Beware before signing a contract. If you break it, you may be blacklisted for the next job fair. Strongly consider sucking it up until your sentence ends.
That's about as far as I'll go. Now for that report from the trenches back in January, from my other blog:
The Wonderful World of International School Hiring Fairs
It was wonderful, in a weird way. Talking for hours for four straight days to school leaders around the world about our views on teaching and learning (and most interestingly, though probably most damning for many of my job prospects, about technology in education) is an interesting way to spend the time.
Without naming names of schools or interviewers, here’s a random and sleepy-eyed report of lessons learned from the experience.
1. Bad interviews are good things
No matter the reputation of the school, the people sitting across from you in the hotel room asking you questions in that school’s name are a stronger indicator of how it would feel to work at that school. I talked to English department heads whose questions – and my answers – made it clear to both of us that we would, or would not, make a happy marriage. There was an unsurprising correlation between this marital element and the offering or non-offering of a position at each school. Schools touting themselves as “21st century schools” and banging their laptop program drums – and during interviews with which I expected flower petals to descend from on high – on an occasion or two turned out to instead voice sentiments belonging to, um, people who’d obviously never experienced the literacy magic that happens after a few months writing and conversing behind the wheel of a blog. No rose-petals there – instead, many mental leaves of wet cabbage fell, probably, in both our imaginations. Marriage for the next two years? We think not. Thank goodness for the bad interview, and for the “We’re sorry we cannot offer you a job at this time.” No apology necessary, really – good luck.
2. “Energy is eternal delight” – so its opposite is….?
(h/t to William Blake who, though dead, deserves eternal credit for the eternally delightful maxim.) If, like mine, your own heart seems to pump more espresso than blood, then it may be important to consider the energy coming from those interviewing you. I’m not saying interviewers need to be manic or anything; I’m just saying a lack of excitement, of a sort of buoyancy – of even a decorously restrained intensity – when discussing educational vision while courting for a temporary professional marriage may be, well, a screaming red flag. Granted, the interviewers are stuck in their hotel rooms interviewing candidate after candidate for many more straight hours than the candidates themselves, but still – we’re all teachers, current or past, so we should be pretty good at keeping our energy level up whenever a professional client enters the room, be it classroom or hotel room. The short version? Beware the droopy interviewer, and put a gold star by the inspired/inspiring one. You are, after all, bound to be sitting in many more meetings with them if you sign the contract to work with them. If they’re sleepy, chances are you’ll be a sleepy worker with them. But if they’re exciting – in a way that rings true (and we all have what Hemingway calls a “shock-proof sh!t-detector,” don’t we, to distinguish real from fake excitement, yes?) – then consider fishing your pocket for that ring, and dropping to your knees on the spot.
3. Interview questions make the interviewer.
By the end of the first of my four days of interviewing, it struck me how different interviews are based on the questions asked (and not asked) by the interviewer. Some of them seemed as stilted and scripted as the worst end-of-chapter questions from the worst textbooks (redundant?). They felt less like interviews than exercises in checking off the questions boxes. It wasn’t quite “schooliness,” so can we call it “interviewiness”?
The best interviews, on the other hand, were more free-flowing and responsive, characterized by give-and-take expansiveness as one party or the other heard something no script could predict.
4. Being yourself is better, come what may, than trying to be someone else.
Think about it. Not only does pretending to be what you’re not cheat your interviewer – it also cheats you. Show your true colors now, so you’ll know whether it’ll be okay to show them over the length of your contract. I love the fact that, at my second interview with the two interviewers for the school I chose, Singapore American School, I replied to a question by saying something to the effect of, “There’s no denying that people’s first impression of me is often, ‘Damn, Burell, you’re too intense!’ But after a while they see the rest of me, and realize I’m also mellow in my own way.” “Damn” is a soft enough word these days – and I certainly don’t toss out higher-level profanities in professional company – but I still wondered about the wisdom of the utterance after it escaped my mouth (and this was in like the middle of the second hour of the interview). So somehow the fact that the offer was still made left me feeling even happier than otherwise about accepting it when it came in hour three.
5. Check your ego at the door.
I got about an even mix of offers and rejections from the schools I talked to. One school in particular seemed so right after two interviews that getting the rejection note broadsided me with the force of a turbo-powered school bus. I bumped into one of the interviewers later, and he told me that choosing my competitor over me was the hardest decision they had made the night before, and that it took them over an hour of group deliberation to make it. A rejection can happen for all sorts of reasons – maybe they needed yearbook experience you didn’t offer, or needed that administrator whose spouse happened to be a less-qualified candidate for the position you want. So don’t take it personally.
6. Remember to research.
I’m sure I blew one interview by expressing my desire to get experience in a program they didn’t offer, and expressing my distaste for the one they did. Oops. I’d mistakenly thought they did offer that program.
7. Benefits, preps, class sizes, and student mix.
You don’t offer a flight home after the first year? You don’t cover dependents? 70% of your student population is Korean and you call yourself an "international" school? You laugh off the notion that four preps is too much for new (or old) teachers?
8. Courtesy is cool, good will is good stuff.
When it came down to thinking I’d be choosing between two very attractive schools, I told one of them how I hoped that saying “no” this time, if the decision went that way, wouldn’t close the door to a “yes” next time in years to come. The gentlemanly answer of the man I said this to was so winsome, I don’t know what to say, other than that it made me want to work in this man’s school even more. The answer was no less impressive for its simplicity, which was, simply, “Your saying no to us will offend us no more than we’d want to offend you if we said no to you. It’s the nature of the beast, and we understand that, so no doors will close at all.”
9. Remember to check yourself in the mirror before you leave your hotel room for the day’s interviews.
I can’t believe I forgot my belt. At least my fly wasn’t down.
* * *
Hope that helped. If any of you take the plunge, feel free to contact me privately with any questions.
Image by shapeshift
Meme: Summer Professional Development: My Goals
Published June 16, 2009 @ 06:38PM PT
Sioban Curious has tagged me for the Professional Development Meme 2009.
Here's the scoop:
Directions:
Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2009 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.
The Rules:
NOTE: You do NOT have to wait to be tagged to participate in this meme.
*Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
* For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/07/09).
* Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.
* Title your post Professional Development Meme 2009 and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2447.
* Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme09.
* Tag 5-8 others to participate in the meme.
* Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
* Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.
My Goals: Read a Lot, Take at Least Three Free Online Courses from Yale, Berkeley, and M.I.T.
Since I'll be teaching grade 9 Western Civ and a mixed grades 10-12 Chinese history classes, I'm going to take some university courses in these subjects - for free, and for the knowledge instead of the piece of paper - via the Open Courseware offerings at Yale, Berkeley, and MIT.
I'm already doing so, in fact. Yesterday, I watched Lectures Five through Nine of Prof. Christine Hayes' Introduction to the Jewish Bible ("Old Testament," to Christians) course at Yale. Think about that: I was able to "attend" two weeks' worth of in-school lectures in one 5-hour sitting in my home last night. I've never done such a thing before, and can tell you that the experience of all of these lectures back-to-back, without the two day waits for the next lecture, enhanced the learning experience for me. No distractions, no forgetting, no losing the narrative thread from one day to the next; instead, it was closer to the experience of reading a novel in one sitting. I can't recommend Hayes' course strongly enough: her synthesis of 200 years of textual and archaeological scholarship on the history of the Israelites and their sacred texts is eye-opening indeed. She frames the evolution of the Jewish Bible as a sort of "civil war" within Jewish culture, between more inclusive henotheists (or even polytheists along the lines of the surrounding Canaanites) and the exclusive Jahwist monotheists. It's a first-rate intellectual adventure story that I only wish our fundamentalists - and their preachers - would watch, in order to learn how misguided so many of their beliefs about the Bible are.
I'm going to follow Hayes' Yale class with Berkeley's "The Ancient Mediterranean World," I think. It's only mp3's, no video, which is a shame. If I find a video alternative, I'll take it instead. It has a hefty number of lectures on the oft-neglected Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures that so influenced the Greek, Roman, and Christian worlds, so I look forward to the refresher and any new learning.
I just finished reading Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity by Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King - more fascinating looks into the "civil war" of early Christianities as they fought over what and who Jesus was, and the meanings of his teaching. I'm now reading Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why in order to give a more historical account of the rise of Christianity in the Western Civ. course.
After that, I'm going to skip the Middle Ages and watch Berkeley Prof. Margaret Lavinia Anderson's "The Making of Modern Europe" course. I've already written about it here.
Besides that, I hope to spend some time collaborating on the "Critical Supplement to High School History Textbooks" wiki project I proposed here last month. A few other history teachers on the National Council of Social Studies social network have signed on (newcomers always welcome), so we need to develop the framework that will scaffold students' abilities to critically read those so-suspect history textbooks we foist on them.
I need to find a community to help me fine-tune my assessment practices. I feel good about the forms and methods of my assessments, but where I need help is in reducing the overload. I kill myself by assigning too much work that takes too long to assess. There's got to be a better way. Suggestions, anyone?
That's about it. Now I'm supposed to tag some teachers, but I'm going to leave it open. If you want to play with this meme, feel free.
Free and Low-Cost Summer Learning Tips for Parents
Published June 15, 2009 @ 07:38PM PT
Just a quick share, for parents wanting input on how to keep their children occupied in constructive ways during the summer. This is from an email from Ron Fairchild, executive director of the National Center for Summer Learning at The Johns Hopkins University:
The effort to keep kids learning during summer is based on research that shows that:
Most students fall more than two months behind in math over the summer.
Low-income children fall behind two months in reading while middle and upper-income peers make slight gains.
By fifth grade, low-income children can be 2 ½ years behind in reading.
Only one in five children who receives free or reduced price meals during the school year gets them in summer.
A recent Johns Hopkins study found that 65 percent of the achievement gap in reading between poor and more advantaged ninth-graders is due to unequal summer learning experiences during elementary school years. That gap makes a difference in whether students decide to drop out or go on to college.
"Even in tough economic times, there are many free or low-cost things parents can do to keep their kids healthy, safe and learning this summer," says Fairchild.
SUMMER LEARNING TIPS FOR PARENTS
Locate a summer program that fits your budget. Programs offered by schools, recreation centers, universities, and community-based organizations often have an educational or enrichment focus.
The library is a great, free resource. Check out books that interest your child. Participate in free library summer programs and make time to read every day.
Take free or low-cost educational trips to parks, museums, zoos and nature centers.
If you are taking a day trip by car, choose a place with an educational theme. Camping is also is low-cost way to get outside and learn about nature.
Practice math daily: Measure items around the house or yard. Track daily temperatures. Add and subtract at the grocery store. Learn fractions while cooking.
Play outside. Limit TV and video games. Intense physical activity and exercise contribute to healthy development.
Do a community service project. Teach your child how to volunteer in your community and show compassion to others.
Keep a schedule. Continue daily routines during the summer with structure and limits. The key is providing a balance and keeping kids engaged.
- Prepare for fall. Find out what your child will be learning during the next school year by talking with teachers at that grade level. Preview concepts and materials over the summer.
Teaching Lolita
Published June 09, 2009 @ 03:08PM PT
[Note: Shipped the furniture to Singapore yesterday, cleaning apartment and moving out today. Backache from hell from waist-high Korean broom. Until normal comes back, have some Lolita. Written 10 April 2008. See this intro post for more. - Clay]
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Fear-Based Curriculum: A Language Arts Tragedy
In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus kills his father, then marries and impregnates his mother: we teach this parricidal, incestuous, antique “classic” to 14-year-olds.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the prince’s uncle murders his brother and marries that brother’s wife, enjoying her in “incestuous sheets“: again, we teach this 400-year-old Renaissance “classic” to 15-year-olds.
And let’s not forget the sentimental favorite about a 12-year-old whose father is trying to marry her off to a prize bachelor of at least 25, and in which instead the 12-year-old heroine elopes with her maybe 14-year-old lover, and spends a night of tender love-making a few paces away from her iconic balcony. Their pillow-talk the morning after their love-making is something we have 13-year-olds recite by the millions in our annual, usually painful, front-of-the-classroom recital days. Yes, I’m talking about Romeo and Juliet. Juliet would be a middle-schooler today - and her father would be in jail for pandering her to his cellmate Paris, the noble pedophile.
In Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, a 40-year-old pedophiliac professor of literature marries an over-sexed 12-year-old’s mother, who shortly thereafter dies in a freak accident, plunging the professor and the 12-year-old in a morbid love affair that ruins both their lives. Often brutal, as often tender, more often laugh-out-loud funny, but never vulgar or graphic, this acknowledged masterpiece and “classic” of modern, 20th century literature - “the only convincing love story of our [20th] century,” according to Vanity Fair - sends educators running for the hills.
It’s a tragic irony and a very telling double standard: teach controversy from old, safely removed times? No problem. (Well, maybe just skim over Paris’ age, Juliet’s loss of virginity, Oedipus’ and Gertrude’s incest.) But teach the same issues about modern schoolgirls? No, no, no. That hits too close to the real world. Let them learn about that, if at all, from their sensationalistic prime-time TV’s at home: To Catch a Predator, anyone? School is not the place for unsafe subjects. We only think critically about safe ones here.
That we should think about these subjects in our classrooms - our young females, in particular, but our young males too, as is shown below - can be supported by a few statistics (USA only): (Click "read more" below...)
