Beginning Conversations

I'm disappointed that so many days have passed between my last posting. There certainly hasn't been a lack of thinking on this end, just carving out the time to write. Today I'd like to consider the role of teacher in instruction. It always boggles my mind when teaching is perceived as a spectator sport. The stance of teacher as one of observer and disseminator, rather than seeker and transformer. I realize this sounds a bit trite but, in a way, we should probably think about where we stand when it comes to teaching- literally and figuratively, every now and then. I often describe good teaching as being the ability to target instruction that keeps the learning as close to home as possible. This means a number of things. One, that learning is a private endeavor, where the mechanisms supporting learning are completely child-dependent. Two, that learning requires relevance. Good teaching capitalizes on cognition, which means that instruction should require students to consid...

The Common Core is presently servicing education as a change agent. Standards-based reform encouraged a way of thinking that centered on what we teach. Educational research focused on how we teach. The Common Core presents itself as a means to fill the invisible gap answering the question, why teach what we teach.

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/01/seven-online-classrooms-teachers-can-use-to-augment-their-own/ So often it's not knowing where to go to find an answer but having a place to go that makes you question. I love that about technology- that there is always something out there that might prompt an idea you never even knew you had, much less interested in. I think that's the beauty of digging in and investing time in scanning the digital world. I feel a sense of liberation that I can learn more easily. It excites me. What I find just as interesting is that this notion of going out into the virtual landscape is something that you can't preach, only experience. In other words, as excited as all you techies can get and all the sage advice you can give, until someone 'goes on' and 'gets connected' your words are just memories. You techies forget that we've lived many years fulfilled and invigorated without any digital investment. How do you get around thi...

Ignorance is surely the most insufferable of realities and the most simple to correct. Why, then, does one have to step in it before recognizing that one didn't know? I guess, it's because knowing was separated by experience. The following Ted Talk inspired me to recognize the power of choice and my obligation to honor choice. Enjoy. .

"The Little House" vs Educational Institutions It's difficult not to recognize similarities and differences between this movie and education- from the the pendulum swing and initiatives short lived, standing firm when others are pushing, the disconnect between between form and function, that 'progression' is inevitable, not progress... How can we use what we 'see' to reflect on our own institutional choices? In other words, what is 'it' that we hold onto so dearly? What are we unwilling to let go even in the face of overwhelming evidence?  What practices, issues, ideas are archaic in nature, ridden with  'experience as evidence' beliefs (see Jan 22 blog post), that permeate our school? What norms are simply vestigial organs of a time past and need to be removed, rather than just ignored? In the most simplest of terms: What do we keep? What do we throw? What do we grow? What is our obligation as an institution to insist on learning-...