stumbling toward clarity, balance, and insight
Posted in Educational on Jun 17th, 2008
[I realize this post is long. If you'd rather read this post as black text on white background, you can use the "Print This" link to view the post in that format without actually having to print.]
In an earlier post, Humanities and the DY/DAN Method, I linked to Dan Meyer’s blog and his take on [...]
Posted in Educational on May 22nd, 2008
So TMAO’s post about his decision to leave teaching has made some waves on various blogs. I’d like to offer some personal perspectives (which he’s not asking for), but I’m not interested in second-guessing his reasons. I’m pulling some quotes from his post as a jumping-off point to respond to a few of his comments [...]
Posted in Educational on Apr 16th, 2008
Mike Petrilli, in a recent post on the Flypaper blog, comments on a study in Philadelphia that measured the impact of a “healthy-eating” initiative in schools. Petrilli’s argument is that, since the study found that school intervention in students’ diets measurably decreased the incidence of obesity in those students, schools can have a “big [...]
Posted in Cultural, Educational on Apr 15th, 2008
I’ve been reading the “Bridging Differences” blog for a few months now and love it. These are two really smart, well-informed, thoughtful, and passionate educators engaged in one of the best examples of extended civil debate I’ve found online … and the hyperbole is justified.
A few days ago, Deborah Meier posted “Let’s Play with [...]
Posted in Educational on Feb 15th, 2008
I delivered a presentation last night to teachers who work in a county that only allows them to use Blackboard. Given that, I saw no point to going in and talking about the possibilities that other tools and services make available, or complaining about the limitations of Blackboard.1 That’s a presentation for the administration. Instead, [...]
Posted in Educational on Dec 21st, 2007
The Freakonomics Blog (hosted by the New York Times) held a quorum on standardized testing and posted the contributions yesterday. The questions were:
Should there be less standardized testing in the current school system, or more? Should all schools, including colleges, institute exit exams?
Of the five responses, W. James Popham and Thomas Toch had the [...]
Posted in Creative, Educational on Nov 18th, 2007
Of course, I haven’t read this book, but PW’s review of Pierre Bayard’s How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read claims the central thesis is that “the act of reading is less important than knowing the social and intellectual context of a book.”1
That argument sounds a lot like Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy, in which he [...]
Posted in Educational on Nov 9th, 2007
Gary Stager, in a few recent posts, has been stirring the pot by confronting some popular “Web 2.0″ ideas, like the digital immigrants/digital natives divide, the concept of the flat world, and the latest Michael Wesch video. Ultimately, Stager is serving as the voice of caution, warning pro-tech educators not to become enamored with [...]
Posted in Educational on Nov 6th, 2007
I’ve been giving technology presentations for about five years now, and most of them have been successful. Not today’s, though. This is a quick self-inflicted debriefing.
1 The main problem was that the presentation was way too full. I wanted to focus on theory. I wanted to discuss the ways in which [...]
Posted in Educational on Nov 5th, 2007
My “working thesis” for an upcoming presentation (the notes are still in process as of this post):
Online writing tools that allow for asynchronous and/or collaborative writing can help improve the fluency and reflection of student writers in all disciplines provided the instructors facilitating the use of these tools have a clear and practical understanding of [...]
