January 2012
1 post
The kind of teacher I will be
I have some time to think of the kind of teacher I want to be. Will I be everyone’s friend and become that pushover teacher that everyone takes advantage of? Or will I be the teacher who makes children cry?
It’s partially a joke but not really.
I will reward you for effort and creativity. Bake your paper into a giant fortune cookie and you will get an automatic A.
I will reward you...
November 2011
4 posts
WatchA new way to teach whole steps and half steps?
teachplaysing:
world-shaker:
hellyeahchandlerbing:
See what a group of engineers did to encourage people to use the stairs in Stockholm. About 97% of the population took the escalator instead of the stairs. A simple and fun idea to break the routine and encourage people into a more healthy habit.
I love every single thing about this.
...
Need to Create? Get a Constraint →
infoneer-pulse:
One of the many paradoxes of human creativity is that it seems to benefit from constraints. Although we imagine the imagination as requiring total freedom, the reality of the creative process is that it’s often entangled with strict conventions and formal requirements. Pop songs have choruses and refrains; symphonies have four movements; plays have five acts; painters still rely...
Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities →
Some reading material in your free time (ha!)
October 2011
5 posts
Music Education.
Why Music Education? Why education? Why learn? Why?
Why Music Education? Why music? why sing, play? Why?
Why: Why not?
Why sing, play: to express emotions, to use more of your brain than you ever could before, to understand group connectivity, to channel energy
Why learn: learning occurs every second of every day for every person
Why music: music is a highly cognitive pursuit, engaging more...
Testing, No Testing, Too Much Testing →
Read, read, read.
Also, sorry for dropping the ball on posting here.
-Bert
Educational Exposure
Also known as “Exposural Education.” Warning: some mild generalizations follow
Perhaps it is common sense to say “children learn from exposure.” That’s why I’ve chosen to talk about it.
We all know children learn how to act, what words to use, what gestures to maneuver, and when to shut up from their parents, family, teachers and friends. A child growing up...
September 2011
11 posts
“I think it’s about engagement… People have different values. It...”
– Amy Chua “Tiger Mom” on Real Time with Bill Maher
2 tags
180 days isn't enough.
girlwithalessonplan:
There. I said it.
1 tag
Buy low, sell high
Ernie pointed out in the previous post the importance of and the great responsibility that early educators possess. I just think back to that awful teacher that ruined a subject for me. Then I think about the wonderful teacher who made the same subject enjoyable and fun for me. What Ernie talked about seems like a no-brainer topic, but I don’t think it’s discussed nearly as much as it...
1 tag
Ready for a lecture?
I recently realized I do some strange, circuitous thinking when I drive home from school every day. Here’s something I transcribed from a voice note I created on the commute, with major edits…
The only things we have invented in this word are manipulations of things that already exist. For example, to build a large building we simply combine rocks and other elements together, mix...
1 tag
Creating Psychopaths
Ernie’s latest post claims that currently the end goal of education is to make money. I wholeheartedly agree. It’s greedy and I’m certain it’s creating a whole society of psychopaths. Symptoms of psychopathy include lack of remorse, deceptiveness, and antisocial behavior. Psychopaths are also arrogant and abusive. If money is all you’re taught to care about (because...
.... but education IS just training ....
As my dear friend Bert recently argued, education is not job training. But isn’t it? The goal of our society is, of course, to make money. Why? Money = a single-family home, a nice foreign car, a few pets, a few kids, a nice wife or husband, and therefore money = a life fulfilled.
How many people have told you “money does not buy happiness?” How many of us actually believe that...
1 tag
Let Educators Make The Rules
Yesterday Ernie asked, “What happens when businesses run education?” Today I will make an attempt to answer.
Imagine this: You are a business leader who oversees hundreds and hundreds of branches. You’re job is simple: you make money for the business. You see that one branch consistently fails to meet its quota every year. You do what any sensible business person does, you close...
1 tag
A lot to say, school tomorrow...
Going into a semester with 21 credits and various positions on boards of organizations at school, I’m posting a blog the last night before learning once again begins, so I can hope to graduate in 4 years with a bachelor’s degree, something very uncommon in my field.
Continuing with a strain of thought from my good friend Bert, I want to talk about WHAT we teach Kids, and not...
2 tags
Today, on lock rail:
Boy: I won't lie. You made that look really easy. I was really surprised how heavy it was.
Me: Stealth marshmallow muscles. What can I say?
For the 17th time someone yells: HEADS UP!
Reply: THANK YOU!!!!
Boy: Doesn't that ever get old?
Me: Safety never gets old.
1 tag
Reacting
School’s starting soon and I’m absolutely positively dreading it. Recently it’s become like a band-aid stuck on too long. I’m hold my breath, closing my eyes, and hoping for a quick and kind of painless semester. It’s not that I no longer want to teach. I do. And it’s not that I am no longer passionate about education. I do have this blog after all.
After...
August 2011
2 posts
1 tag
On Geography and Summer School
Yesterday, Ernie’s post about geography reminded me of my elementary and middle school days. We would have time dedicated to flipping through an atlas, learning about far away places like Albania and about their people and culture. By the time my brother got to the same grade, geography had been removed from the curriculum. Now my sister has difficulty reading a map.
I am a staunch believer...
1 tag
An awe-struck educator...
During the summer, I work with students from ages 15 to 21. Our job is sensationally boring, and we’re stuck doing it 10 hours a day, many of us 5 days a week. Naturally, one can lose Brain cells after a while, not even due to the high-voltage power lines a block away; this job is simply draining on the mind. With this in mind, I decided to play a game with my co-workers as we sat idly by...
