Do Not Point At The Creature…

Michael:

Fundamentals

Allow Myself… 

Smart Boards…

Textbooks 

Dan:

Cyberbullying 

Sarah:

The Big Read 

Tyler:

Homework 

Jenny:

Cyber pop-tart 

Johnathon:

TAKS 

Rachel:

Global Village 

Teary-eyed, I come to write this final post of mine. In all seriousness I think that these edublogs thing have a lot of potential for education. Obviously, they have to be used correctly in order to be effective, but there are many ways in which blogs can be employed by a teacher. One specific example that I think has a lot of potential is to have your students look at a specific topic throughout the semester, using Google Reader, and write about it weekly on a blog. After about half the semester, perhaps, have them write a paper based on their blogs. It could also be used to generate some kind of weekly/bi-weekly class discussion, where you give the students a topic (however broad or specific you desire) have them use Google Reader to read several articles about it, write a brief summary of those articles, and then use that information for an end of the week classroom discussion. Obviously, these ideas are not exhaustive, or even very extensive, but they are just a couple of ideas that I think might prove very effective in a classroom setting.

I think this ongoing edublogs assignment has been worthwhile. It has some real classroom potential, and I especially like the Google Reader business. It has some great possible classroom applications, and is also a great thing to have to keep up-to-date on issues that interest you, or are important. So it’s great from both a teaching perspective and on a personal level. Hopefully I’ll be able to come up with some meaningful and effective ways of utilizing these kinds of information in my future classrooms.

What have I personally gotten from this assignment and my topic?  I guess what I’ve learned is that even though you don’t hear about it much, there are a lot of people in the world that are striving to give our future generations a better education.  There are people who are trying innovative, interesting, and creative ways to capture students’ minds and inspire them to further their learning.  In a society where pretty all you hear about is how schools are failing our students, it’s nice to know that even though they don’t get a lot of media attention, there are quite a few people out there who are striving to change that general feeling of disappointment in schools.

This article is specifically about teaching writing or reading, but it has a lot of implications for these subjects, and really all subjects.  This article is about how the Commons education committee says that England’s school need a boost in creativity, saying that creativity has become a “second-order priority”.   The only thing I don’t like about this article is that it uses pretty broad terms, never really explaining what “creativity” is in the committee’s mind.  However, I think that this committee is making an excellent point - that schools need to be centers of creativity.  As Larry Sherman (the committee’s chairman) says,  “Successful schools are creative schools”.  I strongly agree with this statement.  When a school loses its creativity it loses everything.   It loses student interest, and when student interest is gone, what is the point of the school?  

This is something I think we need to hold dear, as teachers and hopeful teachers.  It is imperative, I think, that teachers maintain a level of creativity, for both their students and for themselves.  If we want to engage students in meaningful learning then we need to connect with them.  As the world changes, the students change, and as the students change their needs change.  This is where creative schools come into play.  They need to be creative not only to captivate their students on a day to day basis, but they need to be creative to adjust to changes in society that occur over time.  I think it is very commendable of the English Commons education committee to recognize that creativity in school is vital and that they need to make an effort to make the government understand this, and act accordingly.

To me, it is very obvious that finding ways to transmit information creatively is just as important as the information itself, because if the knowledge that is meant to be passed on falls on deaf, or uninterested, ears then what is the use?  While the need for creativity has always seemed to be a obviously important aspect of education, this article mentioned some reasons for creativity that I had never thought of before.  The last few sentences of the article struck me as very interesting and novel: “An Ofsted report last year concluded that creativity could help improve how pupils behaved.  Pupils who had worked with creative people such as writers and fashion designers were more punctual, better behaved and worked better, said Ofsted. It said pupils developed skills such as improvisation, risk-taking, resilience and collaboration”

 This struck me as very interesting as I never thought that creativity would have these kinds of effects on students.  However, for me it just helps to emphasize the importance of not just an education, but a creative education.  It also emphasizes the need for our teachers, schools, and governments to take the issue of creativity seriously and think of ways of revitalizing our schools to more effective educate and inspire our students.  I have to say that the British are heading in a very good direction, and I hope that the findings of this committee are taken very seriously, as I think they ought to be.

BBC News

School creativity “needs support”

Yes, the title of this post is rather lame, but I wanted to make sure every body knows what this is SUPPOSED to be, just in case I crash and burn. So here it goes: my stab at critical pedagogy (taken from my earlier blog about that book uproar in GRPS).

In GRPS there was recently a controversy on what to do with an anthology for an AP high school English class that contained a drama with some rather explicit material. One of the proposed methods of dealing with the situation was to cut out the offensive story. To do would be a crime of the most heinous nature. It would have been a terrible insult to our students and would lay the foundations for a kind of censorship I hope never develops.

What kind of a message are we sending our students when we say that they are not responsible enough, or mature enough to read a piece of literature? Is controversial material suitable for students of all ages? Of course not. Should we be exposing 6th graders to stories about sex, drugs, violence, and vulgarity? While some of this is unavoidable, I definitely think we should keep the literature we expose this age as “clean” as possible while still exposing them to meaningful, thought-provoking, quality texts. But for high schoolers, especially seniors, and especially AP seniors, we should take a step (or several) back, and let them encounter literature on their own, without adult supervision. I can even see “sheltering” high school freshman and sophomores from graphic writing, but to start trying to seriously regulate the kinds of material juniors and seniors are writing is appalling. These are adults who deserve the respect that allows someone to experience content of a mature nature. They can handle sex. They can handle violence. They can handle cussing. They can handle drugs. They can handle whatever. And if they can’t, it should be their call. We say that we want our children to become educated, responsible, respectable, diversified, and well rounded individuals, and yet we continuously treat them as though they’re small children even throughout their high school years. It’s time we let students experience the world, even the stuff that isn’t so funny. We owe them that respect, and by hiding them from it we are doing them a great disservice.

The other reason that makes banning books, or worse, cutting out “inappropriate” pages is that it sets a precedence for a kind of morality police. By allowing one book to be mutilated so that it is no longer unsuitable for readers we are giving authorities the go-ahead to do this with all books. Does a book have a swear word in it? Go get the white out. This book has a sex scene? Hand me the scissors. This book is about drugs and violence? Get some matches. Is this the kind of system we want to promote? Sure, it is just this one story now, but if we let one story to be discarded why not others? If we allow some kinds of materials and subjects to be prohibited, why not others? It sets in motion a system of censorship that gets bigger and bigger, more and more far-reaching, and more and more suppressive. I know this is an exaggeration, but really, if we let this happen this time how will we be able to oppose it later? What justification will we be able to produce? What will prevent us from creating (or worse, allowing) a Farenheit 451 or 1984 society? If we let other people decide what is appropriate and what isn’t now, we give them liscence to keep on doing it. This, I propose, is a very dangerous thing for us to let happen.

Article

I just stumbled across an interesting article on Google Reader today.  It’s about how Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada has just finished research about how to teach students in Canada’s vast northern territories how to read more effectively.  The object of the research was to compile a series of recommendations for schools and communities in Canada’s far north with the hopes that they will improve reading instruction and create curricula that meets the specific needs of Northern Canadian students.

The reason for starting this research and creating these recommendations is that scholars are concerned that the kind of instruction that Southern Canadians receive is not sufficient or effective for teaching those students of Canada’s far north.  They point to the vast differences in the sizes of communities,  the vast differences in economies and resources between communities, and (perhaps most importantly) the huge diversity of cultures and languages that make up the population of Northern Canada.  The program proposed by the researchers is called Get Ready, Get Set, Get Going: Learning to Read in Northern Canada and contains “43 evidence-based best principles, and 16 recommendations” that attempt to improve the reading education that students in Northern Canada receive.

I think that Canada is on to a pretty good idea.  And at the very least, its heart is in the right place.  I like to see this kind of concern for an under represented population.  It’s good to see a concern for these students’ education and to an effort that produced tangible results enacted.   I had a few reservations about teaching a different curriculum to different geographical regions, but then I got to thinking about it, and (especially w/ something like reading) decided that it didn’t matter how the students are taught, as long as the outcome is the same.  The pragmatic side of me would like to see every country establish a nation wide curriculum that all schools follow so that everybody gets the same education, but the realistic side of me knows that such a system probably wouldn’t work too well, because of the vast differences between each person, and the differences between regions.  I suppose that as long the ends are the same, the means isn’t too important (as long as it works).

But anyways, I really like to hear that Canada (or at least Lakehead University) has taken the initiative and has made an effort to encourage and assist the students in the under represented Canadian North.  The only thing about this article that I didn’t like was that it didn’t say anything about WHAT the recommendations are.  They gave a link to website that supposedly has all of this information on it, but I couldn’t find said information.

Lakehead University

Learning to Read in the Great White North

10-15-2007

If you read the article I just read, I believe you’ll feel the same way.  Apparently, a Grand Rapids Public School ordered an Anthology for AP level English classes that has a Pulitzer Prize winning, albeit flecked with profanity and offensive material, selection in it.  According to the article, people are speaking out against this book which has led the school to seek ways of alleviating this complaints, all of which I find loathsome.

The best option they have come up w/ is to keep the book and send a letter to parents about the questionable selection.  This is, if I may speak bluntly although unsophisticatedly, is stupid.  Very stupid. This book is supposed to be for an AP level class for students preparing for college.  I think it’s safe to assume that the students in this class are 17/18 years old.  Letters to the parents are just insulting to these students.  These students are adults who are going to college next year.  They don’t need parental approval for the stories they read.

Another option is to return the books.  This is even more stupid.  Again it’s an issue of giving the students the respect they deserve.  And it’s also about valuing the students like they deserve.  If people don’t like the book, too damn bad.  The school is not set up for the parents, community members, teachers, or anybody besides the students.  If the parents are unhappy with the books students have access to, oh well.  The school’s responsibility (in my mind) is to the students and the students alone.  If the students are getting a quality education then nothing else matters.  And if a quality education means an anthology with questionable material then so bet it.  I’m going to go further and say that a good education is impossible without questionable material.  Not only does questionable material capture audiences, but it gets people’s emotions going.  If you want to start a good discussion say something offensive.  That will get people talking.  It will get the students to pay attention and then talk.  Also, you can use such things to talk about how realistic a piece is, and also how these offensive elements add to/detract from the story.  I haven’t read this story but my guess is that since it won the Pulitzer prize its questionable aspects have a point.  I doubt that full of gratuitous violence, sex, and language.  BY using a book like this you can get students to analyze the violence and the sex and language - does it serve purpose? what is that purpose? etc, etc.

Finally, there is the last idea.  This one is disgusting.  The final option is to physically cut the offensive story from the book.  I don’t even know how to respond to this.  It makes every cell of my body clench up and quiver.  I imagine it feels something like dying.  That’s how this idea makes me feel.  To me, cutting out the pages of a book it utter sacrilege.  It is one of highest levels of WRONG achievable.  It is the highest level of disrespect you can show a writer or a reader or a student.  It opens the doors to all kinds of atrocities against freedom of speech and puts a precedence on censorship and shoots in the face speaking out and having something to say.  If this option prevails then I will lose all respect for the Grand Rapids Public Schools.  Even the suggestion of it makes me glad I didn’t get my education here, and even happier than I don’t plan on staying here long enough for my future children to be “educated” here.  Hell, this is a reason for me to intentionally take my children elsewhere.  It is just appaling.

KEEP THE BOOK. That is the only answer.  Keep the book.  It would be a huge disgrace if it was gotten rid of, or cut up.  Teach the students good, honest literature that has something to say, even if it isn’t pleasant.  The AP students that make up this class aren’t small children.  They can handle offensive literature.  Let them decide if they want to read it.  After all, it’s their education, NOT the parents’, not the community’s.  It’s ignorant to think that these students are unaware of violence, sex, and foul language.  It’s naive to think that we can protect people from this kind of stuff and to think that the world is fun, fuzzy happy little place.  And it’s disrespectful and insulting to tell AP, college bound students that they cannot be taught a story because it’s just too offensive.  This world will become a bad place if start cutting up and throwing away everything we think might offend someone.   If anything other than using this book in the classroom is decided upon then a great disservice will have been done to the students and a great injustice to humanity.

Well, I’m afraid this article may have worked my up too much to say anything overly insightful, but after reading it I had to say something that was clearly opposed to the ideas presented, because I think that censorship of the kind being considered is a direct attack against human rights.

The Grand Rapids Press

GRPS may cut offensive pages out of English text

Dave Murray

The MCTE conference on Friday was a pretty interesting affair. I wish I could have stayed for the whole thing, but my schedule necessitated my being elsewhere. Anyways, I did get a chance to hear the morning keynote address, as well as the new teachers presentation, and the digital storytelling presentation. I was fairly impressed with all of them.

The keynote address I found least helpful, although I’m guessing that I would have gotten more from it if I had gone to the presentation Yancey gave after her keynote address. One criticism I had with the address, and I know this probably sounds nit-picky and whining, like I’m looking for something to criticize her about, was her tectonic plates bit. I know where she was going with it, but it didn’t seem to fit. I’m not sure why she even it put it in her speech. It seems like her speech would have been just as good (better even) if she had left out her tectonic plates introduction. Anyways, other than that little annoyance I thought she had some interesting ideas. I do believe, like she said, that we are on the verge of some very important changes in teaching and educating and that it is important that we are flexible and open, and that we take all of this technology seriously because it will (and always has) contributed to major changes in the world. I’m not sure that’d I’d go so far as to say this new technology will revolutionize teaching and turn it on its head (but it might) but it certainly will facilitate a lot of big changes.

Another presentation I went to was the tips for new teachers session with Jill Van Antwerp. I liked this because it tried to give us prospective teachers an idea of what to expect and how to deal with it. It was basically just lists of what good things happened to new teachers and what bad things happened to them, with Van Antwerp expanding on them and discussing ways to cope with the bad aspects. I thought it was very helpful in that it gave me something to keep in mind as I try to become a teacher, and right now I’m more than happy to receive any kind of advice, insights, and tips that anyone wants to offer me.

My favorite presentation was the Digital Storytelling one. I think this has a lot of potential. It works with this whole concept of using technology and I think it has potential because it is a multi media affair and I think that because of this it will be more appealing to more people than plain old writing is.  Basically, a digital story a narration of a text set to pictures and music/sounds that are meant to enhance the text.  What I especially like about this digital storytelling is that it stills requires good writing skills, and that it also challenges the writer in different ways and engages the audience more fully.  I think it is a wonderful idea, that used properly, could be very beneficial to students and a very positive way for teachers to get their students interested in writing or reading.  Although the presentation talked about using digital storytelling to tell your own stories, I think an interesting way to use it, and way to get students more involved and excited about reading, would be to use it to have the students translate reading material into a digital story and then presenting it to the class.  I think that this would force students to think harder about the stories and understand them more fully than mere tests, and even analytical essays will.  Besides that, a digital story is more interesting than a quiz or paper and thus will engage and motivate students much more effectively, I think.

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got to say about all of that business.

Today my Google Reader found me a nice little article out of Scotland, and I think it has some interesting ideas for us to mull over.  Apparently, Scotland is getting ready to implement (or has just implemented) a new program aimed at improving the literacy of its students.  While it doesn’t say in the article what age group this program will be aimed at, I’m assuming its for elementary aged kids because the uses the term “children” frequently, and asks for volunteers that are at between the ages of 16 & 25.  Which I suppose is neither here nor there, but maybe it is.

Anyways, what I gathered from this article is this: Two groups (Learning & Teaching Scotland and Project Scotland) have created a program called Scotland Reads that involves volunteers donating their time to conduct one-on-one “tutoring” sessions with students that focus on reading.  According to the article they are doing this because of research that shows that “paired reading benefits include a boost to self-esteem for volunteers and pupils and encourages children to read for pleasure in their own home.”  

I like this idea for a few of reasons.  The first is the obvious benefit students will receive from one-on-one contact with volunteers.  I think this good because it gives each student a lot of attention and thus gives the students more opportunity to ask questions, get answers, get help, etc. in their reading.   By having one volunteer focus on one student (or even one student at a time), the opportunity for the student to learn and get help/assistance specific to their own needs increases tremendously.  This alone makes this endeavor a worthy one.  Another thing I like about this in the volunteer aspect.  By making it a volunteer effort you can be pretty sure that the only people applying for these positions are highly enthusiastic people with a deep concern for the students and reading.  Exposing the students to this kind of enthusiasm and concern must have a tremendous impact on them.  Hopefully, the kind of energy and excitement these volunteers can bring to these paired reading sessions will encourage and inspire the affected students to pursue reading and find it more enjoyable and valuable.

Another good thing about how this program has been set up is that it calls for younger volunteers.  This is crucial, I think, because it makes the tutors more relateable to the students.  The tutors aren’t going to be people that are their teachers’ age or their parents’ age who might intimidate the students and make them uncomfortable.  Instead they are much younger, either still being in school (high school or college) or just finishing up w/ school.  This age group, I think, can have a much greater impact young students than can older generations because there is much less of gap between them, which should make for more comfortable and genuine interactions.

But anyways, all in all I’ve got to say that I think that Scotland has come up with a pretty darn good idea.  It will be interesting to see how the whole reliance on volunteers will work, because I can definitely see that causing some problems.  Regardless, I think it’s a great idea that will help the students and it’s one that I think we should ponder over here across the pond as a possible way to improve students’ reading to get them motivated about reading.

The Daily Record

Book Up To Help Pupils

9-27-2007

My Google Reader showed me an interesting article out of Baltimore today. It’s about how more and more college students lack the ability to write well in a college setting. This is based on the findings of the English Composition task force. They blame the recent under performance of students to “No Child Left Behind” claiming that “Writing is taking a back seat, and realistic writing instruction is almost filtered out completely.” Not being overly well versed in the NCLB policies, I can’t really speak to whether or not this is true. I don’t really care too much about that part of the article anyway. What does interest me are the task force’s recommendations for fixing this growing problem. They are:

“TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS

» High school writing expectations should align with college expectations.

» All prospective teachers must demonstrate the ability to write and how to teach writing.

» English teachers should structure writing assignments that require students to write for a variety of purposes and audiences.

» Teachers of all disciplines should assign regular writing experiences.

» Teachers should maintain student writing portfolios.

» Schools should analyze class sizes and teacher workloads.

» All teachers should participate in professional development in the teaching of writing.”

and also that, “…high schools and colleges reduce class sizes so teachers have more time to evaluate and provide feedback on writing assignments.”

I just want to say that I think it is a great thing that this task force is trying to find better ways of teaching students how to write, and how to write well. I also particularly like their emphasis on “real world” writing skills. I have to say that I agree with most of their ideas. There are a few things that I think are a little excessive such as having ALL hopeful teachers show high level of writing proficiency and the to ability to teach writing(I don’t think this is overly necessary for P.E., Math, and Science teachers, among others, probably), and also that ALL teachers should participate in professional development on how to teach writing. Again, I don’t think that being able to teach writing well is very practical for math teachers, etc. What I do like very much, however, is the emphasis on smaller class sizes and increased teacher/student interaction about writing (feedback, discussion, etc.), and also the emphasis on setting up high school education to prepare students for college. These I think are the two most important ideas put out by this task force. I also like their recommendation to encourage teachers in subjects other than just English to incorporate writing into their curriculum (again, this depends on the subject as some subjects - i.e. math, again - doesn’t have much relevance to writing, I don’t think; this is a great idea, nevertheless).

Like I said, I like this article because it deals w/ new ways to improve writing among students, and I think that educating students to be articulate, proficient writers is an invaluable endeavor that will enhance the lives of students in almost anything they do. While the recommendations made by the task force won’t sufficient by themselves to accomplish this task, I definitely think that the ideas presented are a step in the right direction and definitely deserve some heavy thought on the part of our students, teachers, schools, and legislators.

The Baltimore Examiner

“Report: Many college freshmen lack writing skills”

Kelsey Volkmann 9-19-2007

Well, I’ve got another dandy of an article through Google Reader, but my feelings for this one are somewhat less ecstatic than for the last article I read (the one about Dragon’s Keep). This one is about a Boston teacher who has set up an after school program to teach kids about writing rap/hip-hop (along with various other related activities). The program, apparently, was set in motion to offer experience and knowledge about a career set that is traditionally ignored by “career programs” (or whatever you wish to call them) for Middle and High School students.

Here is where the problem lies, for me, however. I love the fact that this program focuses a lot of its attention on writing (lyrics for songs, and now there is some attention given to music journalism). I applaud the teacher (Chris Conroy) for coming up with an interesting and new way of getting students excited about writing. If you get students excited about writing lyrics, then you’re getting them excited about poetry in general, and if you can do that it isn’t a far leap to get them excited about prose. That much of it, I think is great.

However, the specifics are what bothers me. I abhor rap music and hip-hop and the like. In my mind, there is not a shred of it that is of any quality. Yes, that seems very narrow-minded of me, but that’s just the way I am. I doubt that I will have anything but utter contempt for that genre of “music” (and trust me, I don’t like calling rap “music”). I guess the big problem I have with this approach is the focus and themes of mainstream rap (i.e. the promotion and glorification of drugs, sex, violence, etc., etc.). And that is not to say that the music I listen to is always lily white and contains only the bets morals and ethics, but rap seems to be particularly bad. I don’t know how great of an idea it is to promote this kind of thing in students. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but it seems that to support that rappers and their music is also supporting many of the things contained in the music (i.e. the glorification of drugs, violence, etc.). What is the cost of pursuing teaching in this way? Will we find a good way of teaching writing, but also risk promoting behaviors and life-styles that are obviously dangerous (and often immoral) to pursue?

Like I said, I don’t know what exactly to think about this particular story. The idea, I think, is great - find something that students like, and use that medium to teach (brilliant!), but the particular method used hear I think is questionable. I know my personal bias is involved hear, but I hope not too much. I suppose its a question of whether or not the end justifies the means. And maybe the means in this instance aren’t really all that bad, but just that my opinion of rap and rappers is blinding me. I only wonder if promoting gangsta rap/hip-hop to middle/high school students is an overly good idea. Mr. Conroy has definitely found an interesting way to encourage writing, and I sincerely hope his eagerness to pursue this method proves my hesitation wrong (I think).

Boston Herald
“School of rap”

By: Chris Faraone 9-16-2007

P.S. As promised, you are the first to know that I have now subscribed to a blog.  Well, not a single blog, but since I couldn’t find a specific one that proved to be overly helpful, I’ve subscribed to a Google Blog Search “Reading and Writing Instruction.”  I hope that this will prove to be a useful resource for this blog of mine.  Exciting, eh?