This started out to be a much different post but became ramblings, as an eye injury has made reading and writing a bit of a challenge, but I wanted to get down some of my thoughts anyway – as I get distracted and might forget them. I have been having on-going conversations with some educators about why we educate, what is it that we ultimately want students to be able to do, what do they need for be successful, what…
I have been facilitating a book talk on Web Literacy for Educators by Alan November. Our discussions have been very interesting and I think we are all getting a lot out of it as we seek to apply those skills to our classrooms and daily searching habits. One of the topics that has come up is how to teach critical reading and analysis of web pages. We want to get beyond simply evaluating web pages for reliability, credibility and relevance…
I took the kids to get Halloween costumes yesterday and while waiting online at the mall food court, I could not help but over hear a conversation. The topic debated is not important but one of the statements has caused me to get on my soap box. “Anyone who thinks that way is an a——!” Why do we attack people with whom we do not agree? What happened to discussing ideas and trying to see the other point or points…
The opening keynote at BLC09 was given by Benjamin Zander and my main take away was to live a life that radiates possibilities. I was thinking how teachers look forward to the new school year as a time to be excited, a time of possibility. They have spent the summer thinking of ways to improve upon their craft, looking at new lessons and strategies, and searching for new resources. Just before the first day with students they receive their class…
Continuing from part 2 Franklin continues in his proposal for the education of youth; But if HISTORY be made a constant Part of their Reading, such as the Translations of the Greek and Roman Historians, and the modern Histories of antient Greece and Rome, &c. may not almost all Kinds of useful Knowledge be that Way introduc’d to Advantage, and with Pleasure to the Student? That old adage ‘those that do not know history are condemned to repeat it’ comes to mine. …
I must admit that I do not like the term “21st Century” anything; learning, skills, literacy. Learning and thinking have not really changed, the tools may have, but not the process. I have been reading Benjamin Franklin’s Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania, Philadelphia, 1749. This document laid the ground work for the Academy of Philadelphia later to become the University of Pennsylvania. As I was reading I was looking at Franklin’s proposal for study and thinking…
I have to make this public, hoping it will give me a motivation to keep moving forward. I am embarking on my own personal research project, I have not done any serious research since I worked on my dissertation. I may be crazy but I have these questions, ideas, thoughts just swimming around in my mind. I can’t seem to grab them and sort them out. There are so many my head seems like it will burst. I need to…