Once upon a time, there was a giraffe, caged in and confined to the space within the bars. There was no way out imaginable. After years, the bars became familiar, expected, and maybe even comfortable for the giraffe. Sadly, when the cage was eventually opened, the giraffe did not flee. Instead, it bashed its head against the bars over and over...
Recently finished this book by Cathy Davidson. Now You See It.
At times it bogged down for me, but it had some very interesting ideas about how schools should be run in the 21st century, especially the idea of "crowdsourcing," a la Wikipedia.
[excerpt] Approaching issues of classroom management and discipline is much more than what teachers do when children break rules and misbehave. Rather than simply reacting to problems, we need to establish an ongoing social curriculum, we need to encourage children to participate in community, we need to teach self-control, and most importantly, we need to accept the potential of children to learn these things and the potential of teachers to teach them.
Helping children learn to take better care of themselves, of each other, and of their classroom is not a waste of instructional time. It’s the most enduring task that teachers do... [Click below to read the article.]
Tim Walker is an American educator now teaching in Finland. He blogs about the contrasts between American and Finnish schools. His latest entry begins, "Nothing should ever get in the way of bathroom breaks for students, right? Think again..."
Click below to read the rest, then share with friends!
I've been doing a lot of thinking about teaching lately. I decided to clean out my professional literature and get rid of the texts I don't use. That amounted to a LOT of books (don't worry, I kept all the ones I love, LOL). I was going to put them in the staff room as freebies, but 2 teachers new to our school took them all before I could get them there.
I'll admit I was fearful that what is important to me would be important to no one else, but I was wrong. So, I got to thinking about this board. So many of the books I perused (some keeping, some giving away) are books we've discussed here. I guess this is my way of saying I miss our discussions.
I'm still working every day to be a better teacher. Even though I'm considering retiring in another 2 years, I'm still buying children's literature and writing new units of study.
Ah, the good ol' days when I used to sit at my PC with a glass of wine and debate the meaning and intent of Bloom's Taxonomy or the reading strategies of the day.
So glad to be back on here with voices of reason and thoughtfulness...I bring to you a question, I think a very basic question and your answers will help me affirm or confront my own beliefs:
How do you show differentiation in a writing workshop?
Marcia3GAOn 12/05/10, Marcia3GA wrote: > Judy, not trying to trick you, but needed a voice of reason.
"Trick you' may be not the best way to put it. The question was so basic... and I knew that, and I know you know of my background with reading and writing workshop so question may have seemed out of place.
On 12/05/10, Marcia3GA wrote: > On 12/05/10, Marcia3GA wrote: >> Judy, not trying to trick you, but needed a voice of reason. > > "Trick you' may be not the best way to put it. The question was so > basic... and I knew that, and I know you know of my background with > reading and writing workshop so question may have seemed out of place.
We are reading the book, Why Don't Students Like School?, written by the cognitive scientist, Daniel T. Willingham. Link attached (hopefully).
Chapter One Thoughts: 1) What did you think of the quote: "it's more useful to view the human species as 'bad' at thinking rather than as cognitively gifted?
2) The quote "People like to solve problems, but not to work on unsolvable problems" spoke to me since I did my evaluation project last year on "Teach to the Correct Level of Difficulty". I have worked hard to find problems and assignments that are at the correct level of difficulty for students this past year. What is difficult is getting that right match for ALL of your students. I can get it for most, but never all.
3)Did you figure out the three pegs problem on your own without looking at the answer?!
4)I loved this sentence: People are naturally curious, but curiosity is fragile. Don't know why I loved it so much, but I just did!
5)I'm enjoying the implications for the classroom section at the ends of the chapters. The importance of background knowledge for kids to be able to solve problems is validated. Much easier for those of us who work in more affluent neighborhoods than for those teachers who have students who have never been outside of their neighborhoods. I also keyed on the part about spending more time on DEVELOPING the question, rather than the answers and on posing the essential question AFTER the lesson when kids have b.k. rather than before the lesson as a "set".