"When one teaches, two learn"
Postman and Weingartner in Teaching as a subversive activity talk of subversion being even a tiny act, even as tiny an act as thinking about who you are as a teacher. Subversion begins there, in that kernel of self truth. They asked teachers, Why do...
Last week I watched this 60 minutes episode about “lucky” kids winning paid boarding school education. Education by lottery. I don’t know why but I found it deeply disturbing. So disturbing, I just couldn’t even write about it. So I let it fester and digest...
I recently came across two items that profoundly, profoundly “hit me”. Meaning, they spoke to me as an educator about our true calling, our true place in the world. I’ll leave it for these authors to tell more. The first is a wonderful essay, “To...
This past week, I had a guest lecturer visit my student teachers. He lectured on lesson planning but the last half, he spent outlining some of his great lesson ideas (including the Subservient Chicken!) . As he went through them, I realized a strand that...
Katie Salen in the video, outlines a new school concept (well, not really new but innovative anyway) – a school where the curriculum is totally based around “gaming”. Yeah, that’s right, GAMES. No, the students aren’t sitting around all day playing computer games. Rather, they...
My previous blog post “Fire All English Teachers” was a satire on my part and not what I fundamentally believe. I tried to put a lot of “references” to tongue in cheek stuff but I guess I was just too subtle with the “Swift” and...
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci This post, written by a high school student (!!!!) says it all. How education, schools, teachers, the system fails students. Written in the form of a series...
** Not your ordinary endless list – just what’s number 1. Just the BEST. Yes, it isn’t easy to decide on one video but on the other hand, this was easy. Children full of life is a 2003 documentary about Mr. Kanamori and his grade...
I am writing today about something I STRONGLY feel. Not stepping on anyone’s toes in particular but forgive my own passion in advance. Today, I’d like to publicly advocate my detest with textbooks and in particular, the gross deficit of thought, creativity, respect for learners,...
In the last few years, one of the biggest changes for language teachers is our access to authentic materials. The world now comes to us and especially videos! It is much easier now for teachers to find “real English” on video. This article highlights many...
This recent article in the N.Y. Times, reminded me of the series of “Hitler Reacts” videos. They are superb for language learning (although be careful of the ones with obscenities!) and because the students know the “video”, they can concentrate on the language. People from...
I watched this part of 60 Minutes this evening. Whatever else, it stimulates the mind and gets one thinking about both A) Why some kids are not as “smart” and B) Who is responsible? A) My own opinion is that there are very large social...
There is a discussion within the online teaching community world wide because of THIS recent N.Y. Times article about teachers selling their lesson plans/materials and making $$$. May the Best Teacher Win is a great response and correctly suggests we are asking the wrong questions....
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