Once upon a classroom, I judged my work by student engagement with content.
And (I thought) I was good at it.
Now, I judge my work by student engagement with each other.
And every day I work to get better at it.
Content matters(ish).
Connections matter most.
Our world is overfull of information.
It starves for connections.
Time for the Age of Connection.
Maybe more than ever.
#Project180
Please read this blog post as you put together your reading lists for courses and take a pause to understand the importance of bringing in Indigenous Brilliance. https://t.co/MXnLbLjWgc
Mathematics should be taught as a humanities--a soulful adventure framed with art and philosophy.
Because that is what mathematics is--it's only education which has reduced it to a tool for only practical considerations.
Why, as Lillian Weber once put it, do most kids "begin school as an exclamation point and a question mark [but then] leave as a plain period"?
My new Ed. Week commentary: "Less and Less Curious": https://t.co/8aEjzjD5ks
@DalrympleWill@EmpirePodUK So happy to hear you mention the Fraser clan. We are descendant of the Fraser’s that came to fight for James Wolfe in Canada.
🙌 We can't boast about having an outstanding school or program if we only admit the #students who are already performing well. Their success isn't a measure of our instruction--they were going to succeed regardless of the instruction. #LeadInclusion#EdLeaders#Educators#UDL
2/2
I'm always delighted to talk with such administrators and teachers - those who realize that euphemisms like "holding the student accountable" or imposing a "consequence" are just rationalizations for punishment. And that punishments, like rewards, only make things worse.
A light-bulb moment for me was realizing that much of the talk about student "motivation" (how to boost it or why a given kid lacks it) is really code for talking about compliance: the extent to which students do whatever they're told without question.
Last spring, EPS did a "presentation" at my kid's school, during which they lied repeatedly, took photos of the kids without consent (I made a stink and they deleted the photos), and presented narratives that maligned vulnerable members of our community.
As you are thinking through what you are teaching this year, take a look at this blog post to support your in what your role is as a non-Indigenous educator. https://t.co/XoYikIxd3O
@teachbk I agree with you. I was shocked as a new teacher decades ago when an “award winning” teacher was referring to a student as a “waste of skin”. It’s the same for any job. I’m sure there are people in all professions who disrespect their clients or patients in the same way.
@ian_doktor Her research has also demonstrated how scientists followed the wrong path for best predicting fires for decades and are having a hard time adjusting to new research, let alone policy makers and government.
2/2
In case you didn't notice, I slipped in two distinctions there for the price of one:
1) rigorous ≠ engaging;
2) intellectual goals - and the corresponding teaching strategies - differ markedly from those that are merely academic. (This recognition can transform schooling.)
A focus on increasing "rigor," "raising the bar," demanding "higher standards," etc. usually means teaching the same sorts of things in pretty much the same way, except now with fewer students being able to succeed.