Here's a sketch of pathways from the attack that I made this weekend.
Yup, it's a complex topic...
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Why is fencing analysis so hard?
Here's a sketch of pathways from the attack that I made this weekend.
Yup, it's a complex topic...
Wanna fence? This should do it!
The addition of music and skillful editing techniques makes fencing look really, really cool.
(Bart was right!)
It is really, really cool.... Unfortunately, we have not only to sweat but also to add our own soundtracks!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Fencing Refereeing
Use these to practice refereeing while watching video. Two helpful hints: 1) The scoring machine lights up on the side that scored the touch (hit). RED for left, GREEN for right. 2) The referee makes hand gestures to signal the action and the awarding of the touch. At the end, the fencer on the side of the hand up in the air gets the touch.
Fencing Videos--Additional
Here are some more...still having issues with Dreamweaver code. Sabre Attack Definition
UDL Project Videos--Fencing UDL Prototypes
Here are the videos I'm trying to get into the Webpage. Wish me luck!
FIE Refereeing
FIE Refereeing Pratice
FIE Refereeing
FIE Refereeing Pratice
Sunday, May 11, 2008
A thank you
While I actually have more posts in mind, here is a big THANK YOU! to all that have read this. I'll be leaving messages soon as well....
Also, above is what I meant to give David Rose this week, but forgot. It's an HT-100 in-joke, but feel free to ask him!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Assessment Thoughts
Teachers think about assessment all the time, as in, “OMG, I have to grade the essays—arrugghh!” But the question of what to assess, or the bigger one of IF to assess at all, is not often part of the larger school-wide conversation. Frankly, there isn’t time….
Maybe it’s because there’s too much homework to grade (and if that’s the case, then read Alfie Kohn’s diatribe on homework, although I generally don’t agree with his extreme views). After all, homework is assessment. Why do we assign homework and what do we hope to LEARN from it? Maybe we’re stressed because the big state test in June is on the horizon (in October). If so, then causes of our stress really beg to be discussed. Which we can then extend to asking, why assess?
Alfie Kohn
Assessment should tell us what we need to know about what they know and what they don’t know. If we want to measure understanding, which is deep knowing, then we need tasks are equal to the knowledge and that are useful as part of the learning process. The converse is the problem: 1) we have tasks that are not useful (either in their design or their timeliness) (yes, I do love you my English teacher friends, but after a month that essay’s return has little impact on learning…) or 2) they do not show what should be known and what is actually known.
With this preamble in mind, there are three people and a magazine I would like to introduce here. All are useful to our conversation on assessment.
First, look at the work of Ted Sizer. In 1981, Sizer “graduated” from being head of school at Andover to researching the overall state of secondary education in the U.S. [Disclaimer, I graduated with him, only I went to college for the first time.] What he found: high school students were more interested in their jobs and each other than in school. No duh! While this is a statement on the nature of teens, it is more importantly a revelation about the nature of school. Along with Powell, Farrar and Cohen’s The Shopping Mall High School, Sizer’s Horace’s Compromise revealed the reasons for this disconnect of student motivation and the purpose of school. As result Sizer, along with his spouse Nancy Sizer and others, went on to found an organization dedicated to remaking the experience of school, the Coalition of Essential Schools. One of the key elements of the Coalition is their assessment system: the portfolio. To wit, students must demonstrate, over time, their depth of learning in a variety of ways, ways that are meaningful to the knowledge being assessed. The Coalition has a fully articulated vision of assessment as well as of curriculum. See their pages on assessment:
CES Assessment Page
Next, get to know Grant Wiggins. Wiggins, along with Jay Tighe, and other colleagues, has developed Understanding by Design (UbD) which argues that any curriculum design must begin with the goals clearly in mind, then the demonstration of the achievement of the goals (assessment), then curriculum of how to get there. Assessment is part of the package deal of learning. Wiggins also forcefully argues for “assessment as feedback” or, if it ain’t useful to the student, don’t do it! That is, assessment must be fitting to the task and done in a way that a student can learn from. The “multiple guess” test that the kid is never allowed to review ain’t useful! Wiggins in person is fabulous—he is elegantly entertaining and he demonstrates what he preaches…
UbD Page
Assessment as Feedback
Then, look at the work of Heidi Hayes-Jacobs. Hayes-Jacobs is currently best known for her method of curriculum mapping, a way to make sure that students get a coherent and meaningful learning experience during their entire school experience. She’s also known for her work on interdisciplinary curriculum design. Embedded in her design approach, as well, are essential questions and from these flow the nature of assessments. Essential questions are just that, central concepts that organize a course of study. (Sizer and Wiggins use essential questions to organize curriculum as well.) Again, match the tool to the job. [Additional disclaimer, I’ve had class with Heidi at, gasp!, Teachers College.]
Heidi Hayes-Jacobs
Finally, this month’s issue of Edutopia, a magazine from the George Lucas Foundation, features a discussion of assessment (that’s March/April, 2008). Their conclusion, the current mainstream assessment system is broken. (That would be massive, one-day, high stakes, multiple choice question testing in formats that are not adaptable to the task nor the student, in case you weren’t playing the “at home” game. I’ll avoid the inevitable NCLB slam which usually follows….) Here is a lovely quote from their main article "Reinventing the Big Test":
Equally worrisome is that today’s assessments emphasize narrow skill sets such as geometry and grammar, and omit huge chunks of what educators and business leaders say is essential for modern students to learn: creative thinking, problem solving, cooperative teamwork, technological literacy, and self-direction. Yet because NCLB has made accountability tests the tail that wags the dog of the whole educational system—threatening remediation and state takeover for schools that fall short—what’s not tested often isn’t taught.
In short, the American accountability system is a bastion of the past that’s stifling our ability to tackle the future.
According to a sidebar in this issue, even ETS is trying to devise assessments that are more realistic and adaptive. Hell, if our friends in the “Puzzle Palace” in Princeton think it’s broke, it must be! ETS presentation
[Further disclaimer, I taught Advanced Placement history for eighteen years and served as an exam Reader for six, and have written curriculum for an ETS AP supplement—ETS has paid my bills.]
To see Edutopia’s on-line articles on assessment, link here: Edutopia on Assessment
So there you have it: my most useful thoughts on assessment. Really not so different from David Rose’s, but with some additional sources. Enjoy!
Maybe it’s because there’s too much homework to grade (and if that’s the case, then read Alfie Kohn’s diatribe on homework, although I generally don’t agree with his extreme views). After all, homework is assessment. Why do we assign homework and what do we hope to LEARN from it? Maybe we’re stressed because the big state test in June is on the horizon (in October). If so, then causes of our stress really beg to be discussed. Which we can then extend to asking, why assess?
Alfie Kohn
Assessment should tell us what we need to know about what they know and what they don’t know. If we want to measure understanding, which is deep knowing, then we need tasks are equal to the knowledge and that are useful as part of the learning process. The converse is the problem: 1) we have tasks that are not useful (either in their design or their timeliness) (yes, I do love you my English teacher friends, but after a month that essay’s return has little impact on learning…) or 2) they do not show what should be known and what is actually known.
With this preamble in mind, there are three people and a magazine I would like to introduce here. All are useful to our conversation on assessment.
First, look at the work of Ted Sizer. In 1981, Sizer “graduated” from being head of school at Andover to researching the overall state of secondary education in the U.S. [Disclaimer, I graduated with him, only I went to college for the first time.] What he found: high school students were more interested in their jobs and each other than in school. No duh! While this is a statement on the nature of teens, it is more importantly a revelation about the nature of school. Along with Powell, Farrar and Cohen’s The Shopping Mall High School, Sizer’s Horace’s Compromise revealed the reasons for this disconnect of student motivation and the purpose of school. As result Sizer, along with his spouse Nancy Sizer and others, went on to found an organization dedicated to remaking the experience of school, the Coalition of Essential Schools. One of the key elements of the Coalition is their assessment system: the portfolio. To wit, students must demonstrate, over time, their depth of learning in a variety of ways, ways that are meaningful to the knowledge being assessed. The Coalition has a fully articulated vision of assessment as well as of curriculum. See their pages on assessment:
CES Assessment Page
Next, get to know Grant Wiggins. Wiggins, along with Jay Tighe, and other colleagues, has developed Understanding by Design (UbD) which argues that any curriculum design must begin with the goals clearly in mind, then the demonstration of the achievement of the goals (assessment), then curriculum of how to get there. Assessment is part of the package deal of learning. Wiggins also forcefully argues for “assessment as feedback” or, if it ain’t useful to the student, don’t do it! That is, assessment must be fitting to the task and done in a way that a student can learn from. The “multiple guess” test that the kid is never allowed to review ain’t useful! Wiggins in person is fabulous—he is elegantly entertaining and he demonstrates what he preaches…
UbD Page
Assessment as Feedback
Then, look at the work of Heidi Hayes-Jacobs. Hayes-Jacobs is currently best known for her method of curriculum mapping, a way to make sure that students get a coherent and meaningful learning experience during their entire school experience. She’s also known for her work on interdisciplinary curriculum design. Embedded in her design approach, as well, are essential questions and from these flow the nature of assessments. Essential questions are just that, central concepts that organize a course of study. (Sizer and Wiggins use essential questions to organize curriculum as well.) Again, match the tool to the job. [Additional disclaimer, I’ve had class with Heidi at, gasp!, Teachers College.]
Heidi Hayes-Jacobs
Finally, this month’s issue of Edutopia, a magazine from the George Lucas Foundation, features a discussion of assessment (that’s March/April, 2008). Their conclusion, the current mainstream assessment system is broken. (That would be massive, one-day, high stakes, multiple choice question testing in formats that are not adaptable to the task nor the student, in case you weren’t playing the “at home” game. I’ll avoid the inevitable NCLB slam which usually follows….) Here is a lovely quote from their main article "Reinventing the Big Test":
Equally worrisome is that today’s assessments emphasize narrow skill sets such as geometry and grammar, and omit huge chunks of what educators and business leaders say is essential for modern students to learn: creative thinking, problem solving, cooperative teamwork, technological literacy, and self-direction. Yet because NCLB has made accountability tests the tail that wags the dog of the whole educational system—threatening remediation and state takeover for schools that fall short—what’s not tested often isn’t taught.
In short, the American accountability system is a bastion of the past that’s stifling our ability to tackle the future.
According to a sidebar in this issue, even ETS is trying to devise assessments that are more realistic and adaptive. Hell, if our friends in the “Puzzle Palace” in Princeton think it’s broke, it must be! ETS presentation
[Further disclaimer, I taught Advanced Placement history for eighteen years and served as an exam Reader for six, and have written curriculum for an ETS AP supplement—ETS has paid my bills.]
To see Edutopia’s on-line articles on assessment, link here: Edutopia on Assessment
So there you have it: my most useful thoughts on assessment. Really not so different from David Rose’s, but with some additional sources. Enjoy!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Best of North and South
Dear Y'all--
Below are photos of last weekend's serendipitous discovery: RED VELVET WHOOPIE PIES!
Red Velvet Cake is truly a Southern delicacy. In fact, in sixth grade, at Millington South Elementary School (TN), I demonstrated how to make Red Velvet Cake as a class project. My great-aunt had instructed me on how to make it (the trick is both cocoa powder and red food dye) and this cooking lesson was also cultural introduction. Sessel's grocery stores always had this cake as the special Christmas bakery item. Red Velvet Cake is right up there with Co-Cola Cake as THE Southern thing to eat (along with Moon Pies, which these are not, despite what Spouse thought.)
Whoopie Pies, as most of you know, are quintessentially a New England delight. Really good ones are like eating the tops of two of the best cupcakes you've ever had, with the frosting in the middle. The frosting on my favorites is always a vanilla buttercream. Yum-o!, as a certain Boston-New York Cajun-Sicilian girl would say.
So imagine my surprise when I was in the North Billerica Market Basket last weekend and discovered Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from a bakery in Maine--!
They were DELICIOUS!
The point for this blog is this: Sensory experiences carry many things with them, including memory and cultural knowledge. In my case, I could immediately recognize the red velvet whoopie pies for what they were. Quickly I figured out their rarity as well (but I'm used to thinking in these terms). It took me a while to regain the memories of part experiences of Red Velvet Cake (off-line cognition?). And for you, dear Reader, these items now serve as a cultural tool for you to use in the future (in the ways that Michael Tomasello argues). What do I hope you will do with these things that are "good to think with"?* Remember this embodiment of regional cooperation and eat something yummy very soon!
*To paraphrase Claude Levi-Strauss
Below are photos of last weekend's serendipitous discovery: RED VELVET WHOOPIE PIES!
Red Velvet Cake is truly a Southern delicacy. In fact, in sixth grade, at Millington South Elementary School (TN), I demonstrated how to make Red Velvet Cake as a class project. My great-aunt had instructed me on how to make it (the trick is both cocoa powder and red food dye) and this cooking lesson was also cultural introduction. Sessel's grocery stores always had this cake as the special Christmas bakery item. Red Velvet Cake is right up there with Co-Cola Cake as THE Southern thing to eat (along with Moon Pies, which these are not, despite what Spouse thought.)
Whoopie Pies, as most of you know, are quintessentially a New England delight. Really good ones are like eating the tops of two of the best cupcakes you've ever had, with the frosting in the middle. The frosting on my favorites is always a vanilla buttercream. Yum-o!, as a certain Boston-New York Cajun-Sicilian girl would say.
So imagine my surprise when I was in the North Billerica Market Basket last weekend and discovered Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from a bakery in Maine--!
They were DELICIOUS!
The point for this blog is this: Sensory experiences carry many things with them, including memory and cultural knowledge. In my case, I could immediately recognize the red velvet whoopie pies for what they were. Quickly I figured out their rarity as well (but I'm used to thinking in these terms). It took me a while to regain the memories of part experiences of Red Velvet Cake (off-line cognition?). And for you, dear Reader, these items now serve as a cultural tool for you to use in the future (in the ways that Michael Tomasello argues). What do I hope you will do with these things that are "good to think with"?* Remember this embodiment of regional cooperation and eat something yummy very soon!
*To paraphrase Claude Levi-Strauss
Sunday, April 6, 2008
A "Time-Out" from the Perils of Poster-Making!
Sometimes we just have to stop, smell the broccoli, and wiggle our feet...enjoy!
(For some reason the video isn't showing, but does play when you click the arrow. Here's the link
http://www.break.com/index/cute_hamster_enjoys_broccoli.html )
(For some reason the video isn't showing, but does play when you click the arrow. Here's the link
http://www.break.com/index/cute_hamster_enjoys_broccoli.html )
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thought for the Day: Embodied Cognition Counts, especially when driving (a diss on the primacy of language)
Here's my thought for the day: words, and the cognitive maps based on them, can get in the way. The body can think for itself just fine.
Case in point: driving back into Cambridge from the Mass Turnpike today. The goal was to get to Widener Gate on Mass. Ave.
We came out of the last toll booth (Allston-Brighton?) and then merged onto the road that runs next to the DoubleTree Hotel. At which point I queried spouse as to our means of reaching Mass Ave, "Would be able to take a left on to Mass Ave or would I have to turn onto Harvard?"
Spouse: "I don't know. You usually drive this."
Me: "Yeah, but I can't see it in my head, and I sure can't see street names!"
(shifting through the left lanes of the three stop lights between the DoubleTree the intersection on the other side of the Charles so as not to get killed)
Me: "... I have absolutely no cognitive map, and the words aren't bringing anything up, but I bet that as we drive it and I see things, it'll all come back to me..."
(Pull up to the area in front of the Whole Foods where people are stopping and going and nobody can get out of the parking lot--I stop and go and not let somebody of the parking lot--this is an average day on this street.)
(Get closer to Central Square and pass the Irish pub on the left....)
Me: "Ok, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to take a left at Mass Ave., so I'll just go to Harvard Street; that'll run into Mass Ave at some point (although I have no vision of where or how)...."
(slow for people jaywalking, avoid the weird merge from the left (across from the police station), see a sign for left turn at Green Street along with a left-turn lane(never noticed that before)...)
Me: "We can't turn left at Mass Ave. We'll go to Harvard St."
Spouse: "Ok. You're driving."
(come into Central Square. No left turn allowed posted.)
Me (to myself): "Yup, got it."
(Cross intersection of Central Square, contemplate Bishop Allen street and decide it dead-ends me into a part of Mass Ave I don't want to be in (despite the lack of signage), shift from left lane to right lane to left lane to avoid stopped car (turning left) and bus (picking up passengers on right), and see the smaller Whole Foods up on my left. Know it's nearly time for my turn, so stay in the left lane despite the slow traffic. Pull waaaaay into the intersection so as to beat to light, but there are a LOT of on-coming cars for a Sunday afternoon, turn left and beat the light but have to swing into the on-coming lane (Harvard Street) to avoid the double-parked car (just an ordinary day of Boston driving). Drive further up the street. See a B & B where we have stayed at least three times before...)
Spouse: "Hey the Harding House. Know it well...!"
(We both laugh.)
We made it down the rest of Harvard Street, where we make it through the intersection next to the Barker Center (avoiding confused tourists/students/parent pedestrians, a bus, and other cars-- Spouse comments that he recognizes one of the students despite her different outfit), merge onto Mass Ave., and then zip into Widener Gate perpendicularly between two double-parked couch buses (tourists). After a long tour of the Yard (yes, the tourist pedestrians are affronted that cars actually move on the road and somehow never hear the two-ton car that is idling behind them for three minutes), we arrive home.
The point of this story is this: Words didn't work to bring me to the knowledge of how to reach my goal. There was no articulated word-map in my mind. Instead, sensory-motor experience and a faith in the ability to my body's movement in space/time to pull up the relevant connections as they were needed did. This is a demonstration of the power of embodied cognition.
Does this ability to use sensorimotor experience apply to knowing something more "abstract," like comprehending Chomsky?
That I don't know!
And my HT100 project may not answer.... :)
Ok, and my second point hopefully is easily apprehended: Boston driving is crazy!
NB--I've made this drive many times before. Most significantly, I made this drive every workday from November to March last year when I came home from team practice. I still don't know the names a lot of these streets. But I know how to get home!
Case in point: driving back into Cambridge from the Mass Turnpike today. The goal was to get to Widener Gate on Mass. Ave.
We came out of the last toll booth (Allston-Brighton?) and then merged onto the road that runs next to the DoubleTree Hotel. At which point I queried spouse as to our means of reaching Mass Ave, "Would be able to take a left on to Mass Ave or would I have to turn onto Harvard?"
Spouse: "I don't know. You usually drive this."
Me: "Yeah, but I can't see it in my head, and I sure can't see street names!"
(shifting through the left lanes of the three stop lights between the DoubleTree the intersection on the other side of the Charles so as not to get killed)
Me: "... I have absolutely no cognitive map, and the words aren't bringing anything up, but I bet that as we drive it and I see things, it'll all come back to me..."
(Pull up to the area in front of the Whole Foods where people are stopping and going and nobody can get out of the parking lot--I stop and go and not let somebody of the parking lot--this is an average day on this street.)
(Get closer to Central Square and pass the Irish pub on the left....)
Me: "Ok, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to take a left at Mass Ave., so I'll just go to Harvard Street; that'll run into Mass Ave at some point (although I have no vision of where or how)...."
(slow for people jaywalking, avoid the weird merge from the left (across from the police station), see a sign for left turn at Green Street along with a left-turn lane(never noticed that before)...)
Me: "We can't turn left at Mass Ave. We'll go to Harvard St."
Spouse: "Ok. You're driving."
(come into Central Square. No left turn allowed posted.)
Me (to myself): "Yup, got it."
(Cross intersection of Central Square, contemplate Bishop Allen street and decide it dead-ends me into a part of Mass Ave I don't want to be in (despite the lack of signage), shift from left lane to right lane to left lane to avoid stopped car (turning left) and bus (picking up passengers on right), and see the smaller Whole Foods up on my left. Know it's nearly time for my turn, so stay in the left lane despite the slow traffic. Pull waaaaay into the intersection so as to beat to light, but there are a LOT of on-coming cars for a Sunday afternoon, turn left and beat the light but have to swing into the on-coming lane (Harvard Street) to avoid the double-parked car (just an ordinary day of Boston driving). Drive further up the street. See a B & B where we have stayed at least three times before...)
Spouse: "Hey the Harding House. Know it well...!"
(We both laugh.)
We made it down the rest of Harvard Street, where we make it through the intersection next to the Barker Center (avoiding confused tourists/students/parent pedestrians, a bus, and other cars-- Spouse comments that he recognizes one of the students despite her different outfit), merge onto Mass Ave., and then zip into Widener Gate perpendicularly between two double-parked couch buses (tourists). After a long tour of the Yard (yes, the tourist pedestrians are affronted that cars actually move on the road and somehow never hear the two-ton car that is idling behind them for three minutes), we arrive home.
The point of this story is this: Words didn't work to bring me to the knowledge of how to reach my goal. There was no articulated word-map in my mind. Instead, sensory-motor experience and a faith in the ability to my body's movement in space/time to pull up the relevant connections as they were needed did. This is a demonstration of the power of embodied cognition.
Does this ability to use sensorimotor experience apply to knowing something more "abstract," like comprehending Chomsky?
That I don't know!
And my HT100 project may not answer.... :)
Ok, and my second point hopefully is easily apprehended: Boston driving is crazy!
NB--I've made this drive many times before. Most significantly, I made this drive every workday from November to March last year when I came home from team practice. I still don't know the names a lot of these streets. But I know how to get home!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
All Work and No Play -- Thoughts about Developing Brains...
Sometimes being a teacher, even one with no children of her own (or, perhaps, at least 30 of her own per year!), leads me to think about child-rearing and school-based education, and a comparison of the two and of how things used to be....
Add to this, waking up to NPR and hearing stories on two successive Thursdays about brain-based research about emotional and cognitive development, after reading about said topics for two courses, makes me wonder how to fit it all together. My "fit" would be how we define the activity of learning and how we construct the school experience based on that belief.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=76838288
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514
Well, in the HT100 project I'm working on, there's something to be said about physical activity and its benefits for helping people think better. In the NPR stories linked to this entry, there's something to be said about playing (aka, "goofing off") that helps social and emotional development. So, playing is a good thing. Playing with others--as these stories show (look at the cites of the research!)--is even better. As the stories demonstrate, play can lead to development, even of self-regulation.
I wonder about the conclusions posited in the second story (from this past Thursday, Feb. 28), however. Modelling of process, even affective process, is helpful for the learner. But isn't being instructed by your teacher (being guided through a questionnaire about what you will do while playing) the antithesis of "free play"? It smacks of overdirection and, seriously, I wonder if this use of executive cortex will have some emotional burnout effects later in life. This executive cortex training is eerily reminiscient of what many Boomer parents do when overscheduling their children. I have worked with some of these kids. "Go and play by yourself" is hardly an option in their world, because they're too busy "excelling." To these children, what they've learned to do in school is to find to right answers to they can get good jobs--and they're can be screaming emotional messes when they can't get the knowledge necessary to excel in the commodified educational system. You know who these kids are--they demand to know "Will that be on the test?!"
(Yes, I told you I had opinions...).
School should include play-- running around recess and in-classroom playtime. This would be the opposite of "studying" for standardized tests. The rest of the day should include play and not school.* This does not exclude learning, however.
Some of the most important learning that occurs in the school years is social. Socialization is vital because these children will ultimately live, work, compete with, and love their peer group. (That's peer group, not parents as best friends.) That means knowing how to interact and figure out how to interact with others one's own age and process information by oneself. It means getting hit on the head by Allejandro when you call him bad names. It means learning to share your toys with Keisha. It means letting Carrie get her hair brushed for a change. It means jumping bikes off of ramps, hopscotch and jumprope, and wandering around aimlessly. Later on it means working in a quality circle or living in a democracy. Play is where children practice skills for cognition and for affect that will make them good species members later in life.
Closer to home, it means that running around the Southern Illinois countryside with five other kids, chasing Luna moths and hunting for snipe, was a valuable childhood experience, and I couldn't agree more...
*Depending on the age. Homework can be valuable practice for thinking skills if it is an authentic activity (see Grant Wiggins for more info in this area!)
http://www.grantwiggins.org/
[working on adding tags--will revise...]
Add to this, waking up to NPR and hearing stories on two successive Thursdays about brain-based research about emotional and cognitive development, after reading about said topics for two courses, makes me wonder how to fit it all together. My "fit" would be how we define the activity of learning and how we construct the school experience based on that belief.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=76838288
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514
Well, in the HT100 project I'm working on, there's something to be said about physical activity and its benefits for helping people think better. In the NPR stories linked to this entry, there's something to be said about playing (aka, "goofing off") that helps social and emotional development. So, playing is a good thing. Playing with others--as these stories show (look at the cites of the research!)--is even better. As the stories demonstrate, play can lead to development, even of self-regulation.
I wonder about the conclusions posited in the second story (from this past Thursday, Feb. 28), however. Modelling of process, even affective process, is helpful for the learner. But isn't being instructed by your teacher (being guided through a questionnaire about what you will do while playing) the antithesis of "free play"? It smacks of overdirection and, seriously, I wonder if this use of executive cortex will have some emotional burnout effects later in life. This executive cortex training is eerily reminiscient of what many Boomer parents do when overscheduling their children. I have worked with some of these kids. "Go and play by yourself" is hardly an option in their world, because they're too busy "excelling." To these children, what they've learned to do in school is to find to right answers to they can get good jobs--and they're can be screaming emotional messes when they can't get the knowledge necessary to excel in the commodified educational system. You know who these kids are--they demand to know "Will that be on the test?!"
(Yes, I told you I had opinions...).
School should include play-- running around recess and in-classroom playtime. This would be the opposite of "studying" for standardized tests. The rest of the day should include play and not school.* This does not exclude learning, however.
Some of the most important learning that occurs in the school years is social. Socialization is vital because these children will ultimately live, work, compete with, and love their peer group. (That's peer group, not parents as best friends.) That means knowing how to interact and figure out how to interact with others one's own age and process information by oneself. It means getting hit on the head by Allejandro when you call him bad names. It means learning to share your toys with Keisha. It means letting Carrie get her hair brushed for a change. It means jumping bikes off of ramps, hopscotch and jumprope, and wandering around aimlessly. Later on it means working in a quality circle or living in a democracy. Play is where children practice skills for cognition and for affect that will make them good species members later in life.
Closer to home, it means that running around the Southern Illinois countryside with five other kids, chasing Luna moths and hunting for snipe, was a valuable childhood experience, and I couldn't agree more...
*Depending on the age. Homework can be valuable practice for thinking skills if it is an authentic activity (see Grant Wiggins for more info in this area!)
http://www.grantwiggins.org/
[working on adding tags--will revise...]
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Here's a better version of the profile photo (Feb)
I'm the blonde....
(The other two are psychologists to whom I happen to be genetically related....)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Follow-up: The Homework My Dog Ate
As promised, here's a scan of the evidence.
Her digestive track really did process the information.... Do you think there's a mind-body connection and now Sasha understands universal design? :)
(She does have a lovely scissors-bite. It corresponded well with blank space between topic sections!)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Thoughts about Technology
Having been a history teacher for so long, the company I've kept has in some ways shaped my thinking, especially about technology.
In particular, I have had some excellent friends/colleagues who were (and are) the most amazing Luddites. This is probably an occupational hazard of history, where an affection for the past, and the material conditions of that previous era, are held in the highest regard and greatest fondness.
Me, I appreciate the past more as the cultural anthropologist that I am--material conditions are extremely important for how they shape our way of being "a body in the body of the world" (quote from Peggy McIntosh) which in turn shapes how we see the world, and act in the world, and experience the world, etc. This philosophy is not unlike the feminist axiom that "the personal is the political" (see Sara Evans' Personal Politics for more explanation). But, for me, there is the additional element for the material: knowing how to live in a multiplicity of conditions, successfully. That is to say, knowing how to adapt to a variety of environments and survive is key. My view is anthropological and evolutionary, but it's also just a West Tennessee "country girl" speaking....
[Some day I'll compare this country girl to her suburban husband, but that's a rant for another day. Back to my friends the history teachers/Luddites...]
The wonderful thing about great teachers is that they not only know themselves, they know how to laugh at themselves, especially when confronting their fears and desires about technology and the rapidity of changing material conditions. Certainly, this seemed to be a theme from our T560 class this week. I love the fact that Bart and David are learning right along with us, despite our trepidations--that makes us all the more aware as teachers and learners. In that spirit I want to share the following video segment from YouTube which was sent to me by one of my history teacher friends. I think it's fabulous for its commentary on technology and human nature. I hope you enjoy it too!
Medieval Help Desk
In particular, I have had some excellent friends/colleagues who were (and are) the most amazing Luddites. This is probably an occupational hazard of history, where an affection for the past, and the material conditions of that previous era, are held in the highest regard and greatest fondness.
Me, I appreciate the past more as the cultural anthropologist that I am--material conditions are extremely important for how they shape our way of being "a body in the body of the world" (quote from Peggy McIntosh) which in turn shapes how we see the world, and act in the world, and experience the world, etc. This philosophy is not unlike the feminist axiom that "the personal is the political" (see Sara Evans' Personal Politics for more explanation). But, for me, there is the additional element for the material: knowing how to live in a multiplicity of conditions, successfully. That is to say, knowing how to adapt to a variety of environments and survive is key. My view is anthropological and evolutionary, but it's also just a West Tennessee "country girl" speaking....
[Some day I'll compare this country girl to her suburban husband, but that's a rant for another day. Back to my friends the history teachers/Luddites...]
The wonderful thing about great teachers is that they not only know themselves, they know how to laugh at themselves, especially when confronting their fears and desires about technology and the rapidity of changing material conditions. Certainly, this seemed to be a theme from our T560 class this week. I love the fact that Bart and David are learning right along with us, despite our trepidations--that makes us all the more aware as teachers and learners. In that spirit I want to share the following video segment from YouTube which was sent to me by one of my history teacher friends. I think it's fabulous for its commentary on technology and human nature. I hope you enjoy it too!
Medieval Help Desk
Friday, February 8, 2008
First Blog--The Dog Ate My Homework!
Seriously, it's true; although I should entitle this post "The dog ate my T560 notes!"
Sasha, the dog, is a two-year-old German Shepard/Malamute(best guess)/Collie(best guess) mix. A shelter puppy, whom we adopted last April, she has issues about food and separation anxiety. Given that she was a stray, this makes sense. Also, her behavior indicates rough treatment by her first family. So clearly environment has had an effect on her development. But, as the UDL Handbook notes in chapter 2, some critters are just more sensitive to begin with. (Ok, the supporting research is on primates, which are pretty close to humans, so I'm a little leery of citing this for a canine, but as the DNA has a lot of match between species, the comparison seems to hold...) So genes are a factor here as well. Managing the affect of the dog is a major chore, especially now that we (husband and I) are back in class with the new semester, with a new schedule.
So, yes, three days ago she seriously chewed my notes.
Today she munched on a set of student recommendation envelopes and busted into the kibble container. We're now waiting for the inevitable result...
Sasha, the dog, is a two-year-old German Shepard/Malamute(best guess)/Collie(best guess) mix. A shelter puppy, whom we adopted last April, she has issues about food and separation anxiety. Given that she was a stray, this makes sense. Also, her behavior indicates rough treatment by her first family. So clearly environment has had an effect on her development. But, as the UDL Handbook notes in chapter 2, some critters are just more sensitive to begin with. (Ok, the supporting research is on primates, which are pretty close to humans, so I'm a little leery of citing this for a canine, but as the DNA has a lot of match between species, the comparison seems to hold...) So genes are a factor here as well. Managing the affect of the dog is a major chore, especially now that we (husband and I) are back in class with the new semester, with a new schedule.
So, yes, three days ago she seriously chewed my notes.
Today she munched on a set of student recommendation envelopes and busted into the kibble container. We're now waiting for the inevitable result...
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