Tag!

First it was the curse of two left feet that rendered me an often sought out target on the playground.
Then there are dim memories from college.
Full grown adults recapturing a lost childhood without much physical exertion - phone tag.
Now into the full-blown adulthood (with children) I find myself again being "tagged" - blog style.

This one comes from one of those college-era phone taggers - David A. Zimmerman.

At least some exertion is required, albeit a mental one: If I had a hundred bucks free and clear, how would I use it redemptively?

My first reaction is to point out a possible grammatical error and rewrite this as: "If I had a hundred bucks free and clear, how would I use it? Redemptively?"

To which I can rapidly reply "Yes," and be done with the matter. Since I know that the Zimmer-man would not let shoddy grammar slip by unnoticed, I must consider the wording carefully.

Possibilities:
One hundred bucks free and clear. I think that is the best way to treat them don't you. Let them roam free across wide-open land enjoying the clean, clear air. If you are from Florida you may try to oppose the movement of these particular bucks.

Accounting for the possibility that the Zimmer-man was referring to a unit of currency - sometimes called a "buck" in the parlance of out times - I will endeavor upon a more thoughtful response.

If I had one hundred units of primary currency to use in a redemptive manner I would first have to consider the greatest way to make an impact: a sprinkling scattered across a wide ranging area or a concentrated impact focused on a singular entity. However, as I ponder this, I consider the possibility that both result from the proper singular action. I choose
OLPC.

I think the end result has the potential for an tremendously life-altering experience for an individual, while creating a ripple throughout the rest of the world. This is not an homage to the laughable selection of "You" as Time's Person of the Year. Rather it is a belief in the ability of individuals to impact change in their world when given access to the appropriate tools.

Is this redemptive? Is the act of a white, upper-middle class male providing one of the voiceless majority in a third world country the opportunity to engage the global community in debate
redemptive? I believe it is.

Advice for the middle school crowd

I wish there had been a John August when I was 14, or at least an easy way to contact professional screenwriters. In response to the question "What should a 14 year old do?"Mr. August provides a far from comprehensive guide for young, aspiring screenwriters, but his website contains many useful resources.

Looking at the texts he offers for downloading got me to thinking about E. D. Hirsch and his Core Knowledge Foundation. I remember all the hooplah and hype around the publication of Cultural Literacy. I started reading his book The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them a couple of weeks ago. I agree with the concept of core knowledge. Combine this with Robert Marzano's research into Classroom Instruction That Works. The instructional strategy with the largest effect size is using similarities and differences. If we don't have a common reference point, or core knowledge, we will have a classroom full of different starting points.

The problem I have with Core Knowledge is who is determining what that core is. The shared common knowledge of a group of 3rd graders is different from that of 3rd grade teachers. Heck, the common knowledge of a group of new 3rd grade teachers is different from that of a group of 15 year veteran 3rd grade teachers. So what is the common knowledge that we should emphasize?

I agree that there are elements of Core Knoweldge that greatly contribute to being a functioning member of society. However, I also know that a teacher that can speak articulately about World of Warcraft guilds will find a way into connecting with the computer geek loner in the back of the classroom. I speak from experience.

When I look at my state reading standards I see sets of skills not specific great works. So will it matter if you use The Odyssey, a Harry Potter novel, or a movie like Pirates of The Carribean to teach elements of plot, character, and setting?

How familiar are you with the world and core knowledge of your students? Can you speak the language of a 14 year old?

That's One Big Twinkie

This is not how we learned science back in the day. The entire family is hooked on Mythbusters. Last week the New York Times asked: Is Mythbusters the Best Science Show on Television? Perhaps this is not the appropriate question. The questions should be: Why isn't science education as exciting as Mythbusters? Not every classroom teacher has the charismatic personality or sense of humor of a Jamie Hyneman or an Adam Savage. However I believe that the one thing they can attempt is to make science relevant to the lives of their students.

Coming of Age

At what point is it appropriate to begin monitoring your child's computer time?
Yesterday.

I just spent this weekend creating unique user accounts for the kids. This was done partially to keep them form accidentally causing havoc among the important files (i.e. songs purchased from iTunes, photos, work sutff, etc.) but mostly so I can gain some control over what they're donig. I installed Bumper Car. If you've got a Mac and kids this should be required. Now I feel much better. Even though they're usually on Nick Jr, Noggin, or Playhouse Disney, I just feel safer.

At least today I can pretty easily draw the line on what content is available to them. As they get older is this going to become more difficult? I'd love to shelter them from the world, but that's just going to frustrate me and them as they get older. So how do you create a safe knowledge of "This is the way the world is" without dangerous exposure. Every day I relate more and more to this dad.

Monday Morning Laugh - 32 Inevitable Truths

32 Inevitable Truths
(courtesy of blingblong!)
This is one of those things that's probably been circulating around via e-mail. In case it's an original work I wanted to be sure to provide proper attribution.

Speaking of attributions. I am curious how classroom teachers are adjusting to the increasing availability of sources for online reasearch, especially wikipedia. I'd love to hear how if you allow online research, what policies you have put in place for students to document proper attribution, and what you yourself do to deal with plagiarism.

The Premise

Lajos Egri has a great book that I highly recommend. Art of Dramatic Writing begins with an introduction to a concept Egri calls "The Premise." This portion of the book alone is worth reading to provide some clarity to a topic many students find elusive: Theme.

My only warning is that he uses several of Shakespeare's plays as examples. If you want your students to discover the theme to Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth, or Othello, there are some other examples provided.

With high school Shakespearean adaptations (here)
(here) , (and here) being so popular I doubt that many of them will be completely unfamiliar with the basic plot.

Theme, however,is an elusive beast. Egri presents it more than just a blanket statement such as "Crime does not pay." Rather than floundering around among abstractions Egri demonstrates how a theme drives action. His template "______ leads to _____" is a great format for introducing students to a framework for clearly expressing the theme while giving theme the tools to articulate how the story present this theme through the actions of the characters.

Electronic Dustbunnies

Ok, ok. I know it has been six months since my last post. There's been a slew of movies I've got to add. . . so updates coming soon.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

I wasn't sure how this would play with 14 year olds. I used the English audio track instead of the subtitles since it is really difficult to read small pring on a tv screen from more than 15 feet away.

I was very impressed with the resosponse Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received from my students. Of course, it was probably a bit easier for them to understand than the literature I was aksing them to compare it to.

I decided to finish the school year with Romeo and Juliet as a way of going out with a bang not a whimper. I had used excerpts from the Zefirelli version and the Luhrmann version throughout the unit, so I was reluctant to show either film in their entirety. As I began thinking about some of the themes in the film, I decided that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon shared quite a few similarities. I knew that there were enough action sequences to keep the boys interested, but I wasn't sure how most of the girls in class would respond.

Overall the students did an impressive job with their compare/contrast essays. Since I got such a strong response to the film I have also used it as an example of the hero's quest in conjucntion with The Odyssey.