Outside [The Cave]

Outside the Cave 2.0

2010-05-26T19:01:00.002-04:00

I'm taking a second stab at blogging. Outside the Cave 2.0 can be found here. Here is a link to the new RSS feed.

NCTE Thread

2007-11-17T11:36:00.000-05:00

What have you heard about Blogging, MySpace, Facebook, etc. that may pose problems when using these tools in your classes? What can you do to avoid these problems in your classes?

Responsible Blogging

2007-02-02T06:47:00.000-05:00

Note: This was originally posted in a slightly different form in May 2005. I am reposting it on the front page to use with a group of students today.

Responsible Blogging Lesson Plan:

Objectives:
At end of the lesson, students will:

Recognize the potential dangers of irresponsible blogging
Write an "Acceptable Blog Use" policy for our class
Be ready to begin the responsible use of blogs in our class.

Reading Materials:

"Local Authorities are becoming concerned over teen blogging" from the Sikeston, MO Standard Democrat
"Safety R Us" from Weblogg-ed.com
"More on Safety" from Bud The Teacher
"Blog Policy" from Bud The Teacher's Wiki

Lesson:

Students will read links online
Take notes on thoughts (15 minutes)
Discussion #1 - What are some of the potential dangers of blogging discussed in these articles? Which of these concerns are legitimate? Why or why not? What other dangers are there in blogging that were not discussed in the articles? (10 minutes)
Discussion #2 - (Students will respond as a comment on this post) What type of situations should our class blog policy cover? What are appropriate consequences for breaking the policy? (10 minutes)
After the discussion, students will get in groups of 3-4, and come up with a list of 3 rules they feel should be included in our class blog policy. They also will have to come up with consequences (10 minutes)
Students put rules on the board (5 minutes)
Discussion - What rules are we missing? (This will just be brainstorming...no shooting ideas down). What rules do you disagree with? (Disagreements will be put to a majority vote) - (15 minutes)
Follow up: I will type of the policy, and have students sign a copy of it the following class.

Help Wanted - Using Video Games in the Classroom

2007-01-26T11:51:00.000-05:00

I remember when I first started blogging and reading other teacher blogs about two years ago, Clarence was working on a very exciting project with his students involving Sim City. I've always thought it would be both fun and productive to do something similar in my history classroom. Lucky for me, my school had some software money that needed to be spent by the end of the month or we would loose it, so I ordered a few copies of both Civilization IV and Age of Empires III. I'm planning on using them during the last month of the year with students who took the Global History Regents exam this week and did well enough to not have to worry about a retake (the rest of my students will be reviewing for the Regents Exam).

So in essences, I want to create a project using these games that also serves as a culmination of my students' two-year study of Global History. The scope of both games seems ideal for this. Right now I am imagining something where students play the game and then keep a running diary or blog of their achievements, maybe with a short story component added for the final product. These ideas are pretty abstract, for now at least.

I was just wondering if anyone out there has used these games, or others like them, in their classes and could help me out - Did it work out alright? What type of more "traditional academic" work did students produce from the experience? What road blocks, if any, did you encounter? What can I do to make this a meaningful experience for my students? Even if you have never used games like these, do you have any ideas to make this work well?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Response to "School Matter: The Bloomberg Defense"

2007-01-23T19:20:00.000-05:00

The following is in response to this post on School Matter. Here also are links to Jim's initial post and my initial response:

Not sure if this was clear or not on my last comment, but I'm with you 90-95% of the way. I just don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and also to make sure you're making the best possible argument. Does the fact that management companies are going to be non-profit mean they won't be evil like the College Board? Of course not. But I think it's important to differentiate between the corporatization of public schooling (which is happening in NYC) and the privatization of public schooling (which, though seems to be coming down the road, isn't what is happening here now).

I have my doubts as to whether any remaining middle class parents who continue to have kids in NYC public schools will allow their kids' funds to be drained off. It has never happened before, and I don't expect it happen now in this reverse Robin Hood era.

There's a good chance you're correct here. Though Bloomberg may be addressing this with the increase in schools with admission test a la Stuyvesant. With that said, I'm not complaining that my school will be getting some of the funds that used to go elsewhere. With that said, I fear NYC Educator may be spot on with his Trojan Horse comment. The shift from allocating a certain number of staff positions to a certain dollar amount for salaries is part of what allows for this change. This is worrisome.

Sad, indeed. This is the typical neo-liberal treatment to the poverty and racism issue: ignore the real problem, provide services that only the middle class can use, and then blame the poor for not using them.

I have to admit, I was very disappointed to read this remark. Let's get fact straight again first - 86% of students at my school get free lunch - we have no middle class. The extra services we provide at Bronx Lab ARE being used by the poor and working class students who we serve. Well I am well aware of the neo-liberal argument you are critiquing here (and am with you on it), I don't think it applies. We are trying to create a culture of transformation and empowerment for our students. Of course this does nothing to address the larger societal issues creating the need for transformation - and when the revolution begins that addresses these, let me know so I can be out there fighting side by side with you for it. But I until that point, I can't see any better bet than the transformational power of education.

That Bloomberg and Klein would be falling over themselves to pander to the "empowerment" schools in order to prove their superiority should be expected, I think. That is the Marc Tucker horse they have their money on, after all. Wonder if the schools served by the remaining superintendents have the resources to honor every requst from teachers?

I don't get resources because we get extra money from the city. I get resources because my principal has the freedom to bring in outside funds, and has control over the funds we do get from the city. We actually get less than average per pupil funding from the traditional sources. Not to mention we're supposedly at 145% overcrowding, and share an old building in lousy condition with six other schools. When Bloomberg/Klein start falling over themselves to pander to us it will be one happy day.

The fact that the City, the State, and the Nation have ignored the poverty, repression, and racism that produced what "hasn't worked" does not seem reason enough to give up on the public schools for not accomplishing what no school system alone can ever accomplish, anyway. If Bloomberg's privatization plan is allowed to succeed, I am sure, Steve, that the Mayor's Office will stay busy congratulating you, your colleagues, and themselves for the new bright successes that were so recently painted as dismal failures. Something new, indeed.

You're right - weak point on my part in terms of the "why not" argument for change. That's for jumping all over it. I hope it doesn't happen again.

New Blogs I'm Reading

2007-01-21T14:27:00.000-05:00

The blogs I subscribe to in my RSS Reader seem to follow a boom and bust cycle. There are periods where I do a lot of cleaning out as my current interests change, and then times where I find myself adding a lot of new feeds. I've been adding a lot of adding recently - mostly blogs of newly discovered classroom teachers and some voices on school reform. Some of these blogs are new, others are just new to me, but have all been worth the additional time I spend reading them as a I continue to reflect both on my own personal pedagogy and helping to build a newish school:

Teacher Blogs:

dy/dan - Dan's been blogged about a lot recently other places, and deserves all the praise he receives. His model of skill based assessment, in particular, has me rethinking how I will approach my planning next year.
Beyond School - I think sometimes I learn the most about myself from people in the most different situations. I've tended to stay away from international teachers since I started reading blogs, but I am glad to have been reading Clay's blog for a few weeks now. Clay teaches at an prestigious private school in S. Korea - both literally and figuratively half a world away from the Bronx - but has really been expanding my mind lately. His post on eliminating schools buildings inspired me to write what I think are the two longest comments I've ever written last week.
It's a Hardknock Teacher's Life - Miss Profe is still in her first month of blogging, but has already developed a great, fresh voice. She's the first foreign language teacher blog I've read. I'm looking forward to much more from her.
The 21st Century School House - Mr. Miller talks a lot about Lit Circles, of which I'm a big fan. He's another new and refreshing voice to the blogosphere.
Understanding - Not a new blog, just new to me. I've enjoyed reading the insights of someone at a similar stage in his career, in a similar environment.

School Reform Blogs:

Schools Matter - Thoughts on school reform from people far more experienced and intelligent than me. I wish there were more voices like this represented in the debate on schools.
The Essential Blog - A blog from the Coalition of Essential Schools. I don't teach at a CES school, but I'd like to think I'm a Coalition Teacher. I wonder what a Coalition of Essential Teachers would look like? (Actually, probably something like this).
Transform Education - Peter doesn't like KIPP. I don't like KIPP. Unlike me, Peter can back up his views with well thought out and executed research. He is a great voice for the transformational power of education.

Another Perspective on the Bloomberg/Klein Reform Efforts

2007-01-21T10:48:00.000-05:00

I have tried to stay clear of education policy issues in this blog. However, I feel the need to post an opposing voice to a recent post from Jim Horn at Schools Matter attacking the recent announcements by NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein regarding various reform initiatives they are taking. I generally agree with what Jim has to say - he is a powerful voice for radical education, but I think he is missing some of the radical potential of these initiatives. (Originally submitted as a comment on Schools Matter):

I've been reading your blog for a couple months now and usually appreciate and am with you on most things. I think you're a little quick to jump the gun here though.

First - the facts. The "private management companies" will be non-profits. This isn't a KBR situation. Also, Bloomberg announced this is his his State of the City address the previous day (though didn't go into all the details).

Second - I think the revolutionary part of what Bloomberg/Klein are doing has been lost - the Fair Student Funding Initiative. This means a school like mine in the Bronx that serves the students who need the most will be seeing more money at the expense of schools that tend to serve the Middle Class and Upper Class in nicer part of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.

Third - yes, Empowerment Schools can outsource services to other companies. But Empowerment Schools can also partner with community organizations and receive funds that are unavailable to most schools. I teach in an Empowerment School, and we get somewhere in the range of 25%-50% of our total budget from our partner organization - FEGS. Among other things, this allows us to increase our support staff (we have a full time college placement specialist, just like the top private schools) and we can provide a comprehensive after school program. Not to mention the fact that literally every request I have made for classroom materials - from technology to books to curricular materials - I have received.

Are there flaws with the Tucker model of education reform? Of course, and you've highlighted a lot of them. But with that said, there are a lot of benefits, which I am seeing first hand (and believe me, we are not a KIPP like school - I'd like to think people like Paulo Freire and Myles Horton would be proud of most of what they saw at Bronx Lab).

Maybe I am being a little naive here - but I always come back to the fact that the Bronx has something like a 30% graduation rate. What has been done in the past hasn't worked. Isn't it worth trying something new?

Update: In the interest of full disclosure, I feel I should add that my wife works in the Press Department of the NYC Department of Education.

Learning from Mistakes

2007-01-16T19:17:00.000-05:00

This really should be a permanent series of this blog - mainly so I remember these past mistakes and don't repeat them (and if others can benefit, all the greater).

I almost titled this piece "The World Isn't Flat", but that might have had the effect of demeaning my students through comparison with others, and I promised myself when I started this that I would never post anything negative about my students. I think people will be able to make their own conclusion on the flatness questions, though.

But anyways - the mistake: Today was scheduled to be my big "How to evaluate information on the Internet" lesson - one that I feel is probably the most important one I teach each year for reasons that are obvious to those who frequent the edublogs. It's the first lesson I've got the chance to teach for a third time, so I'm finally feeling pretty good about it - both in terms of my delivery, my ability to help the students understand its importance, and the learning that results from it. It's the lesson I always use to kick off the first research project of the year. But the problem is that the lesson is meant to be a case of "unlearning". It assumes certain habits amongst students that I'm trying to unteach. In this case I assume that students, when looking for information online, just go to Google or Yahoo! and type something in and start clicking on search results. Even more basic, it assumes that students have a clue as to what to type into a search box to get results. I don't mean meaningful results. I mean any results.

However, in many, if not most, cases in my first period class, there weren't habits to be unlearned. For many, this was probably the first time students were asked to do historical research online. The first class of this unit (which I haphazardly put together for the subsequent periods in the day) is about where to begin the search. I shouldn't have been unteaching anything. I should have simply started with how to go a good search, and then tomorrow, added in the part about evaluating the information we find.

Visiting Beacon - What We Can Learn from Beacon's Senior Year

2007-01-11T17:10:00.000-05:00

(This post may not make sense to those who have not been part of the planning process at BLS for our inaugural senior year next fall. This conversation can be observed at our 12th Grade Experience Blog).

I had the chance to observe both a senior English class and a senior History class. I talked briefly to about a dozen students about their senior experiences, and in depth to a young man named Dan for a good fifteen minutes. Thanks to him for that time and the insight he gave. First the good news: When I asked Dan what is the one thing he wished he could change about his senior year, it is that he had started earlier really thinking about the college (in his junior year). The fact that BLS juniors are taking a college course seems to address this very issue. Now onto some random thoughts and observations:

Seniors at Beacon have options for both senior History and English classes. Dan said this was probably the best part of senior year. I think we have already decided against this for our core, but something to keep in mind as we design the seminar option.
Seniors at Beacon have a lot of free time built into their schedules (Dan has 14 hours free each week second semester, though I believe that includes lunch). Right now, the tentative plan is for Bronx Lab students to have 12 periods of the core, and 11 period of "Seminar". Maybe 2-4 of those "seminar" periods should officially be some sort of study hall (this of course could be more structured for some students). I think this could have a few benefits for our students: a) it will scaffold the transition to college where they have TONS of free time; b) it allows for some flexibility in teaching loads; c) it gives our students a tangible reward for making it to senior year; and d) it would give students the opportunity to spend time with teachers from whom they need/want extra help. (This time can always be claimed for field trips as well).
Students said senior year at Beacon is not significantly different from their first three years, and this isn't a bad thing. We're designing a senior year significantly different from 9th-11th grade at BLS. I'm not insinuating we should rethink the path we're going for 12th grade, but rather that maybe some of the great things we're trying to implement for 12th grade should trickle down to the earlier grades.
Seniors seem to have lots of leadership opportunities in Beacon's clubs and sports teams. I talked about extra-curricular activities in general in a previous post, but I think we need to give our seniors opportunities to be leaders for the school.
Students at Beacon are allowed to leave the building. I don't know if this is even an option given the shared space and scanning at Evander, but should we consider giving seniors open campus privileges as another tangible reward for making it to senior year.

Visiting Beacon - What I Can Bring Back to My Classroom

2007-01-11T16:00:00.000-05:00

I actually saw a lot of stuff going on that I was or am already doing, which was kind of nice to see. The project I mentioned in the last post was very similar to one I did with my students earlier in the year. In observing a senior 20th Century American History research seminar on Social History, I spent a lot of time talking to students about how they came up a good research topic. Most of them said it was based on the general survey of the relevant history they had done before choosing an independent research topic. This is the same structure I am using with my students at the moment as they conduct a research project for National History Day. But of course, there was much to be learned from what I saw that I want to bring to my students:

I am most definitely a teacher of students first, and my subject second. I am certain this is a good thing. However, I also think it is very important to a) be knowledgeable about your subject and b) be passionate about it. Not that I didn't already know this, but in both Global classes I observed today I saw teachers way more knowledgeable about Global History than I am. I also saw teachers clearly passionate about teaching Global - a passion, I have to admit, I do not share. I need more knowledge (which I know will come over time) and I need to find more aspects of non-US / non-20th-century history I am passionate about if I am going to continue teaching Global in the long term.
Granted this was for a senior research class, but one of the things mandated as part of the research paper was that they conduct an Oral History (or interview an expert) as part of the research. Of the dozen or so students I had a chance to talk to, the ones most into their topics were the ones with a personal connection (a young woman researching the marginalization of women in the Black Panthers who had an aunt in the Panthers, a guy researching the history of public housing who lives in public housing). However, the next set of students most excited about their projects were the ones who had already conducted their Oral History. I also think anytime students can interact with adults outside of the typical power relationship structures of parent/teacher/boss is a great thing. I'd love to find a way to help my students get more of these experiences.
Also, the aforementioned desire for books and visual art could fit in here as well.

Visiting Beacon - What I Liked School Wide

2007-01-11T15:31:00.000-05:00

School wide, three things stick out that I'd love to see more of at BLS:

There is student art work everywhere. Now we at Bronx Lab have hallways filled with work from art classes. However, what blew me away about Beacon is that every class room I went to was covered with content-related, student produced visual art. Sure, I typically have student work up on my walls, but it is almost entirely text-based (which is representative of the work I assign). Not only is this beautiful to look at, but it is indicative of a strong integration of the visual (and from the sounds of it, also performing) arts into the academic curriculum. I don't know how to do this. I need to do this.
I got the chance to talk to a handful of seniors about their experiences at Beacon. For all of them, they talked first, and most, about their experiences in clubs and sports. I have a VERY bad habit of forgetting that my class is only one of six my students takes, and that even if I taught all six, I would still only occupy a very small portion of what my students saw as the important part of their lives. In terms of the school portion of many students' lives, it is the after-school club and athletic portion that is most important to them, and probably in a good many cases, the most worthwhile portion as well. I know looking back on my high school experience, the most rewarding, engaging, and memorable experiences I had were all related to the time I spent working on our student newspaper, particularly when I was Editor-in-Chief. I am wondering how we can provide more of these opportunities to our students. I am well aware one of the trade-offs involved with a small school is that it limits the variety of extracurriculars we can offer. However, I feel that our limited after school resources are geared almost entirely to what we call Electives. These resemble classes more than a typical extracurricular. For one thing, our electives at BLS are almost all teacher run. Clubs tend to be student run and teacher sponsored. Are we providing our students with the after school experiences they want? How can we get closer to what our students would be excited to do, like the students at Beacon?
All three history classrooms I spent time in were filled with course-relevant non-fiction books. I WANT! I WANT!! I WANT!!! One 10th grade class I observed saw students researching major 20th Century figures who opposed imperialism. This is nearly identical to a project I tried to do at the beginning of my year. The difference is the Beacon students were able to conduct real research using a variety of sources in their classroom on a person of their choosing. In our case, students read about an assigned person (since I had to prepare materials in advance) using the one or two sources I provided for them. I think it's a very safe conclusion that the students at Beacon were far more engaged in their work. Having a decent mini-history library at my disposal would open up a ton of possibilities and really transform the experience of my students. And I don't think I have it in me to write about the differences in our libraries. It is simply injustice. Beacon's library has at least three times as many resources as the library we share with everyone else at Evander Childs (Bronx Lab is a small school in a much larger building), yet we have three times as many students.

Visiting Beacon

2007-01-11T15:29:00.000-05:00

I was scheduled to take a little road trip today down to Philadelphia to visit Chris' SLA with my principal. And while unfortunately that trip had to be rescheduled, since I already had my classes set for me not to be there and the sub had already been called, my principal sent me down to visit the Beacon School on the Upper West Side to learn what I could from observing their social studies classes, and also paying special attention to their 12th Grade classes, as we at Bronx Lab are in the process of planning our first 12th Grade Experience for next year.

Not that I didn't know this walking in, but the first thing I noticed is that Beacon is a different world from Bronx Lab. Bronx Lab is 98% Black and Latino, with 86% of our students getting free lunch and 47% of our entering 9th graders reading at grade level; Beacon is 53% White and Asian, with only 24% getting free lunch and 70% of their entering 9th graders reading at grade level (statistics from insideschools.org). Add that onto the fact that one has to go through an extensive interview process to even be accepted to Beacon, they have their own building, have been around ten years longer than we have, and have most of their students exempted from the history and science Regents exams, and some might think that there is little to be learned for a teacher in my situation from a place like Beacon. But from all I have previously heard, and saw today, Beacon is a different world not just from Bronx Lab, but from most other high schools as well. It is a special place - the type of place that, as a left-learning-middle-class-white-guy, I would dream of sending my kids (if I ever have any).

My principal sent me with three questions:

What do I like about Beacon school-wide that we could bring to Bronx Lab?
What do I like about Beacon that I want to bring into my classroom?
What can we learn from their senior year?

For the sake of readability, I'm going to address these questions in three separate blog entries.

New Year's Resolution: Do Less, Better

2007-01-07T10:40:00.000-05:00

Over my (way too short) break, I thought a lot about what I learned in my first 4 months at BLS. This isn't my first year teaching, but in many ways it has felt like more of a first year than my actual first year did. I find myself working harder than I ever have before wearing more hats than I had in previous teaching jobs. I knew this coming in, but I didn't really understand just how many different ways I'd be pulled.

I came to a relatively new school (we're in our third year) because I wanted to chance to be a part of building something permanent that will serve our community. I was eager for the chance to be a part of creating something new and getting opportunities for leadership that I never would have had at a larger school. And I bit off more than I could chew.

All teachers at my school are both classroom teachers and advisers. So I had my 12 new advisees and my four sections of Global History II. I decided to create a Global curriculum from scratch (reinventing the wheel). My first trimester teaching load left me with some extra time obligations to the school, so I also became one of the technology people at the school. Eager to demonstrate the great potential uses of Web 2.0, I tried to start some sort of pilot of blogging in advisory. While the initial idea of doing this with two other teachers fizzled out, I still began it with 3 of my advisees (1 of which has yet to post 2 months later). I also began exploring implementation of moodle and elgg into our school. As the first Trimester moved on, it was clear 3 days of Global was not going to get our students ready for the NY Regents exam in June. So we added an extra period a week, moving my teaching load above a typical full load. And though I was off the tech team officially, I still had/have people coming to me for help. Around the same time, the 3 Social Studies teachers at my school decided we weren't benefiting from the Humanities Department meetings, so the 3 of use started running our own weekly Social Studies Meetings (in the 1 free period we all have off). And I also jumped at the chance to join the committee planning our schools Twelfth Grade Experience for next year (and soon set up a blog for that). Meanwhile, back in my history class, I am preparing my students to participate in the National History Day contest, part of which will mean holding a first ever History Day Fair at BLS in February. In order to support the research, I'm giving all my students e-mail accounts through the newly registered bronxlabstudents.org, which means piloting a major new initiative and worrying about worst case scenarios on that front. And oh yeah, I have a lesson to teach Monday morning...

I do too much. And by doing too much, I'm not doing anything that well. Which is why my resolution for 2007 is to do less, but do it better. I need to do less in my global class, but do it better (I have over-planned every unit so far this year). I need to do less outside the classroom, but do it better (12th Grade Experience, or bust). I need to do less with technology, but do it better (I think blogging in advisory has to go, though good quick uses in class has a place - check out my students' blogs from our recently completed unit).

I loved Dan's post about his Important Ratio #1 (Worth of Instructional Decision = Instructional Value / Minutes Expended). It's a great post, and an even better discussion of it in the comments. The philosophy major in me thinks of this less as a ratio, than as a philosophical set of questions:

By making this time commitment to Activity A (instructionally, professionally, personally), what activity B ( and C, etc.) am I not spending time on?
Is the time not being spent of activities B of lesser value than the value added by committing time to Activity A?
Do I have the time and energy to sustain activities A & B?
Will doing activity B better be less valuable than doing activities A & B with less than a full effort?

Conclusion: Unless the answer to questions 2-4 are all "Yes", activity A is not worth doing.

So here's to a year of doing much, much less, but hopefully doing something exceptionally well. Happy 2007 to all!

Great Student Quotes

2006-12-10T11:28:00.000-05:00

My students are beginning a project where they take on the identify of a historical figure and create a blog for that person (sometime next week there should be a few different versions of Leonardo Da Vinci's Blog floating around). As a warm up Friday, I asked my students which teacher most reminded them of their historical figure and why. Some of these are too funny and thoughtful not to share:

_____ is a person who reminds me of John Locke. John Locke was a philosopher and _____ talks and acts like a philosopher. _____ has a deeper meaning to any question. If you say "Oh, I'm going to get food," _____ would start talking about what that would do to your body in 5 years.
The BLS staff member who most reminds me of their person we are doing our project on [Marie Antoinette] is probably _____ just because she's young and pretty.
_____ reminds me the most of Issac Newton because he got long hair and he is light skinned.
_____ reminds me of Napoleon because he's mean and tries to take over everything.
_____ reminds me of Napoleon because he's always changing the rules.
_____ because he talks a lot and Galileo sounds like a man who loves to talk about what he does like _____.
_____ and Mary [Wollstonecraft] because they both like to voice their opinion and want to be treated as equal.
_____ reminds me of him. Issac Newton was a rebel always getting in fights with other people like rivals.
The BLS staff member that reminds me of Issac Newton is _____ because _____ and Issac both studied science and they're both brilliant.
My person is Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the BLS staff member that reminds me of him is _____. _____ has influenced me in the way that I think and that has helped me quite much. Just as my person has influenced many, _____ have influenced me so much more than anyone I've met.
I would say _____ reminds me of John Locke because _____ is trying to change the school into the best high school preparing every student for college with the best teachers. John Locke made a change focusing on equality of human rights.

The Things That Make it Worthwhile

2006-12-10T11:12:00.000-05:00

For a week that could have been a low point in my teaching career due to the stress of a new schedule, an expanded teaching load, new class sections (same students, new arrangements), teaching in a new room, not to mention getting grades done and having parent-teacher conferences -- my students came through time and time again this week. Some thoughts:

- Monday, ten of my students stayed after school with me to help me move all teacherly belongings down the hall to my new room. They took all the graded work I had from the end of the previous Trimester and filed them according to our new section groupings. Because of them, we didn't miss a beat in the classroom. I honestly have no idea how I would have gotten through the week without them.

- Sections take on a life of their own, often with some less than desirable habits. With the new sections groups, I saw students from sections that had better habits ensuring that the students from sections not always as pleasant or productive did not continue to have a negative impact on the class. Many of my students stood up and took control of their classmates, laying the groundwork for a successful new beginning.

- Though I dread parent-teacher conferences every year, I left them this year refreshed. They filled me with hope. Either I spent 5-10 minutes praising wonderful students, or I had genuine problem-solving conversations with parents and/or students who genuinely wanted to see improvement in their children or selves. So much of my time and energy feels like it is spent on managing problems, that it was wonderfully invigorating to be able to take some time and focus on the positive. Most of my students due much that deserves praise, and it was wonderful to be able to focus on that for awhile.

Finding Time, Finding a Voice

2006-12-02T14:44:00.000-05:00

Just finished up my first trimester of teaching in the Bronx Lab School. I'd like to think I've made some progress -- though I'm only really sure that I've made progress recognizing how much progress I have to make to be the teacher I want to be. I know this is the biggest challenge I've ever faced, and I know that in order to serve my students I need to be much, MUCH better than I am now.

Extra time, unfortunately, seems to have disappeared from my life. I wish I took more time to stop, think, reflect, and write; but it doesn't often happen and I can't imagine it will get any better with the start of the second trimester. My day to day technology responsibilities are officially ending as I will be seeing my students one extra day per week in order to gear up for the New York State Global History Regents Exam in June. I'm glad my mind can be in one place more often, but with four extra hours of class per week, I can't imagine time becoming more available.

I feel like I've posted a half dozen times right now about not being sure what role this blog plays in my teaching. I know I want to model for students (and hopefully, eventually, for other staff members), but I have no idea what that looks like. I'm not sure where I find the voice to keep this going on a consistent basis. I'd be curious if anyone has any recommendations for other teachers/administrators who are blogging without a focus on the intersection of technology and pedagogy (which is already done so well by so many others). Inspiration is always helpful. I am thankful for Chris and Doug each time I see a new post in my Google Reader account to remind me how valuable of a tool this can be.

To end on a more optimistic note, a few of my advisies just published their first pieces on their reading blogs. I want to give them a chance to find their voice (and the spell check tool) before sharing their writing with the world, but I am happy to share the link to My Reading Blog , which should hopefully have student comments on it within the week.

Also, this week, I am eager to be starting a mini-project with my history students inspired by BionicTeacher. My students will be putting together a brief page My Space-like page (unfortunately not actually on My Space, which is blocked even from our administrative computers by the NYC DOE, though no similar services are blocked) for a Renaissance, Reformation, or Enlightenment figure. I'll post to these when they're live in a couple weeks.

BLS Featured in Washington Post

2006-10-16T19:14:00.000-04:00

Very interesting and balanced article in the Washington Post today about DC's consideration of the NYC model of mayoral control of schools. I'm certainly benefiting from Bloomberg and Klein's two biggest policy initiatives (small schools, and the autonomy given by the Empowerment Zone), though I would like to see more information and data on the seemingly valid criticisms raised in the article in regards to the overcrowding of schools before wholeheartedly putting my hat in the Bloomberg cheering section.

But of course the real reason I'm posting this is because my school is featured in a very positive light in the article. I had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Nakamura and welcoming him as a guest in my classroom and was very happy to see his positive portrayal of BLS.

Proposal - Blogging in Advisory

2006-10-16T11:03:00.000-04:00

Since I won't be blogging as part of my Global History course, we're started having some conversations about where it makes sense to integrate Blogging into our curriculum. Until we have time to set up/test/teach some sort of Moodle and/or Elgg on a school wide basis (which realistically, may not be until the start of the next school year), we are looking for smaller environments to establish a prototype which (in theory) can be copied by other teachers.

I mean this post to serve as a first draft of my thinking in terms of the proposal I will bring to our staff along with Chris, our Tech Team leader who will be joining me in this endeavor.

Background:
All our students participate in an Advisory class. Each teacher is responsible for 12-15 students, who they stay with throughout the students' four years at our school. The class meets 40 minutes, four times per week. Advisory is a very dynamic class that wears a lot of different hats. The two most relevant aspects of Advisory for this proposal are Silent Reading and Letter Writing. Two days per week students (and Adviser) participate in Silent Reading, where students spend the Advisory period silently reading a book of their choice. Letter Writing is a two step process. Once per month, I write each of my students a letter. The letter contains three parts: 1) an update on what has been going on in my life the past month (personally and professionally), 2) a summery of what I have read in the past month (analyzing/explaining plot, characters, and themes), and 3) response and questions regarding the students' previous letter to me. The students then write me one letter per month, following the same format.

Proposal:
Ideally, I would like to switch the whole letter writing process from a traditional hand-written letter to blogs. There are two limitations that prevent this from happening. First, computers are charging during the advisory period (and we would not have enough for all advisories anyway). Second, we do not want to loose the privacy and intimacy of the personal parts of the letters (where students often disclose very important personal information). Therefore, Chris and I have developed the following plan to pilot a blogging program in our advisories (I have a 9th grade advisory; Chris has an 11th grade advisory; hopefully a 10th grade advisory will join us).

At least 2-4 students from each of our advisories will participate.
Once the initial group of students are set up, this will be offered to the remaining students in participating advisories.
Participating students will stay after school once a week (though perhaps only once every two weeks will be necessary) in order to have computer access and for Chris and I to help these students get their blogs started.
Students will learn about blogging safety and the importance of anonymity as part of their blogging setup.
All involved advisers and students will keep a "Reading Blog" which will replace the reading portion of the monthly letter. Their blog posts will consist of what was formerly Part 2 of the Monthley Letters. Part 3 will be replaced by comments left on blogs (adviser comments on students' blogs; students comment on adviser's blog initially, and eventually other students' blogs).
Students will continue to write the personal part of the monthly letter directly to their adviser. However, the student will now have the option to submit this portion through e-mail.
Initially, students will be required to publish one blog post and one comment per month, though will be encouraged to do more.
Blog posts will be assessed by the same criteria that letters are assessed (which differs from advisory to advisory, and in some cases, from student to student)
While non-blogging students are writing their letters in Advisory Class, blogging students will either read silently or write a paper draft of their blog posts.

Questions that need to be addressed:

Is this open to any adviser who wants to participate? (Chris and I will not have the time to support additional advisories, so if it is open, how and when do other advisers get the necessary training to participate?)
What is our school's policy on teachers' anonymity, or lack there of, online? (My first and last name are on this Blog - Is it okay for me also to be using the school's name? I will be setting up a separate blog to use for my reading - since students will be posting there [and I will likely be linking to student work] to I need to refrain from using the school's name and/or my last name to protect students?)
What issues are I forgetting here?

In the interest of modeling the type of conversation that blogging makes possible, I have posted this here in order to get feedback from my coworkers and anyone else who has any advice to give. As always, all comments, questions, and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Outside [The Cave] 2.0

2006-10-12T10:34:00.000-04:00

I upgraded to Blogger Beta the other day, and because of this, am still working out some kinks (my old comments are gone, for one). Hopefully this will all sort itself out shortly. Apologies to anyone who got 25 or so odd posts from me in their reader the other day.

New Job, New Roles

2006-10-12T10:31:00.000-04:00

(I actually wrote this about a month ago, but never got around to publishing it)

In my last post, I talked about how I wasn't sure where this blog would fit into my teaching this year. That question as answered for me last week when I found that, since I am three classes short of a full load, I would be part of our school's tech team, with one of my main responsibilities being to help teachers integrate technology into their pedagogy and practice. So even though time constrains will keep me from usingblogs in my Global History 10 classes, I plan on keeping this going to set an example that I will (hopefully) get other teachers to follow. That is of course, once I get all out computers and new Smart Boards working (the joys of being at a young, small school).

With that added motivation and responsibility, I am excited to joining the community of Teacher Bloggers. I am eager to look at what others are doing to hopefully borrow some best practices to share with my staff. Thankfully, I have a supportive principal on this front. Funny story actually - when we first started talking about my new role he mentioned a friend of his who used to teach in the City and is opening a small school in Philli. When I responded, "Chris Lehmann, right? He writes one of my favorite blogs", I knew I would have a supporter on our school's path to Tech 2.0. (Though with that said now my principal talks about the wonderful ways Chris isusing tech at his school and is expecting me to do similar work here - which, at least at this moment, is far beyond the constraints of my time and knowledge).

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2006-06-13T23:51:00.000-04:00

Just scanning through the dates of my blog posts on ecto, it seems that I've been really good at falling off the ball after a couple good months of blogging. Many others have written about blogging as a habit. It seems that both times my blogging has hit a major transition in my life (the beginning and end of grad school), I've fallen off the ball. I'm not sure to what extent blogging will fit into my next stage - teaching at a small school in the Bronx this coming fall (and some summer school in the interim). One of the really strong appeals blogging had for me was that it enabled me to connect with a group of similarly minded educators - something I was lacking in my previous teaching job. Moving to a school filled with like-minded educators eliminates that need. However, moving to a school run by like-minded educators means that formal reflection is not only encouraged, but required, which is a good sign that this space will continue to be filled come fall.

Very little of this is on the forefront of my mind right now though. I am getting married this Saturday, and am then off to Spain and Portugal for our honeymoon! I'll post some pictures when I get back.

Reality

2006-05-10T22:53:00.000-04:00

Today is the first anniversary of my first blog post. For the past week, I've been composing in my head a new version of "Why I (Still) Blog", though I'm not really in the right place to do that right now (it will come sometime in the next couple of months).

As I've neared the completion of my master's work (it's actually done, I'm just revising a couple papers for publication, and will be giving a presentation this FRIDAY (not Thursday, as I accidentally typed last night) at Columbia University based on my thesis entitled, "LIteracy is Liberation: The Citizenship Education Program 1957-1965", which is open to the public if anyone is interested - info here), I've been spending more time in various roles at the school in the Bronx I'll be teaching at in the fall. I couldn't possibly be more excited and content with the match that's been made. In just two years, the school has built a real supportive community for both staff and students. In the past few weeks, I've sat in as a staff member presented a lesson plan to be critiqued by her grade level team as part of a weekly staff meeting, and been a part of a joint English/History 11th Grade planning meeting where two teachers with far more experience and success in the classroom than I've had eagerly listened to new ideas and decided to take their classes in a radical (and almost certainly more successful) direction. Both of these of these were 180 degrees away from previous school cultures I've encountered. I can't wait for similar support for my teaching (which is 99% certain to be in a 10th Grade Global History classroom), and a similar chance to explore new ways of thinking about education. I've also had the chance to get to know some of the students, subbing one day, and spending today shadowing a 10th grade through his full day. They're students I'm eager to work with.

However, one of my experiences today was a very strong reminded of just what challenges lie ahead (and what needs to be in the back of all minds when people talk about urban school reform). This afternoon at an all school gathering, students viewed a documentary against gun violence made by a 21 year old from Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn who witnessed his best friend shot and killed when they were 19. After the film, the documentarian asked the students two questions: How many of you know someone who has been killed by a gun? How many of you know someone who owns a gun?

Over half the students knew someone who had been killed. Almost all the students knew someone who owned a gun.

This is my students' reality - one that I have never known, and probably will never be able to fully understand.

Independent Study Wrap Up

2006-05-02T10:38:00.000-04:00

When I started the independent study, I wrote, "my main goal for this independent study is to do the groundwork that will allow me to write a curriculum for suburban high school students about perceptions of majority otherness." Unfortunately, this independent study did not help me accomplish that goal in the manner I thought it would. I hoped that I would read a number of texts that could be useful in building a curriculum. With the exception of a number of pieces in the David Roediger volume, I don't believe I would use any of these books in such a curriculum (though I would definitely teach Parable of the Sower to high schoolers in any grade, and would teach The Known World and Bluest Eye to seniors).

One of the limitations on the study was my (arbitrary) decision to limit myself to novels. I have a feeling short stories and poetry would be more fruitful (and more conducive to most high school classrooms). In terms of longer pieces of literature, the best pieces are ones I did not consider as part of this independent study because I had already read them: Native Son, Beloved, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Daddy Was a Numbers Runner, Down These Mean Streets, and almost anything by Baldwin in the 1960's.

I think one of the most interesting parts of such a curriculum would be a comparison of similarly themed books by black and white authors, ideally taking place in the same city. I imagine that students could gain much from comparing Down These Mean Streets with Catcher in the Rye, or Brown Girl, Brownstones with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Over the course of the semester, I also decided to firmly commit myself to urban education (at least for the next portion of my career), so unfortunately this project will be put on hold for a while. Luckily, I will have the opportunity to help build a very different curriculum for a young school (more on that in the coming weeks and months).

In terms of the books as a body of literature, I do not have any grand conclusions to make. One could certainly compare and contrast the representation of whites in different novels. However, I do not have any grand theories to explain aspects of these books. In discussing my goals, I wrote that I was interested in the representation of whites as an act of resistance. While there is certainly an argument to be made there, such an argument would have to situate works within the broader literary production of the time. I believe the basis for a rigorous argument on that front would entail comparing the representations of race in works by whites with similar representations in works by blacks.

Previous Independent Study Posts:
Introduction
Background
Goals
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roediger
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Next Set of Books
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Savage Holiday by Richard Wright
Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neale Hurston
Country Place by Ann Petry
White Life Novels Wrap Up
Reflections on Being a Student Blogger

Indy Study: Reflections on Being a Student Blogger

2006-05-02T10:35:00.000-04:00

One of the main reasons I decided to do this independent study as a blog was to get back in the blogging habit. In that sense, it has been a success. However, the study has done little to take advantage of what blogging has to offer. Yes, blogging allowed my work to reach a larger audience (though not one piece about the independent study received a comment, which points to the likelihood that these posts were less engaged with than my posts on teaching). However, this blog in no way entered into a conversation with anyone else - it was simply a way to deliver information. I think this really points to the imperativeness of using blogging in classrooms to facilitate conversations and social engagements around texts (in the most general sense of the term), rather than simply as a means to post work (which many other teachers have mentioned many times). The posts from the independent study can serve as a good example of what not to do.

Previous Independent Study Posts:
Introduction
Background
Goals
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roediger
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Next Set of Books
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Savage Holiday by Richard Wright
Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neale Hurston
Country Place by Ann Petry
White Life Novels Wrap Up

Indy Study: White Life Novels Wrap-Up

2006-05-01T23:52:00.000-04:00

When I first set out to read the four white life novels two months ago, I hoped they would provide some insight into a very interesting historical period right on the verge of large scale social change. I also hoped they would provide insight into their author's understanding of race - that they by concealing the subject of racial oppression, the author might actually reveal more. Unfortunately, the four books did not accomplish either goal. Two of the books, Savage Holiday and Country Place, simply were not that good. Seraph on the Suwanee was brilliantly written, though did not contain a strong social critique. The only book that met my expectations in terms of both quality and having something to say, was Giovanni's Room.

I cannot see much value in analyzing the books collectively as a sub-genre. While initially I believed there would be some scholarly value in looking at books by black authors about (primarily) white characters, I have abandoned that perspective. The value of these books is not in their rather arbitrary commonalities in terms of the race of the author and her/his subjects. Rather, the books serve as interesting contrasts with each author's other work, and can and should be read to deepen or problemize the authors' other works. For both Wright and Petry, these novels deepen and elaborates upon the critiques they deliver in their more widely read works. Baldwin's adds a critique of gender and sexual expectations to his more widely known critique of race relations. And Suwanee raises many questions about Hurton's views on gender (or maybe she was just looking to get paid).

Previous Independent Study Posts:
Introduction
Background
Goals
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roediger
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Next Set of Books
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Savage Holiday by Richard Wright
Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neale Hurston
Country Place by Ann Petry

DONE!!!

2006-04-28T11:16:00.000-04:00

My thesis is finished! I'm going to have a few posts reflecting on what's been a really amazing journey these past eight months, next week. I'd be happy to e-mail copies to anyone who is interested in reading it.

Update

2006-04-17T23:28:00.000-04:00

I turned in the draft of my thesis today! Now only a couple papers away from my master's degree. Writing this history has really been an incredible process and experience (which, thankfully, isn't totally over...it looks like I'm going to continue and try to produce a publishable manuscript) - I'll post more about it once it's totally done and I feel like I can relax.

With the bulk of the work out of the way, I hope to spend a lot more time at the school I'll be teaching in the fall when they get back from their spring break. I'm very excited to be spending time in the classroom again, and am already itching for the start of the school year in the fall.

And I'm getting married two months from today...which is just crazy (in a very good way).

Indy Study: Country Place by Ann Petry

2006-04-10T15:06:00.000-04:00

Though basically well written and constructed, Country Place does not have much literary merit. It's hard to call it a bad book (like Savage Holiday), but it's definitely not that good, either. Like Seraph on the Suwanee, Country Place reads primarily like Petry chose to write about white subjects in order to be able to sell her product to a larger market.

The plot of Petry's plot is full of one cliche after another. A soldier, Johnny, returns home from World War II to a small Connecticut town and his bride, Glory, whom he suspects of having an affair. Glory actually didn't have an affair, yet, though Johnny's return drives her to Ed, who is known for involving himself with other people's wives. The town cabbie and gossip, The Weasel, observes the two together one day, and through his snooping, also finds out that Glory's mother, Lil, also had an affair with Ed. Lil is married to Mearns Gramby, the momma's boy son of the town's wealthiest resident, Mrs. Gramby. While, initially at least, Glory does present a soft feminist critique of the expectations for a small town wife, the focus of the plot is really the soap opera material.

Does the focus on white characters make race more or less visible?
Race is not a significant issue in the novel. However, the only characters in the book who seem to have any moral value whatsoever are the three black servants of Mrs. Gramby.

Are these books meant to be critical of their subject or are the lack of racial differences meant to allow the author to focus on other issues?
Similar to the chapter in Petry's novel The Street where its black protagonist works as a domestic worker for a white family in Connecticut, Country Place depicts white people as being callous, selfish, and immoral. However, whereas in The Street, the whiteness of the immoral characters is significant, in Country Place it is not a major focus.

How does the fact that these works are written by black, rather than white, authors change my reading and understanding of the book?
The book makes a lot of sense in the context of Petry's other work. However, if I were to have read this novel on its own, Petry's race would not have significantly changed my reading of it.

How does writing at a time of drastic racial change effect how the author deals with issues in a homogeneously racialized world?
This book, originally published in 1947, is more of a product of the end of World War II then the the period after it. It gives no indication of coming societal changes.
Works Cited: Petry, Ann. Country Place. New York: Signet, 1950.

Next: This is the last book. I'll post some concluding thoughts in a couple of weeks.

Previous Independent Study Posts:
Introduction
Background
Goals
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roediger
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Next Set of Books
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Savage Holiday by Richard Wright
Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neale Hurston

White Privilege and Racial Healing

2006-04-05T10:59:00.000-04:00

Doug has a very important post on his blog about his recent experiences in an activity called "The Privilage Walk":

Last week, on the final evening of the class, we participated in what was called the “Privilege Walk.” Each person took one step forward when they could affirmatively respond to a statement based on their race. There were about two dozen statements.

A sample of some of the statements

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
4. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
5. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
6. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

The list was read item and by item, alternating between each of the two facilitators. The class members advanced one step at a time toward a line, all moving in the same direction, some more steadily than others. The statements were taken from an article called White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, by Peggy McIntosh. [pdf version]. Most of the White people in the room advanced every step, which I expected given the point of the exercise. What surprised me, was how far back in the room the Blacks, Native Americans, and Asians were. It was sobering. When asked how she felt being in the back, a Native American woman said, very frankly and matter-of-factly, “I wish I was up there,” and she gestured forward toward the front of the room, as if to say “anywhere but here.” I was touched by the overwhelming realization that I had no idea how it must feel to be standing where she was. I learned that

Reading McIntosh's article as a sophomore in college changed my life. It, along with Ted Sizer's Horace's Compromise, were probably the two most important factors in my decision to become a teacher. The McIntosh article also set me along the path that led to my work this year on a master's degree in African-American Studies. I've used the article to start conversations about race with my students (If any of my old students are still reading this, I'd encourage you to go leave a comment on Doug's post about your experiences with the article).

The fight against structural racism, and the unjust privileges that ALL white people gain from it, must start by acknowledging this privilege, as Doug eloquently argues. And then the next step, which Doug took by posting, is helping other whites to recognize their privialge. Like Malcolm X said, "Where the really sincere white people have got to do their 'proving' of themselves in not among the black victims, but out on the battle lines of where America's racism really is--and that's in their own home communities".

Blogging is Not For Everyone - Part II

2006-04-04T23:47:00.000-04:00

In a recent post, I sketched out a polemic against blogging in the classroom. In response, Will posted a really great comment which echoed the devil's advocate in my head as I wrote the original post:

I think the big difference is there is an expectation that EVERY one of us learn to write. We don't expect everyone to dance or draw. But we do expect all of our students to achieve some level of mastery in written language. Now, whether they learn that through using paper or through blogging is really no that important, unless you believe, as I do, that publication in its many forms is going to become more and more a part of what we do in our jobs. The audiences may be limited and focused on narrow topics, but as it becomes easier to share and collaborate in this way, I think we need to think seriously about asking our students to become comfortable sharing their words in more public ways. That's why I think Barbara has all of her students blog, so they can experience it and be ready for a more open audience if that's required.

Doug responded to Will:

The main question that I would ask about the issue of engagement, though, is in what ways are we supporting their efforts? For those students who are reluctant, how can teachers build the confidence and enthusiasm necessary to participate in a social practice that some might see as threatening, or even irrelevant.

Doug's comment raised another issue for me: If I have a classroom where every student can produce a coherent paragraph, of course I want them to publish it to a wider audience. However, what about students whose writing is far below grade level? I'm thinking high schoolers who write at below a middle school level. Couldn't forcing that student to publish: a) increase resistance from the student, who is already embarrassed enough at his writing ability and b) open up the student to ridicule from a larger public audience? One of the most important qualities of a classroom for struggling students is that it is a safe space where they feel okay making mistakes. The Internet can never provide this safety.

I think there are now two threads lurking within my original post, both of which I'd like to pursue:

What are reasons not to blog with students? I think the reasons to blog have been pretty well established. Clarence has a recent post that really shows how the power of producing work for a public audience can positively influence students. And the comments on Nancy's post asking teachers why they blog with their students belong in some sort of blogging hall of fame. However, a rigorous examination requires us to examine the other side.
If not blogs...what? Clarence asked this as a rhetorical question, however, I think its something that seriously needs to be considered. For one thing, many (and likely the majority) of teachers cannot blog with their students either because they do not have the equipment available to them or because of filters within schools (as of now, I cannot access my blog as the school I will be teaching at next fall). I think it's important to find tools that can work for all students, even those on the losing side of the digital divide. Also, blogging is a large time commitment, which by definition means other things will be pushed aside for it. What do we risk losing? I think we need to address the questions raised by Tom Hoffman in a great recent post where he asked us to "Think of some of the best teachers you ever had. ... do you really believe that whatever improvisational, symphonic magic those teachers conjured with their minds and mouths and their whole personalities suddenly wouldn’t work in the 21st century?" I'd add, what would these teachers have given up if they spent more time teaching technology?

Daily Show

2006-04-04T14:08:00.000-04:00

Just got an e-mail that one of my professors and thesis advisor, Manning Marable, is going to be on the Daily Show this Wednesday. This I've got to see.

Still looking for help with my Microsoft Word question if anyone has any clue.

Microsoft Word Help

2006-03-31T09:39:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know of a keyboard shortcut to return to the place one was typing in the main document after inserting a footnote or endnote? That is, I want to be able to just hit a keyboard shortcut after I type in the endnote information to return me the place in the main body where I had been typing.

This would be saving me a LOT of time as I type my thesis, so help would be greatly appreciated.

Teachers on NBC

2006-03-29T09:13:00.000-05:00

There have been worse shows than Teachers. You have 10 seconds to name one.

(Joke stolen from an old Rolling Stone)

Blogging is Not for Everyone

2006-03-28T00:34:00.000-05:00

I'm putting this out there in a rather polemical tone in hopes of starting a conversation. This follows the line of thought I was developing in this post. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the subject yet, but I haven't seen anyone representing this point of view:

Will posted a piece last week, "To Blog or Not to Blog...". In it, he to some extent established a dichotomy between those who get it and those who don't:

I read lots of stories about kids who are getting it, even in Doug's post, where they are reading and writing and commenting and learning. You read Bud or Clarence or Vicki or any number of others and there are stories that border on transformation. (In fact, Vicki's latest post is titled "My students inspire me as they "get" Web 2.0.") But I don't read much about the kids that aren't engaged. And I'm wondering to what extent that happens as well. And further, I'm wondering to what extent they compare to the adult educators we're trying to teach about these tools who choose not to engage. The simple view is that this is generational, that kids are more available to the tools because they live in a connected world or because, well, they're kids and more open to new stuff than adults...but is it?

The excellent comments and trackbacks (from Bud, Chris, and Vicki) follow a similar rationale: people either get it or they don't.

Will also wrote a follow up post where he asks:

how do we get our kids engaged? How can we get them to be motivated to learn? And, since these tools seem to be working for us, how can we use them as vehicles, conduits for students to tap into their own passions? And how do we get other teachers to at least consider them?

Well, I think one of the most important aspects of getting students (and teachers) engaged to to start from their points of view, not ours. The first questions shouldn't be "how can I get my students to do what works for me?" or "how can I share my passion for blogging (or anything else) with my students?" Rather, if we really want to engage our students, we need to ask "what do our students do that works for them?" and "what are my students passions?" Then we must consider how to adapt content matter and learning tools to our students. It shouldn't be the other way around.

I started blogging with my students last year largely because it was something most of them were already doing. I wanted to tap into something they were a part of. Next year, when I'm teaching in the Bronx, I will face a very different student body from the one I had in suburban Virginia. Most of my students do not have computers at home. Will I blog with them? I can't know until I get to know them. Blogging is one of many tools I have available to me to engage my students and help them grow as people, writers, readers, thinkers, and citizens.

Barbara hits a similar note:

Teaching is never about a single approach, a single strategy--it is constant improvisation, a constant questioning.

I don't think any of us would ever expect all our students to be able to express themselves well through painting or sculpture - why is there an expectation that everyone should be able to do it well through blogging?

Indy Study: Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neale Hurston

2006-03-27T14:23:00.000-05:00

Seraph on the Suwanee, lyrically at least, is a beautiful story. Hurston has a gift for hearing and representing speech in a way that I've only ever encountered in the work of James Joyce and Irvine Welsh. The story focuses on Arvay Henson, a self identified Florida "cracker", and her marriage with Jim Meserve. Set in Florida in the early 20th century, the novel primarily focuses on the Arvay's psychological issues surrounding her identity and marriage. Arvay's lack of self-confidence prohibits her capability to connect with others and truly love her family, until she breaks with her past (she quite literally burning it) and accepts her role as a submissive wife. Arvay finds happiness and contentment when she finally assumes a position of hero worship towards her husband, "I'm so proud and pleased with how you have done, that I want to go along with you and see you handle thing" (322). Of course, this is what Jim has wanted from their marriage all along.

Obviously, this novel is extremely problematic when read for its comments on gendered relationships. It is somewhat progressive in the depth and complexity it gives to Arvay's identity as a woman, wife, and sexual being. Yet quite unlike Hurston's better known Their Eyes Were Watching God, the heroine's salvation does not come through a more equitable relationship. Rather, Arvay's salvation comes through submission and repression of her past and individual desires.

Unlike the previous two "white life" novels I've read, Suwanee takes place in a biracial world. There is regular contact and cultural interaction between whites and blacks. This enables Hurston to depict both Arvay's racism (though it is not a central aspect of the story), as well as an image of culture appropriate through Arvay's son Kenny's adaption of black music and his eventual career as a musician.

Does the focus on white characters make race more or less visible?
Even though the main characters in the novel are white, many of the secondary characters are black. However, there is little comment on race relations or identity. The presence of black characters is a reflection of life in Florida at the start of the 20th century.

Are these books meant to be critical of their subject or are the lack of racial differences meant to allow the author to focus on other issues?
The lack of focus on racial issues is certainly meant to allow Hurston to investigate issues of gender -- though even with all the gender questions and issues present, the focus of the novel is really on its characters and their development, not so much the ideas they represent. In a letter Hurston wrote (quoted in the Foreword by Hazel Carby), she explained that she was fighting against the convention of "Negroes not writing about white people" (x). Through this sentiment, as well as the depiction of Kenny adopting black music and making it "American", Hurston seems to desire to create a cultural artificat that dialectically represents the movement from black and white to "American".

How does the fact that these works are written by black, rather than white, authors change my reading and understanding of the book?
Similar to Savage Holiday, there are certain depictions of black characters that reinforce certain racial stereotypes. Had I not known the author was black, I might have viewed these as a product of the author's own racism. However, it rather seems that Hurston was trying to create the world as scene through Arvay's eyes.
How does writing at a time of drastic racial change effect how the author deals with issues in a homogeneously racialized world?
It is very interesting that all three "white life" books I've read so far have been written by the authors while outside of the United States (Hurston wrote this while doing filed work in Honduras). Hurston's desire to write an "American" novel could be read as a reflection on the growing movement towards integration that was brewing at the time, but there are really no explicit commentary on the then current situation in America.

Work Cited: Hurston, Zora Neale. Seraph on the Suwanee. New York: HarperPerennial, 1991. (Originally published in 1948).

Next: Country Place by Ann Petry

Previous Independent Study Posts:
Introduction
Background
Goals
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roediger
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Next Set of Books
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Savage Holiday by Richard Wrights

I live dangerously close to the Brooklyn Bridge...

2006-03-25T17:00:00.000-05:00

...'cause reading something like this makes me want to give up and jump off it:

Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math

Schools from Vermont to California are increasing — in some cases tripling — the class time that low-proficiency students spend on reading and math, mainly because the federal law, signed in 2002, requires annual exams only in those subjects and punishes schools that fall short of rising benchmarks.

The changes appear to principally affect schools and students who test below grade level.

The intense focus on the two basic skills is a sea change in American instructional practice, with many schools that once offered rich curriculums now systematically trimming courses like social studies, science and art. A nationwide survey by a nonpartisan group that is to be made public on March 28 indicates that the practice, known as narrowing the curriculum, has become standard procedure in many communities (New York Times).

The divide between the "haves" and "have-nots" grows yet again.

Choppy Blogging Waters Ahead

2006-03-25T13:53:00.000-05:00

Now that I'm back in Brooklyn, the time has come to really buckle down and get my thesis done. Over the next three and a half weeks, I need to turn this:

into a 60-100 page mono-script draft.

It's been a really incredible experience researching in depth over the past 6 months, and I'm looking forward to putting it all together and telling a really incredible story about the transformative power of education.

Between that, putting the final touches on my June wedding, and beginning to look for an apartment with my fiancee (which, for those who have never lived in NYC, is a ridiculously time consuming and stressful process) life's going to be pretty busy over the next month and I'm not sure how often I'll be posting (though I PROMISE I will not disappear again this time). Thank god I already have a job for the fall.

Here's one last picture from my Atlanta trip:

New Toys

2006-03-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share a few new web 2.0 type tools I've discovered in the past few weeks.

The first two are practical:

co.mments is a great tool to keep track of blog comments. You just install a bookmarklet and then click on it whenever you come across a post whose comments you want to follow. It them provides an RSS feed through which you can easily keep track of comments.

Tech.Life.Blogged has a method for adding categories to Blogger (kind of). The lack of this capability has been my biggest (and only real) complaint about Blogger. There is also another mechanism, call labelr, which is in a beta test that I just e-mail about. When I get around to it, I'll be adding a category feature to my posts. (related: since returning actively to the blogopshere, I've noticed a few people with Technorati tags at the end of their feeds. Could someone tell me the advantage of using these?)

Finally, a fun one: Last.fm is kind of like MySpace for your iTunes. By installing a plug-in for iTunes, it keeps track of the music you listen to. It also recommends music based on your listening habits, as well as points you to "neighbors" with similar taste. Built in, are a lot of standard social networking capabilities. It's been a great way to find some new music. Here's a link to my last.fm page.

Using Choice to Increase Engagement in the History Classroom

2006-03-24T09:29:00.000-05:00

Lest anyone read Tim's article and make the critique, "Sure, choice works in an English classroom, but I don't teach English," I just wanted to give one example of how choice can be used within a History classroom where state standards and testing emphasize a breadth of knowledge as opposed to any depth of (real) knowledge.

Let us take the example of teaching a modern world history class looking at the revolutions in the US, France, and Haiti in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and imagine the unit project is the creation of a newspaper about the revolutions (the above unit is one I observed the last time I visited the school I will be teaching at next fall). For argument's sake, let's assume there are 30 students in the classroom.

To incorporate choice into this project, I would use three different types of groupings. The first grouping would be determined by the revolution. Group I would be American, Group II - French, and Group III Haitian. Students would be allowed to choose which group they wanted to be in at least to the degree that numbers worked out. Since there are many aspects to any revolution, there would be a second grouping based on different aspects of the revolution. Some examples (though there could be different ones based on students interests: A-Politics, B-Role of Women, C-Effects, D-International influence, E-Class, F-Military Strategy, G-Philosophy, H-Role of Religion, I-Economics, J-Arts/Propoganda, H-Education, I-Significant Personalities etc. Students could chose whatever "specialty" they wanted for this. The final grouping would be the groups that would actually produce the newspapers. There would be 5 groups (1-5) with 6 people in each, two from each group representing a different country, and a representation of as many different specialty, or lettered groups, as possible. In the end, each person in the class would have three be a part of three groups: Country, Theme, and Newspaper.

Given the setup, there are many different ways to play with the different types of knowledge being accumulated by the students: students could be assigned to do research in groups based on country, and each of these groups (the roman numeral one) could give brief, informal presentations in class summarizing their country's revolution. Students could be asked to write a group comparative essay on the theme they studies (the lettered groups). Again, using the lettered groups, students could be asked to role play a "meeting" between people affected by each of the revolutions.

I was taught this mechanism as "jigsawing," and have used it in my past classrooms to great success. It enables students to gain in depth knowledge about a certain aspect of an object of study (depth), while the student still gains a basic familiarity with a wider range of topics (breadth).

(This becomes even easier when one gets over the need to teach history chronologically. According to one of my undergrad professors, there has never been a study that shows there is any advantage to teaching history chronologically, while there have been studies confirming that teaching it thematically increases student engagement and comprehension)

What are other ways this could work in a history class? And how about Science and Math? I'm at a loss there, but I would love to hear of models that incorporate choice into science and math classrooms (especially since I may be responsible for these subjects to some degree next year).

Using Choice to Increase Engagement

2006-03-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

Tim Fredrick has an excellent piece published in the forthcoming volume of Changing English entitled, "Choosing to belong: increasing adolescent male engagement in the ELA classroom" (which happens to tie into the spirit of my last post). He's offered to e-mail it to anyone who is interested, and hopefully he'll be able to post it on his blog once it's published.

In the piece, Tim discusses his succesful efforts to further engage his male students, who fail at disproportionate rates compared to their female classmates. By giving students the power to chose some of their readings and assigning writing prompts that could be applied to a range of subjects, the engagement and performance of his male students increased. His article raises a lot of provocative issues that extend well beyond the immediate implications of the English classroom.

One of the questions that I had throughout the piece was about the hegemonic control that "traditional" poetry, novels, and short stories have over the English classroom. Tim mentioned that during free-reading or during class he "began to notice similar situations with my own students—boys reading sports pages and video game manuals during class. Technically, they were reading and writing—activities we wanted them to be doing. They just weren’t reading and writing what I asked of them " (152-153). I immediately began to wonder why these texts could not be used, to some extent, in teaching general English concepts. There are likely to be just as many literary terms in a video game manual as there are in Shakespeare. An article about a basketball game is going to need to tell a story in the same way that The Grapes of Wrath does. I'd be curious to hear how experimentation with using different genre's of writing, particularly those that don't find their way into the classroom, could be used "during the mini lessons so that we could discuss the text as a class" (156).

My one significant critique of the article, which may very much have been outside the scope of inquiry, is that it sometimes does not offer a critical eye towards the construction of gendered roles and differences. Tim writes that ELA classrooms are typically "dominated by female literacy" (153), but I am not exactly sure what this means. It seems that any definition of the term would essentialize femininity in ways that could be problematic. Similarly, Tim writes, "I thought about the books as being male or female centred, according to the gender of the protagonist" (156), but this seems to be an oversimplification (I can think of a lot of books with masculine protagonists that could be viewed as "feminine," High FIdelity come to mind, though I'm having trouble thinking of the converse example). It also seems that the implications of Tim's argument, while having more dramatic effects amongst boys, should have positive effects for girls as well. Tim mentions this, though does not provide comparative data for his female students. I would be very curious to see this.

This, by no means though, detracts from the succesful practices and convincing argument Tim makes thourghout the text. The proof of his success comes from most strongly from the students who reported they did not like having choice:

Those who preferred whole class novels overwhelmingly said that they liked it because there was less pressure on them to do the reading or participate in the class discussions or activities. In other words, those who liked whole class novels liked them because they didn’t have to be engaged in the work (156).

Augmented by the corresponding diminishing of behavior problems Tim observed (158), it is clear that teachers should consider how to incorporate choice into their classroom, if they are not already doing so.

Of course, Tim also highlights the corresponding necessity for structural change to support this. He concludes:

Incorporating choice into the curriculum can work in other ELA classrooms across the grades. But, in order for this to happen, teachers must have more power over what happens in their classrooms. In order to offer a menu of books that actually interest their students, teachers must have the budgetary resources to buy books directly based on the assessment of their students’ interests. Teachers also need to be able to exercise freedom in the curriculum and make professional choices in what happens in the classroom. Top-down mandates about what book to teach on what day or what genre of writing to teach during which month are not based on student interests and thus will not offer viable choices to the students (158).

Works Cited:
Fredrick, Tim. "Choosing to belong: increasing adolescent male engagement in the ELA classroom." Changing English. 13 (1), April 2006, 151-159.

Update: Tim posted a very thoughtful response which pretty much addresses all my concerns and questions.

Awesome Oppurtnity

2006-03-21T08:46:00.000-05:00

New York Times columnist Nick Kristof is holding a contest to take a university student (undergrad or grad) on a 10 reporting trip with him to a developing country (Kristof is probably best known for his reporting on Darfur and the sex-slave trade):

I’m looking for a masochist. If your dream trip doesn’t involve a five-star hotel in Rome or Bora-Bora, but a bedbug-infested mattress in a malarial jungle as hungry jackals yelp outside – or if you know of an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend whom you would like to suggest for such a trip – then read on.

This really sounds like an incredible opportunity. I'd love to apply, but given that it will be during the first few weeks of my marriage, it's probably not a great idea. This contest is a great idea on MANY levels. (Here's a link to the related column from today's Times, but it's subscription only, unfortunately)

Martin Luther King Center for Social Change

2006-03-20T21:09:00.000-05:00

Didn't get around to exploring the entire King complex yet (where I'm doing archival research this week), but here are a couple photos I took on my way out today. More than any other time in the United States, I felt as if I was walking on hallowed ground.

Using Technology to Create Student Centered, Democratic Classrooms

2006-03-19T14:17:00.000-05:00

My most important goal, and biggest challenge, as a novice teacher is trying to create a classroom that is student centered and democratic. This presents numerous challenges, not the least of which is defining what I mean by these terms. A few years back, I opened my Teaching Philosophy Statement for my ed program with the following:

The future is filtered through the walls of our schools. Schools are perhaps the primary socializing institution in our society. While the family and religion also play prominent roles in determining who people are, it is through the act of educating that youth are welcomed into the world that everyone in this country shares. The way in which we choose to educate our children will serve in many ways to create this shared world. If we desire to live in a world characterized by active democratic participation, critical evaluation of authority and the status quo, and social justice and equality, then we must find ways to mirror, question, and explore these notions in our schools.

While this statements aren't a definition of a democratic, student-centered classroom, they certainly speak to what I have in mind. Nothing I've thought or experienced since has altered my commitment to these ideas in any ways. As I discovered blogging towards the end of my last year teaching, I saw it as a great tool to help me move in the direction I had set out for myself as a student teacher.

Clarence recently asked

[W]ill changing the communications structure of a classroom "automatically" change the type of learning that occurs, or does it only make it more possible? What about making alterations to the learning? Will this drive changes in the communication structure?

I think Clarence is on the right path here, that certain uses of technology, such as the blogging, podcasting, and vcasting him and many others are using in their classrooms, can move towards a new "communication structure" in the classroom. However, I think these technologies are only a tool, and that if one is really interested in creating new communication structures (a democratic, student-centered one, for instance) then the entire power dynamic of the classroom and what happens inside it needs to shift. It needs to give students more control over both the content and methods through which they learn. It means conversations should not follow the "bicycle wheel model" (every comment goes back to the teacher), but rather that students should be actively engaging each other without the necessary mediation of the teacher. It means that students should have an active and meaningful role in assessing their selves and their peers.

As I've really started reading, thinking, and writing about teaching once again recently, one of the issues I've continually considered is that it seems a lot of the blogs I read are primarily concerned with technology use, and blogging in particular, as an end in itself (notable exceptions include Tim, Chris, and Darren). Unless blogging is used as a tool with which to build a larger educational experience which supports and reifies the democratic and empowering power that blogging has, I fear that many students will miss out on its full potential, as well as the full potential which the classroom presents. (Related, check out the AMAZING responses to Nancy's post asking why teachers blog).

Blame the Student?

2006-03-19T13:42:00.000-05:00

One of my closest friends from back home, who is finishing up his law degree at Pitt, sent me a column from USA Today last week and asked my opinion on it. The column, by Patrick Welsh who is an English teacher in Alexandria, VA (same city I taught in last year, different school), argues,

Failure in the classroom is often tied to lack of funding, poor teachers or other ills. Here's a thought: Maybe it's the failed work ethic of todays kids. That's what I'm seeing in my school. Until reformers see this reality, little will change.

Welsh specifically talks about the success of his immigrant students, specifically mentioning two from Africa and one from the Caribbean, in contrast to the middle class "native born" students he sees. While Welsh does not explicitly state this in his article, it must be noted the the majority of his school's students are either African-American or Hispanic (the school was the real life basis for Remember the Titans). It seems that, at least to some degree, Welsh is comparing the performance of native born students of color (and white students) with the performance of immigrant students of color. This comparison is troubling for a number of reasons, but most important is the fact that African immigrants have a higher level of education as a group than ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP in the United States, including "native born" whites (I was made aware of this fact at a lecture given at Columbia a couple weeks ago). As many studies have shown, the ONLY social factor which serves as an accurate predictor of a student's success in school is her/his parents' level of education. Therefore, the relative success of his immigrant students is to be expected. Without considering other factors in his students lives, Welsh's comparison is unfair and meaningless when held up to rigorous consideration.

The problem with a critique such as Welsh's is that it removes responsibility from the teacher (and the administrators and district) for the student's performance. It allows a teacher like Welsh to point to the students he sees as models of success and ask "why can't my other students be more like them," instead of asking himself "what can I do to help the students who are not succeeding in the way I would like them to?" Of course, there is only so much a teacher can do - you can bring the horse to the water buy you can't make it drink -- but I will never understand why anyone would go into teaching unless they believed that every student in front of them has the capability and (somewhere, even if it's buried deep inside) desire to learn and succeed. Instead of pointing fingers at the students and their parents (as David Brooks did recently in the NY Times as well), perhaps time could be better spent studying models of schools which are succeeding with a wide range of socio-economic groups.

Update: More thoughts on the subject from Coach Brown.

From 30,000 Feet

2006-03-19T13:09:00.000-05:00

I'm on my way from NYC to Atlanta to spend the next few days doing research for my thesis at the Martin Luther King Center (more on that later). After being more or less buried in books and archive copies for the past couple weeks, it's nice to have the chance to catch up on some blogging I've wanted to do.

My Bad

2006-03-17T10:04:00.000-05:00

I just realized (thanks to Jeffrey) that the e-mail on my profile is incorrect (a .org instead of a .com). Presumably, this has been the case since I set up the blog 10 months ago. So, if at any point someone has tried to send me an e-mail and I have not responded, I owe you a huge apology, but now we know why. It's now correct - outsidethecave [at] gmail [dot] com.

To New York City K-12 ELA Teachers

2006-03-16T23:15:00.000-05:00

Though I'm not an ELA teacher, and not technically a NYC teacher yet, I thought I'd help Tim spread the word:
To NYC K-12 ELA Teachers:

New York City teachers’ voices are not heard at the State Education Department in Albany. We do not have our say in important matters regarding ELA education. We have a lot to deal with here in New York City, but what happens on the state level is vitally important in each of our classrooms. First and foremost are the new 3-8 ELA tests, as well as the ELA Regents exam. Many matters in ELA instruction are made on the state level which in turn affect the mandates on the city level.

When the State Education Department needs advice from classroom teachers, it turns to the New York State English Council (NYSEC), the professional organization for ELA teachers in the state. Unfortunately, NYC teachers are underrepresented in NYSEC and, thus, our voices are not heard on the state level. NYSEC would like to change that.

We are inviting NYC K-12 ELA teachers to join a free newsletter only for teachers in the city. By signing up for this newsletter, you will get:

* The latest information on the 3-8 ELA and ELA Regents exams.
* Information on how you can easily make your voice heard in Albany about important issues facing ELA instruction.
* Application information for grants and awards for you … and scholarships for your students.
* Calls for manuscripts for all NYSEC publications – your way to get published!
* Opportunities to network and share ideas with other NYC ELA teachers.

This is a FREE newsletter and we will not inundate your inbox with messages – the newsletter will be sent to you once a month or once every other month.

Please follow this link to get more involved in ELA education in New York State.

http://groups.google.com/group/NYSEC-NYC (after pressing the link, click on the “Join this group” link in the middle of the page).

Fellow NYC ELA Bloggers: A post or link about this would be greatly appreciated! :)

Indy Study: Savage Holiday by Richard Wright

2006-03-16T10:03:00.000-05:00

Inevitably, I was going to read something as part of this study that was not that good. And Richard Wright's Savage Holiday was unfortunately that book. It is an overly simplistic, contrived, and unrealistic story based on a shallow interpretation of Freudian psychology. Standing on its own, I can't see much literary value in the text. It does have some value when, as suggested in the afterward by Gerald Early, it is considered as part of Wright's larger project tof analyzing what exactly is wrong with American society. However, even then, it pales in comparison to Native Son and Black Boy.

The novel looks at three days in the life of Erskine Fowler, analyzing the effects of a life of emotional and sexual repression. I opens as Erskine is forced into early retirement from his high status position as a New York insurance executive. The following day, Erskine is accidentally locked out of his apartment while naked, which ultimately leads to the accidental death of a young boy, who falls of a balcony because he is scared of Erskine's nudity. In his guilt, Fowler attempts to befriend and pursue the boy's mother, a war widow, who bears a striking resemblance to Fowler's mother who was the cause of his repression. For anyone familiar with some of the basic ideas of Freudian psychology, the book's climax is obvious.

Does the focus on white characters make race more or less visible?
Unlike Giovanni's Room, Savage Holiday does have one black character, Erskine's maid. While she is only in a couple scenes, it is clear that Erskine perception and relationship with her is based on the "mammy" stereotype. This serves in some ways to point to Erskine's many psychological problems as somehow intersecting with his whiteness. However, this is not a primary concern of the novel. While race is not invisible, it is certainly significantly less visible than in Wright's other work.

Are these books meant to be critical of their subject or are the lack of racial differences meant to allow the author to focus on other issues?
Without any doubt, this book is meant to highly critical of Erskine and the society he represents. Wright has a strong critique of Protestant Christianity made through Erskine's position as principal of his church's Sunday school and his devout religious beliefs. Wright also critiques the corporate structure which chews up the best years of Erskine's life only to spit him out at their convenience. The strongest critique is against the hypocrisy of of Puritan moral judgement. Erskine, and the other "respectable" tenants in his apartment building, are quick to blame the boy's death on his mother and her perceived immoral sexual activity. While Erskine is quick to judge and condemn others, he is unable to see the disturbed nature of his own sexuality.

How does the fact that these works are written by black, rather than white, authors change my reading and understanding of the book?
Had the work been written by a white writer whose politics I did not know, I may have seen the depiction of the maid as a product of the author's own racism. Being familiar with some of Wright's other work, it was clear that this was meant to criticize the white characters. However, other than that, I do not believe my reading of this work was effected by my knowledge of the Wright's race.

How does writing at a time of drastic racial change effect how the author deals with issues in a homogeneously racialized world?
Like Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, Savage Holiday is the product of the author's time living in Europe. The novel does not deal changing conditions in America, which can likely is attributed to Wright's self-imposed exile.

Work Cited: Wright, Richard. Savage Holiday. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994. (Originally published in 1954)

Next: Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neale Hurston

Previous Independent Study Posts:
Introduction
Background
Goals
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roediger
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Next Set of Books
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

Assessment: Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

2006-03-13T23:47:00.000-05:00

Tim has an outstanding post up about assessment that really hits home what it should and shouldn't be:

When I write about assessment, I'm referring to all those things that teachers do when we look at students and their work. Assessment is the million little things we notice in student behavior. It is the piles of paperwork we go through. It is the assignments we give and the questions we ask.

Many of the student teachers I work with in my student teaching seminar think that assessment needs to be "objective". I tell them that this is not the case. Assessment will never be objective and it shouldn't be. We are making informed, professional judgments about student work. It is in its very nature subjective. . . .

Assessment also needs to be fair and transparent to the student. We MUST tell students how they are being judged and what they are expected to do. We often leave this step out, but it is the only fair thing to do for students. One way we can do this is to show students models of work - these models can be teacher-created or, ideally, past examples of real students' work.

This is somehow all connecting with what I was thinking about with my last (real) post, but I am having trouble finding the words to correspond with the image in my head at the moment.

This is Just Cool

2006-03-12T10:20:00.000-05:00

This has absolutely nothing to do with education. But for those whose formative years were spent with the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, this will bring you back.

Mega Man vs. Ghosts 'n Goblins Mashup - You play G&G as Mega Man, pretty sweet (via Gothamist).

Standards: How Can We Measure Schools?

2006-03-09T09:20:00.000-05:00

This post has been swimming around in my head in different incarnations for the past week, and is in response to three different posts. It started when reading David Warlick's post about his shock about finding out that many of his son's peers are having their college application essays professionally edited:

“Wait a minute!” I said. “Kids are having their essays edited by professional writers, and then submitting them as part of their application packet?”
“Well, yes!” she said.
“But that’s cheating! But that’s cheating?”
Do the universities know that students are doing this? Do they care? How much does it cost? Would I encourage my son to take advantage? (No!)

I'll get back to this in a bit. A few days later, I read Tim Stahmer's very insightful and accurate critique of Jay Matthews's (Washington Post) Challenge Index, which is the source for Newsweek's annual Top HS in American List, based on a recent Education Sector report :

Creating a list like this wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t given such high credibility by the news media. School quality is a complex issue and the flurry of publicity that surrounds the Challenge Index masks many other factors that need to be addressed.

[From the report] Using publicly available student performance data, we found that many schools on Newsweek’s 2005 ranking have glaring achievement gaps and high dropout rates. By presenting them as America’s best, Newsweek is misleading readers and slighting other schools that may in fact be better than those on Mathews’ list.

Finally, Chris Lehman just posted a really beautiful piece on what schools are, and are not:

We are not:
Only a sorting mechanism for colleges
A target market
The next great money-making scheme.
A business
A way to create the next generation of workers.

With these three pieces in the back of my head, I've been thinking a lot about how we should and can measure schools. As much as I hate to admit it, I think the spirit of NCLB is on the right path - Schools/teachers should be held accountable for the achievement of their students, and this should be measured not just in aggregate, but also for sub-populations within the school based race, gender, and eligibility for special education services (I would add class to the list). Now in its implementation, NCLB is so wrong in so many ways, but those have all been well explained elsewhere.

When I first read Tim's piece, I thought about what "Challenge Index," or other such ranking would look like if it actually responded to what the community wants for its students, i.e., what a community believes its students should know and be able to do upon graduating. One of the obvious answers that came to mind was to measure schools by what their students are doing 1, 5, 10, etc... years after graduating. In suburban schools for example, (the ones that look the best in Matthews' Challenge Index), the primary concern of parents and students is college admissions. Wouldn't then it make sense to measure schools by where their students are admitted to college?

However, this raises another program, which David ignores in his piece: the problem of unequal access to college essay editors, test prep, tutoring, etc. When I started off at Brown, one of the biggest shocks for me was that it seemed that every middle and upper class student from one of the coasts had taken private SAT prep courses, and many (the majority?) had private tutors. In the community I grew up in, a middle/upper middle class suburb in Ohio, the only students who took SAT prep courses were those who had difficulties with test taking. The ability to be tutored for the SAT and AP tests, as well as hiring private editors for college essays gives the already advantaged yet another advantage over most students. So would it really be fair to measure a school on college admissions?

Which leads me to a quandary. How can we measure schools in a way that would satisfy the (unfortunate) cultural demand for numerical measurement and comparison while staying true to what a school is (or at least should be)? How can we measure in a way that avoids becoming what Chris very eloquently does not want us to become?

Primary Documents

2006-03-09T08:44:00.000-05:00

Lifehacker posted a tremendous resource for social studies and English teachers the other day: a list of primary document sites available online. I started using primary documents extensively in my classroom in the second half of the year last year, and found that it bared tremendous fruit. Not only did it engage the students more effectively than our poorly contracted textbook, but it also allowed for students to get multiple perspectives on the same historical event (the Crusades accomplished this best). On top of the great list from Lifehacker, here's a few other sites I've found useful:

Internet History Sourcebooks: My favorite world history resource. Paul Halsall of Fordham has put together a huge range of documents from world history. Organized incredibly well.
NY Public Library Digital Gallery: Is rivaled only by the LOC of congress in terms of depth and breadth of subject matter.
Voices of Civil Rights: Video, audio, and text from people involved in the Black Freedom Struggle
Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Segregation: Powerful
Documenting the American South: Great resource for US history and government.
Labyrinth: Medieval European Resources
Directory of Open Access Journals: Not primary, but a great resource.

Citizenship School - Dress

2006-03-08T11:03:00.001-05:00

Citizenship School - Dress

Bernice Robinson and students at the first Citizenship School on Johns Island. (Avery Research Center. Charleston, SC. 1957 or 1958).

Citizenship School - Crochet

2006-03-08T11:03:00.000-05:00

Citizenship School - Crochet

Students at the Citizenship School on Johns Island often brought their children with them. Robinson taught them how to sew so they would not be a distraction. Here, they show off their work. (Avery Research Center. Charleston, SC. 1957 or 1958).

Citizenship School - Sewing

2006-03-08T11:02:00.001-05:00

Citizenship School - Sewing

Students at the Citizenship School on Johns Island often brought their children with them. Robinson taught them how to sew so they would not be a distraction. (Avery Research Center. Charleston, SC. 1957 or 1958).

Citizenship School - Speaker

2006-03-08T11:02:00.000-05:00

Citizenship School - Speaker

Some of the young adults would snicker at the adults while they practiced their public speaking. In order to teach them a lesson, Robinson had the teenagers model public speaking techniques. (Avery Research Center. Charleston, SC. 1957 or 1958).

Citizenship School Pictures

2006-03-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

While doing research for my thesis at the Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston, I found these previously unpublished photos. For more information on the Citizenship Schools and Bernice Robinson, see my paper.

Citizenship School - Bernice Robinson

Bernice Robinson (standing, without hat), a Charleston beautician, was the first teacher in what became the Citizenship Education Program. (Avery Research Center. Charleston, SC. 1957 or 1958).

Indy Study: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

2006-03-07T10:58:00.000-05:00

I have decided to experiment with a different form of writing for the next set of books I am examining. Instead of writing more general pieces, I am going to answer the same set of questions for each book after giving a brief synopsis. These questions were outlined in previous posts. I think these will then allow for a more insightful synthetic analysis of the works as a whole after I have read them all.

James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room is a tragic love story between two young men, one American and one Italian, living in Paris in mid-20th century (sidenote: I cannot believe no one is making this into a movie right now, given the success of Brokeback Mountain. The similarities between the stories are eerie). Giovanni's room serves as a metaphor for both the safe space where David and Giovanni can share their natural love for each other, as well as the severe claustrophobia that such a relationship represented at the time. The book critiques "traditional" American expectations of masculinity and femininity.

Does the focus on white characters make race more or less visible?
Race is essentially invisible in the novel. It is a sign of Baldwin's incredible skill as a writer in that, in a first-person novel, he was able to create a voice which naturalized whiteness to the point of invisibility. The only point in the book where David signals anything resembling whiteness and its inherent privilege is on the first page, "My ancestors conquered a continent, pushing across death-laden plains, until they came to an ocean which faced away from Europe into a darker past" (7). Otherwise, particularly in his representation of "America," race is invisible. (Baldwin spoke of how the time he spent in Europe enabled him to escape many of the confines of race that he experienced in the U.S. His experiences in France likely contributed to his ability to make race invisible).

Are these books meant to be critical of their subject or are the lack of racial differences meant to allow the author to focus on other issues?
While there is definitely a critique of David, the book's narrator, within the book, the critique has nothing to do with his whiteness. Without a doubt, Baldwin's choice to set the novel in Paris allows him to focus on sexual politics as opposed to racial politics.

How does the fact that these works are written by black, rather than white, authors change my reading and understanding of the book?
I continually looked for a critique of a homogeneous conception of "American," but did not see it. Baldwin effectively naturalized race to deal primarily with sexuality. Being familiar with some of Baldwin's other work led me to highlight a couple passages whose psychological rationalities are very similar to Baldwin's appropriations of DuBois' concept of "double consciousness" in other works, particularly the "Autobiographical Notes," which opens Notes of a Native Son. Baldwin describes a type of double consciousness in his feeling for Giovanni, "there opened in me a hatred of Giovanni which was as powerful as my love and which was nourished from the same roots" (111). He describes a similar paradoxical experience when being hailed as American: "I resented this: resented being called an American (and resented resenting it) because it seemed to make me nothing more than that, whatever that was; and I resented being called not an American because it seemed to make me nothing" (117).

How does writing at a time of drastic racial change effect how the author deals with issues in a homogeneously racialized world?

The book seems much more a product of Baldwin's expatriate experiences that it does a product of the majority of his life he spent in the United States.

Work Cited: Baldwin, James. Giovani's Room. New York: Dell Publishing, 1956.

Previous Independent Study Posts:
Introduction
Background
Goals

Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roediger

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

The Next Set of Books

Scholarship Opportunities for African-Ameican Students

2006-03-07T08:51:00.000-05:00

I received the following as an e-mail yesterday. Please share with any students you know who could benefit, as well as college and guidance counselors. It appears that some of these area available to all students. (I haven't checked any of these links, so try googling the scholarship name if it doesn't work).

AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE NOT APPLYING

Even if you do not have a college-aged child at home, please share this with someone who does, pass this scholarship information on to anyone and everyone that comes to mind. Though there are a number of companies and organizations that have donated moneys for scholarship use to African Americans, a great deal of the money is being returned because of a lack of interest. No one is going to knock on our doors and ask if we can use a scholarship. Take the initiative to get your children involved. There is no need for money to be returned to donating companies because we fail to apply for it. Please pass this information on to family members, nieces, nephews, friends with children etc. We must get the word out that money is available. If you are a college student or getting ready to become one, you probably already know how useful additional money can be. Our youth really could use these scholarships. Thanks!!

Race, Class, Standards, and Education Reform

2006-03-01T17:45:00.000-05:00

There's a really incredible conversation going on in the comments of A Platform for Public Education over at Chris Lehman's Blog about all the above and more. Highly recommended.

*Sigh* ... I miss having a built in commenting base of 125 students.

Indy Study: The Known World by Edward P. Jones

2006-02-27T21:46:00.000-05:00

The Known World, like Parable of the Sower, takes me in a very different direction with this independent study. However, its uniqueness does not come so much from the images of white people within the book (most of whom, while complex, are familiar historical types of people), but from the juxtaposition of the white characters along side the black characters in the moral universe the novel creates. Set in the fictional Manchester County, Virginia, in the years leading up to the Civil War, this universe centers around Henry and Caldonia Townsend -- a slave owning black couple. Whereas in many of the other books I've read as part of this study or thought about in a similar context earlier (The Bluest Eye, Black on White, Native Son, Autobiography of Malcolm X) there is a prominent moral difference between white and black, Jones condemns every aspect of the society so sick that it treated many of its members as chattel. The contrast in The Known World is not between black and white, but rather between those who benefitted from slavery and those who suffered from it. However, one of the book's many impressive aspects is its incredibly rich moral complexity; identifying just about any character as one who benefits or suffers from slavery is a gross oversimplification (and a great challenge for writing about this book). I have decided to look at three different characters who represent the various economic relationships to slavery: William Robbins, owner of the most slaves in Manchester County; Winifred Skiffington, whose "middle class" standing is reliant on her husband John's position as sheriff and its reliance on the planters' approval; and Barnum Kinsey, the poorest white man in Manchester County. By no means is this analysis exhaustive of the white characters within the novel, nor the fullness of what they represent.

William Robbins is representative of many of the basic contradictions of slavery. As the county's largest economic beneficiary of slavery, he seeks to do everything possible to insure his continued wealth. His (unsubstantiated) fear of slave escape is enough to get a sheriff fired, and additional slave patrols added. While still owning Henry Townsend, Robbins is infuriated when Henry's recently freed father, Augustus, pushes his son for insubordination. Robbins yells at Augustus, "I won't have you touching my boy, my property" (19), and bans Henry's parents' weekly visits for a month. Robbins capitalistic mind frame prohibits the consideration of humanity in relationship to slaves. However, as soon as economic considerations are lifted, Robbins shows the capability for humane actions. After Henry is freed, Robbins helps him to establish his own plantation (which is a contradiction in itself, as this involves the purchase of slaves for Henry). Robbins also develops a more loving relationship with one of his slaves, Philomena, than he has with his wife.

Winifred Skiffington, and her husband John, represent what can best be described as a "liberal" southern perspective. Winifred comes from Philadelphia and a soft abolitionist perspective. John does not seem particularly supportive of slavery, though also is not actively against it. When the Skiffingtons are given a young female slave, Minerva, as a wedding present, they decide to keep her and treat her as a "daughter" (31) because she "might be better off" (34) with them than under other owners. They do not free her because they are afraid of "what the neighbors might say" (34), revealing the shallow limits of their liberalism. Years later, Winifred and Minerva move to Philadelphia and Minerva leaves to live with a black family without notifying Winifred. Winifred, corrupted by her time in the South, reveals contradictory sentiments in the missing poster she commissions. While she claims that she "must have [her] daughter back" (166), she also adds the poster that Minerva "Will Answer To The Name Minnie" (381). This refers back to how Minverva's initial introduction to Winifred as a slave (32). Despite her philosophical opposition to slavery, Winifred is unable to break free from her political-economic relationship to Minerva as chattel.

Barnum Kinsey is in many ways a literary embodiment of what David Roediger describes in The Wages of Whiteness. He is a poor white, "saved...from bein a ni**** only by the color of his skin" (42). However, despite his complete lack of wealth and his perpetual drunkenness, Kinsey receives some emotional benefit form his superior status to slaves. Though he is very aware of the moral horror of his fellow slave catchers' sale of Augustus, a free man, he does not actively prevent the sale. Even when he informs John Skiffington some time later of what happened, he expresses concern that he will be seen as a "ni**** kisser" (303). Kinsey, despite being well aware of the moral horror that was chattel slavery, is unwilling to sacrifice the mild benefit that he receives from the system, even though it is this system that limits the value of his labor.

Works Cited: Jones, Edward P. The Known World. New York: Amistad, 2003.

Indy Study: The Next Set of Books

2006-02-27T21:14:00.000-05:00

I am now switching gears a bit with the independent study to look at five books published from 1947-1956 that were written by black authors but focused primarily on white characters (and, from what I know about them now, do not focus primarily on race): Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, Savage Holiday by Richard Wright, Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neale Hurston, Country Place by Ann Petry, and Knock on Any Door by Willard Motley. When discussing my goals for this study one month ago, I raised a few questions about these books: Does the focus on white make race more or less visible? Are these books meant to be critical of their subject or are the lack of racial difference meant to allow the author to focus on other issues? How does the fact that these works are written by black, rather than white, authors change my reading and understanding of the book? These questions still remain.

When I wrote those questions, I hadn't realized when these books had been written. The decade they represent provides quite an interesting ground for inquiry. While this period is often taught in high schools as the "era of conformity" when soldiers returned from World War II to start families and move to the suburbs, the decade was experience was very different for the majority of blacks. The GI Bill, which entitled returning soldiers to subsidized education and easy access to home loans, largely created the modern middle class. However, these two important benefits were largely denied to blacks. The majority of black soldiers still lived in the South where universities were segregated (and black universities could only cater to a very small minority of eligible students), and therefore the tuition benefits were worthless. Simultaneously, restrictive covenants, red lining, and other forms of housing discrimination. (For more info on this subject, see "When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America" by Ira Katznelson). 1943 saw large race riots in both Detroit and Harlem. There were also 31 lynchings during the 1940's.

On the other hand, this period sees a tremendous amount of progress made in the black freedom struggle. A. Philip Randolph's March on Washington Movement successfully led to FDR's Executive Order 8802 in 1941, prohibiting discrimination in private contractors with government defense contracts. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded in 1942 and developed many of the mass-action techniques that would mark the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 60's. Jackie Robinson was signed to the Dodgers in '47, and the Armed Forces were desegregated a year later. The close of this period saw the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, and the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56 which marks the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Writing against the backdrop of such events, I am very curious to see how writing at a time of drastic racial change effects how the authors' deal with issues in a homogeneously racialized world.

Next: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

Previous Independent Study Posts:
Introduction
Background
Goals

Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roediger

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Scaffolding Student Reflection

2006-02-27T09:18:00.000-05:00

Tim Fredrick has two great posts about the capability of his students to reflect (or not reflect) during portfolio evaluation meetings. By recording all his students portfolio meetings, he was able to analyze the data and come up with types of "reflective"( and "non-flective") utterances:

Reflective:

1. Process – Reflective Type - The student reflects on his own personal process in completing the assignment. "This is my character sketch and this was a really difficult assignment for me. I had a lot of trouble starting and thinking about what I wanted my character to be like." This differs from its non-reflective counterpart in that it discusses the student’s own process and the student reflects on the positive and negative experiences he had with the piece of writing.
2. Criterion-Based Assessment – The student compares his work to criteria discussed in class. "I did well on my character sketch because I was able to show how my character was mean instead of telling the reader he was mean." He may or may not point to evidence in the text; being able to point to specific examples in the text that correspond to the criteria is preferred and considered more reflective.
3. Growth Over Time – The student compares two different pieces of work and shows how one is better by comparing it to a previous piece of work that was not as good. "You can see here that I did better with my freewriting because this first piece of freewriting in September I couldn't write nonstop, but in December you can see that I wrote non-stop for the entire 15 minutes."

These are tremendously helpful to me as I think about how to incorporate portfolio assessment into my plans for next year. I have to admit, while I have understood the purpose of portfolios on a theoretical level, I have never quite been able to make the leap to making them practically useful for my students (or for my students to get the value, for that matter). I am thinking part of that failure was that I never really considered what I wanted my students to do with the portfolios. Tim's posts helped me see part of that.

One of the strategies I was taught to use to help students learn to have complex, meaningful, and rigorous conversations was the use of "sentence starters." These are particularly helpful when I ask a student to share and they say something like, "Someone already said what I wanted to say." In this situation I can point the student to a list on the wall with suggestions like:

"I agree with ________, but I also think..."
"I agree with ________, and in addition..."
"I agree with ________, it's kind of like [something else we've discussed]"

These starters work as a scaffold to help students discuss concepts and ideas without the necessity of prompting from a teacher.

With the excellent data Tim has provided, I can see how a similar strategy would probably work to help student develop the capability to speak, write, and think reflectively. These also would make great journal prompts to be used throughout the semester, building towards the final portfolio reflection. Here's the sentence starters I would use:

"This was a really difficult/challenging assignment for me because..."
"This was a really easy assignment for me because..."
"In this assignment, we were supposed to [insert criteria]. You can see evidence of this in my work when I..."
"This assignment improved on my work in [earlier assignment] by..."

Transformative Education

2006-02-26T12:10:00.000-05:00

(Second straight post that started as a comment but kept going ...)

Chris Lehmann has a phenomenal post about the goal of his new school not being just a great school, but a transformative one.

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of human transformation as I work on my thesis. I am looking at the Citizenship Educaiton Schools, a program organized by Septima Clark at the Highlander Folk School (now the Highlander Research and Education Center) and later MLK's Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The schools taught reading and writing to 40,000-60,000 illiterate southern black adults from 1957-1965 in order that they could pass the literacy test to register to vote. While the teaching of literacy (in a mere 80 hours of classroom time at that), was an incredible accomplishment in itself, the true power of the program was in its transformative effect on its students and teachers

For students, the schools were not just about learning literacy, but about doing some work to undue to horrific psychological effects of living in the terrorist state that was the Jim Crow South. The schools not only taught literacy, but also the basic knowledge necessary to be a citizen, such as with whom one could advocate about improving their lives. I can hardly imagine the effect these schools must of had on a woman in her 60's who was able to read and write her own name for the first time. The students, most of whom were women, also enabled them to teach reading and writing to their husbands and other family members. Andrew Young (one of King's top advisors, and former Congressman, Ambassador to the UN, and mayor of Atlanta), said that the entire Civil Rights Movement was built upon these students. The Citizenship Schools transformed the students in such a way that it eventually transformed the country.

But the Schools also transformed the teachers. The first teacher was a Charleston beautician named Bernice Robinson. Robinson was chosen because of her lack of teaching experience so that she would not look down upon her students. As the program grew, teachers were sought out who had a similar background: some education and independent stature within the community, but not professional teachers. By stepping into the classroom, these people were transformed into leaders in their communities, and in many cases would assume those leadership roles in wider arenas of influence. Robinson, who previously had worked on NAACP voter registration drives but had no community leadership experience, went on to the hundreds (and probably well over a thousand) of other Citizenship School teachers and observed dozens of schools across the South. She was transformed in a significant (though completely unheralded) leader in the Civil Rights Movement by her work in the schools.

Now, the Citizenship Schools responded to a serious crisis situation, which made their power for transformation what it was. Thankfully, the degree to which transformation was necessary in the 1950's and 60's does not exist. But in many ways, the difference is only one of degree. As I start to transition from grad student/historian to high school teacher over the next few months, one of the things I will be thinking about is how I can help build an educational community that has a similar effect. I'm thrilled to see Chris thinking about the same issues, and I can't wait to see how his process and school develops.

The Classroom as Studio

2006-02-25T18:50:00.000-05:00

(Started writing this as a comment, but then kept on going and going so figured I'd post it over here).

Clarence has a great post up about the idea of viewing and using the classroom as a studio:

In these times where we want kids to be self - directed / self - driven learners who develop a creative sense of scholarship, the classroom as studio has great potential. Studios are busy places where activity hums. Studios are places of study, of thought, of creation and creativity. Studios are places where teams of people act together to create something of high - quality. Studios throughout history have been homes for artists, creators, scientists, architects and engineers. Studios are comfortable places with flexible furniture arrangements where people work though projects. Projects are brainstormed, created, evaluated, torn apart, and re - created in ways that are better.

I can't remember if I read this in one of her books or heard it one of the times I heard her speak, but Deborah Meier has advocated a similar idea, and I believe might have implimented it to some degree at the school she started in Boston.

I've been thinking for a while now that if (when?) I start a school, I would like to have some space in the school avaliable to artists, which would be rented to them below market cost in exchange for always being willing to have students observe their work. One of my biggest critiques of schools is the emphasis on completing tasks within a certain amount of time. While there are time constraints in many "real world" situations, there are also many other situations where projects develop over the course of hours, weeks, or years. Artists do not work on a bell schedule, and the best pieces of artistic work cannot be given a due date. And while it is almost impossible to imagine a school without any time constraints, I imagine the presence of artists would give a wonderful example of another way of working (and would also hopefully lead to student/artist collaborations, such as those available from groups such as Young Audiences).

Lifehacker on Online Safety

2006-02-24T11:03:00.000-05:00

Lifehacker, which has quickly become one of my favorite 'professional blogs' since I discovered it a few months back, just put up a piece on educating kids about the safety issues of MySpace and other online publishing forums. They have a closed community of commenters, which has its strengths and weaknesses, but the discussion tends to be interesting. Worth following.

Grades for Lunch?

2006-02-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

Though it sounds radical at first glance, Alice Waters' NYTimes Op-Ed piece makes a lot of sense:

Universal physical education is a start, and it's a shame that schools have been cutting back on recess and gym. But in a country where nine million children over 6 are obese we need the diet part of the equation, too. It's time for students to start getting credit for eating a good lunch.

I Concur

2006-02-21T15:59:00.000-05:00

It's extremely rare that I read something I agree with 100%. Here's a nice exception: Ellen Meyer's article, Keeping New Teachers From Dropping Out (Gotham Gazette, via Tim). It gives a great analysis of what teaching is, as well as explaining why many who try it out don't last long. One of the many great excerpts:

Teaching is all about relationships — the building of relationships between teacher and students. That’s why it is so hard. One elementary school teacher must have relationships with up to 35 very different individuals, each with diverse learning styles, needs, and levels of engagement. A high school teacher will typically teach 150 students.

There is research on the extraordinary number of decisions that a teacher has to make at any given moment —- more decisions minute-by-minute than a brain surgeon. The most conservative estimate from this data has teachers making approximately 130 decisions per hour during a six-hour school day, and this reflects only those decisions made within the classroom. This is extraordinarily daunting and often intimidating for new teachers. It makes support from administrators and colleagues so vital.

The article also provides great justification for the advice I typically give people who ask me my opinion about Teach For America or New York Teaching Fellows: It's a horrible idea, but more people should do it.

Indy Study: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

2006-02-16T14:04:00.000-05:00

The Parable of the Sower took me along a very different path from the previous books at which I've looked. For one, it is a piece of science fiction, a genre I don't think I've touched since I was 13 or 14. And unlike any of the other books, race does not play a defining role in terms of the lives or relationships of the book's characters.

Parable of the Sower takes place in a dystopian near-future version of California where water is more expensive than food, government has for all intents ceased to function, and the 'middle class' are those whose impoverished communities are protected from drug addicts and thieves by walls and other measures (the world she described is an exaggerated version of the post-industrail conditions of many urban centers in the 1980's. The drug epidemic described in the book is clearly meant to parallel crack, and the pro-buisness President is a thinly-vieled Reagan figure). When her village is destroyed, Lauren, a teenage girl who is developing her own religion, leads a group of survivors to better conditions they have heard about in the North.

While the world Butler describes is hardly color blind - there are references to tensions between interracial coupling and traveling in multiracial groups - the interpretation of the world we see through Lauren's diary entries does not involve race as a deterministic factor. Lauren recognizes that "people are expected to fear and hate everyone but their own kind," yet her"neighborhood is too small for us to play those kinds of games" (31). Later in the book there is a reference for it being easier for one of the white characters, Henry, to find a job because of his skin color. However, other than references such as these, race does not play a major factor. The three main white characters, Henry, Jill, and Allie, are not depicted any differently than black and latino characters of similar classes. While technically their whiteness is a property, it does not give them any advantages within the context of the narrative.

On a separate note, I would love to read this book with high schoolers. It raises a lot of interesting issues of community, resource allocation, and identity in a way that would be provocative to many adolescents. And while it is no literary masterpiece, it has enough nuance to be the source of a good analysis at the high school level.

Works Cited:
Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. New York: Warner Books, 1993.

Next: The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Got a Job for the Fall! Bronx Lab School

2006-02-16T10:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I was hired to teach at the Bronx Lab School this coming Fall. I couldn't be more excited about the fit.

Bronx Lab is one of the many new small schools in NYC (for those not familiar, the NYC Public Schools are breaking up large high schools into smaller themed high schools, both in an effort to give students and their families a choice in the type of school they attend, as well as enjoying the immense benefits of smaller learning communities). The school is in its second year, and is already showing tremendous promise. It has about 100 students per grade (this year it is 9th and 10th, and they will add 11th grade next year), and keeps class sizes to a manageable 20-25 students. Everyone seems to know everyone else, and there is a noticeable level of respect between the students and staff. Teachers are addressed by their first name (which all my former students will know that I am very happy about). Most of the students I talked to seemed to be genuinely happy to attend. The school plans to send every graduate to college, and seems to be on the way to achieving that goal (just for comparison, the large high school that used to exist in the building where there are now 6 small schools had a graduation rate of about 20%). I've had the chance to meet most of the teachers and all the leadership, all of whom are obviously gifted, enthusiastic, and committed to the students they serve.

Curriculum wise, the school stresses student-centered, project orientated, integrated curriculum, which is most definitely my cup of tea. And while the school is in some way still confined by the Regents Exams (content based test in New York State that students must pass in order to graduate), testing is not the schools focus (a HUGE relief given the environment I was in last year in Virginia). The school already has an integrated math and science curriculum, and the leadership wants to move towards having a similar integration between social studies and English (and potentially a fully integrated curriculum across all disciplines in 11th and 12th grade). Students have an extended day on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, where they are required to participate in an elective, though the list of electives is completely responsive to student demand.

The school's most unique program is a required semester internship. For one semester either in 10th, 11th, or 12th grade, students are pulled out of all their classes and participate in a fully integrated curriculum based around an internship in a field in which they are interested. Students spend two days a week at the internship, and the other three days they are in the school doing primarily individual work which ties into their internship thematically, and also must incorporate the habits of thought of all four major disciplines. They also do some project work for the classes they are missing (the 10th graders rights now also take math, though that may not continue). The internship program is based on one developed by the Big Picture Company at the Met School in Providence, RI. I did part of my student teaching, as well as some volunteer work, at the Met while an undergrad, and I can vouch for the unbelievable success of the program (100% of their graduates go to college, something like 2/3 are the first in their family to go). One "advisor" takes 13 students for the semester, and is their only teacher.

I interviewed to be either an internship advisor or social studies teacher. I could end up in either position at this point, demanding on who else the school hires. Both positions offer tremendous opportunities for me, though, if it were left up to me, I'm leaning towards the internship position (the potentials for integrating blogging and other technology uses into the program are limitless, among other appealing aspects of it). And luckily I'll be able to spend a lot of time at the school during the rest of this year to get to know it better and become part of the team as they begin planning for next year.

Though there will certainly be many challenges that come with teaching in an urban environment, I couldn't be happier about the opportunity to help build a community whose mission I am truly passionate about. I'll be sure to post more as I spend more time at the school.

Read more about the school here and here (I discovered Chris Lehmann's blog while doing research on the school. He is opening a new school in Philadelphia, the Science Leadership Academy, this coming Fall. He has some pretty fascinating insights about education and the process of building a school community on his site)

Reason #8972 to be Critical of 'Facts'

2006-02-14T09:19:00.000-05:00

One more thing. Not to cast doubt on a record — or on the hard-working people who keep it — but do you know who measures the snow at Central Park? The security guards at the zoo. They read the numbers off a stick set in a flat, tree-ringed clearing near the sea lion pool.

Therefore, the words, "According to the National Weather Service, the snowfall in Central Park..." actually mean, "According to the security guards at the Central Park Zoo." (NYTimes, via Gothamist)

There's certainly a lot of snow outside here, but even the sidewalk drifts in my neighborhood weren't quite two feet.

Reflections on Being a Student Blogger

2006-02-12T19:18:00.000-05:00

Though this is really obvious, I just realized that I have become a student blogger...and I am really struggling with it. As I think both my previous posts for my independent study have shown, I have essentially just posted brief essays on each book I have read. This does not seem to be taking advantage of what blogging has to offer (other than the fact that I am writing for a public audience). I am curious how others have dealt with blogging about specific content.

I imagine if I was doing the same type of writing as part of a class this would not be much of an issue, as there would be other posts on the same subject on which to respond. However, seeing as I am doing independent work, work on a subject that very few people have ever written on, and I am at a loss to come up with a model of writing that is not simply in the form of an essay or a reading journal.

Indy Study: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

2006-02-12T19:06:00.000-05:00

(Note: This entry contains references a sexual act. I would never had added a note like this if not for the scars from teaching last year in a district with the most active organization in the country of the organization of parents that tries to ban books from school libraries. So if you have a problem with content of this nature, please stop reading.)

I hadn't picked up a book by Morrison since I was in high school, and honestly forgot just how unbelievably talented she is as a writer and stylist. I can only think of a handful of other authors I've read who have a similar effect on me just through their use of language (Joyce, Dostoevsky, and Hemingway are the others that come to mind). I'm feeling very intimidated in my attempts to write anything critical for a public audience about such a work.

The Bluest Eye, taken as a whole, serves simultaneously as an affirmation of the natural and cultural beauty of Americans who are considered black, and an indictment of the racist society that denies this beauty and internalizes the denial within many blacks. While there are no developed white characters within the novel, white people and whiteness itself make frequent cameos to demonstrate the roots of self-loathing found in many characters. While whiteness undoubtedly functions as a terror throughout the novel, Morrison's depiction of whiteness is unique (within my reading at this point) in how it functions deterministically to create self-loathing black characters. Morrison outlines both the process and resistance to it from the perspective of a black female:

Then they had grown. Edging into life from the back door. Becoming. Everybody in the world was in a position to give them orders. White women said, "do this." White children said, “ Give me that.” White men said, “Come here.” Black men said, “Lay down.” The only people they need not take orders from were black children and each other. But they took all of that and re-created it in their own image. They ran the houses of white people, and knew it. When white men beat their men, they cleaned up the blood and went home to receive abuse from the victim. They beat their children with one hand and stole for them with the other (108).

The most clear instances of the process are found thought the depiction of Pauline and Cholly Breedlove. Both visit horrors upon their children thanks to their experiences with white people. The experiences take very different forms.

Cholly is the victim of overt dehumanization at the hands of two white men. While in the midst of losing his virginity after the funeral for his closest relative, Cholly and his sexual partner, Darlene, are discovered in a field by two white hunters. With guns in hand, the two white men force Cholly to continue the act while addressing him by various derogatory names and criticizing his sexual performance. The white men turn the act of sex into one of rape. Cholly is forced to physically rape Darlene, while the two white men psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually rape Cholly. For Cholly, sex is transformed from an act of pleasure and desire into one of hate and control. Cholly's acts "With a violence born of total helplessness" (116). Cholly continues to act with a similar violence throughout the rest of his life.

Pauline's internalization of inferiority takes a less overt path. Pauline is destroyed by Cholly's violence, as well as by "her education in the movies" which gave her a "scale of absolute beauty, and the scale was one she absorbed in full from the silver screen" (95). This leads Pauline to seek out and thrive in a role as a domestic worker for white families, where she takes on the stereotypical "mammy" role. Seeking the beauty she imagines through film, she embraces domestic work and becomes "the ideal servant" (99). This comes at the price of a denial of her identity. While too her employers she is "Polly," her children know her only as Mrs. Breedlove. When Cholly and Pauline's daughter, Pecola, visits Pauline at the house of her employment one day, Pauline denies to the white child any connection to her own daughter. Pauline embraces an idealized image of whiteness as beauty, while conversely seeing herself and family as ugliness.

The sins of the mother and father are ultimately transfered to the daughter, Pecola. Pecola cannot recognize any beauty in her self. After being raped and impregnated by Cholly, Pecola seeks out a healer to give her blue eyes. When Pecola gets her eyes, her identity and being is rent, as indicated by the conversation she has with herself (152-162). The desire for beauty that is external to the self serves to violently destroy the young girl's psyche, bringing the novel to a tragic end. In her desire for whiteness as property, the beauty she sees in whiteness as represented by blue eyes, Pecola suffers from the terrorist attacks that whiteness levied against her parents.

Work Cited:
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. London: Vintage, 1994.

Next: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Back in Teaching Mode

2006-02-12T14:37:00.000-05:00

I hadn't realized just how much I missed teaching.

I've been in the midst of the interview process at a wonderful new small school in NYC the past week, Bronx Lab School. I had a phone interview last weekend, made a visit to the school on Monday and had the chance to meet informally with most of the staff, and returned Friday for a formal interview. I'm going back Wednesday to teach a class, and REALLY hope that it will be the first of many classes I teach at the school. I'm afraid to jinx myself somehow, so don't want to write too much about the school. I'll just say that I'd be hard pressed to find a more perfect fit for my next teaching job.

It was really nice to be back in a teaching frame of mind throughout the week. I spent a nice chunk of the week updating my teaching portfolio (it's password protected since it has student photos in there, leave a comment with your e-mail and I can send you the password if you're interested). Between that, spending a good part of two school days visiting, and catching up on the edublogosphere reading I've hardly had the chance to do the past 6 months, I've realized how much stronger my passion is for educating than for everything else I'm doing. I'm really glad I went to grad school this year, and really have grown a lot from the experience, but at this point I'm counting down the weeks until the first bell rings next September. It's been really great to catch up on how Bud, Clarence, Darren, and others have developed their use of blogs in their classes since last Spring when I started, and I can't wait to join them in the fall.

But first, have to catch up on all the work I didn't do the past week...

Indy Study: Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David R. Roediger

2006-01-31T23:48:00.000-05:00

Historian David Roediger's volume is the only systematic presentation of blacks' writings on whites and whiteness. While my independent study is focusing on post-World War II fiction, Roediger's expansive collection of (mostly) non-fiction seemed like an ideal place to start my study.

The range and extent of the documents which Roediger has collected is impressive. Roediger includes pieces of writing that range from the early 19th century to today, and covers a wide range of genres including slave narratives, journalism, poetry, fiction, sociology, satire, philosophy, and legal theory. It will prove to be a tremendous resource for lesson planning.

However, it must be noted that this collection can hardly be considered definitive, as it is overwhelmingly made up of pieces that fit into the ideological framework of protest and resistance probably best defined by the work of W.E.B DuBois (which Roediger certainly falls into, though with a stronger Marxist leaning). Roediger ignores voices outside of this intellectual current. There is little to be heard from the voices of a Booker T. Washington, the conservative accommodationalist, (or even the early Martin Luther King), nor from the black nationalists ranging from Martin Delaney and Marcus Garvey to the Black Power and Black Muslim movements of the past fifty years.

Most of documents in this collection fall into three different categories:

Rational defenses of black humanity and diagnostic critiques of white inhumanity
Pieces which seek to establish common ties and identities between white and black workers
Documentations of white terrors and terrorism (particularly slavery and lynching)

As discussed in my paper on the representation of whites in select Harlem literature, Roediger divides images of whites and whiteness into two categories; "whiteness as property" and "whiteness as terror." The first two categories of documents reflect the former, while the third obviously corresponds to the latter.

Next: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Papers from Fall semester

2006-01-29T13:01:00.000-05:00

I got of bunch of the papers I wrote last semester up on my new website. I hope some of them will be of interest to people. The three that I'm most proud of:

Bernice Robinson and the Citizenship Education Schools (lays the groundwork for my thesis and should be of interest to teachers everywhere)
Images of White People in Harlem Literature (this is really the first part of the independent study I am doing)
The Future of New Orleans Higher Education (though already out of date, documents just one more catastrophic result of the man-made and natural disaster that was Hurricane Katrina)

Indy Study: Goals

2006-01-27T11:10:00.000-05:00

On a personal level, my main goal for this independent study is to do the groundwork that will allow me to write a curriculum for suburban high school students about perceptions of majority otherness. On a scholarly level, I hope to develop a framework and vocabulary that in some way transcends the Self-Other dialectic. Unlike Mia Bay and David Roediger (who have written on this subject from a historical perspective), I am not particularly concerned with empirical accuracy of black visions of whiteness. I am interested in the ways in which the representation of whites by blacks serves as both an act of resistance and self-affirmation. Drawing on Bay, I want to look at the implicit theory of race that accompanies representations of whiteness. I also want to test Roediger’s claim that representations of white people and whiteness in black writing falls into two main categories: whiteness as property and whiteness as terror. My initial reaction is that this is an oversimplification and I hope to develop accompanying categories.

The books I am reading fall into two main categories. The first category is books primarily about black people. The analysis of these books will augment the analysis of my final paper from Writing Black New York. These will (tentatively) included The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Known World by Edward P. Jones, Parable of the Sowerby Octavia E. Butler, and Native Son, by Richard Wright.

The second group of books are “white life” novels that focus whites. These will include Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, Seraph on the Suwanee by Zora Neale Hurston, Savage Holidayby Richard Wright, Country Place by Ann Petry, and Knock on Any Door by Willard Motley. These books present their own unique sets of questions: Does the focus on white make race more or less visible? Are these books meant to be critical of their subject or are the lack of racial difference meant to allow the author to focus on other issues? How does the fact that these works are written by black, rather than white, authors change my reading and understanding of the book?

Works Refereced:
Bay, Mia. The White Image in the Black Mind: African-American Ideas About White People, 1830-1925. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Roediger, David R. "Introduction." Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White. Ed. David R. Roediger. New York: Schocken Books, 1998. 1-26.

Indy Study: Background

2006-01-27T09:17:00.000-05:00

One of the requirements of my student teaching program was to complete a Personal Inquiry Project, which combined research with observation of my classroom. I asked the question, “How Should I Approach Sensitive Multicultural Issues in a Homogeneous Environment?” I did my student teaching at a small public school in the richest town in Rhode Island that was over 95% white. For my purposes here, the key conclusions were:

Students must learn to see themselves as whites and understand the accompanying privilege
Students cannot just study “Others” but also must do extensive self reflection and analysis in terms of their own identity, therefore developing the ability to see their selves through different mirrors.
This cannot happen through doing “token” classes on current issues. This must be done repeatedly and it must be a foundation for the curriculum.

Research and personnel experience suggests that the racial identity of most white suburban students is either normative and/or invisible. That is, most white students do not identify as “white” in any meaningful way. They do not, for the most part, incorporate as part of their identity their whiteness or the extensive privilege that this whiteness carries (for further explanation, see Peggy McIntosh’s invaluable essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”). Because of this, most white people do not recognize that others see them and their whiteness is different ways.

It is my hypothesis that one curricular method for rectifying this problem is to use materials in this classroom that reveal the viewpoints of non-whites towards white people. Teaching these pieces to students would be like holding up new mirrors to students who are only used to looking at themselves in a very certain way as racial beings. As the study of perceptions of whites by non-whites has received scant scholarly attention, this independent study is an attempt to investigate sources of writing that reveal some of the attitudes and perceptions of white people by black people in the United States.

Independent Study: Perceptions of Whiteness and White People in Black Literature

2006-01-27T09:12:00.000-05:00

This semester, I will be completing an Independent Study looking at the perceptions of whiteness and white people in black literature with Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin. This project is part of my master's degree in African-American Studies at Columbia University. Over the next three months, I will be reading and writing about (primarily) fictional work written by black American authors since the 1945 which of interesting or insightful depictions of whites and whiteness. Dr. Griffin has kindly allowed my writing medium to be this blog. I will be reading one book approximately every week and posting thoughts about the work, its depictions of whites and whiteness, and some thoughts on using the work in the classroom.

Update

2006-01-25T11:26:00.000-05:00

I finished my first semester of grad school. It went well. Learned a ton, and I feel like I'm beginning to understand the history of this country of ours. While being a grad student certainly has its detractions (it has been hard for me to go from interacting with nearly 100 students on any given day to doing most of my work by myself at a desk or in the library), I feel like it has given me a great opportunity to really develop, grow, and mature as a student and scholar.

This semester my course load is down. I'm doing a seminar on Black Leadership in American Politics, a research seminar, and I an independent study on the representation of white people and whiteness in black literature (much more to come on this soon - it will involve this blog). Most of time will be focused on my thesis on the Civil Rights Citizenship Schools. I was in Charleston, SC two weeks ago doing archival research, which was really an incredible experience that I wish more people, particularly high school students, could have.

I miss being in the classroom, and am eager to return in the fall. I have started looking for high school social studies positions in NYC for the coming Fall, and would be glad to hear of any leads, opportunities, or suggestions.

All in all things are going well. I love living in Brooklyn, and plans for my June wedding are coming along smoothly.

I want to post some of my work from last semester. As I am currently without web hosting, does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this free or cheaply? I've been looking at ourmedia.org, but it seems a little cumbersome. I may just do some really cheap web hosting, but I'd rather not have to pay. Hopefully I'll have this figured out in the next couple days, and I'll be able to make my stuff available.

A Quasi-Hiatus

2005-10-01T19:15:00.000-04:00

First off, thanks to all my students who's been leaving messages. It's been great to hear from all of you and I'm glad things seem to be going well.

The first month of grad school has gone really well. I'm pretty much constantly working (I average about 1000 pages of reading and 5 pages of writing a week), but the work is really interesting and I'm learning a ridiculous amount --both fact wise as well as gaining a better understanding of how the society we live in really works.

I haven't been posting (and realistically, will not be posting much for the coming year) for two reasons. First, I just really don't have the time (though this is serving as great procrastination for starting the paper I need to outline before going out tonight). But second, and more importantly, much of the thoughts I'm having now revolve around issues of race and class, two topics that are unfortunately completely politicized in most of the discourse in the United States. Even though I feel the work I do is analytical and grounded in sound academic methodology, I don't want to publish a lot of these thoughts in order to not alienate anyone reading this, or any future students of mine who may read this.

So with that, I am going to take a quasi-hiatus from blogging. I will still post occasionally when I feel I have thoughts or work that are safe to share (one of these will be a paper I am working on in a history research seminar looking at the role of educational philosophy and pedagogy in the foundation of the Citizenship Schools which were an integral part of early civil rights organization). And I'll always check for comments and respond to anything there (and my e-mail is outsidethecave@gmail.com if anyone needs me).

To My Students From Last Year

2005-09-05T19:33:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to wish everyone good luck with sophomore year. My sophomore year, for reasons good and bad, was probably the most significant year of my life. It was the year that for me, marked the real turning point between being a kid and a young adult. I wish you all the best on the journey.

If you're going to South County, good luck with being at a new school. I hope things run smoothly for you.

If you're still at Hayfield, you are lucky. You have a lot of really good and committed teachers who want to be at the school to work with you. Let me know in the comments or IM who your World II teacher is. And if you play a sport, make sure to kick a little South County butt for me.

Have fun and keep in touch.

Back to School

2005-09-05T19:25:00.000-04:00

So tomorrow is my first day of class as a graduate student.

I had orientation last week. The general Grad School orientation was pretty useless, but my department's orientation got me really excited. The African-American studies professors all seemed very down to earth and eager to teach - a far cry from many of the professors I had at Brown. I'm really looking forward to working with them.

My fellows students also seemed great. There are 10 of us starting the program this fall. Everyone seemed to be very intelligent and passionate about being there. I can tell they have a lot to offer. One of the other students taught elementary school, and there is another who wants to get a job writing history curriculum after the program. And I have to admit, I was somewhat relieved to not be the only white person in the program (there is 1 other).

As of now I'm signed up for 19 credits, which sounds like a little too much but there are just too many good sounding classes and not enough time. But as of now my course load is:

African-American Studies Research and Writing (Tuesdays)
Writing Black New York (Tuesdays)
Comparative Literature of the African Diaspora (Monday and Wednesday)
Race and the Articulation of the Difference (Thursday)
Seminar is African-American History: 1945-Present (Thursday)

As excited as I am to start class, I'm definitely missing the anticipation of the first day from the teacher's POV. Last night I ended up out with a woman who is starting her first teaching job this week. I felt pretty envious. Oh well....next year.

Clarence's Questions About Blogger

2005-08-29T17:27:00.000-04:00

Clarence posted some questions in the comments about the blogging project I did with my students last fall, specifically about using Blogger.

Overall, I really liked using Blogger. It was a little time consuming to set up initially (though not as bad as I'll make it sound) but once we got going, it worked great. I'd say that total process of setting up 16 blogs took about an hour of my time, and then about 10 minutes per group in class. The most time consuming part was creating each blog. I also spent a little time designing a template, though I had some experience from my site. I just used one of the standard Blogger Templates, then took out the navbar (and Next Blog Button!!! directions are here) and some of the other sidebar content. I then added a blogroll to link all the blogs together using Bloglines. (The template is a kind of weird hybrid of CSS, html, and some unique Blogger things. The Blogger help section has a good walkthrough).

I retained the master login for each blog. This allowed me to edit and delete posts at will (though I only had to do this one or two times with 100 students). Once the blogs are created, you can invite others to join through their e-mail. You have the option to give the individuals who join full editorial privileges, or only the ability to post and edit/delete their own posts (I chose the latter). Each student then received an e-mail inviting them to join. They each got their own unique login and password. (When I did the Responsible Blogging Lesson, one of the very few rules I myself added was that individuals were responsible for what was done on their login, so if they shared it with a friend that was at their own risk)

I hope that answers your questions. Please let me know if you have any more.

A Very Untriumphant Return

2005-08-27T12:01:00.000-04:00

Man, did I fall off the ball on this front.

I'm really hoping to get back in the habit of posting. I think it will be really helpful and beneficial for me as I start my grad school program (orientation is Tuesday).

Since moving to New York, I've felt very disconnected form my experiences as a teacher in Virginia. I think I took the easy way out in not thinking about a lot of things from the end of the year and just focused whole-heartedly on establishing my life here with my fiancee (which has gone very well). One important lesson I learned was it's probably not a good idea to publish a whole list of things I'm planning on writing about...feel like a bit of jackass for that now. I'm sorry to anyone who was looking forward to reading about those things.

Part of me was ready to just leave this blogging experiment behind, but the heckling I got in the comments wouldn't let me do that. So I will try to wrap up some loose ends before I start class after Labor Day. (Clarence, answering your question is the #1 thing on my to-do list for Monday...thanks for the kick in the butt I needed to get back writing)

It has been a great summer though. Had a great trip to LA to visit my best friend from college (with a weekend road trip to Vegas) and another great week on Cape Cod with my fiancee's family. Otherwise I've been spending my time in NYC taking advantage of all the free offerings of the city during the summer. I've seen some great concerts (highlights were Wilco, Clap Your Hands Says Yeah, and Neil Diamond with my mom for her birthday last weekend at MSG). I've also had time to read a ton. Been averaging a book a week or so. Most interesting was probably Fast Food Nation. That, followed up with finally seeing Super Size Me, has eliminated fast food from my life.

I moved into my own apartment last week. It's the first time (and last time) in my life I've lived alone. So far I'm really enjoying it.

I hope everyone has been having good summers. Good luck to everyone returning to the classroom as students or teachers.

Now Coming to You From Brooklyn, NY

2005-07-05T13:12:00.000-04:00

Well...didn't end up with the time I thought I'd have at while visiting my parents in Ohio - mainly because of their cable companies inability to supply internet service during business hours (which is, of course, when I had some time on my hands). Oh well. So after another reset of my bloglines account (except of course, for some quick reading of edubloggers) I am back up and running.

Made it to the greatest city in the world last night just in time for the most incredible fireworks display I've ever seen in my life over the East River. My fiancee got us tickets to watch from Roosevelt Island where we had a clear view of 4 of the barges. I had seen the NYC fireworks display from the FDR a few years ago, but it was absolutely nothing compared to the view we had last night.

Now as soon as I get through the "Honey-Do" list, I really will be back to reading and writing aspect of blogging.

Leo's Interviews - Some Initial Thoughts

2005-06-30T18:49:00.000-04:00

Before going into some specific thought on some things that came out of Leo Rigsby's interviews with my students, I just wanted to get some general thoughts out and respond a couple of the comments others made based on my original post.

Euclid wrote:

I think you are being too nice about the kid who said you made innappropriate comments. The little s**t saw it as a chance to take a cheap shot at you. Constructive critisim is great and worth its weight in gold. However rare is the 9th grade student that can provide us this feedback.

Here is the student comment he was refering to:

I found that Mr. Lazar was a terrible teacher. He had mood swings, and always found his opinion to be right, and never played devil’s advocate. I would actually feel bad for someone who gets him as a teacher, because of the way he acts. He said Catholics are bad, and Jews always are right, and they are God’s people, putting down other religions constantly. Another problem was his constant name calling, he even recently called a group of mine, “a bunch of dicks.” I mean if you call someone that make sure it’s someone who could respond, because if I responded, I could have been suspended for threatening him. Bottom line, he is the worst teacher I have ever had.

I think Lexi (who for the record, is a 9th grader that just provided some very intelligent feedback) already said much of my initial reaction to this comment. The student who Euclid refered to as a "little s**t" was doing exactly what she was told to do. Did the student take a cheap shot at me? Perhaps. But assuming this is the student I am 99% sure that it was, what she wrote was not inconsistent with earlier statement she had openly made to me throughout the year. The bottom line is that this student hated me, and because of that she did not learn in my class. And it is my job to insure that students learn. This student was incredibly intelligent and did well in some of her other classes, but for whatever reason she decided very early on in the year that I would not be an effective teacher for her and checked out. Was her criticism of me something I take seriously? Absolutely not. However, I do take seriously my inability to be an effective teacher for her.

Euclid also wrote that she/he believes it is rare that a 9th grader can provide constructive criticism. My question for Euclid is, have you ever sought out criticism from your students?

Because I did this formally on a quarterly basis, and informally much more frequently. Out of my 120 students, I would say that 50-60% of them consistently provided useful (worth its weight in gold) criticism. The student responses that were not useful were mostly either from students who loved the class and didn't want anything to change, or from students who would only write "This class is ok." And yes, there would be one or two students who would take 'cheap shots.' But those responses quickly made their way to the trash, and from the rest I could readjust my teaching (or more often, the way I presented my teaching) in a ways to benefit my students.

Much of what I will have so much to say in response to Leo's Interviews is because things came out that had not come out in my earlier attempts at getting feedback. My students had never said anything to me about being too strong on my opinions. They had mentioned the "friends" issue, but not in a way that I truly understood until reading these responses. And there are a handful of other things that came out that made me think about the past year in a different way that I'll be writing about.

Done moving

2005-06-29T22:52:00.000-04:00

After what felt like 4 days of non-stop moving, I am finally done. Now I get to relax and spend some times with my family in Ohio. I'm really hoping to get a lot of writing done over the next few days.

In the mean time, here's links to the last three Carnivals of Education, which I also hope I get a chance to read over the next few days:

My Students Thoughts on My Teaching

2005-06-23T20:39:00.000-04:00

I've been incredibly lucky this year to have Dr. Leo Rigsby as a frequent guest in my classroom. Leo is an education professor at George Mason University, and was paired with me through the Mentoring Program at the Center for Inspired Teaching in D.C. About once a month, Leo would observe my class. Afterwards, we would usually talk for about half an hour reflecting on the class. He would then type me up a few pages of comments. He was incredibly helpful throughout the year in terms of keeping me focused on empowering my students and keeping my classroom student-centered. I wish more teachers could have this opportunity.

Towards the end of the year, he asked if he could interview some of my students about the experience of being in my class. I jumped at the opportunity. A couple weeks ago, he spent 15 minutes each with three of my classes without me in the room and typed up a summery of the discussions. I have a lot I want to say about the comments, but I'm just going to let them speak for themselves for a few days (plus I have WAY too much packing still left to do). The comments can be found here.

The comments are exactly as he sent them to me with two exceptions.

I removed the name of the school.
I also, in brackets, denied two things a student quoted me as saying. They are both things that would be incredibly inappropriate for a teacher to say to students and I do not want people thinking I said them. However, I don't do this to in any way diminish the importance of the perception of this student. If a student perceived me as having made these comments, this is something I need to worry about.

Quick Thoughts on My Students' Final Projects

2005-06-23T17:16:00.000-04:00

So the last set of Daily Shows were presented to the class today. Overall, I'm happy with the way they turned out. All of them contained a solid historical base and were entertaining. Perhaps most importantly for the end of the year, everyone seemed to have fun with them.

The major weakness of my execution of the assignment was my failure to make it more rigorous. There was really no critical thinking involved in this assignment on any level. While my students certainly had fun with it, I'm not sure how much students learned from that. And I'm okay with that for the end of the year. However, if I were to do this assignment again, I would move it earlier in the year, and try to emphasize much more of a critical approach to both history and the process of putting the assignment together. I would mandate a draft and peer review process. I would do a piece analyzing how an actual episode of the Daily Show really works and how it interacts with current history, and include this as part of the assessment.

But all in all, I had a lot of fun with the assignment, and it seemed like my students did too.

I'm Back!!!

2005-06-22T21:28:00.000-04:00

Well, it took a week to get a new computer, and then a few days to get it up and running, but I am back and fully connected on my new iBook G4...just in time for the last two days of school and a move to NYC through the weekend.

There is SO much I want/need to write about. Over the next month, I'm going to (hopefully) have periods where I am very proficient in writing, and others where I disappear for about a week (going to L.A. July 13th to visit my best friend from college for a week, and going to Cape Cod on July 23rd for a week with my fiancee's family).

So things I need to blog about in the coming weeks (basically a to-blog list for myself):

Reflection on my students' final projects (hilarious videos!) and their blogging
Responses to one of my last posts on tracking
Thoughts on the end of the year
I've been working with a professor from George Mason University who has been observing my class throughout the year through a program from the Center for Inspired Teaching. He interviewed three of my classes last week and wrote me a fascinating seven page summery of their thoughts on my class (which I'll post once I change my web hosting). I need to write a lot of thoughts on this.
Thoughts on leaving Northern Virginia for NYC
Thoughts on books I've been reading
Responses to a ton of great posts that accumulated in my Bloglines account over the past two weeks

Some very quick thoughts:

While I have been counting down the days until I move to NYC for a few months now, I'm really sad to say good-bye to a lot of my students Friday. I'm really going to miss being in the classroom next year.
Right around when I first started this blog, Bud asked "How many days does it take to develop a habit to the point of sticking?" I don't know how many days it takes for the habit to stick, but it was VERY easy to feel like I got out of it. I actually got my computer Sunday, but it has taken until now for me to sit down and right again for fear that the habit would get in the way of other things I need to do. It's a similar fear to get back on the bicycle after falling.
As much as a I love Bloglines and how much more information it allows me to consume, it is overwhelming being away from it for an extended length of time. Even with nearly 1000 unread articles when I got back, I could bring myself to just mark them all read and start over. Have I become dependent on reading too much?
Thanks to everyone who has continued to comment on my site in my absence.

Ugh

2005-06-09T13:14:00.000-04:00

My laptop's hard drive failed this morning, so I am computerless for at least a day or two. I'm really looking forward to responding to the comments on my post on GT and Race, as well as this post over at Clarence's site when I'm back and wired.

UPDATE: Hard drive unfortunatly wasn't the only problem, as the logic board was also damaged. But a new computer is on its way, so I'll hopefully be back up and running at full speed over the weekend.

Next Year or, Why Blog Part II

2005-06-08T12:16:00.000-04:00

In my first post (which - hard for me to believe - will only be one month ago this Friday) I talked about some of the reasons I decided to start this blog. There was one big reason that I left out, because I wanted to make sure I was able to tell my students in person first.

I'm going to be taking a break from the classroom next year to get my master's degree. I got the good news last week that I was accepted into the African-American Studies program at Columbia University in New York City.

Since I will not be in a formal education program, I wanted a way to connect what I'm studying to teaching, and I think this blog will very much help me do that in a semi-formal way. I hope to use this space as much as possible to play with ideas and issues that arise during the year, hopefully getting them into a form that will be useful when I return to the classroom in the Fall of 2006. Also, I look forward to staying connected with community of blogging classroom teachers who have helped me learn so much over the past few weeks.

A lot of people have asked me both why I'm going to grad school now, and then also why I'm doing my masters in African-American studies (full disclosure - I am very much a white boy from Ohio).

The first question is easier to explain. I got engaged this past March, and will be getting married next June. My fiancee lives in Brooklyn, and we'll be much happier together in New York than we would be in the DC area. Once we decided I would be the one moving (in 3 weeks now), we thought it made sense for me to get my masters before we get married as opposed to trying to teach and do a masters in the first years of our marriage (an MA is required for a full teaching license in New York). So I began searching for a one-year programs in the City.

I was lucky enough as an undergrad to be able to fully participate in an outstanding MAT program which got me certified in Social Studies and History, but gave me no advanced degree. I think, at this point, I will benefit much more from some more work in my content area that in more education courses. I'm also only a handful of courses short of English certification, and would very much like teach at a school that integrates Social Studies and English, so I decided to look for an interdisciplinary program. I didn't set out to specifically to pursue study in African-American Studies, but when looking at all my options, it seemed to present me the best preparation for teaching in New York City, as well as the largest potential for personal growth. From my application essay:

Columbia’s masters program in African-American Studies seems uniquely positioned to help me achieve this goal. I must admit that I do not have a very strong background in this area. I took two courses in Africana Studies at Brown, as well as Education and History courses that touched on the black experience in America. I hope to achieve two main goals by participating in this program. First, I want to dramatically increase the body of knowledge I will be able to use to develop curriculum that is personally relevant to the lives of my students. Second, I want to further develop my ability to see the world and myself through eyes other than the white, suburban, middle class ones with which I was raised.

I hope this blog will help me as I develop along this path.

Most Harmful Books of the Past 200 Years?

2005-06-08T10:07:00.000-04:00

I whole-heartedly refuse to be identified as a 'liberal' or 'conservative' (the terms are WAY too simplistic, not to mention always changing). With that said, I came across this list of the "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries" from Human Events - The National Conservative Weekly, and my first inclination was to read every book on the list. I mean, any group that puts Hitler's Mein Kampf on the same list as the two books perhaps most responsible for the Feminist Revolution (The Feminist Mystique and Second Sex) has to be worth disagreeing with on many levels, right? MIght as well check out some of their enemies. (I've unfortunately only read 10 of the books from the expanded list. Maybe time to add to my summer reading list?)

UPDATE: Two slightly more serious posts on the same list from the Eduwonks and Jenny D.

Life is a Carnival...

2005-06-08T09:21:00.000-04:00

...so is the new Carnival of Education.

Gifted and Talented?

2005-06-07T09:46:00.000-04:00

Following on the footsteps of yesterday's post, I've been waiting for the time to write about a parent letter that was published in the Washington Post a couple weeks ago about tracking. Jacqueline Morgan is a parent of an 8 year old who recently had two friends tracked into the school's 'Gifted and Talented' program:

It was heartbreaking to see that our 8-year-old child was already being tracked in the "average" group and knows clearly that she is not part of the "smart group" (her words, not ours). Why are these children being tracked at such a young age? How much of this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy? It's unbelievable to see the level of pressure from parents to get their children into the GT program. Of course, if our child were in the magnet program, maybe we would be perfectly content with the tracking.

There are far too many issues here to get into in one post. So to concentrate on only one - WHY DOES THE PROGRAM NEED TO BE CALLED GIFTED AND TALENTED??? Is there any reason that students who are not in this program should come to any conclusion other than "I am not gifted and I am not talented?" What effect will this have on students? I think one of these effects can give some explanation to the information on yesterday's post.

The gifted and talented program runs from 3rd-8th grade. I teach 9th grade, where there is no longer any official tracking. Any student can take any class. In core subjects, classes are offered as 'Regular' or 'Honors' (or AP). However, all my students in my 'regular' class refer to the 'honors' classes as 'GT.'

Let's juxtapose this with a couple statistics:

From yesterday's post: While 91 percent of Fairfax's white students demonstrate proficiency in English, only 66 percent of its African American students reached this level of achievement last year. As The Post noted in an editorial last November, African American students across Virginia demonstrate higher levels of learning than similar students in Fairfax (Washington Post).
In the 4 'honors' classes I teach, I have a total of 90 students, 7 would be visually identified as African-American. In my 1 'regular' class of 28 students, I have 11 students who would be visually identified as "African-American."

So, having a 'Gifted and Talented' program is teaching students that if they are not in the program then they are neither gifted nor talented. Significantly higher percentages of African-American students are 'choosing' not to take 9th grade honors history. Is it any surprise then, that African-American students are performing at a lower level on state tests?

I am not denying that there are many other issues that explain these discrepancies. At the same time, I cannot understand how these facts do not cause more outrage.

The One, Unquestionably Good Thing about No Child Left Behind

2005-06-06T17:22:00.000-04:00

From Ross Wiener's op-ed piece in today's Washington Post:

Before NCLB, schools hid their achievement gaps behind their overall scores. Take Fairfax County, for instance -- one of the most affluent and highly regarded school districts in the nation. It turns out that Fairfax public schools are great for some but not others. While 91 percent of Fairfax's white students demonstrate proficiency in English, only 66 percent of its African American students reached this level of achievement last year.

As The Post noted in an editorial last November, African American students across Virginia demonstrate higher levels of learning than similar students in Fairfax. Indeed, African American students in the Richmond, Henrico County and Hampton school districts -- all of which are less wealthy and educate a higher percentage of African American students -- have been taught to higher levels in English, science and mathematics than African American students in Fairfax.

Without a Net

2005-06-03T16:10:00.000-04:00

Two great posts against "protecting" students through filters and otherwise preventing access to various online sites. Will talks about the growing climate of fear about technology across the country. The Bionic Teacher argues against filters in general and gives us a line to rally around:

Block a website keeps a kid away for a day Teaching them real world internet skills changes them for a lifetime.

I've had 90 students blogging for just about 2 weeks now. With nearly 1000 student posts and comments, there has yet to be a serious issue, and I don't anticipate there will be one through the last 3 weeks of school.

How would the argument change if the people arguing against the use of various technology in schools admitted what their basic concern is - They do not trust students. And how would the students respond?

UPDATE: Clarence had a great post on the same subject posted at about the same time as my original one. He wrote:

Classrooms are intersections where learning occurs. They are a space where students need to safely question what is happening around them. When we block the world out, these spaces become disconnected from reality and have little purpose or reason to exist.

I couldn't agree more.

Change

2005-06-02T11:17:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite lines from a song I liked in high school, courtesy of Rage Against the Machine: It has to start somewhere/ It has to start sometime/ What better place than here? / What better time than now?

I came across 2 non-education related articles about change this week that really got me thinking about the changes many of us in the edublogosphere are trying to make: changes in the way technology is perceived and the ways classrooms are organized.

The first item I came across was an article from Fast Company Magazine. The article talks about cognitive and psychological explanations for resistance to change. While it concentrates on the buisness world, many of the articles findings and analysis are directly related to learning. Some highlights:

Questions about resistance to change:

The conventional wisdom says that crisis is a powerful motivator for change. But severe heart disease is among the most serious of personal crises, and it doesn't motivate -- at least not nearly enough. Nor does giving people accurate analyses and factual information about their situations. What works? Why, in general, is change so incredibly difficult for people? What is it about how our brains are wired that resists change so tenaciously? Why do we fight even what we know to be in our own vital interests?

Adding more dimensions to arguments for change:

Dr. Dean Ornish, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and founder of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute, in Sausalito, California. Ornish, like Kotter, realizes the importance of going beyond the facts. "Providing health information is important but not always sufficient," he says. "We also need to bring in the psychological, emotional, and spiritual dimensions that are so often ignored."

More change is better than less:

Reframing alone isn't enough, of course. That's where Dr. Ornish's other astonishing insight comes in. Paradoxically, he found that radical, sweeping, comprehensive changes are often easier for people than small, incremental ones.

The importance of life-long learning:

How, then, to overcome these factors? Merzenich says the key is keeping up the brain's machinery for learning. "When you're young, almost everything you do is behavior-based learning -- it's an incredibly powerful, plastic period," he says. "What happens that becomes stultifying is you stop learning and you stop the machinery, so it starts dying." Unless you work on it, brain fitness often begins declining at around age 30 for men, a bit later for women. "People mistake being active for continuous learning," Merzenich says. "The machinery is only activated by learning. People think they're leading an interesting life when they haven't learned anything in 20 or 30 years. My suggestion is learn Spanish or the oboe."

The other article came from Jeff Jarvis' media blog - Buzz Machine. He posted about the need for old media to open a dialogue with its customers in order to learn and change:

You don't have to be young to use RSS or an iPod or mobile digital networks or wi-fi. You don't have to be young to appreciate the conversation the internet enables. You don't have to be young to question authority or distrust the press.

When we hear research about how young people treat news differently it could just be that they are the generation freed to think differently, unencumbered by our old-fart habits. If we old farts would free ourselves, we'd think differently, too.

I think there are many lessons to be learned in both these articles. More than anything, they force me to remember that change is not only not inevitable, but it is unlikely unless we are making a constant, intentional, and well thought out effort to change the minds of students, administrators, and the community. But of course, that the easy part. The next step - how do we do this?

Class Blogging Reflection Part II - My Role

2005-06-01T19:00:00.000-04:00

There's been a nice run of posts on the roll of the teacher in students blogging at The Daily Grind, Random Thoughts, and Blog of Proximal Development. I've been waiting to respond to them so I could relate this to my reflections on my students' blogs.

I wrote in my last real post that I think my students blogs are going well in the sense that they are a public space where they share and express their thoughts about their final projects. However, I am not happy with the lack of critical thought and discourse. I've been thinking about how I can change my role in the blogs to better encourage the third goal of the blogs.

To this point, I have stayed mostly out of the way of my students (I have only commented when students have asked me a direct question). I have done this because I wanted my students to establish their blogs as their space, not an extension of the classroom (as much as I would like to try and make my classroom a student-centered space, it is still a classroom in school).

This leads me to Mr. McNamar. He recently posted an excellent reflection on his first year of blogging in class and came up some questions which frame the internal conflicts I'm facing right now:

Should the teacher post on the classroom blog?
Should the teacher interact, through comments, on the classroom blog?
Should posts be graded, if so, what should the criteria be?
Should blogging in the classroom be held to the same standards as essay writing, or should we give into the text-message culture?

All the questions speak to the tensions between this being a controlled, teacher-directed space as opposed to a dynamic, student-controled space. If I regularly post and comment, grade every post, and hold the writing to 'essay standards,' then the blog will certainly become 'just another assignment,' though there is a better chance I'll be able to help my students write (and think?) on a higher level. On the other hand, if I do not comment or post, if posts aren't graded, and if students write in whatever form they are most comfortable, there is a chance that the blogs will not just be another assignment, though the level of discourse will almost definitely stay where it is now.

These questions, directly or indirectly, have been addressed by many others.

Matt Johnson commented:

But in furthering my theme of expanding the writing skills of students, I would encourage you to require adherence to standard English. Using the text-message English that is now becoming common place detracts from the ability to formulate reasoned and lucid responses on the fly.

I think Matt has a valid point when trying to work specifically on formal writing skills. However, I think doing this comes at a very high price - mandating a certain type of discourse I think automatically makes it a teacher controlled space. As long as my role is playing "language police," a much higher emphasis in some students minds will be on writing properly as opposed to sharing ideas, building knowledge, and thinking critically.

Ivy, who is a student in online graduate courses, commented:

I don't think that posts themselves should be graded -- as it turns the blog into an assignment just like any other assignment, which is something you seem to want to avoid -- but participation in the blog can be graded. For me, in my classes, it is required that I "make a substantial daily contribution to classroom discussion". "Substantial" is highly subjective, but it's that subjectivity that prompts the class to really think about their posts and comments so that they will, hopefully, qualify.

I think she hits some things right on the nail. However, I am hesitant to trust the subjectivity of "Substantial." I think it may work well with graduate students, but I am not as confident it will work with 9th graders. What does 'substantial' blog participation look like? Is it just thoughtful posts? Is it responding to other ideas in others' blogs? Is it commenting on many blogs? I am not really sure at this point.

Nancy McKeand posted:

If we are truly committed to student-centered classrooms, we have to get out of the way. But I think that teachers can post as an equal member of the learning community.

I think she is 100% right in that we need to get out of the way to have a truly student-centered classroom (or blogosphere). One area I've struggled with tremendously this year is in trying to become an equal member of the learning community. I'm sure a lot of people would say that this is not possible with 9th graders, but I refuse to accept that. However, at least three different students wrote to me in reflections throughout the year something to the extent of "if you want to be our equal, we're going to treat you like we treat our peers, which isn't always good." What can be done to get around this attitude that certain students have?

Nancy also had a great post on grading blogs:

I think it should be graded in a portfolio format where students choose their "best" posts. It seems obvious that the student who writes more would have more to choose from and would, therefore, be likely to produce a better portfolio. That would seem to cover the question of frequency and content and, to a large degree, subject matter, as well.

I just think this is a fantastic idea that I will steal. I told my students when giving the assignment that they would be graded for their blogs on "effort and thoughtfulness." I can grade the effort in a straight - Did you respond to all prompts - manner. I like the idea of students picking their 2 or 3 best posts to be graded for thoughtfulness.

Finally, I love the ideas Konrad Glogowski expressed for how to interact with the students' blogs with out directly entering their space. He described how he doesn't post in students' blogs, but instead discusses student posts on his own blogs:

I use my blog to direct traffic, to let my students know that I also go online, that I do read their work - not because I am interested in marking it but because I am genuinely interested in what they have to say. I direct the cognitive traffic of my class blogosphere by using my own blog to post links to student entries and write about similarities and differences in their ideas. I sometimes see my work as that of an aggregator. I do not produce ideas, I just “catch” them as they move around in the ever-expanding web of thoughts.

I think it may be too late for me to establish this because I have already established this blog as something separate from the class. However, the next time I use blogging in class, I think I'll use this idea and have a class blog where I am the author, and use this primarily to reflect and respond to students' postings.