Posts

Nov. 18...Working on Questions for Interviews

Below is a list of some of the big ideas we have wrestled with over the course of the semester. Keep in mind that our goal is to find out how practicing educators are thinking about some of this stuff.   Post a suggested interview question based on one of the big ideas .   Note: try to ask a question that will put the interviewee at ease and make it more likely that they will open up (example: instead of asking "How do you deal with ethical dilemmas?", you could ask, "Can you describe a time  when, as a teacher, you weren't; sure what the right thing to do was? How did you decide how to proceed?" ·       How to instill diversity within curriculum ·       How public schooling has changed over the years. ·       Multiculturalism ·       Progressive v. traditional teaching/schooling ·...
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Oct. 9...From Deficit Approaches to Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

Now that you have learned about deficit theories and a bit about asset-based approaches (e.g., culturally relevant, sustaining pedagogies), what do you think about teachers' roles in accounting for students' home cultures? How/should teachers be thought of as having a role to play in reshaping our society so that cultural bias is less of a problem in the future?
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September 23...Why Take Precious Teacher Prep Time for a Class Like Ours?

Great work on Wednesday...y'all dug in and talked through the big ideas in  Knight-Abowitz and Stitzlein's  argument about why public schools matter and what the public part is all about. With your comment to this post, please take a little time to think about where this kind of work fits into a teacher preparation program. Obviously, learning to become a teacher requires developing skills and methods to teach well as well as teh cultivation of content knowledge. So, does/how does thinking about the purposes and contexts of education contribute to learning to be a teacher? Note: Of course, I am on record as believing that this work does matter very much, but you don't need to agree with me...
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September 18...Understanding the Broader Context of Teacher Work

Share and discuss something new that you leaned from the Knight-Abowitz and Stitzlein reading. It can be something surprising, disturbing, hopeful, etc. Also feel free to address the question of whether it is important for teachers/future teachers to know about the wider contexts within which there work sits (hint: Stemhagen definitely thinks it is important!).
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September 11...Dewey and Progressive Education

I hope you enjoyed the "This American Life" podcast about the Brooklyn Free School. There is a lot of conjecture about whether it is a good example of Deweyan educational principles in action or if it fails to capture thew spirit of his progressive education. What do you think about it?
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September 11...Short Blurbs about Potential SL Projects

This space is for a volunteer from each group to provide a short description of the latest on your group's ideas for a service learning project. Note: if you are the volunteer for this, then you don't have to post a comment in response to my prompt on the readings.
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September 9...Service Learning Ideas

Please use this space to make progress with the Service Learning project. You can propose ideas, ask questions, add to the ideas of others, etc. If you are lacking inspiration, feel free to look at the stuff I shared on Friday (it's located in the "Class Notes" folder in Course Documents).
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September 6...Horace Mann and the Common School Movement

Comment on one of the following two prompts (you do not need to comment on both): 1. Why do you think Mann's Common Schools were successful and Jefferson's plan was not? 2. What do you make of Mann's use of the Prussian system as a blueprint for his system?
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September 4...Jefferson and Schooling in the U.S.

Jefferson was very interested in creating a meritocracy (leaders chosen for their talent, virtue, ability, etc.). Discuss the idea of meritocracy, either in Jeffersons timer how it seems to play out today. Some possible questions: Do we live in a meritocracy? Did Jefferson's ideas have potential to move us toward a meritocracy? What problems are there with the idea of meritocracy (in his time and/or ours)?
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August 26…Labaree’s Competing Purposes of Schools

Are there any major purposes of schooling left out by Labaree? What do you make of his conclusion (Is there any hope to push back against the predominant notion of education as a private good?)?
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