January 2012
56 posts
6 tags
0089: What does in mean to be a rebellious...
#education #revolution #occupy
Being a rebellious teacher requires one thing: a commitment to your students. And, that is where the language becomes tricky. We’re constantly reminded that we must be committed to our students. We must provide them a world class education at all costs, but by world class education they mean we must deliver high test scores. Countless phrases and sanctions...
6 tags
0088: For #freedom dear reader
#education #revolution #occupy
I did not intend for this website to become an activist website, but as water flows so must my writing. We live in a time that is unusual to all of us. Civil unrest has been a distant memory, or a work of fiction. We have been blind to our oppression, sated by myriad mediums of entertainment and distraction. As a teacher, hopefully a critically conscious one, I...
9 tags
“#ctchat
By requiring a man to behave mechanically, mass production...”
– from Paulo Freire’s ‘Education vs. Massification’
2 tags
8 tags
0087: I got your #Education Reform right here
#edreform
Dear Ms. Rhee and other Corporate Reformers,
I notice you’ve taken an interest in the education of the students I teach. Their test scores aren’t great so you have offered a package of solutions. I’m glad someone it taking an interest. As you collect more money on the behalf of my students I ask that you donate a little bit to Terry, who has kidney stones and an...
7 tags
Notes on Teaching: The Power of Men →
nobreak4thecrazy:
We are in the middle of a mad review of our unit of the rain forest, and the reflections and God-Knows-What that just must get into that Science Portfolio NOW. We rush, but I am stopped by a question.
Student: But why do they burn the soil of the rain forest??
I: Well, it is because they want…
11 tags
“A major #revolution to be won in the immediate future is the dissipation of...”
– From Saul Alinsky’s ‘Rules for Radicals’
9 tags
#democracy
Prescriptive #education (i.e., public education) serves to distance learners and teachers alike from their social reality. The needs of individuals and communities are never given the time of day, as we mindlessly accept curriculum from the State. Rather than educating our students critically, we busy their minds with distractions that will ultimately prevent them from ever completely...
16 tags
0086: Thank God for Standardized Tests, They Help...
#revolution #fascism #satire #edchat
The best thing about standardized tests is they take the guess work out of teaching. I know exactly what to teach and to what extent. I don’t have to worry about teaching in wasteful creative ways, nor do I have to worry about inspiring my students. All I have to do is repeat facts over and over, and give them four choices. It’s brilliant. I can...
6 tags
“#freedom #occupy #anonymous #corporations
[Man] has become free from the...”
– From Erich Fromm’s Escape from Freedom
7 tags
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Paradoxical Solutions to Education from POTUS... →
I am not sure what to make of this little clip. It seems our president is inviting creativity into the classroom, allowing teachers to be innovators. At the same time it seems he is encouraging competition between colleagues and suggesting we get rid of teachers who aren’t “helping”. On top of that, there is the charge to states to keep students in school until they’re 18....
9 tags
0085: Unpacking the phrase "education is your...
#teaching #revolution #literacy #education
I heard the phrase “education is your ticket out of (insert situation)” used by teachers, principals, parents, counselors, etc., etc. I’ve used it. I think it is often spouted thoughtlessly in the attempt to focus students on the task we choose for them. It positions education as a panacea and me, the educator as the distributor of...
10 tags
0084: Pardon me for being radical, but the system...
#edreform #revolution #education
I’ve had a few forced days of focus and meditation, an imposed hiatus from writing and working—a root canal and a break in sort of force the mind to silent places lest things really start to fall apart. During my respite I have spent some time reviewing what I have written over the past few months here at Educated to Death and have noticed a shift in my...
7 tags
Parents Rights when it comes to standardized... →
@imaginationsoup #education #corporate
14 tags
0083: Schools as Guardians of Class Division
#education #poverty #class #slum #edreform
Schools are marketed as beacons of hope. A proper education promises a better future with access to a college education, to riches, a good job, and stuff. This is the carrot we hold before our students to encourage them to work hard. It’s the stuffed bunny at the dog track. The definition of proper education, for sometime now, includes high test...
6 tags
#megaupload arrests will be another lesson about persistence in protest tomorrow, and the truth about democracy.
11 tags
0082: 7th Grade Student reflections on...
#BlackoutSOPA #Democracy #education
These are a few of the responses my students wrote regarding their participation in their democracy. Keep in mind they are in the seventh grade. Additionally, the school is nearly 100% free lunch, and we are at risk of being taken over by the state for test scores. Does testing assess this?
K.W. wrote
I felt surprised and excited at the same time. I felt...
8 tags
0081: SOPA Blackout, #Occupy, and #Anonymous...
#revolution #sschat #educ
We’ve been discussing social movements, protests, and democracy in my fine arts classes of all places. We’ve been learning songs from social movements, protest songs and all. Our learning has been aided by the occupy movement, anonymous, and the Blackouts against SOPA and PIPA. Yesterday, during the blackout my class and I called the representatives from our...
8 tags
#democracy #education #sschat
My class and I called our representatives and asked that they oppose #SOPA and #PIPA. My students were thrilled to participate in democracy, and even more thrilled to take part in shaping their own futures.
10 tags
0080: Teaching for Democracy #SOPA #PIPA
Blackout SOPA and PIPA. We need freedom of information. Call a congressman. Keep the first amendment. Talk to your students tomorrow. Help them participate. Write letters. Assign them something that requires Wikipedia. Then let them write letters to congress asking for help rectifying their missed assignment. Tomorrow is a great day for learning about the power of the people and true democracy.
7 tags
0079: #SOPA to Close the Achievement Gap in Public...
#BlackoutSOPA #education #J18 #satire
Finally a piece of legislation that has our students in mind! I have no doubt that SOPA will level the playing field. You see the kids at my school don’t consistently have access to the internet at home, and at school it’s already heavily censored. The kids across town do. So SOPA will make everyone even. It will also make me a better teacher. In...
4 tags
America's Teachers See Poverty Up Close →
#teacher #poverty #edreform
7 tags
“Adaptation is behavior characteristic of the animal sphere; exhibited by man, it...”
– Paulo Freire from Education for Critical Consciousness
4 tags
Watchjtotheizzoe:
Can These Simple Cartoons Help Redesign Education?
If you’ve ever wondered “What’s Joe’s motivation in life, and this whole Tumblr science blog thing he does?” … this would be a good place to start.
We owe it to ourselves to do more with to unlock the immense potential that currently sits in our classrooms. Adolescence is one of the most creative periods in life, we are...
10 tags
0078: On Teacher Education. In Opposition to...
#teaching #education #edreform
Teachers should enter the field with a working knowledge of pedagogy built from a strong understanding of theory and nurtured through actual practice. They should know how to engage students in dialogue, and properly mediate discussions. They should know how to reflect on their own practice, and make decisions based on their reflections. They should know how to...
6 tags
Please Read: The importance of the teacher in... →
Discusses the importance of teachers in education reform from which they are often absent. There are millions of teachers in this country. We are a powerful force if we use our voices.
12 tags
0077: #Teacher Training, Professional Development,...
#education #critical #edreform
I gave my students a quiz this morning and I asked them to fold their paper lengthwise and pass it in. They didn’t exactly understand lengthwise so I said “a hotdog fold”. They quickly made the correct fold and passed in the papers.
The term “hotdog fold” brought about a series of flashbacks to undergraduate education classes and...
7 tags
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“#revolution #education #occupy
All is lost, in spite of glittering...”
– Denis Goulet’s Introduction to Paulo Freire’s Education for Critical Consciousness
8 tags
0076: Sharing the #Power: Fault with myself as a...
#discipline #school #critical
I feel that I often lack the courage to eliminate myself as a figure of authority in order to allow true learning. Given I must support learners as they develop their own self-discipline. I simply have trouble allowing them this freedom. Perhaps it is because of time constraints or the truth of impending assessments and projects, but that hardly seems to suffice as...
9 tags
0075: Re: The US 3rd World, Its Children, and the...
#teaching #poverty #revolution #occupy
Dear Readers,
I teach, like many of you, invisible children in an invisible neighborhood. They are, to many, the nameless, faceless children of the third world within these United States. They will grow up witnessing violence and drug use. They will be victims of violence. They will commit acts of violence. They will be victims of every sort of abuse...
9 tags
“#revolution #education #occupy
…theory or introspection in the absence...”
– Denis Goulet’s Introduction to Paulo Freire’s Education for Critical Consciousness
9 tags
“#revolution #education #occupy
…action without critical reflection and...”
– Denis Goulet’s Introduction to Paulo Freire’s Education for Critical Consciousness
11 tags
0075: Re: The US Third World, Its Children, and...
#teaching #poverty #literacy #revolution #occupy
Dear Readers,
I teach, like many of you, invisible children in an invisible neighborhood. They are, to many, the nameless, faceless children of the third world within these United States. They will grow up witnessing violence and drug use. They will be victims of violence. They will commit acts of violence. They will be victims of every sort of...
9 tags
“#occupy #education #ows
As teachers, we deal with people, with children,...”
– Paulo Freire from Teachers as Cultural Workers
13 tags
0074: #Occupy and #Anonymous in the Classroom: To...
@UnicornsImage #censorship #discourse #legion
I received a response to a Tweet I made regarding the importance of helping students understand the occupy movement. The response stated: “@educatedtodeath Teachers should TEACH our kids not BRAINWASH them! #ows DOES NOT belong in ANY curriculum!” I tweeted back that I agreed. The Occupy Movement does not belong in a standardized...
9 tags
“…studying requires the development of rigorous discipline, which we must...”
– Paulo Freire from Teachers as Cultural Workers
8 tags
“Studying is a demanding occupation, in the process of which we will encounter...”
– Paulo Freire from Teachers as Cultural Workers
10 tags
0073: #Education as Utopia, or Heaven, or Not so...
#SOS #revolution #teaching
If I had my way, if schools were to slide from the dystopian clutches of training and ennui, then how would they look? I struggle to produce an image, and I find it hard to recall what I know about how people really learn and function. But, here goes.
We’ll start with the teachers. Teachers would work together, and now just during rare and pointless faculty...
9 tags
0072: Public #Education, #Schools from Hell, and...
#SOS #revolution #teaching
I think my view of public education via my experience, micro- and macro-, has merged with my views of dystopian realities. The places I’ve worked give or take a few have filled me each day with that feeling of grayness that is delivered in Orwellian dystopias. Bells ringing each hour, students being herded through halls to their next box for training, a regimen...
10 tags
0071: Teaching as an Act of #Freedom vs. the...
#teaching #rebellion #revolution #ows
I entitled one of my previous posts “Testing, the Existential Crisis, and Hope in #Rebellion”, but did not devote much, if any time, to defining said existential crisis. I could have even been so brazen to include “existential crisis” as a means of making my title more interesting while menially discussing any sort of crisis that...
4 tags
“#literacy #writing
Nobody can write who never writes, just as one cannot swim...”
– Paulo Freire from Teachers as Cultural Workers
9 tags
0070: On #Writing, Making Noise, and the Scent of...
@CletisStump #literacy #revolution
I was told once that we (the Royal We I suppose) write to know what we think. Over time I’ve found this to be true. But, beyond that I’ve found that what I think is inconsistent. Not terribly inconsistent, just inconsistent enough to make me unsure of what exactly is going on within this old noggin of mine. I wonder if I am adding value to a body of...
8 tags
“I do not think that educators need to be perfect saints. It is exactly as human...”
– Paulo Freire from Teachers as Cultural Workers
7 tags
0069: A reflection on a humanizing moment in...
#edchat
Amidst the hustle and bustle of education reform, curriculum changes and concerns, focus on the problems of education, my bleak twitter feed, and world turmoil I forget about the here and now. I forget that I’m in a classroom within a school working alongside brutally devoted teachers who deal with the same concerns. We don’t get to chat too often. Many have been in the field...
8 tags
0068: No #revolution without reading...
#critical #education #literacy
Reading comprehension has successfully been reduced to a segment of the tested curriculum that simply involves pulling facts from a passage to answer a question. It may reach slightly further and ask that a reader make a mild inference about the passage, but the answer is neatly provided in a multiple choice form. Reading comprehension equals or should equal...
9 tags
“To study is to uncover; it is to gain a more exact comprehension of an object;...”
– Paulo Freire from Teachers as Cultural Workers
11 tags
0067: Testing, the Existential Crisis, and Hope in...
#testing #education #revolution
We’ve been back at school for less than a week and students are already sharing their dissent about testing. Of course, they came back from the holidays to benchmark testing. How could we begin the year without knowing where they are and how much we need to move them? These benchmark tests are a fine and expensive resource provided by a testing company to be...
5 tags
Lovely podcast of a Philosophy lesson taught to... →
How much would students benefit from the opportunity to have lessons like this, rather than the daily skill and drill. These children are learning valuable thinking and reasoning skills that will absolutely be generalized to other academic areas. This is a lesson in philosophy to 8-10 year olds. Take a moment to listen to a few moments of the interaction at least.
