I had to go to a three-hour class this morning on the Christian philosophy of education. The class was delivered on videotape. The instructor was an esteemed professor of education. The content was quite good. The presentation left something to be desired. The professor elected to deliver his information sitting in a comfy chair next to a roaring fire. He then spent the next three hours making a number of points about education. One of his points was that Jesus taught using a variety of educational styles and that we should do likewise. So we should do as you say, not as you do? Sure he was on video, but couldn't he at least stand up?
I have noticed the same flaw in nearly every educational specialist who has ever lectured me about how to teach. They literally lecture. Their lecture advises us not to lecture as a primary means of instruction. So then, why do they lecture?
Peace
30 September 2006
Search Engine Wars II
When one posts an item to the internet, one can never be entirely sure who will drop by nor why they will be drawn to any particular posting. My webcounter, supplied for free by the good people at Statcounter (not that I am special to them--they provide the free service to anyone), can occassionally give me insight into the mind of those who come to my site. Whenever someone comes to my blog as the result of a Google or Yahoo type search, Statcounter tells me what words or phrase for which they were searching. The results can be funny, amusing, or deeply disturbing.
I have previously documented some of these searches in a disturbing December post. After that post, my blog seemed to disappear from the Google and Yahoo listings. Maybe word got out that I publicly report search results. Maybe no one found my blog helpful when "I think my husband is gay." About three weeks ago, people started returning to my blog from Google search results (I still haven't gotten any from Yahoo in a long time). Here are the last four:
Google search for
"cathy fail" that lead here. "Cathy fail"??? Hmmm. The end of the original post says prophetically, "This post should lead to some interesting search results."
Google search for
life is too short to clean your own house that lead here. This one came from the Bronx. My first ever hit from the Bronx. How cool is that?
Google search for (this one came from Spain)
monologue of the poem muliebrity that lead here. Did someone else also write a bitter poem titled "Muliebrity?"
If you still believe that mankind is basically good and that children are all "good kids" here is a disturbing Google search for
"human meat" kids that lead, sadly, to my blog here (this post was titled "Rib Ranch: I'll have a half-rack of human" so I guess I deserve it).
On a side note, my wife's blog is soon going to pass me in hit counts (Currently, she has 3,889 hits and I have 3,997 hits). She will pass me in about two weeks. If you don't mind hitting the "refresh" button on your web browser a few times to give me a few more hits so that I can keep ahead of her, I wouldn't mind. I have a very fragile ego. Hopefully, she is too tired to actually read to the end of my post (if you do DW, I am just kidding--ha, ha). I know she posts more often and with more consistent quality, but I do try to make up for my lack of posts with obnoxious opinion pieces.
My senate sim went well, I will post later with some of the details (truthfully, by "later", I mean "probably never").
Peace
Update: I think I fixed the links.
I have previously documented some of these searches in a disturbing December post. After that post, my blog seemed to disappear from the Google and Yahoo listings. Maybe word got out that I publicly report search results. Maybe no one found my blog helpful when "I think my husband is gay." About three weeks ago, people started returning to my blog from Google search results (I still haven't gotten any from Yahoo in a long time). Here are the last four:
Google search for
"cathy fail" that lead here. "Cathy fail"??? Hmmm. The end of the original post says prophetically, "This post should lead to some interesting search results."
Google search for
life is too short to clean your own house that lead here. This one came from the Bronx. My first ever hit from the Bronx. How cool is that?
Google search for (this one came from Spain)
monologue of the poem muliebrity that lead here. Did someone else also write a bitter poem titled "Muliebrity?"
If you still believe that mankind is basically good and that children are all "good kids" here is a disturbing Google search for
"human meat" kids that lead, sadly, to my blog here (this post was titled "Rib Ranch: I'll have a half-rack of human" so I guess I deserve it).
On a side note, my wife's blog is soon going to pass me in hit counts (Currently, she has 3,889 hits and I have 3,997 hits). She will pass me in about two weeks. If you don't mind hitting the "refresh" button on your web browser a few times to give me a few more hits so that I can keep ahead of her, I wouldn't mind. I have a very fragile ego. Hopefully, she is too tired to actually read to the end of my post (if you do DW, I am just kidding--ha, ha). I know she posts more often and with more consistent quality, but I do try to make up for my lack of posts with obnoxious opinion pieces.
My senate sim went well, I will post later with some of the details (truthfully, by "later", I mean "probably never").
Peace
Update: I think I fixed the links.
25 September 2006
Teacher Blogs: USA Today, I'm Still Waiting for Your Call
USA Today has a short, but interesting story on teachers' blogs here. Needless to say, I didn't make the list though at least one Atlanta social studies teachers did. I have been reading her blog for a couple of months, and it is one of the finer teachers' blogs that I have read. There are links to a few other teacher blogs with the article. Explore and enjoy. Or not.
I wrote a senate simulation over the weekend (it took about twenty hours to create the forty different papers needed to run it) and started it today. Things went much better than I hoped. The students love it. How do I know? Not a single soul asked to leave class for water, to go to the office, or to go to the bathroom during any of the three classes. Even better than that, my last class came in already talking about it and anticipating a fine time to be had by all. Anytime they talk about class outside of class, I've done something either very right or something very wrong. Today, writing bills for the Senate was very right. Some ideas I heard floated: a national autobahn, a pass-grass bill, and immigration reform.
Simulations are a great way to teach and generally have a relatively high rate of long-term retention, but they are highly inefficient of time. My simulation will last all week. They will, I hope, learn a lot from it, but I could present the same information in a twenty-minute lecture. Sadly, even I am bored by my lectures so we shall instead be doing something like, according to one of my students, "Dungeons and Dragons for Politics."
Peace
I wrote a senate simulation over the weekend (it took about twenty hours to create the forty different papers needed to run it) and started it today. Things went much better than I hoped. The students love it. How do I know? Not a single soul asked to leave class for water, to go to the office, or to go to the bathroom during any of the three classes. Even better than that, my last class came in already talking about it and anticipating a fine time to be had by all. Anytime they talk about class outside of class, I've done something either very right or something very wrong. Today, writing bills for the Senate was very right. Some ideas I heard floated: a national autobahn, a pass-grass bill, and immigration reform.
Simulations are a great way to teach and generally have a relatively high rate of long-term retention, but they are highly inefficient of time. My simulation will last all week. They will, I hope, learn a lot from it, but I could present the same information in a twenty-minute lecture. Sadly, even I am bored by my lectures so we shall instead be doing something like, according to one of my students, "Dungeons and Dragons for Politics."
Peace
20 September 2006
"I was a good person"
Perhaps you have seen some of the coverage of the blonde teacher in Florida who had a sexual affair with her fifteen year old student. The story is a couple of years old, but she has done some recent talking to the press. The part that struck me about the incident is her own perception of herself and the case:
She told Lauer she never thought she was committing rape when she had sex with the teen but realizes now she "made a really, really, really bad choice."
She acknowledges that the case got so much attention -- when similar cases get little or none -- because she is attractive.
"Sex sells," she said.
Lafave said she has a difficult time thinking of herself as a sexual predator, as she is now classified under Florida law.
"I was a kindhearted person who loved children, who would never, you know, do anything to break the law," she said. "I was a good person. And then, now everything has just changed. So it's just really hard for me to accept that."
She is right in drawing attention to the reason the press was drawn to case, "sex sells." This only became a national story because she was young and attractive. Sadly, that is as far at the press takes it, but there are two things disturbing going on here that merit the nation's attention.
First, the scandal of teacher sexual abuse and use of students is in all probability many times more significant than the scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church. Sadly, each case is treated as an isolated incident, not as a part of systemic failure.
Second, the convict in the Florida case points out the inevitable result of years of self-esteem building by public and private education and children's television. This past Spring, I was privileged to travel to Walt Disney World with our senior class. While there, I learned from a gaggle of singing princesses that I, too, was a princess and that we are all princesses. That message has hit home for an entire generation of young people who have been taught that they were born into a royal inheritance of self-love and self-respect. Like monarchs of old, nothing must be done to earn one's royal esteem, and all the world is one's due right. One must only believe hard enough and all things are possible, dreams will come true.
This educational model creates a mind that cannot face reality when the world treats one like a peasant, or worse, one acts like a peasant.
Ms. Lafave saw herself as "a good person. And then, now everything has just changed. So it's just really hard for me to accept that." Ms. Lafave thought herself a princess, only to find herself a peasant. For her to accept her disgusting acts will shatter her carefully cultivated self-esteem. She is not alone, and she will not be the first to discover that she is not worthy merely because she exists. I have sat across from countless parents who cannot accept that their child has erred because their child is a "good kid." They have been told so much by his teachers for years, and he has never been caught doing anything illegal. If they accept that their child cheated, or smoked, or did drugs, then the falsely constructed image of their child will collapse like palace of pretty cards. In the typical foggy-headed fashion of American Christians, we deny the doctrine of sin nature without even being aware of it.
We must all learn to accept that, "21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Peace
She told Lauer she never thought she was committing rape when she had sex with the teen but realizes now she "made a really, really, really bad choice."
She acknowledges that the case got so much attention -- when similar cases get little or none -- because she is attractive.
"Sex sells," she said.
Lafave said she has a difficult time thinking of herself as a sexual predator, as she is now classified under Florida law.
"I was a kindhearted person who loved children, who would never, you know, do anything to break the law," she said. "I was a good person. And then, now everything has just changed. So it's just really hard for me to accept that."
She is right in drawing attention to the reason the press was drawn to case, "sex sells." This only became a national story because she was young and attractive. Sadly, that is as far at the press takes it, but there are two things disturbing going on here that merit the nation's attention.
First, the scandal of teacher sexual abuse and use of students is in all probability many times more significant than the scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church. Sadly, each case is treated as an isolated incident, not as a part of systemic failure.
Second, the convict in the Florida case points out the inevitable result of years of self-esteem building by public and private education and children's television. This past Spring, I was privileged to travel to Walt Disney World with our senior class. While there, I learned from a gaggle of singing princesses that I, too, was a princess and that we are all princesses. That message has hit home for an entire generation of young people who have been taught that they were born into a royal inheritance of self-love and self-respect. Like monarchs of old, nothing must be done to earn one's royal esteem, and all the world is one's due right. One must only believe hard enough and all things are possible, dreams will come true.
This educational model creates a mind that cannot face reality when the world treats one like a peasant, or worse, one acts like a peasant.
Ms. Lafave saw herself as "a good person. And then, now everything has just changed. So it's just really hard for me to accept that." Ms. Lafave thought herself a princess, only to find herself a peasant. For her to accept her disgusting acts will shatter her carefully cultivated self-esteem. She is not alone, and she will not be the first to discover that she is not worthy merely because she exists. I have sat across from countless parents who cannot accept that their child has erred because their child is a "good kid." They have been told so much by his teachers for years, and he has never been caught doing anything illegal. If they accept that their child cheated, or smoked, or did drugs, then the falsely constructed image of their child will collapse like palace of pretty cards. In the typical foggy-headed fashion of American Christians, we deny the doctrine of sin nature without even being aware of it.
We must all learn to accept that, "21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Peace
17 September 2006
Monday Miscellany: Goose Poop, the Pope, and Goose Steps
The boy came home from kindergarten on Monday (September 11) and said that another boy had thrown goose poop at him on the playground. He was not particularly upset about it, we didn't make a bid deal about it, and I don't think he was scarred by the incident. This is just another one of the many incidents in a child's life that forces a parent to decide just what pearls of wisdom to impart to their child.
Should we advocate a liberal law-and-order approach and tell him to tell the teacher and rely upon her judgment? Sure, this won't prevent future acts of poopism, but should result in the guilty party being punished or at least receiving a firm talking to by the teacher. Should we adopt a neo-con worldview and preempt the threat by removing the poop and all geese that harbor poop? This will prevent future attacks, but runs the risk of all-out war with the over one billion geese in the world. Would a more green approach (where the playground is destroyed to create a natural goose habitat where humans cannot go) be the answer? Should we count upon a libertarian plan to create our own playground that will be free from meddling outsiders? Or a more paleo-con plan to make an anti-poop shield (PDI) that will protect our son, but will leave the poop-throwers of the world free to throw all the poop they wish? Perhaps I should become an extreme leftist and blame the teacher, compare the principal to Hitler, and wonder what my boy did to deserve a poop-painting.
The world is a scary place. There are those that throw more than poop.
From poop to Pope...Is it strange to anyone else that Muslim groups compare the Pope to Hitler and attack the pope for quoting someone that claimed that Islam spread through violence (a historical fact, btw) and go on to claim that comments that suggest Islam is violent may lead to war? The argument goes something like this: You shouldn't say that Muslims are violent. Muslims are not violent. Saying that they are violent might lead to violence. Whaaaaa? I know that the majority of Muslims are peaceful and even peace loving, but those that are must stop serving as apologists for Islamic rage and address the truly violent elements that are tolerated and sometimes encouraged among them. These elements are tolerated, I believe, because a strong Muslim majority harbors a deep hatred of the West, Jews, and the United States.
The goose-stepping of politicians of all sides continues as all sides compare everyone else to Nazis, Hitler, and fascism. It ends all debate.
Rosie O'Donnell compared Radical Christianity and Radical Islam on the View this week. Many on the Right saw this as evidence of the Left's severe case of moral relativism. Pershaps, but just as Muslims must begin dealing with the cancer within their religion, so must Christians. Timothy McVeigh, the KKK, the IRA, and Eric Rudolph all follow[ed] what they see as pure Christianity. Rosie wasn’t quite right, but there was an element of truth to what she said even though she didn't quite mean it that way. I am sure she meant people like George W. Bush, Pat Robertson, and any Christian who vote Republican.
The days of my wife have degenerated into a simple pattern: change diaper, feed baby, repeat. You can pray for her.
Here is what happened when we tried to take a photo of all four of our children together for the first time:
Peace
Should we advocate a liberal law-and-order approach and tell him to tell the teacher and rely upon her judgment? Sure, this won't prevent future acts of poopism, but should result in the guilty party being punished or at least receiving a firm talking to by the teacher. Should we adopt a neo-con worldview and preempt the threat by removing the poop and all geese that harbor poop? This will prevent future attacks, but runs the risk of all-out war with the over one billion geese in the world. Would a more green approach (where the playground is destroyed to create a natural goose habitat where humans cannot go) be the answer? Should we count upon a libertarian plan to create our own playground that will be free from meddling outsiders? Or a more paleo-con plan to make an anti-poop shield (PDI) that will protect our son, but will leave the poop-throwers of the world free to throw all the poop they wish? Perhaps I should become an extreme leftist and blame the teacher, compare the principal to Hitler, and wonder what my boy did to deserve a poop-painting.
The world is a scary place. There are those that throw more than poop.
From poop to Pope...Is it strange to anyone else that Muslim groups compare the Pope to Hitler and attack the pope for quoting someone that claimed that Islam spread through violence (a historical fact, btw) and go on to claim that comments that suggest Islam is violent may lead to war? The argument goes something like this: You shouldn't say that Muslims are violent. Muslims are not violent. Saying that they are violent might lead to violence. Whaaaaa? I know that the majority of Muslims are peaceful and even peace loving, but those that are must stop serving as apologists for Islamic rage and address the truly violent elements that are tolerated and sometimes encouraged among them. These elements are tolerated, I believe, because a strong Muslim majority harbors a deep hatred of the West, Jews, and the United States.
The goose-stepping of politicians of all sides continues as all sides compare everyone else to Nazis, Hitler, and fascism. It ends all debate.
Rosie O'Donnell compared Radical Christianity and Radical Islam on the View this week. Many on the Right saw this as evidence of the Left's severe case of moral relativism. Pershaps, but just as Muslims must begin dealing with the cancer within their religion, so must Christians. Timothy McVeigh, the KKK, the IRA, and Eric Rudolph all follow[ed] what they see as pure Christianity. Rosie wasn’t quite right, but there was an element of truth to what she said even though she didn't quite mean it that way. I am sure she meant people like George W. Bush, Pat Robertson, and any Christian who vote Republican.
The days of my wife have degenerated into a simple pattern: change diaper, feed baby, repeat. You can pray for her.
Here is what happened when we tried to take a photo of all four of our children together for the first time:
Peace
10 September 2006
Equivocation: a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth
My five year old has been exploring the limits of language lately in an attempt to quantify his world and interpret the secret language of parents. He has been unremitting in trying to pin us down on the meaning of such words as "sometimes", "soon", "later", "maybe", "a few" etc.
These wonderfully malleable words are of course the type of words most often employed by harried parents unwillingly to commit to a definitive answer to a child's plea for permission to do something. To commit in the affirmative is an unbreakable covenant to the child and will invariably result in years of therapy to reverse the harm done by promise-breaking parents. To commit in the negative will result in a "scene" of Old Testament proportions. To equivocate creates a temporary reprieve during which the parent hopes that the advance invasion force of aliens from Chocolatacon7 will arrive, distracting the child and causing him to forget the original request/question, or that an affirmative answer will somehow become possible, perhaps revealed by an image of the Virgin Mary appearing in the plate of leftover surprise in the back of the refrigerator, miraculously uncovered while searching for something to feed the kids.
I think my son is starting to get the nuances of parent-speak. The other day he came up to me and asked, "Is 'we'll see' another way of saying 'no'?"
Thinking that I can't let him figure us out too much, I told him, "Sometimes" but I think he knows.
Peace
These wonderfully malleable words are of course the type of words most often employed by harried parents unwillingly to commit to a definitive answer to a child's plea for permission to do something. To commit in the affirmative is an unbreakable covenant to the child and will invariably result in years of therapy to reverse the harm done by promise-breaking parents. To commit in the negative will result in a "scene" of Old Testament proportions. To equivocate creates a temporary reprieve during which the parent hopes that the advance invasion force of aliens from Chocolatacon7 will arrive, distracting the child and causing him to forget the original request/question, or that an affirmative answer will somehow become possible, perhaps revealed by an image of the Virgin Mary appearing in the plate of leftover surprise in the back of the refrigerator, miraculously uncovered while searching for something to feed the kids.
I think my son is starting to get the nuances of parent-speak. The other day he came up to me and asked, "Is 'we'll see' another way of saying 'no'?"
Thinking that I can't let him figure us out too much, I told him, "Sometimes" but I think he knows.
Peace
05 September 2006
Sign # 1 of Being Too Tired for Effective Teaching: UPDATED
Trying to say "Lived in the splendor of Pharoah's palace" and instead say, "Lived in the splendor of Paroah's Phalace" in front of a class of seniors.
Peace
Peace
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