Thanksgiving Hunt...

We had several successful hunt over the Thanksgiving break and I have not had a chance to share any pics with you. Case has been getting interested in guns and such so we decided to teach him about guns through hunting. I am a believer in the primary purpose for shotguns should be hunting - so we spent the week before Thanksgiving "stalking turkeys" around the house. We let Case know that he would have to be very quiet if he wanted a chance to see the turkeys upclose, he did an amazing job (he fell asleep). The turkeys came in down in Coleman, I woke Case up, and well...see the picture.

Finding their balance | Competitive Edge | Star-Telegram.com

Here is a link to the Star-Telegram article that ran recently about programs like ours.

Finding their balance | Competitive Edge | Star-Telegram.com

my proposal ppt

I figured I would put it on my blog just in case I had some sort of epic technology failure during classtime.

Surveyproposal

View more presentations from Joey Richards.

my sense of humor...

I probably shouldn't tell you, but this is one of my favorite movies - and if you don't know what it is by looking at the pic I made - then you are so not cool...

funny quote...

I read this on a t-shirt today...

team & individual samples

Dr. Miranda mentioned that I am a photographer...my wife and I have a business that we use as a creative outlet. Here is a sample of a team we took this summer.

I am attempting to try out some new technology here, so scroll to the bottom of the page and pause my music playlist for a minute and click the play button on the player below. If you like it, you can check it out at http://www.audiopal.com

Stop!

Stop!
Originally uploaded by Martin Cathrae

Here's a neat (but weird) example of "tagging" digital files on the internet. This photo was on flickr and the person that shot it added the tag "Joey Richards" to the metadata when he uploaded the file.

Ed.D-Induced Hysteria

Tough questions for analysis tomorrow. They are just so, I don’t know the word. You know how if you take a little bit of mercury and you touch it with an implement of some sort that it bends or reacts to the force you put on it – and sometimes it just splits into two smaller bits of mercury? That’s how I feel about these two questions – I am chasing them around and they just bend – impervious to my prodding, or they split into smaller bit that are just as frustrating as the original whole. We will call this Ed.D-induced hysteria. I take back my initial thought on wanting the value question – I almost feel like I would rather go after the knowledge question at this point. Oh geez, I don’t know. Amazing, I’m not taking any drugs, I’m not sick, and I am still typing! See you tomorrow. I’m losing it, six weeks into a 4 year program...

Some of my shots from the u2 concert Monday night. Very entertaining, very Christian-buddhist. The technology used here is a web 2.0 app called animoto. It is free, as a matter of fact, educators can apply for a free full-access account and create full-length videos - accounts are usually around $250 a year!

this is bad...

Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope you have a hard time reading Noddings. This chapter over logic and critical thinking has my little Merkel-reared head in one of those brain cramps that I am having a tough time trying to shake off. I've read some of the statements in that chapter 20 times and have no more a clue on the 20th time than I did on the first! If I think about it too much I get a little bit depressed, and I start thinking, "maybe I should not be in this program if I am incapable of understanding what I am reading." I have to try and comfort myself by justifying my inadequacy by hoping that others in the program don't get it either. Misery loves company, or company loves misery...therefor I am a fish. What!?

Check this out...

You may want to go to the bottom of the page and pause the music playlist before you view this video...just a tip.

By the way, you can comment on these posts by clicking the little number to the top and left of each post - almost all of them are currently a "0" - they change as people comment.

"I want to be a part of it..."

Here is one pic from our trip to The City. I will put an album up later...when I have time - don't hold your breath!

notes from 10/1

These notes are courtesy K. Fairbanks from last night's class...

October 1, 2009
Hansen
Why would Du Bois be included with the educational philosophy?
His big vision was educational freedom for the Negro race. He lived in a time that slavery was gone, but AA was not making the progress he thought they should. He loved book. He was a ‘book learning ‘guy. He really felt there was ‘book learning’ that needed to happen.
He is different than Booker T. Washington because BTW wanted skills and trade for the AA and Du Bois wanted the population wanted the population to rise up via education. Education is something no one can take away from you because it is something you earn.
• What did Du Bois mean by “the sharing of gifts”? DuBois’ sharing was music. It was a capturing of freedom that had not been used before.
• What is meant by The Veil, a metaphor used by Du Bois? Once you have been oppressed, it is difficult to see past. The race could not do anything themselves but they were free. DuB thought a liberal arts education was the way to break the ‘veil’. It is a paradigm with the whites. There are cultures that cause us to think a certain way. (wedding veil, literacy rate, ignorance, something you can see through?, it is relative to your own reality, ie. The haves vs. have nots)
• Does education have elements of danger, revolution, dissatisfaction, discontents? Why or why not?
o Danger-Revolt: It gives individuals the power to question.
o Discontent: One who is educated can say “this is unfair”…
o Danger: educated people from the ‘wrong side of town’ can rise up and revolt
o The more educated people are, the more tolerant people are (other side of the view)
o Dissatisfaction: One you have a job, you feel like you need more education to move ahead.

• What do you think of liberal arts education for all? Of multicultural education for all?
o Contribute to a more well-rounded person?

Noddings Chapter on Continental Philosophies to Ed Philosophy
You just might be an Existentialist if you…
• Believe in the freedom of human beings
• Are conscious and aware of our human condition
• See God as a partner in dialogue (Kierkegaard, Buber, Tillich)
• Have optimistic toughness (Sartre) (humanness is so brutal) , and can find meaning in life’s harshness (Dostoevsky)
• Accept responsibility for the choices we make
• Believe in individualism and relationship
You Might be a Modified Phenomenologist if,
• You try to identify all the feature of a subject that do not vary as you describe the subject through modification or variations
• You uncover and describe characteristics of a subject that are “invariant”
• Example: to care
• Example: to learn
• Example: to work
You might be a Critical Theorist, if you think…
• Philosophy must be engaged with the great struggles and social movement of our times, should be aimed at action
• Philosophy should produce questions, analysis, and problems posing and solutions (Freire, Grioux), produce a liberal education for all (who wanted this?)
• A debate regarding curriculum and privileged knowledge may be one of the most important debates that we have.
You might practice Hermeneutics, if you
• See meaning in both historical texts and life stories
• Suggest new meanings, encourage further conversation
• Have the “hermeneutic spirit” – to urge a diversity of views, recognize pluralism, use both analysis and interpretation, work towards understanding the parts and the whole
You might be a Postmodernist, if you…
• Accept local truth (maybe there is no absolute truth), basic truths, the sociology of knowledge, accept subjectivity
• Urge us to leave labels behind, recognize multiple ways in which people are shaped by their histories, cultures, experiences, interactions
• Ask to not be called a post modernist
• BTW, are we in charge of ourselves or not?

Andy Hargreaves: Dean Fink
Sustainable Leadership
• Argue for or against distributed leadership
• Argue for or against delegated leadership
• In your learning circles, is there hidden, overt, or any combination of distributed leadership activity?
• Apply figure 3.2 using your experiences.

rubric aide

I had to type out the outline for our analysis of the quantitative research that we are to be working on right now so I thought I would put it on the blog so you guys could just copy and paste it - I appreciate any time saving techniques so use it up.

Quantitative Article Review
I. Identify the research problem & the setting (introduction/background & significance of study)
A. The hypothesis/hypotheses
B. The delimitations of study
C. The definitions of terms
D. The importance of the study
II. The review of the related literature (mind map from p.129)
III. Research Design
A. Procedures used to collect data
B. Method of data analysis
C. Role of researcher
D. Timeline
IV. Major conclusions of study
A. Statistical significance
B. Recommendations for future research

case

You guys don't know Case yet. He is our little boy. He is such a joy and is so much fun to be around. Allison is a wonderful mother and has the distinct pleasure and extreme challenge of staying home with him. She is a teacher at heart (although recently retired from the teaching profession) and does an absolutely outstanding job in training Case in some of the foundational elements that are critical for young people to begin school "ready." Just thought I would share a little bit at a time with both of you that read the information on my blog (thank you, by the way.)

test today

Still have not gotten settled back down after our "test" tonight. I think I did about as good as can be expected at this point. It was really tough to study for and is one of those assignments that can leave you feeling really inadequate as a writer and human being. But, it's over! That's about all the assessment I have for you, I am glad to be done with it. Of course, we've got a few more of those to write for this class but they are to be done outside of class - not that it will be easier, but at least you have sources to use and a little more than an hour to do it! Anyway, I am generally encouraged - maybe I won't be when the grade comes back...

library day

I took a personal day today...and spent it in the TWU library. I think that makes it official, I am a nerd. If my being in the library does not seal my fate as a nerd, maybe the fact that I really like the following quote I found today...

“To prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities; that his eye and ear and hand may be tools ready to command, that his judgment may be capable of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently.” From Dewey on Education: My Pedagogic Creed

Mr. Dewey was not a Christian, but I think he understood God's truth in the matters of training a child. Wish us luck, my cohort has our first "test" tonight. Dr. Miranda gave us 5 possible questions and instructed us to be ready to write 5-7 pages in our 2 hour period tonight. I am calling it a sign of things to come...I guess if it were easy we'd all be doctors.

first analysis paper notes

Below are the notes from a study group session that included Debbie, Marilyn, Kristi, Shane, and myself over at SCS today. Use them, print them, throw them away, whatever. What do you guys think she is going to ask? I am so nervous about this...I don't know why, just am. I can write, I just feel like I need to write all 5 responses ahead of time to feel prepared - and then what would I do? Memorize them? Anyway, here are the notes...I'll stop rambling.

Q#1
Noddings: Philosophy of Education
Philosophy of Education Before the 20th Century
Educational Philosophers are interested in analyzing and clarifying concepts and questions central to education. They answer questions like “how should children be educated?”

Socrates and Plato
• Socrates taught by engaging others in dialogue i.e. “Socratic method”
• The teacher asks a question and responds with another question to entice a deeper thinking.
• At times the teacher dominates the dialogue and leads the listener.
• Plato’s educational philosophy provided for special educations for different members of the state.
• Trade/skill educations with the best being reserved for the rulers. It was a ‘functionalist’ model.
• Arguments to the philosophy are given on pages 9 – 10.
Aristotle
• Believe that people should be educated or trained for their appropriate place in life.
• All people possess excellences or virtues but the virtues differ. i.e. those of a rule differ from those of a slave.
• He was concerned with a community’s needs vs. individual rights.
• He established a model of moral education.
• Did not believe that people could even with heroic effort guarantee their own consistently moral behavior.
• Circumstances affect us.
Rousseau
• “Philosopher of Freedom”
• He seemed to extol the natural state of human beings over the civilized one.
• Human beings cannot achieve their highest potential as wild animals.
• His philosophy was that people should be educated so as to preserve their natural goodness and also induce a positive sense of civic responsibility.
• His beliefs lead to the movement called “open education” – doing, feeling and observing.
• A.S. Neill echoed Rousseau’s belief that all children are naturally good and pressures of society make them grow up too fast and ruin them.
• Note: he believed the entire education of women must be relative to men.
Pestalozzi, Herbart and Forebel
Pestalozzi:
• Children should be educated through the senses.
• “Object lesson” was his approach.
• He was concerned with moral education and believed that all lesson should have amoral point as well as a cognitive one.
• He did great work with poor children showing they could learn as much as wealthier ones.
• Albert Einstein was taught at a swiss Pestalozzi like school.
Herbart:
• “ Apperceptive mass” It was a collection of previous experiences that could e called into play to understand new percept or idea.
• Early advocate of scientific methods in education and believed that minds should match the way a mind works.
• 4 step lesson that his followers made into 5
o Preparation
o Presentation
o Comparison
o Abstraction
o Generalization
o Application
Froebel
• Father of kindergarten : children like flowers “unfold and grow”
• Used mystical symbols to create meaning and give shapes importance
You can then start to write your analysis essay by having the introduction paragraph as a form of a summary. Introduce your general thesis statement. This way, your readers will have an idea what you think about the article. You may argue for or against the contents of the paper and that your analysis should contain the full support of whatever you feel or think about the reference material.
Write your discussion paragraph in a persuasive essay format. You are trying to convince your readers that you have analyzed the paper in the best possible way. Of course you cannot expect all your readers to accept what you think but providing persuasive items will do.
Generalize a conclusion. After you have presented all the details about your analysis of the essay, you can then write a conclusion that will reflect your general idea of the paper reference. Make sure that you reiterate the contents of your thesis statement and finalize your arguments for analysis. Many school essays should have a sense of conviction in the conclusion part.

Analysis Paper I – Question #2
Dewey’s approach to education, connect to sustainability.
Be able to articulate, demonstrate thinking about the various parts of a topic – define the topic.
Method: I took the ideas that are central to Dewey and partnered it with an idea that was presented in the Sustainable Leadership book. My thought is that it would be simple enough to take each Dewey idea and analyze it in comparison with the sustainable idea. Honestly, it’s a bit of a tough comparison – but could be done without stretching any of the basic ideas.
Dewey Idea: Pay attention to the environment (curriculum, teaching methods, and physical environment.
Sustainable Idea – pay attention to the environment – leave the world better than you found it, small footprint
Dewey Idea: Teacher must have command of the subject matter and be a student of students. Teacher has a strong sense of purpose.
Sustainable Idea – one of the business ideas of sustainability is to have a strong sense of purpose, the thought that we all know where we are going and know why we are going there.
Dewey Idea: Education is transformative and the goal of education is more education.
Sustainable Idea – constant growth in size is not sustainable, constant attention to our purpose is sustainable
Dewey Idea: Democracy is key in his philosophy – Unlimited and expanded communication, shared experience, and commitment to mutual engagement. It invites the individual to grow constantly.
Sustainable Idea – the idea of sharing what works with other people/openness to new ideas moves all of us forward
Dewey Idea: Education is not to replicate the previous generation, but to build on the last – moving forward.
Sustainable Idea – same approach, generally an idea about the environment, if we continue to deplete resources at a high rate, we will leave the next generation to deal with a more significant issue.

Expanded thoughts and study help:
Dewey’s approach to education defined:
The environment (curriculum and physical environment) plays a large role in education. The teacher must have command of the subject matter and be a student of students. The teacher must relate the idea of “continuous trajectory,” or the idea that in all learning the previous idea is connected to the current one and the next idea will be directly connected to the current one as well. So it is with all education – the purpose of education is more education. Teachers must act on that idea in their pedagogy and connect all knowledge. Education involves reconstructing prior knowledge, understanding, and insight as the student takes in new questions, problems, perspectives, and realms of activity. The process is transformative. The idea of democracy in teaching is that it is marked by sincere communication, shared experience, and a commitment to mutual engagement. A democratic society is not interested in replication of the current society, but rather equipping the young to further the efforts of the current society to build a improved society.
Ideas of sustainability in which I can see correlation:
• A strong, shared sense of purpose.
• Persistently and publicly focus their own attention and that of others on learning and teaching.
• Focus on learning first, then achievement, then testing.
• Deep and broad learning, slow knowing – means learning for meaning, learning for understanding, learning for life.
• When someone else sets targets for you rather than with you, it communicates a lack of trust in you willingness to commit or to comply with them.

Q#3
Dewey and Education Outline
I. Background/Philosophical Principles of Education must first be understood
GEES (geeze)
Growth – learning is not reproductive, rather transformative. In order to grow, one must engage the world more than before by building on past experiences.
Environment – physical and emotional safety are key to education. One’s environment controls him or her.
Empathy – Educators are called upon to be students of students. In order to accomplish this, empathy must be exercised allowing one to see the needs of others.
Social Interaction and Communication – is imperative and the most significant vehicle for educating oneself or others.
II. Therefore, the system that governs individuals is vital to education:
Premise of democracy is to continually expand and build rather than to merely reproduce.
True democracy (as with education) builds empathy as all voices are heard and given opportunity to express opinions, wants and needs.
For a democracy to exist, it must provide an environment free from fear of expression, thoughts and ideas. Replicates a classroom by providing safety and encouraging growth.
Social Communication is open across all subgroups. Experiences and interaction by all allows for growth of the whole and individual.
III. Further ideas include:
Democracy must be taught and practiced (experienced)
Education provides minisocieties where democracy can be seen
Both education and democracy are processes (not states)
Democracy allows for mutually beneficial system of growth
Values have been established by society (not higher order) so education is critical in preservation of societal values.

Question 4 Major intellectual streams (explain these 4)
• Marxism—the strongest of the 4—antagonism between the working and owner classes
• Neocolonial critique
• Existentialism--freedom
• Christianity
20th Century philosopher (1921-1997)
Dialogue and concern for the oppressed
Freire was born September 19, 1921 to middle class family in Brazil. Freire became familiar with poverty and hunger during the 1929 Great Depression as his father lost his job and died when he was young and his family economic status dropped. These experiences, though brief, would shape his concerns for the poor and would help to construct his particular educational viewpoint. Eventually his family's misfortunes turned about, and their prospects improved.
Working primarily among the illiterate poor in Brazil, Freire began to embrace a non-orthodox form of what could be considered liberation theology (a school of theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church. It emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism. Its theologians consider sin the root source of poverty, the sin in question being exploitative capitalism and class war by the rich against the poor.)
In Brazil at that time, literacy was a requirement for voting in presidential elections.
Freire worked with large numbers of rural peasants learning to read and write in just 45 days—using phonics and illustrations method.
Focused on words that were important to his students such as slum, work, and wealth. He began with words and concepts that had social and political meaning for students—causing students to be not only more attentive but also more likely to be active and critical thinkers.
Believed that education is always political.
Conscientization— developing consciousness -- teachers enable students to join them as active learners who name and critique their own economic and political circumstances (method of critical thinking)—wants individuals’ total transformation (p 39)
With Brazilian coup, Freire was imprisoned for his work and then exiled for 15 years. Seeing other areas of the world, Freire came to see Brazilians’ neocolonial situation as typical for Third World people worldwide. –meaning people who have minimal opportunities to escape financial and cultural poverty. Totally ideological and political, NOT geographic. Domination of the ruling class.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed—Freire’s most famous work expressing his fundamental teaching approach
Christian idea of death and rebirth is central to Freire’s thinking. “Wants peasants to die to their passivity and be reborn as free, creative people. In parallel ways, he wants members of the oppressor class to die to their “having” ways and be reborn in solidarity with the poor.” (Hansen 2007) “The Easter experience” (p 39) reflects his strong Christian orientation—individuals can die and be reborn with new commitments. Type of “class suicide”--Christ’s deep concern for the poor and those at bottom of social ladder.
Christian roots: Authentic dialogue is necessary I few are to establish a more just, equitable and democratic society. That dialogue depends on virtues of faith, hope and love, requiring that we trust and put our hopes in others. Love is key—loving others without expectations on what sorts of people they should be –this is key for teachers as well as revolutionary leaders.
Thus only teachers who believe they can learn from their students and who trust their students, will give them the freedom to choose what they want to become—this is an effective educator.
Christian dialogue emphasizing faith, hope and love blends with Freire’s existential influences.
I-Thou and I-It relationships—
I-Thou: we treat others as free beings
I-It: use others for our own benefit, treating them as objects.
Best known for his attack on “banking” concept of education—in which student is viewed as an empty account to be filled by the teacher.
Teacher-student and student-teacher—a teacher who learns and a learner who teaches as the basic roles of classroom participation and interaction between the two. Democracy as an educational tool.

Q#5
What is teaching?
One who teaches educates others. To understand what teaching is, it is necessary to understand what it takes to be educated. What it takes depends on your philosophy of what education should be.
To Socrates, teaching was engaging in dialogue. Each person’s argument is deconstructed logically, especially by asking leading questions. Teaching for the ancient Greeks empowered the student to recognize logical fallacies and leading questions and to “know himself.” Teaching involved leading students into discussions of sensitive and “deep” questions. For Plato, teaching involved training the child for the future he was best suited for – whether worker, artisan, soldier, or ruler. Teaching was “functionalist” as children were prepared to be competent adults to meet the needs of the state or public life. Teaching wasn’t concerned with the reproductive life (Noddings Ch. 1)
Teaching is providing opportunities for students to pose and solve problems, providing opportunities for inquiry and discovery, and providing opportunities for students to engage in “real life” through physical labors (Tao). Tao believed that teaching, learning and doing are a union.
Teaching is instilling social hope, a sense of optimism that students live in a world in which justice, equality and collaboration can increase. Teaching is engaged in politics because teachers are preparing students to be tools of the ruling class. At the very least, by being politically neutral, teaching perpetuates the social status quo.
Makiguchi believed that teaching is guiding the learning process by awakening and encouraging individual interests that connect students with broader human concerns. He was not an advocate of self actualization, but rather that teaching should catalyze meaning, or take students from unconscious living, from valueless to valuing, and from thoughtless to reasoning. He said teachers themselves must be value-creating individuals who were contributing to society (Hansen).
Maria Montessori believed that teaching is linking moral, social and intellectual development. She believed that teaching creates a deep appreciation of the order of the universe and one’s place in it, that effective curriculum exemplifies natural order and enables children to know the logic that holds the universe together.
Teaching is an occupation, a way of making a living (Noddings Ch. 3). Dewey said that teaching could be compared to selling commodities – no one can sell unless someone buys. The relationship between teaching and learning are the same as that between selling and buying.
Israel Scheffler proposed what became known as the “standard thesis” of teaching. Teaching is happening if:
1. The teacher intends to bring about learning (intentionality criterion)
2. Strategies chosen by the teacher must not be unreasonably thought to be likely to achieve the learning aimed at ( Syntax, anyone?) Strategies must align with learning goals (reasonableness criterion)
3. What the teacher does must fall under certain restrictions of manner (criterion of manner or rationality criterion)
Intentionality – teaching also includes activities that increase awareness rather than produce knowledge
Reasonableness – modifying as needed throughout the lesson and according to student response
Dewey believed that teaching provides a stimulus for learning but that it is up to students to construct their own learning.
Manner – the student is not systematically prevented from asking, how, why. Manner separates teaching from indoctrination. Manner or rationality may look different in different cultures
Thomas Green noted that teaching is concerned with knowledge and beliefs on the one hand and behavior and conduct on the other. He believed in a region of intelligence; learning interactions that fall outside of it are not included in teaching activities. See Green’s teaching continuum on page 56 of Noddings.
Macmillan and Garrison – teaching is motivating students by addressing their intellectual predicaments and helping to extricate students from them by answering the questions that students should ask.

Reading Evidence for September 10th, 2009

Reading Evidence for September 10th, 2009

Noddings – Philosophy of Education

Chapter 2 – The Philosophical and Educational Thought of John Dewey

Wow. That is some tough reading. John Dewey’s thoughts were very hard for me to follow, I wondered several times through that chapter if I am simple-minded or if I am just not cutout to be a philosopher. I tried my best to understand what the author was describing and found myself googling several words just to have a fighting chance, here’s what I got out if it:
Dewey believed in the method of science and saw that it could be used in every realm of life. He practiced the dialectical method (which I had to google) - Planning and forecasting method in which two or more groups discuss the issues (first separately and then together) to analyze and synthesize various viewpoints into a comprehensive and coherent framework. He often used this approach to look at ideas and arrive at a new idea – not a conclusion, like something can be final, but a current way of thinking about something. He believed that education is the most important branch of philosophy because all other philosophies depend on education. He said education was synonymous with growth, and that the purpose of education is continual growth, infinitely – the final purpose or aim of education is more education. Confusing? He insisted that teachers have aims for their chosen activities, but that students are involved in setting the objectives for their own learning. He regularly observed children and concluded that children mimic because they want to accomplish something, they do not imitate without purpose, but the imitate to obtain a desirable effect. He said there is a fourfold interest for children – making things (construction), finding out (inquiry), expressing themselves artistically, and communicating. He developed a model of thinking that is explained like this: Thinking begins with a nagging sense that something just is not right, hypothesis of what could be wrong is explored, a plan is devised, the hypothesis is tested, the plan is put into motion, you see the results and apply what you learned to new situations and make an attempt at generalizations. He believed that experience has to built on or connected to prior experience. Student’s subject matter has to be prepared in light of their previous experience and what you want them to learn in the future. There must be engagement – the student has got to interact with the subject – if there is not, the students will settle for giving answers and getting approval from the teacher rather than learning for the construction of personal meaning. Education is the construction of personal meaning. Ideas central to Dewey’s theory of knowledge: 1). Humans at every stage of maturity use material from prior experience to guide present inquiry. 2). Genuine problem solving involves undergoing the consequences of one’s hypothesis making and testing. If a teacher disrupts the process you rob the student of learning. Another of his central ideas had to do with true democracy. We don’t begin with common values, we construct them. We give our children experiences that help translate our values to them in way that make them significant to their own lives. He said democracy is a process and its rules must be under continual scrutiny, revision, and creation or it will fail to continue to be truly democratic. He said it works kind of like a gang - whenever groups withdraw from connection, isolate themselves, and become exclusive, democracy is endangered. You become wary and distrustful of others. Schools are minisocieties in which children learn through practice how to promote their own growth, that of others, and that of the whole society. He saw curriculum as something that is not compartmentalized or unconnected but more as something that is all interrelated and connected to everything else – all working together as a huge body of knowledge. I am sure I missed several items, but this is what my mind deemed important as I read through the information.


Hansen, David – Ethical visions of education: Philosophies in practice.

Chapter 1 – John Dewey
This chapter is a “focus on his (Dewey’s) convictions about what it means to lead a meaningful life.” He did not tell people that what they were doing in schools was failing, he told them to begin to move from what they were doing into something new. An education is something impossible to “give” or “get.” A person could receive a high school or college degree and still not have an education. He stressed the physical setting and the arrangement of the classroom, everything had to be very deliberate. The mind and the body move about in the environment and are influenced by it, even if they do not know it. The educator must have a command of the subject matter, become a permanent student of students – be attuned. He did not believe that education should serve anything or anybody. Education is definitely not something meant to serve the state. The educational process he touted included the spiral of growth, whose end is never terminal or fixed, but always continuous in transformation. He thought that too often social circumstances smothered the prospects for human growth and forced people into routines, and ruts with lowered the expectations of a meaningful life. He defended a true democratic society (which he did not think existed) and characterized it by a constant, open-ended, and unconstrained expansion of communication. He did not see value in education that just brings the young up to speed with convention and custom, only to perpetuate the cycle of non-growth. He believed in shaping the experiences of the young so that instead of reproducing current habits, forming better habits, and thus the future adult society be an improvement on their own. He was very well travelled within the US speaking and writing prolifically. He started the Laboratory School in Chicago and tested his educational philosophy in this school.


Hargreaves & Fink – Sustainable Leadership

Chapter 1 – Depth

A strong and shared sense of purpose holds us together and allows us to advance or persist in tough situations. Product integrity is the core of sustainability. Learning is at the center of everything that educational leaders do. They persistently and publically focus their own attention on learning and teaching. The approach of standards-based strategy is to focus on testing and hope that it leads to learning. It is sustainable to focus on learning first, then achievement, then testing, so we never lose sight of the learning that truly matters. Sometimes teachers are so excited about their teaching that they don’t pay attention to the student’s learning of that they are teaching them. Dewey – grasp the meaning of a thing or situation…in its relationship to other things; to note how it operates and functions, what consequences follow from it; what causes it, what uses it can be put to. Learning extends beyond the coverage of content, the basics, and the desire to make money. When someone else sets targets for you it communicates a lack of trust that you are going to do it yourself. The “slow school” is one which attends to philosophy, to tradition, to community, and to moral choices – you have time not to just memorize, but to understand. Deep often means slow. “Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.” Mae West. Short term targets, and ayp – not just nonsense, but nonsense on stilts.

study aide - Dewey in a Box

In our study session last night we talked about the key elements of John Dewey's philosophical ideas. In an attempt to put all of the information into a certain category I thought about "putting it all in a box." I think it may help me construct meaning and keep the flood of information clean in my head. What all did I leave out that is essential to Dewey?

Why Education?

I think my best answer comes from where I grew up. Merkel, Texas is a farming community about 25 miles west of Abilene on I-20. My dad owned the town newspaper and was involved in city government and served as the mayor and city manager at different points of his career. Merkel was largely an agrarian community that farmed cotton as their major cash crop. It was and is a fairly poor town. During my upbringing I noticed that the people I respected and admired most, and really the most respected people in my community were the coaches and teachers at the school. Outside of the town doctor, Dr. Tran, and the local pharmacist, Mr. Woodall the school officials were the wealthiest people in our area. Their life was very appealing. They lived in the nicest houses in town. They took vacations, sometimes even out of the state! It seemed like their world was the most desirable of any that were in grasp of my limited scope. As a kid, I was picking from a handful of occupations that all looked like there was not just a whole lot of separation from the haves and the have-nots. Many of my friends chose to be firemen, one or two became farmers, a couple of policemen, and several have become teachers or coaches. We did not have access to occupations that I now consider “professional” occupations. I picked teaching because it was available and seemed obtainable. I had a few teachers that made their discipline interesting and even enjoyable and I thought that they would be good models for my teaching. Through many painful hours of teaching world history and geography I decided it was pretty tough to make these subjects enjoyable – even though I enjoyed them, the looks on the faces of my students did not reflect my own countenance. So I continued in my education and determined that teaching computer application classes would be more fun to teach and I noticed that the students were beginning to spend so much time on their computers and were speaking almost exclusively about their lives “online”. I thought that I could engage kids in the world of computing by teaching them a skill that I had acquired in my time at my dad’s newspaper and our subsequent family photography business in teaching them Adobe Photoshop. I learned so much about teaching once I found students that were interested in the topic I was teaching. I had a natural hook with the fact that they were working on computers and also had knowledge above what they knew themselves. I had something they wanted, and they wanted me to give it to them. They were allowed to guide the instruction, they helped make decisions on what we would study next. It was practical, it was fun, it had meaning to them and they loved it! I really first explored administration at the prodding of my building principal, Judy Senter at Cleburne High School. She was trying to cultivate young, excited teachers to continue their education and try mid-management. I took the idea very seriously and began to think back on my childhood experience and thought that I could make a lot of money if I were an administrator! Again, the two nicest houses in my town were owned by the superintendent and the high school principal. So I received a master’s in education from Tarleton State University. I began interning as an assistant principal at Cleburne High School in 2005 and spent a lot of time in the office helping kids change behavior and dealing with TAKS testing. In the Spring of 2006 I helped coordinate the TAKS testing for Cleburne High School and began to wonder if this test was what the spirit of education was all about. The fact that the state was not going to allow students to be promoted because of there inability to test well did not seem right, and from what I was seeing, the blame could be placed on so many other sources that the actual students that were being punished for not performing well. It did not seem right. I was presented with another option. Southwest Christian School was looking for an assistant high school principal and I was looking for a change. I was offered a job by Cleburne High School as an assistant principal and it was just not appealing to me. The position at SCS was under Dr. Penny Armstrong, who I felt had amazing insight on the future of education and how it should be delivered. She emphasized the impact of teachers and the role of kids and parents on education. She made learning the central theme of a school, and it was the first time I had seen such an idea. It seemed so inspiring and new. I found myself saying yes to a paycut and the elimination of a state pension. In the process, I was also saying yes to a new life as someone who was interested in learning about education and how it can be done. I am in the middle of this experiment and have really fallen in love with what I see being done in my small sphere of influence and see a future as a leader in private, Christian education.

7301.40 - Reading Evidence for September 3rd

Reading Evidence for September 3rd, 2009
________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Noddings – Philosophy of Education

Chapter 1: Philosophy of Education Before the Twentieth Century.
The chapter begins with the question of, “why should we philosophize on education.” Evidence is presented that there is great importance in doing this, in that we gain valuable experience in uncovering what educators and thinkers of the past tried. We get to see what they thought, what worked, what didn’t, as well as what ideas came next. We can see cycles in their approaches and make decisions for ourselves about what we hold to be true. We were shown general philosophies of several educational philosophers from world history. A brief description of which we were introduced to:

Socrates & Plato (469-399 B.C.)- description of the Socratic method – the role of the teacher is to pose a question and have the pupil respond, through guiding of response, and posing further question, leading students to perhaps a different response than they began. It seemed that Socrates did not really care what the response the pupil came up with; he thought there was value in simple examination. He believed it was paramount to “know thyself.” His method did bring self-examination. I did not know how he died, and did a little research in that, pretty interesting. Plato believed that everyone had purpose to serve the state and that education should be designed to guide each person to best serve said state. Plato believed that all children should be given equal opportunities to learn and that through the process, students would be sorted into there appropriate groups to serve the state (known as a functionalist idea). He also said that women basically become sexless and should be given equal access and training, but also held that the male life was superior. The author had a solid statement for looking at philosophies, to paraphrase, we look at these ideas so we will know junk ideas when we see or hear them and can make recommendations on sound ideas.

Aristotle was not after an ideal state, but he did believe that people should be educated for their role in life. I gathered that Aristotle’s idea was to zoom in a little further into the idea of community rather than state. In fact, people who like his ideas are called communitarians, he basically thought the good of the community should override the good of the individual – I thought of JFK and “ask not what your country (or community) can do for you…” He also believed the community should not try to train children in moral issues, he thought that kids are basically good and will respond on their own out of good character. He thought the community should design activities that would lead kids to their own development of good character. His basic ideas led some in recent times to prescribe character education into schools and curriculum. I thought the Character Development League information was neat, and had never heard of it. There was a book:
Aristotle also recognized that we could not rely totally on our morals when circumstances of life affect us.

Rousseau (1712-1778) – known as the philosopher of freedom. Held that man was born free and could continue to exist that way in nature – but having to live with other people corrupts us. Known as “social contract theory” and followers are called contractarians. I see him as kind of a “hippie before his time” he believed in the importance of the individual that was self-reliant, compassionate, did their civic duty, loved nature, and strived to connect with God. Believed children are good and it is the job of the teacher to not spoil that while facilitating growth experiences, interestingly he thought this could happen more easily in a rural setting. The big hang up with this guy is that he basically taught that the role of the female was to make sure that men were happy. In the 1960’s the “open education” movement had undertones of Rousseau’s ideas. Rousseau believed that timing was essential to educating children and that the teacher was to carefully observe them and recognize when to time appropriate opportunities to learn certain things. Many followers expanded on this idea: Piaget, Vygotsky, Montessori. Summary: Kids start out good, if we educate properly (let him guide his own learning, give him the right opportunities to learn for himself, and anticipate his needs) he will grow into an adult that is free, loving, and responsible – that is, the boys.

Important quote from the author. “As philosophers, we are interested in how educators and philosophers justify their ideas, and we are keen to locate flaws in their arguments.”

Pestalozzi – educate children through the senses, example was to bring a table lamp into a class, explore all of the questions of how it works – electricity, light bulbs, wiring, shades, and fabrics. Believed all lessons have a moral point as well as a cognitive one. Also worked a lot with poor children – Einstein began to bloom in a Swiss Pestalozzi-like school

Herbart – “apperceptive mass” - The already existing knowledge base in a similar or related area with which the new perceptual material is articulated. Believed teachers must prepare students for new material by bringing to their attention the material that they already know that is related. Helps students’ sort information in their brains. He suggested a four-step approach to building a lesson that his followers turned into five steps: preparation, presentation, comparison and abstraction, generalization, and application. Here is the modern five-step approach (copied from the internet http://www.sonoma.edu/users/p/pollack/edu437/coursemat.html#5%20step%20sequence)

Five - Step Instructional Sequence

Step 1 -- Anticipatory Set
Focus the learner's attention
Motivate the learner
Relate to previous learning
Establish and explain the purpose and relevance

Step 2 -- Instruction
Present information in simplest and clearest form; explain content and/or processes
Model the process. Try to include several modalities --auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc.
Check for understanding

Step 3 -- Guided Practice
Allow opportunities for guided practice (practicing with teacher scaffolding)
Teacher monitors students' progress and remediates and adjusts as needed
Check for understanding throughout

Step 4 -- Summary and Assessment
Assess to determine if student performs the learning objective
Check for understanding; ask students to restate directions and procedures.

Step 5 -- Independent Practice
Students apply new knowledge

This approach begs the question from philosophers, “Is everything learned best from direct instruction?” Dewey thought that instruction could not be so straightforward for all students and all subjects.

Froebel – father of kindergarten, kids are like flowers - they unfold and grow. He wanted kids to observe shapes and hold objects (manipulatives) – he applied a bunch of meaning to the shapes for mystical meaning.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Hansen – Ethical Visions of Education: Philosophies in Practice

Introduction
The author states that the purpose of the book is to, “challenge and encourage all who care about education to cultivate mind and imagination in the world.” The method of delivery for the proposed action is to examine the lives and philosophies of 10 educational thinkers from history. There is an examination in the introduction of the difference of educational institutions that dispense facts and schools that cultivate ideas. Facts are stable, inert, and passive. Ideas are active, transforming, and constantly in motion – once they start to become fact, they die and lose the level of meaning that they had when they were still dynamic ideas. Dewey is one of the philosophers that receive attention in the book. He stresses how burdensome and unfulfilling school becomes when it is dominated by facts and information. Ideas are what give young people fire to continue to learn. These people all had an educational philosophy – here is what one is comprised of:
1. A statement of values – what you esteem
2. A moral compass – guides decision making
3. An abiding engine of ideas – ability to respond intelligently to new situations
There is a brief overview of whom the chapters will cover and who they are written by. There is also a suggestion of how to read through the book and what to do with the information. The author would like the reader to come out with a sense that individuals can make a difference in the course of educational history as each of these figures did. The only way to become educated is by engaging what is new.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Hargreaves & Fink – Sustainable Leadership

Introduction
Change is easy. Lasting change is not. There is an extreme need for lasting change. There are examples all around us in nature and we should take those queues as an indicator that it is time to change our habits in a lasting way. The same is true in education, we try to change too fast and implement programs overnight and see over time that the change is not sustainable. The book mentions the book Built to Last and points to some indicators that have apparently worked for lasting businesses. Some points made: underlying purpose that stands the tests of time, move slowly, but continue to advance, do not depend on a single leader, bring up leaders from within, and learn from experimentation. The current trend in education of standardization will have long-lasting negative effects. Standardization has brought about the graduations crisis, has destroyed classroom creativity, restricted innovative schools, actually widened the learning gap, has encouraged test score raising strategies, undermined teacher confidence and competence, eroded the professional teaching community, and has accelerated the carousel of leadership. Seeing some movement toward sustainable change outside of the US. Providing general curriculum outlines and giving teachers a great deal of professional discretion. Working harder to attract and retain quality teachers. Putting a premium on leadership in visible ways. The authors definition of sustainable educational leadership:
Sustainable educational leadership and improvement preserves and develops deep learning for all that spreads and lasts, in ways that do no harm to and indeed create positive benefit for others around us, now and in the future.
The book is organized into these “Seven Principles of Sustainablility”
1. Depth – deep and broad learning, as opposed to superficially tested and narrowly defined achievement
2. Length – lasts over time, charismatic leaders die.
3. Breadth – does not depend on one leader, but spreads it out
4. Justice – does not raid the resources of surrounding schools at their expense, does no harm to and tries to find ways to share knowledge with others
5. Diversity – avoid standardization, alignment is an ugly word
6. Resourcefulness – does not drain its leadership, recognizes and rewards its leaders earlier rather than later in their careers
7. Conservation – learns from the best of the past to create an even better future

QOTD

"The only way to become educated is by engaging what is new." Since I am interested in the possibility of tackling a topic that is technology-related for my dissertation, this quote has significant meaning. I encourage teachers to get their hands-on the technology in order to eliminate the nagging fear that they will fail at its utilization or that they will somehow make the internet stop working in the entire universe while they are at the keyboard. When new technologies come along, how can you evaluate its usefulness in the classroom by reading about its function, rather than utilizing it? Engage what is new.

moment of clarity

We all get these moments of clarity, when something really makes sense but we are almost positive that it will not make the same kind of impactful sense that it is making at the moment - the following is a screenshot of something that makes alot of sense to me right this moment. So sorry to think that it will be gone soon...

7302 - Principles of Research

7302 Principles of Educational Research – Dr. Aileen Curtin

About the syllabus…
Dr. Curtin teaches another class on Wednesday nights, that is a good time to schedule makeup work.

Begin looking at areas of educational interest. Start trying to decide which way to go for dissertation.
Quantitative before mid-term/qualitative after.

Schedule in time during the week / 6-10 hours per week for outside of class for readings. You must schedule time for it if you want to succeed.

Research limitations – google
The Understanding Research book is the primary book we will use.
Syllabus time over.


Qualitative/words
Quantitative/numbers
Combination of both types of research is really best.

Ask yourself the question…I wonder if…collect data to answer the question…present the answer to the question.

Why read research? It will guide you in how you will do your own research. Don’t want to repeat what has already been done, it adds to your professional knowledge, it can inform your position on policy debates, inform your practice.

Reading research articles, she wants us to be better consumers of the research.

Process of Research:
Ch. 1. Identify the research problem. Why is it a problem?
Ch. 2. Review of lit
Ch. 2. What is my purpose, what am I going to do?
Ch. 3. Analyze the data and report the results.
Ch. 4. Interpret the research and what does it mean for future researchers?
Get it out there. Who does it help if no one reads it?

When reading research…title should be really clear, there is always an abstract (should be), intro, methods (they may state if it is qual. or quan.), lit review (what data is out there on the topic), results, conclusion. Skim it first, read lit review first, go back and read intro.

Beware – do not assume all articles represent study research. See pg 12 from Clark.
Qual. is also known as naturalist. You may see quasi-scientific research in education, but not scientific. Qual. is wordy, no preconceived hypothesis, collect data, understand participants, give voice to the participants. Very descriptive narratives, you interpret what they say as the researcher. Do not reach a conclusion – make recommendations for future research.

Outline in general the difference between qual. and quan. research. – Midterm question.

The journey begins...

Tonight was the first class meeting of 7301.40, better known as Intro to Doctoral Studies, Philosophy and Ethics. I am excited about the prospect of completing a doctorate, but at this point that is a long way off. I am think of keeping this blog as a place to publish my notes and thoughts as I roll through the process of obtaining my "terminal" degree. Could be cool as a finished product a few years down the road, and given the fact that web publishing at this point is just as easy as saving a word document - why not?

The few notes I have from this evening:

7301.40 – Intro to Doctoral Studies, Philosophy and Ethics - Dr. Twyla Miranda

Why am I here?
I think for the most part, the reason why I’m here is to earn my “terminal degree.” I have always believed so strongly in the value and power of education and always preach that value to students and faculty alike. I am really here to continue to practice what I preach. I am excited about the chance to continue to learn from other education professionals and also am excited about being a bona fide “expert” at something – not sure what at this point, but an expert none the less. The timing of why I am here has a lot to do with the fact that I have a 3 year-old at home and I would love to be using this degree while he is growing up rather than waiting for him to grow up to gain this degree.

Goals of the program:
Help you through the process, graduate in 4 years.

Guideposts
• Course by course, understanding and successful completion
• Study groups or partners
• Travel experiences, presentations, grants, conferences
• Small pieces of research interests that eventually lead to larger research project
• Have an organized way to study, keep notes & research


Class seating arrangement:

Sharon - Sefakor
Pam - Marie
Kristi - Marilyn

Steve – Charlene
Carrie – Michael
Chassity – Brandon

Debbie – Terralyn
April – Meredith
Andrew – Nancy

Joey - Shane
Mos – Rebecca
Eugene – Christina


No class on Thursday the 24th - Dr. Schmoker in town - WIll be with Nate in NYC - Go Yanks!

I LOVE WRITING! (Trying to convince myself.)

Easybib.com – site for converting a paper to APA

Our time in front of the class is your time to present some of your opinion.

Jot down ideas from your reading – questions you have from the reading.
Someone takes notes – everyone sign it, turn it in. Must have 2 study group sessions.