tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293457242024-03-05T04:00:55.612-06:00Teacher on the VergeVERGE 1 a: something that borders, limits, or bounds b: brink, threshold i.e. on the brink of destruction; on the threshold of a great discovery 2: the domain of the tricksterDan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.comBlogger167125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-51085389724626697552020-01-27T20:08:00.001-06:002020-02-04T07:31:58.032-06:00Respect the IntelligenceWhen I first started working at the alternative school, teachers in the district offered to lend me "easy" texts for the students to read. I immediately rejected them. The assumption is that at-risk means dumb. There is absolutely no empirical evidence to prove this. It merely reveals the bias of the educator. Just this year when I was at professional development with the other ELA teachers, one of them commented that I should be teaching gifted students. I respond, "I do." <br> <br>
Early on I realized that my students had a very strong voice, but it was rarely listened to. This is why I started our Alternative Voices project which is a spoken word CD. Students at my school have been recording their poems for the past twenty years. We have gone from burning CDs to creating a YouTube channel, but the important thing to remember is that it is student created.<br> <br>
Throughout the years my students have created black history posters that are hanging around the district, interviewed people in the community about gun violence, published websites, and filmed videos. The poems they wrote about Michael Brown are part of the collection at the Missouri History Museum. When those poems caused controversy we invited the mayor to our classroom to discuss why they were problematic and how the police department in their town differed from Ferguson.<br> <br>
We have read Oedipus Rex, Tartuffe, Fences, Parable of the Sower, Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Flowers for Algernon, The Road, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lax and many other texts. These are not "easy" texts. <br> <br>
I have never "dumbed down" anything for my students which is why the current situation is so depressing. I have up to five classes in my room during some periods which makes it impossible to do project based learning, group reading, or watch movies such as Seven Samurai. Recently we lost our science teacher because she was not certified for high school, but instead of replacing her we now offer online courses and hire a behavior specialist because it is more important to teach "these kids" how to behave instead of to think analytically. More students are in online classes because of a scheduling catastrophe. In fact students are taking online courses in subjects in which we employ certified teachers. The systems is so disrespectful of the students that it was determined that the original online classes which actually had an instructor were too difficult, so we switched to E2020 which we have ample evidence that the students cheat on. I was literally told to give the students worksheets to complete while I am teaching the other class that is in my room. This is the very definition of "busy work." I am being asked to keep students busy instead of engaged.<br> <br>
My drives to and from work have become tearful as I mourn the wasted semester and wasted minds. The lack of respect for my students is appalling, and it is all happening because nobody wants to take the time to fix it. We are literally warehousing students searching through the master schedule looking for a bin that they will fit in.
Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-68064499356364070362019-05-29T08:10:00.001-05:002019-05-29T08:14:50.403-05:00Second Semester Reflection<a href="https://teachtothink.blogspot.com/2019/01/semester-1-18-19-reflection.html">Link to First Semester Reflection</a>
<br><br><b>World Lit. </b> <br><br>
I will start with the worst. In the first time is several years I had students refuse to watch/read Seven Samurai because it was a black & white movie. Some of them insisted that it was a “silent” movie without any dialogue. It is is a hard movie to do in this school because of the forty-five minute class periods, but it usually works because I can draw parallels between the Bushido code and the “code of the the street.” This year most of the students did not make that connection. The snow days did not help because is seemed like it took a month to watch the entire movie.<br><br>
The posters that the students made to illustrate the bushido code actually worked out well. Next year I will work on getting the right balance of stopping to explain and letting the kids enjoy. I might try pre-loading a little more and put it in writing for students that don’t get to class when we do all of the early work.<br><br>
I ended up with a weird amount of time at the end of the semester which was not enough time to do a full PBL. I modified my creation story unit, but did not give it a full effort. It would have made more sense to do this with the hero unit and keep all of the mythology together, but because of the change in sequence do to class name changes everything was a little bit of a mess.<br><br>
Both units need to be kept, but the order needs to be rearranged, and the calendar needs to be better organized.<br><br>
<b>Lit. & Comp</b> <br><br>
I used this class for the poetry unit, and because we had to rearrange all of the schedule I did not have nearly many students participating in the writing and recording poetry for our spoken word recordings. Only eight students went to the recording studio and as of today the second to the last day of school, only one student has turned in a video.<br><br>
I was really hoping for a huge improvement this year, but this was definitely a step back. I do think some of this had to do with the students, but somehow I need to do better job selling this.<br><br>
<b>American Lit</b><br><br>
I move the my literacy unit into this class. We read about several Americans and how literacy affected their lives, and then the students were to write an essay about their experiences. Again turn in rates were ridiculously low. It was the only essay I required in any of my classes, yet they still refused to do it.<br><br>
For the last half of the semester I started creating a new unit about conspiracy theories. I am excited to continue working on it over the summer. I originally just thought of it as a reading topic, but as I was working with the students I realized that we have done a great disservice to the students. For many years while attending tech conference students were often referred to as digital natives. This designation presumed that they came with a certain innate skill. However, just like American citizens who have to learn the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in Civics class, students need to learn how to be digital citizens. It became abundantly clear that they did not know how search engines work or how to verify information. Next year I will use conspiracies both real and imagined as a gateway to digital media literacy.<br><br>
<b>Overall</b><br><br>
First of all I would like to talk about the good things. My unit on gun violence was recognized in St. Louis magazine. It was an exciting opportunity for the students that were interviewed. I also won an NEH grant to study southern culture and the blues over the summer. This is great news for my unit call Red, White, & The Blues.<br><br>
Now for everything else. This year was a hot mess. For the first time I can remember I had students that literally turned in no work. They kept coming to class, but did absolutely nothing. I tried serous talks. I tried letting students come up with lessons. I tried jokes. I could not motivate them. It got so bad that I actually created an entire research project for myself about game design and fun in the classroom. You can read it <a href="https://teachtothink.blogspot.com/2019/04/introduction-homework-and-rigor-chafe.html"> here</a>.<br><br>
The renaming of my classes a week prior to the school year require a massive reorganization that did not go as smoothly as I liked. In prior years the Communications class was a catch all so that I would have all of the students in at least one class in which I could focus on fundamentals of writing and communication and then reference that in my other class. Now it just seem like a bunch of random ELA classes.<br><br>
The elimination of the Exploratory class and the our PLC made it difficult to approach the students with a unified message. The students need to see us a a team that is here to work with them. Also the all school read and group projects helped bring the students together and gave an opportunity for teachers to learn with students.
<br><br>
The loss of two of our team members for specious reasons, one of which was not replaced, had a major impact as well. To be honest, I actually considered taking mental health days this year. I have never thought of it before because I like my job, but at time I felt it was pointless to be here. The students were combative often demanding credits and points instead of caring about learning. The administration is directionless as to what our goal is. Students were unaware of what this school is for or why they were enrolled in it. I am not looking forward to next year. Not only will we have a new “director” instead of a principal, but none of the issues from this year have been addressed.<br><br>
Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-40558320381056968932019-05-01T12:15:00.000-05:002019-07-15T05:44:26.959-05:00Rejected NEH Admission Essay (Later Accepted)In 2002 I attended a symposium at the University of Kansas celebrating the centennial of poet Langston Hughes’ birth. While I have to admit that I was excited to see Kevin Powell because of his stint on MTV’s Real World, and the reading by Paule Marshall at a local bookstore was a highlight, it was a lecture by Amiri Baraka that heralded my sixteen year fascination with the blues. I had just begun teaching a few years earlier, and my knowledge of Langston Hughes consisted primarily of The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Mother to Son, but Baraka introduced me to Hughes’ twelve-bar blues. That same year I took began recording a spoken word CD.Students would write poetry, and we would go to a studio owned by a former student to professionally record and mix the tracks. I have shared examples and modeled “blues poetry” that year and every year since, but I have never been able to find the hook. I want to use the knowledge I gain from this conference to find new avenues to lead my students to a deeper appreciation and understanding of the poetry of the delta. <br><br>
For a long time the blues was a personal obsession. I would annoy my wife and son on road trips listening to Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt, and a seventeen minute version of “Tobacco Road” by Edgar Winter. I insisted that we stand front and center on the hard packed dirt of a rodeo arena in ninety-five degree heat to see Leo “Bud” Welch at the Pilgrimage Festival in Nashville. At the Beale Street Music Festival, I made a beeline to the blues tent, and later that night, we jammed ourselves against the railing to see the headliner, Jack White. Arriving earlier than usual to LouFest, a local music festival, I made sure that the whole family enjoyed Buddy Guy’s set. We have stood in line in the French Quarter to hear the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, forced our son to take our picture at the Tallahatchie Bridge, visited the Woody Guthrie Center and paid our respects at Robert Johnson’s grave, but until this last school year I had not been able to successfully incorporate this love of music into my classroom.<br><br>
Over the summer I went to a workshop sponsored by Teachrock.org. It was held at a local casino, and to be honest I thought it was going to be terrible, but I knew that after we listened to their speil, we would gain free admission to the Little Steven concert that night. The presentation was only a half hour tour of their website, but it is the mother lode of music related lesson plans. The very first thing I did after the concert was to type the word “blues” into the search bar and found a lesson entitled The Blues And The Great Migration. I eventually adapted this in to a project based lesson called “Red, White & The Blues” in which students read Fences by August Wilson through a musical lens, studied the local St. Louis crime ballads “Stagger Lee”, “Frankie & Johnny” and “Duncan and Brady,” and created presentations with a soundtrack for an era in African-American history. My research for this unit brought me full circle to Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) and his book Blues People: Negro Music in White America and led me to a deeper understanding blues history of St. Louis, but I feel that I have only scratched the surface.<br><br>
W.C. Handy wrote the song “St. Louis Blues” in 1914, yet the title of the song is more widely known as the name of the city’s NHL franchise. One hundred and two years after it was composed we became home of the National Blues Museum, and that, for most people, is the sum total of St. Louis’ connection to the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta. Residents embrace their connection to western expansion with a mid-century monument, constantly remind visitors of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and name libraries and grade schools across the region after Lewis and Clark. Route 66 is celebrated with signs and historic businesses, while Hwy 61 is virtually ignored. The city celebrates its version of Italian cuisine while ignoring soul food and Delta delicacies. Whether conscious or not, St. Louis distances itself from its southern roots, denies the influence of the great migration, and buries the history of many of its people. By attending “The Most Southern Place On Earth” workshop, I hope to reconnect my students with their community’s through music, food, and past to empower them participate in its future.
Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-88274813481172833252019-04-26T11:58:00.001-05:002019-04-29T11:59:27.259-05:00Fun in the Classroom<b>Introduction</b><br><br>
Homework and rigor chafe me like a pair of 40-grit sandpaper underwear. While homework has been around since I was in school it is now a conscript in the war on children. In response to a perceived everyone-gets-a-trophy culture the educational world has responded with rigor and grit. Terms that are better suited to describing corpses and crime dramas than education.<br><br>
A few years ago I started referring to homework as homefun, but my resolve soon wilted in the face of the pervasive work worship of the American educational system. When our district was trying to adopt a learning management system, the administration kept touting the gamification aspects. I was intrigued. How could we make school more like a game? Unfortunately the instruction consisted mostly of the tech guy standing at the front of the room with a SmartBoard saying, “badges and leaderboards” on an infinite loop. The idea has also been the topic of breakout sessions at the Midwest Educational Technology Conference, but every time it was presented I kept hearing the same thing, and that was not how I viewed gaming or fun. My idea of fun involved solving puzzles, discovering treasure, and hiking to a mountain overlook. I decided to research gaming and see if there was a way to integrate their design framework into project based learning.<br><br>
During my research I came across references to the fourteen types of fun and realized that on every curriculum document and lesson plan that I have ever read there was not a box for fun. There was a box for the alphanumeric stew of standards. There was a box for homework. And that is about as far as I got because I usually started to doze off. Inside every board game box, often printed on the underside of the lid is a set of instructions. Every game from Axis & Allies to Candyland have similar sections called the object, contents, setup, and gameplay all of which have obvious parallels to unit plans, so why are games fun and schools rigorous and gritty?<br><br>
Methodology<br><br>
One possible answer is that educators, students and the school system value different types of fun. In order to collect some data on this question I developed a ridiculously unscientific and informal survey in which I asked teachers and students to pick their top types of fun. Basically if science was health food, it would be a kale and quinoa salad and this survey would be a bowl of ice cream topped with Cap’n Crunch. I thought of the idea on the drive to work and without much forethought immediately sat down at my computer to create a Google Form full of typos to send out. It was sent to educators through all school email, Twitter, and Facebook. The student survey was given to my students in class who were offered extra credit to complete it (more on this later) and passed along by other educators. I did not collect email addresses or demographic data because I did not want to broach privacy concerns or make it difficult for people to answer. Again, this was not science and did not meet any standards of ethics for using human test subjects. I am working under the assumption that participants willingly took the right survey and only responded once. In total eighty-nine educators and ninety-four students responded.<br><br>
Below is a list of the fourteen types of fun as described in the survey.<br><br>
Fourteen Types of Fun<br><br>
<ul><li>Beauty - That which pleases the senses. You enjoy art galleries, scenic overlooks, concerts, and dining out.</li>
<li>Immersion - You enjoy role playing or escapist literature. You like getting lost in another world.</li>
<li>Intellectual Problem Solving - You enjoy finding solutions to challenging problems and situations that require thought.</li>
<li>Competition - You enjoy proving your superiority in. It is good to be first.</li>
<li>Social Interaction - You like doing things with other human beings. You like social media and hanging with friends.</li>
<li>Comedy - You like to laugh. You enjoy stand-up comedy and funny movies.</li>
<li>Thrill of Danger - Activities are inherently more fun if the stakes are high. You are an adrenaline junkie.</li>
<li>Physical Activity - This is kind of self-explanatory. You like to play sports.</li>
<li>Love - Deep meaningful relationships and affection towards others. Romantic.</li>
<li>Creation - You like to make things, build things, write things, and paint things that have not existed before.</li>
<li>Power - You enjoy have a strong effect on others. You are an influencer.</li>
<li>Discovery - You enjoy finding out what wasn't know before. It can be exploring the physical world or uncovering secrets.</li>
<li>Advancement and Completion - You like achieving levels and finishing tasks. You were an excellent scout earning many badges and ranks. Eventually you earned the top rank.</li>
<li>Application of a Skill - Using one’s physical abilities in a difficult situation. You take pride in your skills such as hand eye coordination or reflexes.</li></ul><br><br>
<a href= "https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/227531/fourteen_forms_of_fun.php">https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/227531/fourteen_forms_of_fun.php</a><br><br>
<b>Predictions</b><br><br>
My assumption going into this was that there would be a disparity in the types of fun that students and teachers reported liking. My students were quite adamant that I had no idea what fun was, and I assumed that this relationship was similar to what other teachers experienced. It also seemed intuitively obvious that the school system valued competition, advancement, and completion by awarding class rank, letters for athletics and extracurriculars, grades, and diplomas. It is my belief that emphasizing these types of fun over the twelve other types can have a negative impact on students’ and teachers’ enjoyment of education.<br><br>
<br><br>Table 1: My predictions of responses
Predictions<br><br>
<table style="width:100%">
<tr><th>Teachers</th>
<th>Students</th>
<tr><td>Intellectual Problem Solving</td>
<td>Social Interaction</td></tr>
<tr><td>Creation</td>
<td>Competition</td></tr>
<tr><td>Discovery</td>
<td>Comedy</td></tr>
<tr><td>Advancement & Completion</td>
<td>Thrill of Danger</td></tr>
<tr><td>Beauty</td>
<td>Advancement and Completion</td></tr></table><br><br>
.
Obviously, this reflects my bias about teachers and students. I invite you to make your own predictions prior to reading the results.<br><br>
<b>Results (Too late. If you didn’t make your own predictions it is too late now.)</b><br><br>
<b>Table 2</b><br>
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<tr><th>Educator (89)</th>
<th></th>
<th>Students (94)</th><th></th></tr>
<tr><td>Beauty</td>
<td>65.2</td>
<td>Comedy</td>
<td>71.9</td></tr>
<tr><td>Social Interaction</td>
<td>61.8</td>
<td>Creation</td>
<td>48.3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Comedy</td>
<td>57.3</td>
<td>Social Interaction</td>
<td>44.9</td></tr>
<tr><td>Love</td>
<td>42.7</td>
<td>Phys. Activity</td>
<td>43.8</td></tr>
<tr><td>Creation</td>
<td>40.4</td>
<td>Competition</td>
<td>40.4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Int. Problem Solving</td>
<td>37.1</td>
<td>Beauty</td>
<td>39</td></tr>
<tr><td>Discovery</td>
<td>36</td>
<td>Power</td>
<td>38.2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Immersion</td>
<td>34.8</td>
<td>Application of Skill</td>
<td>36</td></tr>
<tr><td>Phys. Activity</td>
<td>32.6</td>
<td>Discovery</td>
<td>36</td></tr>
<tr><td>Application of Skill</td>
<td>19.1</td>
<td>Love</td>
<td>32.6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Adv. Completion</td>
<td>18</td>
<td>Int. Problem Solving</td>
<td>31.5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Competition</td>
<td>14.6</td>
<td>Immersion</td>
<td>29.2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Thrill of Danger</td>
<td>12.4</td>
<td>Thrill of Danger</td>
<td>27</td></tr>
<tr><td>Power</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>Adv. Completion</td>
<td>21.3</td></tr></table><br><br>
Table 3: Similarity Score (smaller number = more similar. Positive numbers indicate a teacher preference; negative numbers indicate a student preference.)<br><br>
<b>Table 2</b><br>
<table style="width:100%">
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<tr><th>Type of Fun</th>
<th>Difference in percent</th></tr>
<tr><td>Power</td>
<td>-30.2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Beauty</td>
<td>26.2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Competition</td>
<td>-25.8</td></tr>
<tr><td>Application of Skill</td>
<td>16.9</td></tr>
<tr><td>Social Interaction</td>
<td>16.9</td></tr>
<tr><td>Comedy</td>
<td>-14.6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Thrill of Danger</td>
<td>-14.6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Phys. Activity</td>
<td>-11.2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Love</td>
<td>10.1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Creation</td>
<td>-7.9</td></tr>
<tr><td>Int. Problem Solving</td>
<td>5.6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Immersion</td>
<td>5.6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Adv. and Completion</td>
<td>-2.2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Discovery</td>
<td>---</td></tr></table><br><br>
<b>Observations (or the point in the report when you say to yourself, “Does this guy have a life?”)</b><br><br>
At first I was only looking for similarities in ranking and was surprised to find out that teachers and students share three of the top five; Social Interaction, Comedy, and Creation. They also share two of the bottom five; Advancement and Completion and Thrill of Danger.<br><br>
I was going to compare relative rank to see which types of the fun show the most disparity between teachers and students, but then I noticed that the students were a more heterogeneous group. This makes sense because all students are required to go to school, but teachers are a self-selected group that would likely have similar characteristics, or as popular opinion would have it a group of those that “can’t.” With the exception of Comedy which is a clear favorite with 71.9% of the students choosing it, all of the types of fun fell between 21% and 48 % selection showing a fairly even distribution amongst students. Teachers show a steep decline after Physical Activity which was chosen by 32% of the teachers. Next on the list was Application of Skill at 19%.<br><br>
Comparing percentages between students and teachers, Discovery shows the most similarity with both groups coming in at 36%. The biggest disparity is in the realm of Competition with 40% percent student approval and only 15% of the teachers expressing an affinity for competing.<br><br>
What I find most interesting is that Advancement and Completion were ranked near the bottom for both groups with only about one out of every five participants selecting it as part of their top five. Yet the school system is entirely constructed on advancement and completion. Students literally collect credits like on an old school upright Pac Man machine at Aladdin's Castle in the mall in order to complete a level and power up. After completing the twelfth level, education designers create a secret leaderboard and anoint the top point earner the valedictorian. We might as well give the kids a trackball and have them enter their monogram for posterity. Any student earning a perfect score is enshrined as an educational deity to whom all other students are compared. There is an obvious disconnect between education design and human concepts of fun.<br><br>
<b>Conclusions (The part most of you skipped to after looking at the tables)</b><br><br>
Schools and education have not been designed by students and teachers. Somehow the one-fifth of the population that ranks Advancement and Completion as one of their favorites has taken over the system. Perhaps one reason is because this is one of the easiest types to quantify. Subjective data driven design for Love, Discovery, or Comedy is virtually impossible unless you install arcade style love testers and laugh-o-meters in the classroom. We often describe students who enjoy the hard to measure qualities as being intrinsically motivated and we consider this somehow better than the other types.<br><br>
There is room for all types of fun in the classroom. It seems as if almost everyone values so called intrinsic motivation while at the same time demanding numbers to justify pedagogical choices. We should compromise and make room in our planning to consider how fun factors into our design. Obviously, given the heterogeneity of the student population we cannot please all of the students all of the time. One hundred percent engagement is a mythological beast worshipped by a small cult of wide-eyed sycophants intent on punishing non-believers, but we should analyze our own view of fun and recognize that it does not always match our audience’s expectations.<br><br>
For example, it seems that most teachers, including myself, are not fans of competition. This may be because we are a bunch of nerds that were emotionally scarred by a particularly bruising bout of dodgeball, but the fact remains that students value it significantly more. We should examine our preconceived notions of the harm it might do the losers. Recently, while having a discussion with students about how to improve my lessons, a student suggested using Kahoot. I was familiar with the word from different conferences but mostly as something that I dismissed as too juvenile to use with my students. Many of the students agreed that Kahoot would be a great idea. I even asked my son, a sophomore at another school, and he said that his Spanish teachers use it. I went to the website and analyzed it in terms of the types of fun.<br><br>
It is a quiz site with no more capabilities than Google Forms or Quizlet, but it does appeal to at least four types of fun. First of all it has colors and music which appeals to the students desire for beauty (This of course is in the eye of the beholder). It also incorporates a thrill of danger by having a time limit for answers, and the competitive aspect of a leader board allows students to rank themselves with their peers. Finally, it includes the application of skill and the minimal physical activity of tapping a button on their device as quickly as possible. The challenge for teachers is how to use Kahoot in way that actually promotes higher order thinking and not just recall. <br><br>
I attempted to create a “serious” game for my mythology unit. One of the highlights of this school year was when I beta tested this text-based game I made about Joseph Campbell’s heroic cycle <a href="http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/yco1pdcp_e_c7xhuo5e82q/epic-blockbuster"><b>(Here is a link)</b></a>. Students that had not engaged in the texts, Gilgamesh and Star Wars, excitedly leapt from their chairs to make decisions about which characters to “speak to” and what objects to “pick up” for their inventory. I had assumed that the students would not be interested and offered it as an one day extra credit opportunity, I was surprised when they came back two days later asking if we were going to keep playing. <br><br>
Fun is not a cure all. Those students asking to keep playing the game did not go home that night and login. They didn’t all of a sudden develop the chimeric love of learning we so desperately desire. Obviously teachers can’t be expected to be game designers or required to use websites like Kahoot. We can start to question the role that fun plays in our lessons and incorporate elements of the game design framework into our own plans. How can we structure our lessons so that students can gracefully fail? Can we effectively balance difficulty and win conditions? Can we incorporate other types of fun that cushion the blow of failure and encourage repetitive play? I don’t know all of the answers, but I am going to have fun trying.<br><br>
<b>Works Cite (Where I don’t use MLA or APA because it is fascist pitfall meant to check a box on a scoring guide.)</b><br><br>
Heeter, Carrie & Chunhui, Kaitlan & , Chu & Maniar, Apar & Winn, Brian & Mishra, Punya & Egidio, Rhonda & Portwood-Stacer, Laura. (2004). Comparing 14 Plus 2 Forms of Fun in Commercial Versus Educational Space Exploration Digital Games.
<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228959613_Comparing_14_Plus_2_Forms_of_Fun_in_Commercial_Versus_Educational_Space_Exploration_Digital_Games">(Download the PDF here)</a><br><br>
<a href="http://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/pubs/MDA.pdf">Matching Computer Game Genres to Educational Outcomes</a><br><br>
<a href="http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~jprest20/cgdd4303/winn-dpe-chapter.pdf">MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek</a> <br><br>
<a href="http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~jprest20/cgdd4303/winn-dpe-chapter.pdf">The Design, Play, and Experience Framework Brian M. Winn</a><br><br>
Mitgutsch, Konstantin & Alvarado, Narda. (2012). Purposeful by design?: A serious game design assessment framework. Foundations of Digital Games 2012, FDG 2012 - Conference Program. 12. 10.1145/2282338.2282364.
<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254006013_Purposeful_by_design_A_serious_game_design_assessment_framework">(Download the PDF here)</a><br><br>
<a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1090277.pdf">Foundations of Game-Based Learning Jan L. Plass CREATE Lab New York University Bruce D. Homer Program in Educational Psychology The Graduate Center, City University of New York Charles K. Kinzer Department of Computing, Communication and Technology in Education Teachers College, Columbia University</a><br><br>
<a href="https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/227531/fourteen_forms_of_fun.php">Fourteen Types of Fun
by Pierre-Alexandre Garneau [Design]</a><br><br>
<a href="http://axisallies.com/rules/axis-allies-rules-classic-2nd-edition.pdf">Rules for Axis and Allies</a><br><br>
<a href="https://winning-moves.com/images/CANDYLAND_rules.pdf">Rules for Candy Land</a><br><br>
Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-55335038680345391042019-03-12T07:12:00.002-05:002019-04-26T09:22:25.425-05:00Diversity education is a divisive education<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>This is a response to an <a href="https://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/article227315034.html">editorial</a> in the Tacoma News Tribune. The text in black is the original. The red text is my translation.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "mcclatchy serif" , "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 30px; text-align: center;">Diversity education is a divisive education</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Great Seal of the United States proclaims the achievement of the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">American Revolutionary generation: “E Pluribus Unum – out of many, one.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I would like to start my argument by referencing a motto written by the</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> white men that so closely resemble me, in which they clearly state the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">opposite of what I am about to say. Putting aside the fact that the “many” </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">that they refer to most definitely meant white land-holding men.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Now comes a measure introduced into the Washington Legislature that, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">if adopted, will turn this achievement on its head, proclaiming the goal </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of mandating a public schools curriculum that emphasizes “diversity” and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">“global citizenship.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Now the Washington Legislature is trying to celebrate the diversity of the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">many and expand our American ideals globally, and I don’t like it. I know</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">it is merely a suggestion, but I am afraid that if adopted, I may have to teach </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">about the blacks in months other than February. I just spent the last </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">twenty-eight </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">days teaching about Martin Luther </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Coo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> King. Isn’t that enough </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">diversity?</span></div>
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<a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1314&Year=2019&Initiative=false" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066b3; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">House Bill 1314</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">, supported by a host of the usual liberal suspects, would </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">direct the state school superintendent’s office to develop an ethnic studies </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">curriculum.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">While not mandated as a graduation requirement, the bill’s sponsors hope </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">schools choose to add the curriculum to their 7th through 12th grade </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">course </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">offerings.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The language of the bill clearly states that it is not mandatory, but I thought </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I would take the opportunity to remind everyone that I have a deep seated </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">fear </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">of people that are not white.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Given the overall leftist influence in our state public schools, a great </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">many </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">districts are likely to expose students to this proposed curriculum.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Again, this is not mandated, but I am going to play on your tribalist fears of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the radical left. Honestly if I could justifiably put a picture of AOC with this </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">column, then I would. This is just another attempt by the left to brainwash </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">our students. I know I am in the classroom, but teachers on the right just </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">don’t </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">have the same power as those on the left. Even though I tell students </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">(40% of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">whom are not white) that they should all act white they just won’t buy </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">into it. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">HB 1314 is a bad idea and should not be approved. The great goal of the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">common </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">neighborhood public schools was to provide an environment where </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">children of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">immigrants would, over time, be welcomed into the common </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">American </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">culture. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I would like to now state an opinion about free public schools that is </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">unsubstantiated by any facts, examples, or references. I am most likely </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">referring </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">to our grand history of missionary schools that stole Native </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">American </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">children </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">from their families in order to beat the brown out of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">them.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Even immigrant adults would attend night schools to learn English as </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">quickly </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">as possible. To become “American” did not mean immigrants had to </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">forgo the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">language and ceremonial life of their country of origin. However, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">most </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">made it </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">their primary goal to enter into the common culture as quickly </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">possible.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I am fond of using made up statistics. I will disguise this fact by not actually </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">typing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">any numbers, but instead referring to “most” to reassure the reader </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">that</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">what I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">am saying is true, and as long as the number is over 50% nobody </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">can call </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">me on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">my bullshit. Honestly, I don’t even realize I am doing this. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">Many </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">people </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">have said </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">that I am a good writer, and I have been published in </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">best </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">newspapers.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Of course, this increasing emphasis on cultural diversity is not just about </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">school </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">curriculum but part of a larger agenda to implement the goals of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">identity politics.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This is my new favorite phrase. I’m not exactly sure what it means, and I am </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">surely </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">not going to explain it. I just know that “identity politics” is a bad thing </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">and if I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">repeat it three times, the Fox will appear to agree with me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This way of thinking is based on the assumption that certain groups of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Americans </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">are inherently marginalized in our society and are the victims of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">ongoing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">discrimination.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">As an educated person, I am perfectly aware that certain groups are </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">systematically </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">marginalized by our institutions and continually victimized by </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">ongoing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">discrimination, but I am going to pretend that this is not the case. It </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">not fair </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">that white people can’t maintain their grip on our cultural </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">institutions, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">so I am </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">going to conveniently discover “equality” now that it </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">benefits me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">But the increasing emphasis on some identifying characteristic, such as race, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">gender, sexual orientation or nationality, undermines a historical American </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">achievement:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Our historical achievement of building the most powerful nation in the world </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">the back of brown people and slaughtering the millions that lived here </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">before </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">us.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Creating institutions, like broad-based political parties, has served to unite </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">diverse groups around policy proposals that bond Americans to a common </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">enterprise. Even if this goal has not always been realized, it was assumed the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">effort </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">ought to always point toward its achievement.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I am going to seriously suggest that our current political system is bringing </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">people </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">together, and not rapidly causing a retreat to the opposite poles of the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">political </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">spectrum.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The real problem is this: The proponents of measures like HB 1314 no longer </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">support the American experiment. They don’t want to encourage new </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">immigrants </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">and new citizens to integrate. They think America is inherently </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">racist and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">discriminatory at every turn.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Obviously, those on the left hate America. I will also exaggerate their </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">argument, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">so that you will have no option other than to disagree. I mean if </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">they </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">see racism </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">everywhere (they don’t), then they must be wrong.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">In their view the best way to change the country is to call into question the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">common </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">stories that serve to sustain a common American identity. In its place </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">they will </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">substitute alternative stories – those of diversity, which aim to divide</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">and not unite.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I will continue creating a false sense of their political view and point out that </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">they </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">don’t like white people because they try to tell everyone’s story. Even </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">though </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">telling additional stories does not erase the old ones, I will strongly </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">suggest that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">the left is creating a new false history of the U.S. As a history </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">teacher </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">I choose to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">believe the one that I have been teaching from the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">textbook. Politics </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">has never </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">played a role in textbook adoption. If the left </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">would stop pointing out </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">that people </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">are different, then we could unite under </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">one supreme culture.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">What can be done, beyond saying no to HB 1314? This is not a call to ignore </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">real transgressions of justice in American history. It is, however, a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">reminder that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">this country was not created on the assumption that no </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">injustices </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">would occur, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">or </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">that all existing injustices would be immediately </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">eliminated.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I am going to cover my ass, by pointing out that there may have been a couple </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">dark moments in our history, but I mean come on, nobody is perfect. And </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">obviously </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">we can’t make all injustice go away immediately. Come on, can’t </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">YOU people just </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">wait a little longer?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">As President Abraham Lincoln once observed, the right should always be</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">looked </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">to even if it could not be achieved all at once.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I am referencing Lincoln because I know that black people like him, though I </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">will </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">ignore that he wanted the “better angels of our nature” to touch the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">chords </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">memory, and focus on some idea that we can’t achieve everything at </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">once. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">Though </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">don’t expect a quote, because that would cause me to slow down</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">my rant.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This is probably the worst result of the identity politics of those who want to </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">push a diversity education agenda in our schools. The movement represents a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">loss of faith in the foundational institutions of the American experiment, and </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">worse, undermines those institutions.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I am particularly fond of hyperbole, so I am going back to that well again. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">You </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">see </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">if we learn about other people then it will DESTROY EVERYTHING </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">we </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">love </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; white-space: pre;">America. By everything, I mean whiteness.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I can do no better than to end with the wisdom of Lincoln: “A House divided </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">against itself cannot stand.” That’s exactly what will be accomplished by </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">diversity education: a house divided.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.0454545454545454; margin-bottom: 23pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Oh, now I have a quote because I want to emphasize that if we passed this</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> non-binding legislation, then it will lead to a civil war. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Mike Jankanish is chair of the history department at Tacoma’s Wilson High School.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-6adcba1b-7fff-c335-35f6-f01441792213"><br /></span>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-18345515684644550112019-01-23T11:36:00.001-06:002019-01-24T10:13:43.256-06:00Semester 1 '18-'19 Reflection<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Expectations</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Contrary to what most politicians and some of my relatives think, the school year for </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">teachers </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">begins</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">in June or July. During this time I had been planning an </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">interdisciplinary unit for our Exploratory </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">class </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">at the alternative school. Each semester </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">all teachers in the school teach this class in which we </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">have </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">an all school read and project </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">based assessment. This semester was going to be called Cold </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Dead </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Hands and focus on </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the effects of gun violence on the community. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">When I workshopped it with some teachers over the summer they were concerned that </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">my </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">personal bias might affect the teaching. I used to agree with this stance, but my </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">opinion </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">has evolved. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Since it is impossible to avoid bias, I have decided to embrace it. I </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">tell students </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">up front my personal </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">opinions about controversial subjects, so they can view </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">what I say through </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the proper lens. I am not a </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">big fan of guns. I also understand that I have </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">come from a privileged </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">background in which I don’t need </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">guns. I only get viralently anti-gun </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">when they become </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">feteshized. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Point is I came up with a great project based unit in which the students would read </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><u>A Long Way Down </u></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">by Jason Reynolds, watch speeches from March for Our Lives as </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">well </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">as pro-gun advocates, and </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">delve into local and national statistics on gun violence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">This would </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">culminate in an interview project in </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">which students would learn the stories </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of community members </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">who had been affected by violence and </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">create a memorial for </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">those that have been lost.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Then about a week before school started my principal called to say that we would be </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">cancelling </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Exploratory class. At this point I need to give a little background. Last year </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">it was </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">determined </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">that our </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">science teacher could no longer work with us because she was </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">not </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">certified </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">for high school </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">students. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">In the state of Missouri there are exceptions made </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">for </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">alternative </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">programs when it comes</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">certification. Putting aside the fact that we were </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">losing our </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">most </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">empathetic teacher, the real </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">travesty </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">was that she was going to be replaced </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">w</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">ith online </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">classes. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I recently earned my master’s degree and a certificate stating that I am qualified to teach </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">online </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">courses. I understand there value. I also understand that forcing at-risk students </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">into an </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">environment </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">that requires a significant amount of self motivation is not a good idea. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Most </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">research </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">indicates that </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">at-risk students suffer academically in online courses and are </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">more likely </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to fail. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">In order to mitigate </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the failure rate it was decided that we would offer a </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">“study hall” for </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the students </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to work on these </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">classes, thus necessitating the cancellation of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the Exploratory </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">class.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">In addition to prejudice piece of policy, the powers that be also determined that the courses </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I was </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">teaching would no longer be offered. They wanted the names of my classes to match </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the names of </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the courses offered at the high school. We had specifically titled them </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">differently </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">in order to facilitate </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">scheduling. Since ELA standards repeated themselves from </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the fourth </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">grade </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">on, it doesn't really </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">matter what the class is called. When they decided to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">change the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">classes it </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">meant a total </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">restructuring </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of my curricula.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This particular event may have actually been a benefit as far as my teaching. It forced me </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">to </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">revise </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and repackage my existing lessons that may have been getting a little stale over </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the years. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">While it </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">created headaches for scheduling, and forced a few students to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">experience </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">portions of </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">lessons they </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">had last year, at least the lessons were fresh and up </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to date.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I entered the school year with mixed emotions. I was excited about my revitalized lessons </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">was </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">able to move the Cold Dead Hands project into my Lit & Comp class, but </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I was </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">irritated </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">by the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">constant meddling and the harm done to student learning. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Experience</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lit & Comp</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> - For the first semester of Lit and Comp students worked on the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Cold Dead Hands </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">unit. Students really enjoyed the book, and it was an easy enough that </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">round-robin reading worked </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">well. Of course the heavy lifting would come with the interview. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I was a little surprised by the amount </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of scaffolding required to teach the students how to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">interview. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">The only types of interviews they </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">were aware of were job interviews or police </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">interrogations. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">It took a while to get them to learn active </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">listening skills and to understand </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">that these interviews </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">were more like conversations.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Since I was sending them out to members of the public and was dealing with a semester </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">end </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">deadline, I could not rely on constant reteaching of the whole class. We watched </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">some </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">instructional videos, did informal practices, formal practices, and reflection. I would </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">not assign </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">an interviewee until students had successfully completed these tasks.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I have been impressed with their ability to interact with the public. Those that are </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">completing </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the project are highly motivated because of the authenticity of the project. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Many of them </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">come </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to me incredulous, yet excited about interviewing a stranger. Yesterday, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">two students</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">interviewed </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the assistant superintendent, and it went remarkably well. The </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">turn in rate will </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">not be great, but </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the students that have begun writing the interview essay </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">have some intriguing </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">stories to tell.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I will have the adjust the time a little to help fit it into the semester better. I did not have </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">enough </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">time to scaffold the actual essay. Most of the students have never read a narrative </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">essay based </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">on on interview. We should read a few examples to help them get started.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I will definitely be keeping and refining this lesson.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">American Literature</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This one had another semester long project. Over the summer I attended a presentation of </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">teachrock.org and became excited about finally using the blues to teach my students. I </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">started </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">working on the project during a workshop on PBL and originally was just going to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">slightly modify </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">a lesson that was presented on the TeachRock website. It changed </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">significantly </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">from the original </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">conception.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">We started by reading Fences by August Wilson. I usually use baseball as the entrance </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">into </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the text because that is my passion. This time I decided to use music as the hook. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">The book </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">provides many songs for analysis, most notably Ol’ Dog Blue, but the first thing </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">we did is look </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">at the history of the devil in African American storytelling. We looked </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">specifically </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">at Robert </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Johnson’s Me and the Devil Blues and Murder was the Case by Snoop </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Dogg. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">We compared </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">what happened to the characters in these two songs with what is most </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">likely </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">going to happen </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to Troy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">We continued our “blues” readings by looking at three crime ballads based on actual </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">events </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">in St. Louis, Frankie & Johnny, Duncan & Brady, and Stagger Lee. We </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">spent the </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">most </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">time with Stagger Lee. I attempted some discovering learning by assigning </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">each song </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to a group </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of students for them to research. I envisioned each group realizing the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">St. Louis </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">connection and </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">all of the students realizing how the songs were similar when each</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">group </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">presented. This failed, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and I don’t why. Many of the groups failed to even figure out</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">St. Louis connection. I might </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">need to give them some focus for their research. Perhaps </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I can </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">make a google form for each </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">group to fill out.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The most interesting part was that through studying these song with the students is a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">discussion </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of what it means to be “gangsta” and why it plays such an important role in </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">African American lore. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">The discussion would become quite heated, but each student </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">seemed to have their own answer, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">so this eventually turned into an essay assignment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">In a graphic novel about Stagger Lee the </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">author, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Derek McCulloch, posed a question </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">about </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">why Stagger Lee has so few redeeming qualities. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">decided to write McCulloch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">on twitter </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to see what he thought the answer was. I was way more </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">excited than the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">students when </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">he answered with a twelve tweet thread.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">During one of the class I had an admin. Walk through. She questioned teaching a </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">controversial </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">subject. Actually she was more concerned that the students come up </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">with </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">their own answers. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">They had some answer in previous classes, but most of them </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">were </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">along the lines of “black </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">people are just violent.” (I have all black students). I </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">pointed out </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">that this was a slightly racist </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">viewpoint. When I was being observed, I </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">was trying to provide </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">an alternative way of looking at </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the issue.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Eventually I had the students write an essay to define what a “gangsta” is and why </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">he is </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">so </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">important to the culture. I was able to tie Fences back into this lesson by </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">presenting Troy,</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Rose, or Corey as a “gangsta” type. Unfortunately, I did not get many of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the students to turn </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">it in. I modified frequently by adding an outline and sample introduction </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to the class website.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I have now posted a couple of student samples to help my classes </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">next year. I want to keep </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the essay because it helps analyze the characters and gives </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">insight into a culture that is still </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">alive today in the characters portrayed in rap music.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">World Lit</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I moved one of my traditional World Lit lessons into this class as well as a unit from </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">what </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">was </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">previously my mythology class. We started by reading Tartuffe by Moliere </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and focusing </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">on </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the concept of satire. This unit always works well. The kids seem to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">get the humor and </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">are </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">able to pick out the elements of satire. This year I added the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">movie Saved! to the lesson </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">so </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the students could see a slightly more modern version </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of religious satire. I was pleasantly </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">surprised by how much the students took to the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">movie considering it is about suburban white </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Christian kids. Next time I do this lesson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I want to make stronger connections between the </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">film </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and the play instead of just </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">saying hear is another example.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I also tried to re-engineer this unit into a PBL. I originally was going to have the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">students </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">produce </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">a satirical video, but determined that the amount of scaffolding for </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">movie making </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">would take too </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">long. Instead I had them storyboard their concept using </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Google slides. They </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">chose a topic and </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">then explain how they would apply at least three </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of the elements to create </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">their satire.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">After the satire unit we made a rather jarring transition into my hero unit. We read </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Gilgamesh </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and learned about Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey cycle. The students did </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">not hate the </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">story,</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;"> but it did take a lot of “translating” on my part. If I was able to take the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">rather stilted </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">language </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">and restate it in the vernacular, it went pretty well. (This is not </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">nearly as racist as it </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">sounds)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">For the project I had the students apply the character archetypes and the elements </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">cycle to a modern film. Students then created a website to publish their </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">information. I did</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;"> not have good turn in, but I did gain a new appreciation of John Wick. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">Actually, I was </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">excited </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">that student gained a new perspective on the movie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">One of the most exciting things to happen during this class was I shared a text based</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">game that I programmed with the students. I originally created this for a class while earning</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">my master's degree, but I fine tuned it so that it could be used as an assessment of the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">student's understanding of the epic journey. I was afraid that I was just geeking out and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">showing off, but we played the game as a class, and the students were really into it. They</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">even came back the next class and asked to finish it. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Number of Failures</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This semester approximately 70% of the students failed each of my classes. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This was </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">overwhelmingly due to missing assignments. I currently have a policy that </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">allows students </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">to </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">turn in any assignment at any time during the semester without penalty, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">so I don’t </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">understand </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the low turn in rate. I have discussed several possibilities with my </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">colleagues.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Failure rates were higher for everyone for this particular group of students. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">This could </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">be </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">due to the selection process, the lack of our cross curricular class leading </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to a clear and </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">cooperative effort from the staff, or just luck of the draw.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I did shift even more heavily into PBL. Students have traditionally ask for more </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">worksheet</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;"> type work, and historically they will take MC test that get them enough points </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">pass the class. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I considered giving more MC tests, but I feel like it would be lowering </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">my </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">expectations.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Phones are a distraction - I have implemented a voluntary phone check in policy </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">for </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">second semester.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></span>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I was not clear enough in my expectations. Invariably students will say that I </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">did not </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">teach anything at the end of the semester. Usually this is a last ditch effort to shift </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">blame, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">but I considered that this year my expectations were not clearly laid out. It seems </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">ridiculous </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to continue with whole class instruction for extended periods of time considering </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the lack </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">of participation in discussions, so I have moved a lot of the data dump online.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">I noticed that </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">many of the students that complained about me not teaching did not even </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">realize that I </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">had a </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">website. For second semester I am making a concerted effort to </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">constantly emphasize </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">the </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">website and make sure that students are responsible for their </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">education. If they want to </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">learn, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">they need to make me teach. This will give me a chance </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to individualize instead of </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">homogenize. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">My responsibility is to give constant reminders to </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">ask for help.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Traditionally students here do not like to read and write. It is becoming painfully </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">obvious </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">that most the world does not like to read or write.</span><br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</ul>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Summary</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">For second semester I will implement the voluntary phone check in, emphasize the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">expectations of the class my role as a facilitator and their job as a student, continue </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">working</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">on my patients with students, and adopt a slightly more authoritarian classroom </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">management </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">style while letting them know that I would rather teach them to be literate than</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre;">to behave.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-63576221337839865572014-01-24T12:34:00.000-06:002014-01-24T12:34:24.505-06:00A ResponseThe following is a response to the comments and video found here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.garynorth.com/public/12032.cfm">http://www.garynorth.com/public/12032.cfm</a><br />
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the
rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe
depositories. And to render them safe, their minds must be improved to a
certain degree."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-Thomas Jefferson</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moore’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Law applies
to information, and education is an informational enterprise which is why I
have been calling using the term Classroom 2.0 for the past several years. I
encourage the use of cell phones in the classroom. It is amazing that we have
access to the world’s knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is more processing capability in a cell phone than NASA used to get to the
moon. (This last statement has been repeated to me so many times that I have
accepted it as fact. I have not, and am not so inclined, looked this up.) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Textbooks (information delivery) are antiquated. Classrooms,
while fun, are not necessary. Teachers (while some of them are antique) are a
vital part of education. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, for
example, a student made the claim that this has been the “coldest winter ever.”
Much to his frustration, I took this as a teachable moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First we had to define terms. Were we only
talking about St. Louis? If so was it only years that they have experienced or
are we talking about all years that have reliable data? What do we mean by
coldest? Is it the average high temperature for the days between the winter
solstice and the vernal equinox? (This last one met with confused stares) Is it
the greatest number of days below 10 degrees Fahrenheit?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once the parameters of our inquiry have been established, we
must devise a plan to uncover the answers. A number of students immediately
went to Google and were able to bring back information about today’s weather
and some even found the record for the coldest day (-17), but no one found the
answer to the question.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sensing their frustration, I decided that even if they could
not support their argument then they should be able to state it in a more
interesting way. Most of the decided that they would just say, “It’s hella
cold.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After some more less than stellar
suggestions such as “It is freezing cold” or “It is colder than the North Pole”,
I finally stepped in with examples. (“It was so cold that I pissed icicles” or “It
was so cold that a polar bear went outside and said ‘hell nah.’”)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Knowledge is amazing, but critical thinking is the goal. The
inquiry process is ingesting new knowledge, analyze it, combining it with
previous experience and knowledge, and through this synthesis creating
something entirely unique. This process needs a guide or you may become lost in
an interminable morass of websites selling tennis shoes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “granny method” is basically the same as the Socratic
method. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Questioning or refuting a
hypothesis in order to constantly improve it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Again this requires a teacher. Whether<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>that teacher is in the classroom or on the computer is irrelevant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I used the quote from Jefferson at the top to point out that
education is not intended to churn out automata for the bureaucratic machine.
We are creating citizens eventually capable of self-governance, self-education,
and self-actualization. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coldest
winter ever was in 2009/10 with an average high temperature of 30.5</div>
Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-77762326173445043732012-12-03T15:26:00.003-06:002012-12-03T15:27:00.800-06:00A Good Waste of Nine Minutes<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dVTnEZwOA88" width="420"></iframe>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-28782573571473094992012-11-12T14:28:00.000-06:002012-11-12T20:43:37.272-06:00A Coach's ResponsibilityThe table sat barren. An obvious oddball in a gymnasium filled with tri-fold display boards, buttons, stickers, and other evidence of hard work and dedication. Our table sat dejected and alone. A void. It was a black hole filling the oval of failure on a standardized test. A test taken by the coach. A coach has a responsibility to prepare his team for competition, and the coach of our First Lego League (FLL) team failed in this most basic requirement.<br />
<br />
We were excited about our first ever robotics team. In fact we were instrumental in getting it started, securing a grant, bringing in guest speakers, and organizing the ordering of t-shirts. However, we were not in charge. It was a school team so a teacher was assigned to disperse the grant money. Of course, coaches are responsible for the finances of the team. Our coach apparently deposited the funds into his own bank account and then would forget to bring his check book whenever we needed money for the shirts. He also failed at the simple task of procuring snacks for the meeting.<br />
<br />
He also failed to procure the facilities and materials necessary for the team to function. Early on, another parent provided the coach with a coupon for an additional robot. It was not redeemed. The coach promised to build the practice table for the robot. It did not materialize. We informed the coach that we would need a dedicated computer for programming the robot. When it was not forthcoming we brought our own laptop that we had recently purchased for our son. The most vital of all materials, of course, was a lesson plan. Amazingly enough this was provided. It consisted of a single word. "BUILD."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGLVa0eU0UHBT7qhuZs0cuqTxhkxGUcB661qlC7TYW3rXPa_n4FrC6IAd7RPkBFPBOe_O4g-p2IWQ2y5p0k2T6SA_hGWh_GH5UnAQLyd4nDzSvZmP-uSaF7K61dQRq9DimN-oR2w/s1600/ernest_goes_to_school.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGLVa0eU0UHBT7qhuZs0cuqTxhkxGUcB661qlC7TYW3rXPa_n4FrC6IAd7RPkBFPBOe_O4g-p2IWQ2y5p0k2T6SA_hGWh_GH5UnAQLyd4nDzSvZmP-uSaF7K61dQRq9DimN-oR2w/s320/ernest_goes_to_school.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our editorial staff has decided that a caption is not necessary.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The team built the robot and many of the pieces needed for the missions, but without a basic understanding of the competition it was like being handed a bag of baseball equipment and being told to go out and play a game. The lesson for the last meeting before the competition did not even meet this minimum standard. It was basically "Well, ummmm, guys." The coach then repeatedly told team members that they would not have to be at the competition all day. We were just going to go and observe some of the other teams. He also asked the team of 4th graders to arrange some carpooling.<br />
<br />
Astonishingly most of the team arrived, without the benefit of carpooling, on time. We walked into the gymnasium and were confronted with the empty table. We were carrying a shoe box containing the robot and a laptop computer. It became obvious that this was not a casual affair. We were in fact at the qualifying round. This was the competition. If we fail here, the season is over. We were in uniform, but did not have the game ball or even a basic understanding of the rules.<br />
<br />
The low point of the competition was when the team had to present the research they had done to provide a solution to a problem facing senior citizens. We had nothing. So a group of twelve fourth-grade students stood in front of the judges in silence. Luckily for them they are not as self-aware as the judges and managed to survive the embarrassment of entering a contest without a submission. After this initial setback the parent volunteers pulled the team together enough so that we could compete.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBJjYMS3JYlLQ474DGkhQpJegWqqBaaNHQf3e_wZs5e_6A0_CX9oNs8QHiiRa0tE_K9cuGmIJptY8kQzOJJr5-eQ-BpBkugW9PCMoMmXZnK_Liqz78euqOFq9-zNECiAa8bUIPg/s1600/DSCF4938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBJjYMS3JYlLQ474DGkhQpJegWqqBaaNHQf3e_wZs5e_6A0_CX9oNs8QHiiRa0tE_K9cuGmIJptY8kQzOJJr5-eQ-BpBkugW9PCMoMmXZnK_Liqz78euqOFq9-zNECiAa8bUIPg/s320/DSCF4938.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SUCCESS!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We actually ended up with 70 points, but my wife and I are the only ones that know that because by the end of the competition the entire team had gone home. We needed to compete in the final round of the robotic challenges and the only person left was my son. I had spent most of the day explaining to the parents that we were expected to stay all day, but since the coach had told them not to worry, most of them had made other plans. The story does not end there however. In fact, it makes a hard right into the realm of urban legend. The coach left. He left before the competition was over because he had an appointment at 2:30 on a Sunday. This strains credulity more than a hook-handed killer on Lover's Peak, Bloody Mary, or an alligator in the sewer.<br />
<br />
Our son was absent when the exodus occurred, but when learned that he was alone, he freaked out. I went to the administrator's table to inform her of what happened with the intention of forfeiting the competition and going home. The coordinator though immediately went hunting for someone from another team to lend moral support. She found someone from the same team who had earlier lent us one of their mentors and a box of Lego parts so we could at least put a robot on the table. So, with the help of another team, we were able to finish the competition. I would equate it to Lightning McQueen helping "The King" after the crash, or the softball players that carried their opponent around the bases. It was a wonderful moment of sportsmanship and humanity made possible by an absolute failure by our coach.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJVYWwzOmVhbLR26aAo65NgRLurDO9dAU13TpRx9RPLLaSDc1h_eB2jEWTwGXqDlFYJqWqjNmOZ5sSihIdpRHmZU2k64j76Im7trXUbO6dDKr70iKKTjiypmlS1mJFwatq2kBlsQ/s1600/first.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJVYWwzOmVhbLR26aAo65NgRLurDO9dAU13TpRx9RPLLaSDc1h_eB2jEWTwGXqDlFYJqWqjNmOZ5sSihIdpRHmZU2k64j76Im7trXUbO6dDKr70iKKTjiypmlS1mJFwatq2kBlsQ/s400/first.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-89746556096074807272012-10-17T11:29:00.000-05:002012-10-17T11:29:37.783-05:00Something for NothingYesterday I was talking to my students about taking pride in their work. As we were going over a quiz some the students claimed that others had cheated off of them and received a higher score. From personal experience I know that strategic cheating can lead to just such an occurrence, but it is rare. In fact, I take a certain amount of pride in being able to game the system. It is my<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru"> Kobyashi Moru</a>. However, since I teach sweathogs my references to James Kirk settled into a holding pattern just above their heads and the conversation quickly devolved into students complaining about grades. Somehow we got to the point where students just wanted grades handed to them.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gpaCuD7HtSM7Jev7jX6b_t_lIJJL9paQxm4BjELagADVh0oAX26-TmdDjApkG1W3ImApbcKrqJizYls_Ml-U-o9JA-WZqYDXYs-FvX5rlKnz4e9lgSt6zhshG1g5qS_AcdMnBw/s1600/kobayashi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gpaCuD7HtSM7Jev7jX6b_t_lIJJL9paQxm4BjELagADVh0oAX26-TmdDjApkG1W3ImApbcKrqJizYls_Ml-U-o9JA-WZqYDXYs-FvX5rlKnz4e9lgSt6zhshG1g5qS_AcdMnBw/s320/kobayashi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have succeeded where Kirstie Alley has failed.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjliFvB0lP8ffeivunvcolNiXYCh28YtTalD-H1QzC565mukhOrZX1pT10WCF6o0M74BCdR4mSbe_SSLT1DK3C_wC7iJ2BIG8WSjsODcl0Jk84g7l_YfLHzuulUatAKEN8Yrc6aZA/s1600/kotter.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjliFvB0lP8ffeivunvcolNiXYCh28YtTalD-H1QzC565mukhOrZX1pT10WCF6o0M74BCdR4mSbe_SSLT1DK3C_wC7iJ2BIG8WSjsODcl0Jk84g7l_YfLHzuulUatAKEN8Yrc6aZA/s1600/kotter.bmp" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two things we can learn from this picture. 1. All of my cultural touchstones are at least 20 years old. 2. Gabe Kaplan could rock the stache. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I facetiously agreed with them and asked each student what grade they wanted. Most of them of course chose an "A". One of the more criminally minded student asked for a "C" because it was more believable. Only one student gave the answer right when she said that she didn't want to play my game. The answer I really wanted to hear was, "I want the grade that I earned."<br />
<br />
Since I did not get that answer, it was time to break out the sports analogies. One of the students played football so I asked if he would take credit for stats that were not his. He responded with a rambling amorphously mumbled, "maybe," that stunned me into silence. I couldn't believe that students are okay with, and even take pride in, numbers that don't truly represent them. They were equally stunned that I would not take advantage of false statistics.<br />
<br />
In order to prove their point they hauled out the steamer-trunk of improbable hypotheticals and a boat-load of cliches. "If you think about it, it would be like if somebody just came up to you and handed you $1000, you know what I'm saying?"<br />
<br />
I conceded that if the financial incentive was large enough I might understand some claiming numbers that aren't theirs, but no such financial incentive exists when it comes to high school grades. Perhaps if there was a scholarship on the line or you were 1/1000th of a point behind the valedictorian, I could understand a little scheming.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqs6CIizoI6eV72D6zINLmArOQSRtBEYgg6A9RYLMIT7TkkHvbmnKhNsyCsnTU85VOY_6EwGHlDwH0gDOtQ2YSELQfWmZtlxfbEJVfatKIbZvcQw4l5GKAT5gG4jEB3N7lObRxA/s1600/students.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqs6CIizoI6eV72D6zINLmArOQSRtBEYgg6A9RYLMIT7TkkHvbmnKhNsyCsnTU85VOY_6EwGHlDwH0gDOtQ2YSELQfWmZtlxfbEJVfatKIbZvcQw4l5GKAT5gG4jEB3N7lObRxA/s1600/students.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">You know when I was talking about scheming students, this was the picture you had in mind you racist.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Enough of my students were familiar with golf that I was able analogize the heck out this agrument. In golf you keep your own score, and unless there is a large financial reward at the end of the tournament, I could not think of a decent reason to alter my score. The modest increase in respect from my fellow players would be squashed by the amount of respect I lose for myself.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgzxh9UzqQyBgJgThBFXnru7835AndThSqXy06fqCPiWYEFMlcf62sJsYA7rNke36H6vWnCUmDpCATUA7J66fJzGvGURSj00OYggkyXsPGAuZ4i1h7ZQAixl2JXdEQh25OSTbEA/s1600/golfcheaters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgzxh9UzqQyBgJgThBFXnru7835AndThSqXy06fqCPiWYEFMlcf62sJsYA7rNke36H6vWnCUmDpCATUA7J66fJzGvGURSj00OYggkyXsPGAuZ4i1h7ZQAixl2JXdEQh25OSTbEA/s320/golfcheaters.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I hope that beer is worth it Tim.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So when politicians and society create high-stakes tests and try to motivate students with high paying J-O-Bs all it does is create a damp dark fecund environment for the fungus of fraud. If a society wants highly educated students, then we should stop incentivizing the masquerade, and if students want respect from teachers and employers, they have to respect themselves enough to not participate in these self-delusions of grandeur.Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-91882318826569843812012-05-24T13:14:00.001-05:002012-05-25T10:09:02.181-05:003 Bullshit Arguments About Education<br />
I love to argue about education. It is what I do. However, I would greatly appreciate it if society would no longer resort to following three bullshit arguments.<br />
<br />
<strong>1. My Enemy Obviously Doesn't Care About Education Because He Does Not Hold Instruction Time Sacred.</strong><br />
<br />
Concerns about instruction time are legitimate when is comes to extending the school year. Some studies show that it would be the most <a href="http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/">effective</a> means of school reform. But I am not talking about reasoned debate concerning the school year. My issue is with people that use it as an ad homonym attack essentially calling their opponent a instruction-time-taker-awayer. They then drop the microphone and walk off the stage.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMx1UO8jcgyySq6OW-CLqHtPxSxNQuLVIqHt1Kc69pzEf-uDx640EbDQFZjvjMy5bqZFnO6QwajdjEkOxVy1rdph2JgOIZvAf2jSJmPVc1EbPtpXFu2lu6LCcdc6gABpSN7YLj_A/s1600/imagesCACZYQPC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" qba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMx1UO8jcgyySq6OW-CLqHtPxSxNQuLVIqHt1Kc69pzEf-uDx640EbDQFZjvjMy5bqZFnO6QwajdjEkOxVy1rdph2JgOIZvAf2jSJmPVc1EbPtpXFu2lu6LCcdc6gABpSN7YLj_A/s1600/imagesCACZYQPC.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These boys have been in school since 1941 and score an average of .002% higher on the latest state math test.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It comes up frequently during contract negotiations when each side claims that the other side doesn't care about the students. Administration believes that teachers are a bunch of slacking tenured blobs, while the faculty views the leardership as dictatorial facists more interested in saving a buck than a child.<br />
<br />
The argument would work if either side would offer a solution that would increase instruction time while being financially feasible. Which brings me to the next bullshit argument.<br />
<br />
<strong>2. You Can't Just Throw Money At The Problem.</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86cs3eLGjLvXXSxPhOIPZbfhsZ2VtJir3sjjSTffqBhCLIp8R40HSDzkeiR78adEYfcjm60DX6HK9lupC4TM5UUWObRWXNw1SeIYoGBEvLPsSN36tA5czXJONEZpgxaI8SL_u3g/s1600/Fat-Joe-Make-It-Rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" qba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86cs3eLGjLvXXSxPhOIPZbfhsZ2VtJir3sjjSTffqBhCLIp8R40HSDzkeiR78adEYfcjm60DX6HK9lupC4TM5UUWObRWXNw1SeIYoGBEvLPsSN36tA5czXJONEZpgxaI8SL_u3g/s1600/Fat-Joe-Make-It-Rain.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were going to hire Dr. Dre as superintendent, but he can't make it rain like Dr? Fat Joe.</td></tr>
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<br />
Yes, you can. As I pointed out above, more instruction time means more capable students, but this would require an increase of funds. Studies of instructional time have been historically difficult because the schools with the most instructional time have also been the schools with the most money.<br />
<br />
Keeping a building open when you are worried about making the electric bill is not a viable solution. Students would then be leaving a home in which the bills are not always paid to go to a school with the same problem. Cooling a school to make it a proper learning environment is a costly proposition.<br />
<br />
Teachers won't, nor should they be asked to, work additional days without an increase in pay. "But wait," you say, "aren't teachers in it for the children?" We are, but it is not a volunteer position. <br />
<br />
So, what is the solution. I don't know. Throw money at it?<br />
<br />
<strong>3. Tenure Makes Teacher Lazy. After Five Years They Just Put It On Cruise Control.</strong><br />
<br />
Bullshit. This is a horrible argument to make about anyone, but especially teachers. We enter the job because we love to learn, read, create, analyse, solve and synthesize. The stereotypes of "Ditto" or the Ben Stein character from Ferris Beuller are misremembered, hormone infused images created by adolescents and amplified by adults to create hyperbolic characters that we can laugh at.<br />
<br />
To a teenager a history teacher may seem the epitome of monotony, a gym teacher may be the high school equivalent of a Sith Lord, or a math teacher could become a rule bound robot on the verge of a melt down when confronted with a little congnitive dissonence. In reality they are historians, athletes, and mathmeticians eager to share all of the amazing aspects of the thing they love the most.<br />
<br />
All tenure says is that administration has to give a reason for firing a teacher and not just get rid of them because of a difference in pedagogy. <br />
<br />
There are a million places I can think of that would be more pleasurable to become a fat ass on cruise control than a high school classroom. Number one on the list? Conservative talk show host.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zUi44TwG_LS3nICcLRDKVDrZkRxWWPdaGwRv8lzbFUfVgJ8PXHyj1IMsRo3bhyphenhyphen7Qck0hmORD-jT0uo8bHrl6PPceVWpWDlVBv9KwrcqffhDzjj4tjWPLj9kJXIP9zzc1ornfag/s1600/rushlimbaugh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" qba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zUi44TwG_LS3nICcLRDKVDrZkRxWWPdaGwRv8lzbFUfVgJ8PXHyj1IMsRo3bhyphenhyphen7Qck0hmORD-jT0uo8bHrl6PPceVWpWDlVBv9KwrcqffhDzjj4tjWPLj9kJXIP9zzc1ornfag/s320/rushlimbaugh.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can't somebody take his tenure away? What? No, you are going to honor him with a <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/15/nation/la-nn-na-limbaugh-hall-of-fame-20120515">bust</a> instead?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-83211206982173945412011-11-22T09:29:00.001-06:002011-11-28T12:03:43.665-06:00Cash for Goals<br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The following is an exchange between my son's soccer coach and myself. </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Thu, November 17, 2011 3:36:59 PM</b></div>
<div>
Dan,<br />
<br />
So the tournament is Saturday first game at 9:00 AM. I have
been told that there is somethng else going on at the church so parking is going
to be crazy. Please arrive early.<br />
<br />
I really want to win this first game. I
don`t want to do something any of you are against so let me know if you have a
problem with this but I am going to offer financial incentives to the kids (of
course unless you say not to for you child.) The deal is as follows:<br />
<br />
$3
per kid for a win<br />
$3 per goal<br />
$2 per assist<br />
<br />
Here is why. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1321975752_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px;">On Saturday</span> I was at an indoor game for 3rd graders. The
coach for the team we were playing was within ear shot of me. Another parent
walked up and the coach said "hey nice draw on the first round of the
tournament." The guy answered "yeah. St. Roch." I recognized the guy who
answered since we just played the team he coaches the week before. We only lost
by one and had no subs. But the way he answered was as if we were the most
terrible team ever. Well I disagree. I think we have a very solid team as
evidenced by our last game. I think with a full roster at every game there are
several we would have won. I know it is not feasible for everyone to make every
game and I do not expect that. I am merely pointing out that we are better than
our record. So I want to win this game badly to put this guy in his
place!<br />
<br />
If you have a problem with this let me know and I will make sure I
shield your kid from my incentives! This only counts for the first game.</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">I took a moment to respond. I wrote the email that night, but did not decide to send it until the next day.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b>Fri, November 18, 2011 5:22:45 AM</b></div>
<div>
Kyle,</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I am speaking as a parent and as the coach of both the baseball and
basketball team, and as such I am concerned by the precedent that this will set.
This does not conform to my philosophy of sports.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
Financial incentives have no place in youth sports, particularly team
sports. I am not just saying this because the salary structure would preclude
Evan and any other defensive minded players from being compensated. Our players
are motivated because they want to do their best. Your proposal would only
encourage players to keep the ball and score goals instead of passing or
defending. Furthermore, it will create a rift between the players that have had
additional training and those that have not. Our boys are a team and as such
support each other in there efforts. There is no need to upset the team
chemistry. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
The goal of sports is to build better young men that have not only the
physical skills that may later result in a compensation, but the social and
mental skills to deal with both winning and losing. Introducing an arbitrary
reward system will undermine both of these goals. Youth sports are a learning
experience and winning is the reward for hard work and team play. Intrinsic
motivation is infinitely better than a financial reward.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
There are other leagues in which winning is the primary goal, but even in
Evan's <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1321975807_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px;">USA</span> swim team the emphasis is on
self-improvement, team work, and dedication. The winning comes as a result of
the mastery of these skills and personality traits. We all enjoy winning, but we
have to decide if it should be done at all cost especially in the CYC
league.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
With that said if you want to form a team of parents to totally go and kick
this other guy's ass on a soccer field, basketball court, baseball diamond, or
Trivial Pursuit board, then I will be there with my game face and a case of
beer.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Dan</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Apparently I wasn't the only one to respond.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b>Fri, November 18, 2011 8:42:36 AM</b></div>
<div>
Dan,<br />
<br />
I got various feedback on the proposal I laid out. IN a busy
moment I may not have thought through it all the way. A great suggestion was to
change the amounts to reward an assist higher than the goal. Makes sense since
passing is the key to the game. Another was to reward goals as a pot to split
for the team. Another was to remove it all together.<br />
<br />
So here is what I
suggest. I certainly do not think this is the most appropriate thing for this
age, I just want to beat this team. So rather then compromise the spirit of
what we are doing here I will tell the boys that if they win I will have a pizza
party for them to which I will most definitely pay for it myself as the victory
will be worth it for me. I certainly want them to play the way they have been
since the teamwork has come a long way this year and I do not want to disrupt
that as it could actually backfire.<br />
<br />
Remember, be there early since
parking is going to be an issue. Remember, if we cannot field a team we get
fined $100. Have a great breakfast and come ready to play soccer!</div>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-13136146432732173512011-10-18T16:46:00.000-05:002011-10-25T09:36:04.615-05:00We Need To Moneyball This Thing<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
Scientist have been sciencing education for years, yet there still seems to be a myriad of unanswered questions, answers that are abused by those with an agenda, and queries that have not been adequately pondered. Before we can begin to discuss the answers to any of these questions, we must decide on a common goal. The main issues seems to be educators and political leaders desire a different product from education and we use one instrument to measure both.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-sqtcasUt3zXeY13TamS1r-tO2OngwXJfc9yemcutWH4HRglt2b5V254Id_buVPBbLfazKHYYTmJWawunqdFHXZW_CABmi8DTZ46RDq7fZHo4RzZuonQaUVT1dkTNb3g2RpO20w/s1600/factory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-sqtcasUt3zXeY13TamS1r-tO2OngwXJfc9yemcutWH4HRglt2b5V254Id_buVPBbLfazKHYYTmJWawunqdFHXZW_CABmi8DTZ46RDq7fZHo4RzZuonQaUVT1dkTNb3g2RpO20w/s320/factory.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/whsimages/998243013/">I'm not sure what these are, but I don't think they will test well.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Since Thomas Jefferson said that democracy needed an educated populace to function, it has been the goal of free public education to produce well informed citizens/white, male land-owners able to make intelligent decisions about how to best govern the country. The conflict arises when we are being measured by government entities that don't seem particularly interested in good citizenship. Our students are pitted against students from all over the world, and I am willing wager that Chinese and Finnish schools are not overly interested in producing U.S. citizens. I am forced to conclude that we are supposed to be produce engines, not for Ford trucks, but for the economy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/5229397625/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNpe1vDTs6rS3VNMZliznnowoZfdS65pOlUjRBmV-8GVGUKIvZDvbleTqJRoBs5zT4oz-KsMDqgp1OBH1fVuczPwzlIqz47aIi9gHlURQSVf8xwP9dOhllp5Tmj5pifq6s-Pqmw/s320/chinese+class.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/5229397625/">"We love the electoral college!"</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
We need to Moneyball education. Teachers need to realize we are not be asked to create fine young people, life-long learners, or model citizens. We deal in human capitol. Our client is corporate America, and they demand good workers. Not drones and automata, but workers that will help them turn a profit.<br />
<br />
Now before you chuck your iPad across the room (into the appropriately cushioned iPad chucking area) and start calling me an idiot, I would like to suggest that this is not a bad thing. Wealth is an accurate gauge of success. Our puritanical forefathers thought wealth indicate God's grace, which is exactly right if by grace you mean intelligence, ingenuity, and endurance. Given the nature and history of this country we would have to figure "park effect." When such things as parent education and social class, gender, and psychological makeup are factored out we should be able to figure how much value a person has. Insurance companies do it all the time.<br />
<br />
Once we figure each students value to society, then society should pay back a certain percentage, say 60%. So if Microsoft hires one of our graduates then that school should get a signing bonus equal to 60% of the profit that human will produce. (I'm not entirely sure what to do if the product becomes a burden on society.)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8RnnuZ4T9w10xVViUYZjUTmE6KanHQ_rTjaieQPPDFPKLf0czLlHFudGkyIe04PDWtfb67Se8gxDXkkAsie613CFgAH2Feyz4Li6YuimeZ5Lav1Hx_2xpVSnANRQpxy5MN_utMQ/s1600/cash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8RnnuZ4T9w10xVViUYZjUTmE6KanHQ_rTjaieQPPDFPKLf0czLlHFudGkyIe04PDWtfb67Se8gxDXkkAsie613CFgAH2Feyz4Li6YuimeZ5Lav1Hx_2xpVSnANRQpxy5MN_utMQ/s320/cash.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/quazie/578252290/">"One data processor please."</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This goal would also align with student desires. Very few of them desire knowledge for knowledge's sake. They go to school so that they can get a job. This is so import that it often has to be spelled out J-O-B. We need to all agree on a goal. The reason Moneyball worked for Oakland is because they were able to shift their focus to the real goal which was getting on base. Education should be producing money-makers, and schools should be judged based upon how much wealth their students produce above expectations.<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-21034185097476653952011-10-13T13:58:00.000-05:002011-10-17T10:12:59.258-05:00Allegory, Symbolism, and Metaphor in Invasion of the Body Snatchers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirU7Ng7U_SI6PXNoG_O0fmZAIfiXdDrVbjicgfHYwlUN-A7aL-6vvagGkdd4eP4BZguKuYUNZIHXJ6JGEvJn6XX6s0Uol9P5j3IOO57uPGL6Ua-dpYOkiBMEr3c7UTzzhv1wOgFg/s1600/INVASION-OF-THE-BODY-SNATCHERS-landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirU7Ng7U_SI6PXNoG_O0fmZAIfiXdDrVbjicgfHYwlUN-A7aL-6vvagGkdd4eP4BZguKuYUNZIHXJ6JGEvJn6XX6s0Uol9P5j3IOO57uPGL6Ua-dpYOkiBMEr3c7UTzzhv1wOgFg/s320/INVASION-OF-THE-BODY-SNATCHERS-landscape.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Alien seed pods have taken root in lovely Santa Mira, California, the fictional suburban paradise that is the setting for<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/"> Invasion of the Body Snatchers</a>. Dr. Miles Bennell has just returned to town, and is surprised to find his patients suffering from a hysteria that leads them to believe that their close family has been replaced by something. He later finds out that they weren't hysterical at all, and there is not "a human being left in Santa Mira." There are many theories about what the pod people symbolize, but whatever your specific idea might be, it is clear that Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an allegory for the homogenization of American society. There are several incidents that would suggest that this dehumanizing homogeny is an allegory for the threat world domination by communism.<br />
<br />
Immediately upon entering town Dr. Bennell nearly runs over Jimmy Grimaldi, who is running in terror from his mother. Screeching to a halt Miles jumps out to question Mrs. Grimaldi. She claims that Jimmy doesn't want to go to school. Also of interest is the Grimaldi vegetable stand that in less than a month has fallen into disarray. He asked if her husband was sick and she replied, "We gave the stand up; too much work." Those who criticize communism believe that this is a natural consequence. If citizens can not have the fruits (vegetables) of your labor, then why would people even bother working?<br />
<br />
Later we find out that their labors have been redirected toward growing alien pods to distribute throughout Southern California. Any ambition they had to keep their road side stand open had been redirected to supporting the global domination of the pod people, or state. This seems to be the case with most of the citizens because later that night when Miles goes to a club with his girl Becky they find it deserted and devoid of music. It is just a well because they are quickly pulled away by an urgent telephone call from Jack, a writer. We find out that Jack has a "blank" corpse lying on his pool table. This is our first encounter with a preformed duplicate, and it is interesting that it is an artist that is being taken over. Toward the end of the movie our protagonist are briefly encourage by the faint sounds of an opera singer. They are certain that it means that there are still others like them. Of course, if we are taking from each according to his ability and giving to each according to his need, then the arts would seem to be superfluous since it does nothing to enhance the wealth of the state (increase the production of pods)<br />
<br />
Production began when "a seed took root in a farmer's field." This image drawn by the town psychiatrist brings to mind soviet propaganda promoting communal farms. And just like those farms a little coercion was required to get everyone go along with the program.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg662SzETZfbYW2M4UztlX2Q-fPicu4bCqBIZAIzne28y3yut3pz7LSKgICaRTv7jkno9lgne4SL9XsZFa-lFbKW8szP1z24Ak-ZYdYniAJs1x9mrAsIK75I7FRmNE-ammj6-BCJA/s1600/1210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg662SzETZfbYW2M4UztlX2Q-fPicu4bCqBIZAIzne28y3yut3pz7LSKgICaRTv7jkno9lgne4SL9XsZFa-lFbKW8szP1z24Ak-ZYdYniAJs1x9mrAsIK75I7FRmNE-ammj6-BCJA/s1600/1210.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"We like farming. Yes we do. We like farming, how 'bout you?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
He goes on to say that the pods have eliminated "desire, ambition, and faith." Both ambition and faith are the traditional victims of communism, and it is unlikely that out of all the qualities the writers could have chosen, that these two made the list accidentally. Karl Marx referred religion as the "opiate of the masses," but later adherents to communism instituted state atheism. The Agrarian Reform Law enacted in 1945 in Albania banned the practice of religion. A year later all Roman Catholic clergy were forcibly removed from the country.<br />
<br />
Whether the filmmakers intended to or not, the political climate of the Red Scare and McCarthyism was bound to seep into the production of this film. They have gone on record to say they were just commenting on the blandness and homogeneity of Americans, but in the rhetorically charged atmosphere of the 1950s viewers were bound to see this film as an allegory for current events. However, the film still resonates today because we must always safe guard our individual freedoms. The attacks on 9/11 rekindle the debate over the balance of freedom and safety, and without constant vigilance "you're next, you're next, you're next."Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-20153170341097571192011-10-06T12:17:00.000-05:002011-10-06T18:33:58.533-05:00White Flight? Affluent Fluidity<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Three districts in the state of Missouri failed to meet standards. St. Louis Public, Riverview Gardens and now Kansas City have lost accreditation, and according to state law students from those districts can attend other schools. This morning on the radio a spokesman for the Missouri Education Reform Council stated that he favored open enrollment. After my initial throat scorching scream, I reconsidered and still thought it was a horrible idea. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The exact quote that set me off was this:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;">“I’d ask that you think of the plight of these students and parents that are kind of trapped by their zip code </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">into these unaccredited or so-called failing schools, and hopefully a solution can be found for that," Knodell said.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Trapped? Such an obvious pathos move conjuring images of students peering at education through locked bars or snared in a net dangling just above a pile of textbooks. I thought, "This is a man that has less support for his ideas than my students do for their sagging pants."</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;">Knodell is Joe Knodell. On <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-knodell/20/62a/7">Joe's linkedin page </a>I learned that, well I learned absolutely nothing. Joe is a lobbyist with no prior jobs or interests.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">I did learn a little about his rhetorical skill at the Columbia Business Times. Apparently he doesn't like to waste time with facts and figures. He merely states that unless you are an intellectually stunted recluse, then you already know them, and they must support his point of view. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">"I could list the statistics that show Missouri lags behind in student achievement and how the United States stacks up against other developed countries in math and science — but these facts have been in front of us and in the media for quite some time." <a href="http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com/4592/2009/05/15/other-views-missouri-needs-educational-reform-now/">Columbia Business Times</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As a supporter of anecdotal evidence Joe would also like you to know that teachers are slackers.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; line-height: 24px;"><a href="http://blogs.news-leader.com/schools/2011/03/06/missouri-lawmakers-call-for-end-to-teacher-tenure/"></a></span><br />
<div style="background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://blogs.news-leader.com/schools/2011/03/06/missouri-lawmakers-call-for-end-to-teacher-tenure/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"Joe Knodell, the state coordinator for the Missouri Education Reform Council, said he has seen teachers’ performance change after they earn tenure.</span></a></div>
<div style="background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://blogs.news-leader.com/schools/2011/03/06/missouri-lawmakers-call-for-end-to-teacher-tenure/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">'They go into what I call ‘cruise control,’ where they won’t be the teacher they were for the first five years,' said Knodell, who is a former school superintendent."</span></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Oh so now we know that he was a former superintendent, but I am even more concerned now with his rhetorical style.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">When a pitcher is "cruising" we are happy. It means that he is being successful without struggle. Even cruise control in a car is designed to take over the mundane task of moving one's foot from the accelerator to the brake and back again, a task that though vital probably uses more computing cycles than necessary. If a teach has become so good at their job that the lower level tasks have become automatic then we should applaud those teachers. We have developed muscle memory. The repetitive tasks of our profession are now second nature.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; line-height: 24px;">Joe Knodell must be right, however, because he was a superintendent, and most superintendents I know spend a majority of their time observing all of the teachers in their district. I am sure he has extensive data to back up what appears to be a poorly fleshed out anecdote.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">Joe lobbies on behalf of <a href="http://moschools.org/">Missouri Education Reform Council</a>, which as far as I can tell is a blog. MERC doesn't even think they are that much. From their own "about" link we learn that, "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 24px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">The Missouri Education Roundatable Council’s mission is to promote improvement in Missouri’s K-12 educational system, including increasing performance, accountability and transparency." </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It's as if they took the mission statement formula and created that sentence.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b>[name of organization] + [linking verb and positive infinitive]+</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b>[parallel structure of catch-phrases and jargon]=Our Mission</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And they even got the name of the organization wrong. From the time of their creation to the time they wrote their mission the word "reform" changed to "roundtable."</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">From this same website we learn that Joe's curriculum vitae includes a litany of rural schools that come no closer to St. Louis, or any of the unaccredited schools, than Poplar Bluff.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Concerned educators, students and citizens will be happy to know that Joe bases his decisions "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">on what is best for the student, and what will further their educational goals." As a reformer this is a distinct break from the stated goal of most educators. Perhaps that is the reason MERC recently changed to a roundtable instead of a reform.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I am going to ask for a seat at this table because just from a logic and logistical point of view I don't see how open enrollment would help anyone that isn't part of the entitled class. If we are in this for the students as Joe says then we should consider that some students won't have access to open enrollment because trap was designed by our whole society and its economic structure and not by a bunch of teachers on "cruise control." These students will be left behind in economically depressed districts with nearly empty classrooms and a disheartened and unappreciated staff.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">White flight (affluent fluidity, in our post-racial era) is not reform. It is a return to the lunacy of the Topeka school board, racially motivated tracking, and classic classism.</span></span>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-84066504526309425132011-08-03T07:42:00.015-05:002011-08-17T07:07:14.760-05:00Disneyburg (GettysWorld)<div align="left">We had come to expect a certain subtlety from ranger stations and visitor centers. I like to think it is because of the well thought out plan to blend into the environment. They are always a welcome sight. Whether they use existing buildings like in Harper's Ferry or Cuyahoga, a low dark wooden structure blending into the forest as in Shenandoah, the barn like structure on the battlefield of Monocacy or the doorway into the hillside beneath the Frederick Douglas home, the rangers within have always been helpful.
<br /></div>
<br /><div align="left">
<br />The exception was Gettysburg. The monolith that rose before us seemed as out of place as those discovered by early man in 2002: A Space Odyssey and had nearly the same effect on our mood. The sign declaring a ban on backpacks was situated like a Wal-mart greeter at the start of the concrete path from the parking lot to the Cracker Barrel building perched at the end of a slight rise. So while I took our belongings to the car Colette and Evan went on in. </div>
<br /><div align="left"></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641787296248650482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQRWBjQD-MYF6uqpsu1cXRgf7g-xML4_aHsPodrdwPo7QC8WNF64wyHmLDZMMhOS7YMiccoLoS8xKFOp7iDeJv5ilr5MBju6sF3lShHGf1EBKCRyf8c4PPZRe2yQd7rr4MfpUjzQ/s320/Vacation+Day+5+001.jpg" />
<br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">"I really wish I had a white slat-seat rocking chair instead of this concrete bench"
<br />
<br /></span>
<br /></p>
<br /><p>Colette confronted me when I walked in after placing our bags in the car and tells me to deal with the tickets. It is then that I realize that the massive room is dominated by a ticket counter protected by a labyrinth of retractable nylon straps extending so far from the cashiers that I was sure that my 20/20 vision had failed me. </p>
<br /><p>You should know that Colette and I often play the "Craigslist Game" in which she flashes a picture of some piece-of-crap Spanish influenced sofa or an onyx figurine and I have to guess the price. I know she wouldn't show it to me unless the price was extravagant, but I invariably guess over a hundred dollars below the asking price. From the tone of her voice I could tell that I was going to lose the game again. When I saw the prices for the museum, movie, bus tour and something called a Cyclorama, I just assumed I saw it wrong, but no, in order to enjoy any one of the activities offered I would have to pitchfork over $100.00. </p>
<br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641793612375784210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzx0lVAClkiEq6ZBZIxJYqGFRUHWe916yNLPn_g5HuI_Ll5NdGrrdtYaKj4wLGpQtT1rK7wrpsQNLgkJg6T7nbWjgYZkdEdLPgbCt0OYUJPI5KpxHlth95eGjr1-xl9dA-rUCE0w/s320/ECenter.jpg" />
<br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">"House payment, early 90's entertainment center, hmm I just don't know."
<br />
<br /></span></p>
<br /><p align="left">
<br />The only thing comparable is the ride to the top of the Arch, which our family has never done. The NPS often partners with other agencies. In the case of the ride in the Arch it is Metro, the public transportation system in St. Louis. And in the case of Gettysburg it is the Gettysburg Foundation whose objective it is: </p>
<br /><ul>
<br />
<br /><li><a href="http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/2/what-we-do">To preserve, honor and protect the natural and cultural resources associated with the Gettysburg National Military Park, the Gettysburg Campaign, and the Eisenhower National Historic Site.</a></li>
<br /><li><a href="http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/2/what-we-do">To excite visitors about the past, inspire them to want to learn more about the events that have shaped America and prepare them to become better citizens. </a></li>
<br /><li>To make sure that lower middle class families can't learn anything. (This last one is kind of implied.) </li>
<br /><li>To provide the world with a Cyclorama (Big Picture - Wikipedia) of Pickett's Charge.
<br /></li></ul>
<br /><p>We did manage to finally find the park rangers tucked away in the corner. We signed Evan up to be enlisted in the UNION army primarily because it was a requirement for the junior ranger badge.</p>
<br /><p>This is not the first time Evan has enlisted in the UNION army. He marched and drilled at Whitehaven for Junior Ranger Day, came under fire at a Civil War reenactment in Mississippi, and shot a musket at the Battle of Booneville. He has visited battlefields at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Antietam, Manassas, and Monocacy. If it wasn't for his tendency to confuse The Clone Wars with The Civil War, I would say he was, for an eight-year-old, and expert. (General Grant's brilliant victory at Geonosis is legendary.)</p>
<br /><p>At least we had found the rangers, a respite from the tour-bus friendly commercial cavalcade of cyclorama. At every other battlefield or national park there has always been a free film or a fiber optic map detailing troop movements. Now all we had was a ranger program and the $30.00 driving tour CDROM we purchased at the gift store. Before I go on I should mention that if you ever encounter the TravelBrains CDROMs at any of our national battlefields, you should buy it.</p>
<br /><p>So the enlistment starts with the basic physical requirements. If there is a Civil War school, then there must be an entire class devoted to the delivery of the two-teeth joke. Basically the only requirement for a Civil War soldier is that they have two teeth, one top and one bottom. Though it is never mentioned, these two also need to be within close proximity. Without this rather mundane physical attribute soldiers would not be able to tear open the paper cartridge and load their muskets. </p>
<br /><p>Next came a question and answer session. Evan excitedly announces his favorite fact about bayonets, that they are frequently planted in the ground and used as candle holders. The topic soon turned to food. Since Colette and I are both teachers it was intuitively obvious that the ranger was trying to steer the musket volley of responses so that she could talk about hard tack. (Apparently it is hard.)</p>
<br /><p>Unfortunately, before she could order a cease fire, Evan said, "Goober peas!" </p>
<br /><p>The ranger looked confused, stunned, and to be honest a little shell-shocked.</p>
<br /><p>The pause in the presentation was long than Sarah Palin trying to answer a policy question. I wasn't sure what was going on. Burl Ives had consistently informed us that the Georgia Militia enjoyed, "peas, peas, peas, peas, eating goober peas." </p>
<br /><p>Along with "The Battle of New Orleans," "Goober Peas" is Evan's favorite song on our ipod. I doubt, however, that the ranger had the same play list so she asked Evan to repeat his answer. Still stunned, she then said, "no," and rephrased the question.</p>
<br /><p>"Did the soldiers eat pizza and nachos and stuff?"</p>
<br /><p>It is at this point that Colette and I diverge in our analysis of the situation. Colette insists that the young lady mistakenly thought that Evan had said pizza.
<br /></p>
<br />
<br /><p>I had a hard time ascribing that level of ignorance to a human being and assumed that the near homophones of "peas" and "pizza" were a coincidence. However, as of this writing I am beginning to doubt myself. </p>
<br /><p>The presentation continued running the new recruits through drills until a cry of charge. Quite to the ranger's surprise, many of the soldiers, including Evan, charged into the head high weeds. Upon returning to the ranks, Evan followed the ranger around assisting that the weeds would have been good cover. </p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641791414018542690" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjadFuM-F1-ymhtY77DfNVSEXurjwcPueXn7P6AVe0aFXqDlJoLqK5UCWU_V6NhRpSRzFcONy930oX95lOLZShmDckaTqtnVXV07suEGmAEr7osywfED76x6B9Yqm70rTRuypnhxw/s320/Vacation+Day+5+045.jpg" />
<br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">"Come on boys I smell a double pepperoni."
<br />
<br /></span></p>
<br /><p align="left">Colette and i had quietly decided that we would talk to the ranger to let her know about goober peas. Historical accuracy is extremely important in our family. I was still making excuses for her. Maybe since we enlisted in the Union (our army of choice) and boiled peanuts were more a staple of the rebels, she was trying to be hyper-accurate as well. Unfortunately, this was not the case. We explained it to her as Evan sang the tune in the background.</p>
<br /><p>She responded nicely enough, "I'm always glad to learn something new."</p>
<br /><p>Colette has since decided that she will only listen to over-weight, gray-bearded guys when it comes to the Civil War. I understand because these are the same guys I look for in the hardware store. Rangers and hardware-store-guys should be teaching me something new and not the other way around. </p>
<br /><p>At least we had the well-reviewed TravelBrains CD. It did an excellent job of creating the action, a cyclorama if you will, at the various locations along the driving tour. Though I should mention that they gave General Grant a fictitious middle name to go with the "S". This phantom initial came about because of a clerical error and stuck with Grant standing for everything from Uncle Sam to Unconditional Surrender.</p>
<br /><p>In another dubious comment Abner Doubleday is referred to as the "legendary creator of baseball." The may or may not be yet another error. It depends on the conotation of legendary. If by legendary the narrator means a fictitious story unsubstantiated by historical data, then he was correct. If, however, legendary means famous, then this would be another error. I'm always willing to give them the benfit of the doubt.
<br />
<br /></p>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-72488331832072978492011-06-30T08:50:00.002-05:002011-06-30T08:52:35.500-05:00I'm YouTube Famous<iframe width="448" height="279" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_i_qRfyv9-0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />That is me in the red KC hat. I came in second. The winner used water, which I was under the impression was against the rules.Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-87988151492599634292011-03-03T14:02:00.002-06:002011-03-03T14:10:11.592-06:00A PoemSo this is going to come off a little negative. I love teaching, and that is why I get so frustrated. I often feel like I am having no effect. The following is a rough draft of a poem I wrote as an example to a student.<br /><br />I can't believe there is still fifteen minutes.<br />Fifteen! And I could have sworn it was five.<br />Fifteen more minutes of gold teeth flashin'<br />while students are laughin'<br />out loud at inside jokes.<br />Fifteen, maybe Fourteen now of<br />students starin' at blank pages<br />reflecting the despair on blank faces.<br /><br />I need a student to succeed,<br />exceed my expectations,<br />but they sit and swat at F's<br />that settle on them like flies on the dead.Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-1652072388799097072011-02-18T11:44:00.013-06:002011-02-18T22:56:45.137-06:00Cyberword Association: A Tour of My Subconcious Mind<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlanham/2452611644/"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575099029820842146" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxisIUsU7-b1X7WMGwYFDpw1hc5XI1nX3gQzOlpyElD06xpvRzp9Y4HEVuAaJbwKrIjFi0jsRpT63zDdORIynjllMXDtwFVVHcBxq5EvT14StCjKeW0QcQXNo9Ulj19uVUvbIQdA/s400/Cell+Phones.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdd5uJP1fxHVl7KIWrIbOfvRIPAXWLz0Z7WYnHKIdeqPs0JkaxEMfeaoOS98u9tZ5BsCshxmi2LEGdDpwb8vQuc7mtwzSQ2VOvWlyJPoOMT08NUp5vb-yWo7iPnsepHu4VYd0jIA/s1600/Cell+Phones.jpg"></a><strong>Motivate</strong>: Isn't it ironic? It's like banning phones the day after METC, taking ipods away when just downloaded I Have a Dream, The networks down and you just need a device, getting mad a the Goth kid for texting Anne Rice.<br /><br /><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_AIFoBRIny0?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="480"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Transform</strong>: Students are the transformers taking everyday tools . . . no wait the teachers are the transformers giving students a new way of looking . . .no the technology is the transformer becoming whatever we need it . . . no I was right the first time it is the students, or maybe the teachers. Definitely the technology. Yup, the technology is the transformer, or the students.</div><div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" height="293" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x8QXU8TwjmQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="480"></iframe></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><strong>Engage:</strong> Total geek check. This was the first thing I thought of when I heard the word "engage." I mean seriously, if your are going to engage something it might as well be the the warp drive.</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><img style="WIDTH: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px; VISIBILITY: hidden" border="0" src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyOTgwNjExNzU5NzcmcHQ9MTI5ODA2MTI2NTY5NyZwPTk3NTA3MiZkPTAwMCUyMC*lMjBWb2tpJTIwV2lkZ2V*Jmc9/MSZvPTAwZWM2NjhkMzE3ZDRhYzI5MzM*MTQwNWM2ZWM4OGI5Jm9mPTA=.gif" width="0" height="0" /><object id="widget_name" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="200" height="267"><param name="_cx" value="5291"><param name="_cy" value="7064"><param name="FlashVars" value=""><param name="Movie" value="http://vhss-d.oddcast.com/vhss_editors/voki_player.swf?doc=http://vhss-d.oddcast.com/php/vhss_editors/getvoki/chsm=30250222a77a985a3d00302609f94f3f%26sc=3417821"><param name="Src" value="http://vhss-d.oddcast.com/vhss_editors/voki_player.swf?doc=http://vhss-d.oddcast.com/php/vhss_editors/getvoki/chsm=30250222a77a985a3d00302609f94f3f%26sc=3417821"><param name="WMode" value="Transparent"><param name="Play" value="-1"><param name="Loop" value="-1"><param name="Quality" value="High"><param name="SAlign" value=""><param name="Menu" value="-1"><param name="Base" value=""><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="Scale" value="ShowAll"><param name="DeviceFont" value="0"><param name="EmbedMovie" value="0"><param name="BGColor" value=""><param name="SWRemote" value=""><param name="MovieData" value=""><param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1"><param name="Profile" value="0"><param name="ProfileAddress" value=""><param name="ProfilePort" value="0"><param name="AllowNetworking" value="all"><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="true"><embed height="267" width="200" src="http://vhss-d.oddcast.com/vhss_editors/voki_player.swf?doc=http%3A%2F%2Fvhss-d.oddcast.com%2Fphp%2Fvhss_editors%2Fgetvoki%2Fchsm=30250222a77a985a3d00302609f94f3f%26sc=3417821" quality="high" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="widget_name"></embed></object><img style="WIDTH: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px; VISIBILITY: hidden" border="0" src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyOTgwNjExNzU5NzcmcHQ9MTI5ODA2MTMyOTA2NiZwPTk3NTA3MiZkPTAwMCUyMC*lMjBWb2tpJTIwV2lkZ2V*Jmc9/MSZvPTAwZWM2NjhkMzE3ZDRhYzI5MzM*MTQwNWM2ZWM4OGI5Jm9mPTA=.gif" width="0" height="0" /></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><strong>Connect:</strong> Voki is one of the new tools I took away from the conference. Not sure how I will use it in class yet, but that is half the fun. The other half is when a student comes up with a way to use it in class. </div><div></div><div><a href="http://www.teachtothink.blogspot.com/">http://www.teachtothink.blogspot.com/</a></div><div>@classwords</div><div><a href="http://www.danandcoletteoscars.blogspot.com/">http://www.danandcoletteoscars.blogspot.com/</a></div><div>If I trust you Facebook</div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/holdenmorton/">dishfunctional</a> on Flickr</div><div>and soon the holdenmorton channel on YouTube</div><div><a href="mailto:Phonedholden@u-city.k12.mo.us"><span style="color:#000000;">Phone Number</span></a></div><div><a href="mailto:dholden@u-city.k12.mo.us">dholden@u-city.k12.mo.us</a></div><div><a href="mailto:morden01@swbell.net">morden01@swbell.net</a></div><div><a href="mailto:dishfunctional@yahoo.com">dishfunctional@yahoo.com</a></div><div>Home Address</div>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-58713552880628947142011-02-16T08:12:00.016-06:002011-02-17T05:42:36.060-06:00Windows on the World: A Metaphor for Reading<div align="left"><em>Special thanks to my wife, Colette, without whose brain I would be drooling on myself in the corner.</em><br /><br />While exiting the Saturday matinee of <em>Tron: Legacy</em> I looked out the glass doors of the theater and realized that clouds had darkened the day and threatened imminent downpour. I passively plodded behind the herd dreading the gloomy milieu that awaited. In anticipation, and to avoid eye contact, I was marveling at the garish colors and psychedelic patterns of the lobby carpet. The mind melting miasma of flooring had so entranced me that I was barely aware of my hands pushing the lever of the exit. A piercing light popped my textile induced trance inducing an audible "gaaaack," as if I were a vampire about to dissolve in flame. </div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><br /></div><a href="http://fernrocks.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/tron-guy.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574306930678991490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPNLHDhLx2oTMvRfx_3mhKIde9QS8d-2B_ppygVF0D_UhIu06axBNXQZ0uBkGMq6I2R19HWAOfca4GScXhH06B89yt-JTrDos-Q-0RB7XpwgxPpXLO24F6aPEh9GFiRXtsFlyOA/s320/tron-guy.jpg" /></a><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">You would look at the floor too. Trust me.</span></p><span style="font-size:78%;"><p align="left"></span>It was the sun. The tinted windows of the doors had deceived me. Designed so that the contraction of the iris is not too sudden or painful the tinted glass had distorted my perception of reality, but it had also handed me a brilliant metaphor for the media. Granted the media has been, for a long time, referred to as our window on the world, but at that moment I realized that without accurate data on the nature of the window I had no idea about the truth of what I see. </p><p align="left">Sometimes it is obvious, the window is stained glass, filled with spiderweb cracks, or the shade is pulled, but more often than not the window is tinted, smudged, warped, or in some cases the window is a wall. You may actually have to search for the window or occasionally take a sledgehammer and make it.<br /><br />Even when dealing with a window that you frame and glaze yourself you still don't get a clear picture. Every photon of information must pass through the lens of your eye and diffuse through the filter of bias call the brain. Eye witness testimony is notoriously faulty because the brain sees what it wants, and what it misses it fills in with whatever sexist, racist, istist bullshit it wants.</p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 249px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 202px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574328892021020370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0aAVIIlyHMYcd_0b0qc3hhGqemS36a4WXv1AEXqq9vfiOqNAHiKOKgW7AopWkWRSZcU8YGbemg-i3vo3QfQwoBYt_RJmajSFEXjXbJRjzr05O4cyVnmjeYDEUH_cEgsWMsJ2hSA/s320/images.jpg" /> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">"I didn't see him clearly, but I'm pretty sure he was a Mexican."<br /></span></p><p align="left">Our view of the world is a shadow of a reflected silhouette passing through three windows. The window of the media, the mind's eye, and before the data even makes it to the media it passes through the mental sieve of the author. To truly understand any message a reader must know as much about the speaker, the medium, and himself.<br /><br />So is there an objective reality? Probably. That is why we should take Windex to our minds, study the glass, and only buy our windows from the most reputable dealers.<br /><br /><br /></p><a href="http://www.azpartsmaster.com/Products/Windex-CB317697-Antibacterial-Multi-Surface-Cleaner__G10150.aspx"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574295251396015906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfR0kUbFZZKcCHcto0ZNYfHT7k5RojuiirC8VnLx-m58_kLv10K-9StK_6JsC5nI9AUPfVU_l9p6mxfHdgLV_CvD1sJ53zm52NCmSvGIlv8Iw_-v2iBDvLLnDzzVRP97v7eewbw/s320/windex.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Clear your mind<br /></span></p><br /><br /><p>A good reader must know themselves. This requires brutal honesty and acceptance of her innate isms. The reader is racist, ageist sexist, phobic, philic, friendly, fiendish and fickle. More specifically her mind possesses these qualities subliminally. The reader must look inward to gain knowledge of the polarized lenses she wears at all times so that she can sharpen the diffuse glow of information. Don't believe me? Take on of these <a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html">tests</a>.</p><br /><br /><p></p><a href="http://splenderosa.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 206px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574302730730824770" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqdMHZqDMV4KfvqJN5Ag2REugJyVzPWNs67sdZoFAqjW2wXowQjC3FaiB_iWkf7Z-hLKZjzwN2Lc_t6b19W1h2qUa5-60EJ-1pxvaEVA4MBVgv4lPGHR8hqeTg4XmETxrrPRtIA/s320/6a00d83443d1b053ef0120a90292c9970b-800wi.jpg" /> <p align="center"></a><span style="font-size:78%;">I'm pretty sure it also smells like roses<br /></span><br /><br /></p><p>With this newly developed focus the reader must now turn his attention to the speaker. The speaker filters information twice, once through his own pair of D&G sunglasses and again as it exits his mind through a much more deliberately designed cut glass picture window. The reader must backwards engineer these lenses by looking for the signature frequencies created intentionally by the author and subconsciously altered pixels mutated by the radiation of his bias. Simply put, who is this guy, and why is he talking to me?</p><br /><p>Finally the reader should be welled versed in the art and craft of the medium, or window itself. What tools did the speaker have at his disposal to create the message? What are the limitation of the medium? Imagine the reader had no knowledge of digital effects. He may assume after seeing <em>Avatar</em> that dragon-riding blue people are real. This is hyperbolic of course, but apply the same standard to a reader that is encountering his hundredth or thousandth iteration of a popular TV trope and he might assume that every middle class white person has a black best friend. Without knowledge of the medium a reader can easily be manipulated by a couple of metaphors or a dash of alliteration.</p><a href="http://www.scifiscoop.com/news/new-hi-res-avatar-images/"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 177px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574303495898822450" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxyQxG82SbDKL-naQJ7eRINsKYiOLi5mhMOILDuzJRByuDLicILUK398C4DTuMc-UnTwni39I1M0_c93lca_xRlboCBb8stR8sc5HnSzQsgCnMim6laX6f7WRPc_rHI-CzRDvkg/s320/avatar-8.jpg" /> <p align="center"></a><span style="font-size:78%;">A "real" piece of tail<br /></span><br /></p><p>Authors are repeatedly asked to bow to the limitations of the medium and the restrictions of the market. The collaborative effort to produce the final product has a profound impact on the message. Whenever possible readers need to study the "making-of" documents for whatever they are reading.</p><p>Can a reader sit back and passively enjoy a message? Of course . . . . . . . . NOT. Unless the reader enjoys the constant shock and pain of a flash of realization or revels in the ignorance and fear of never knowing what lies on the side of the door. Then he must rage against the obscuring of the light.</p>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-7071580969388021962011-01-12T12:17:00.068-06:002011-01-27T10:14:13.363-06:00Mutant Message Down Under<div align="left">When approached with the idea of doing an all school read of the <em>Mutant Message</em>, I agreed. I was under the impression that it was a slightly fictionalized version of actual events. I also believed that it had been written by a journalist, though I now realize that was entirely a construction of my assumptions and bias. I thought that, like <em>A Million Little Pieces</em>, <em>Mutant Message Down Under</em> may embellish a few facts or even completely fabricate characters and events, but the quality of writing and core truth of the story would more than make up for a few flourishes of falsehood. What I found instead was a tome loaded with sentences barely recognizable as English, enhanced by a "gravy" (185) of convoluted figurative language and constructed on a foundation of 17<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> century "noble savage" racism cemented into a grotesque argument for new age philosophies, pseudoscience, and quackery.<br /><br />Marlo Morgan, author of this book, must have been the grand inquisitor's understudy in 15th century Spain and water-boarded with the best in Guantanamo in order to so effectively torture sentences into submission. The mangled beauty of her diction and fractured complexity of usage combine to create a macabre masterpiece. I am not a peevish matron concerned with a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">linguistic</span> status <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">quo</span>, but the sentences in this book border on incomprehensible. While fragment sentences can be used by authors to prove a point, Morgan seems to use them out of desperation. She says to herself, <em>I have words. They must be important if I thought them. Therefore they must be written.<br /><br /></em><em></em><br />In a conversation with one of the Aborigines about a grave they stumble across in the Outback her guide says, "There's nothing left here, you see, not even bones! But my nation respects your nation"(75). My guess is that the speaker is trying to say that his actions are based on respect for her nation and not for any remains that are in the grave, but that is a deep meaning buried under more sand than the six feet that covers the corpse.<br /><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565558599402233138" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvVJSvSMWUrBTOmQxNAZCfpQEcXVy5ZU4zf_sAdKbaPIWvW_yeRwUE3pm6wRoJEuw1bl4tZGuQFoJiOXKDFaRzvE94RHA-ZMMReXcnXOnJ_fUbbOa65HdRRmM5IQDeDJPUyugGiA/s320/grave.jpg" /></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Dig here to find meaning<br /></div></span><div align="left"><br /><br />Her word choice is frequently bizarre and awkward. When referring to telepathy she calls it "head-to-head talk"(63) Her cleavage is "nature's pocket"(14). Her diction sabotages any attempt by the reader to immerse themselves in the narrative. At one point I was reading the litany of things that she had left behind when I was blind-sided by a "grand elderly matron"(21) that was her landlady. Hopefully, Morgan will be able to return to her "employment position"(16) because her career as a wordsmith is limited. <a title="Balki Bartokomous" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balki_Bartokomous">Balki Bartokomous</a> has a firmer grasp on American idioms than Morgan displays here. </div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="left">Probably the most jarring aspect of Morgan's style is her <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">insistence</span> on layering thick gelatinous globs of figurative language like a salve onto the bruised and bloody corpses of her sentences. When describing the expanse of desert she was about to cross she said that "like the Energizer battery, it seemed to go on and on and on"(15). So, when presented with the vastness of the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Australian</span> outback the mental image she finds most helpful is a giant pink rabbit beating a drum. This is still infinitely better than the phantom image we are given when she is talking about a drinking vessel and refers to it as "<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">nonpottery</span>" (21). Really, because all I can think of now is a pottery vessel. It's <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">nonpottery</span>? Sorry. Dang, I'm seeing pottery again. My bad.<br /><br /></div><div align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 237px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564082855886593410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQdW4CfxrcivKsOimDvnpCWboDYhtDrH5hpGBQCD2Y-qXU0Xhn-bXkmJNiPxVsP0ktmIw4G8BDDxlSiLBTiPI4fAmbq3wmlGxnf3b4Wa9rrFhIYPfXAqpNo5t2VycX0_yR5W4eQA/s320/ori__72542025_1061965_Pottery_Vessel_-_RP_027.jpg" /><span style="font-size:78%;">What I'm not suppose to see. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><br />Phantom images are still better than the phantom characters that populate the book. I understand that like Law & Order names must be changed to protect the innocent, but to eliminate names entirely and just refer to the character as a "large, expensively dressed female" (33) reduces her from character on L & O to a random corpse on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">CSI</span>. In fact Morgan goes on to meet this female who was a guide at an unnamed science museum at an unnamed restaurant located in the center of an unnamed town. The lack of specificity is bordering on criminal. If Morgan was the key witness in a murder trial <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">prosecutors</span> would be forced to hide her for fear that her lack of details would necessitate reasonable doubt.<br /><br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 133px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 190px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565132657030655010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9-if44DHt-KTEmdxw8qWvtrA56QhDSC5qhWB8TpFO7JW7nWLRtQsLNXUVDsxvGnmWHKccxBy-kw-aPEq3Xa1G0INIuz6Igqyy7IOtvrANO24C_U9tNWtNCQz1xiUGSS2NlQQEw/s320/woman.jpg" /> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">A pivotal character.</span><br /></p><p align="left">It was this doubt that led me to question the book from the very first sentences of the introduction to the tenth anniversary edition of <em>Mutant Message</em>. In it she details the profound impact her book has had on the lives of the rest of the mutants. The closest she comes to naming any of these people is Lyle W. who was a "keynote speaker for a graduation exercise" (xiv) in a nameless federal prison.<br /><br />These testimonials were also my first hint that this was not going to be a factual account of Morgan's journey. This was a self-help book designed to push the message of alternative and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">holistic</span> medicine. Though I had suspected it of being filled with hokum and balderdash I was willing to go along for a while. I have tendency to believe in scientific theory, and just so we are clear theory means <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">thoroughly</span> tested and accepted by 99.9% of scientists. We are talking gravity level acceptance. However, out of courtesy and polite civility I would suspend my high standards for a sense of community during this all school read.<br /><br />My career in politics lasted exactly thirty-two pages at which point Morgan mentions her "special microscope"(32).<br /><br />"I had a special microscope that could be used with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">whole</span> blood, not altered or separated. By viewing a drop of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">whole</span> blood, it is possible to see many aspects of patients' chemistry graphically in movement. We connected the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">microscope</span> to a video camera and monitor screen. Sitting next to the physician, patients could see their white cells, red cells, bacteria, or fat in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">background</span>. . . Physicians can use it for many conditions, such as showing patients the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">level</span> of fat in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">blood</span> or a sluggish immune response. . . However, in the United States, our insurance companies won't <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">cover</span> costs for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">preventive</span> measures, so patients have to pay out of pocket"(32).<br /></p><p align="left"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565165551264472130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJnVaBz1v-flA6pi82nFiiZ7e9yiuVmFfeAY8OsNp8r5XGtw_xNLe_tws2FByO7LB-lLriWJK2OaZfeGJQCb7Cvec7aSZ6xnC4fLjlYkEc3ifmKaNE4qOdYE_493SSFjdNn5En4g/s320/microscope.jpg" /></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Pictured here: Special</span></p><br /><p align="left"></p><p>If at this moment Morgan had decided to view my blood in her special microscope I have no doubt that she would have seen absolutely nothing except the venom I was about to spew. Since Morgan was trying to dumb-down the procedure so that her apparently ignorant readers could understand what she was talking about, I had to rely on my Google-fu to find out that the procedure she was describing is called Live Blood Analysis which quackwatch.com calls "high-tech hokum." <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" class="blsp-spelling-error">LBA</span> has not met <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" class="blsp-spelling-error">CLIA</span> requirements meaning that it is not recognized by our government as being a valid test. Morgan basically stipulates that when she says U.S. insurance companies won't cover it. She has hopes that "the Australian system would be more receptive"(33). I can imagine her profound sadness when an Australian <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" class="blsp-spelling-error">naturopath</span> was convicted and fined for false advertising when he claimed he could diagnose illness using <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" class="blsp-spelling-error">LBA</span>.<br /><br />These claims made by <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" class="blsp-spelling-error">homeo</span>- <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" class="blsp-spelling-error">naturo</span>-, psycho- <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" class="blsp-spelling-error">pathic</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_28" class="blsp-spelling-error">practitioners</span> constitute a grave threat to the health of all people. The most obvious example of gross negligence and downright fraud is the study that linked autism to childhood immunization. Because of this study and the ravings of Jenny McCarthy many people decide to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_29" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">forgo</span> immunization. The problem with this is not just that now the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_30" class="blsp-spelling-error">un</span>-immunized are at risk for the disease, but they also endanger the lives of everyone else because of herd immunity. No vaccine is 100% effective so immunity relies on the fact that others are not carrying the disease. Even if you have <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_31" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">received</span> the shot you may still be at risk because you belong to the small percentage of people for whom the vaccine did not work. The perpetuation of this alchemical hooey is dangerous and threatens to give a new lease on life for viruses that have not graced our sputum in centuries. This is just downright bubonic.<br /><br />Later in the book she refers to physician's "bag of tricks"(90) and is "certain there has never been a doctor anywhere, at any time, in any country, at any period in history who ever healed anything"(90). The aborigines of course are aware of this and use their inside healer to cure themselves; even mending compound fractures in less than 24 hours. Apparently physical illness is caused by dis-ease in the soul, and our ailments force the body to slow down so that we can heal "wounded relationships, gaping holes in our belief system, walled-up tumors of fear, eroding faith in our Creator, hardened emotions of unforgiveness, and so on"(90). Later today I plan a trip to the intensive care unit of Barnes hospital to let all of the patients know that there medical problems are just manifestations of a faulty spirit. Chin up cancer patients, if you just forgive your cheating wife or stop blaming immigrants for taking your job you will be able to walk out of here tomorrow. </p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 209px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565780071858900194" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW51wvmWDhiiGs6z1Nt_w_kWfmZOdFMlKlIN82y6zBnBK2lrpQbvTpBZCz7zx59i6Jv7xbbVNp0qd1noaREqWFaV0mtRqGueFQWsvtu5p3egR23qkcXZbfmDh6kzvZ8r_g2RMp2w/s320/S_Navy_030423-N-6967M-235_Hospital_Corpsman_Wade_Henry_gives_a_passdown_to_the_night_shift_in_the_Intensive_Care_Unit_%2528ICU%2529_aboard_USNS_Comfort_%2528T-AH_20%2529.jpg" /> </p><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">"That one over there is suffering from 'hardened emotions of unforgiveness', and the kid in the back has a 'walled up tumor of fear.' I'm going to leave this with you because I am coming down with a case of 'eroding faith in our Creator.'"</span></div><br />Of course, with that logic I am surprised that Morgan is not wasting away in a nursing home considering the latent racism housed in her maternalistic reliance on the "noble savage" to spread her message. In his essay about <a href="http://gwis.uva.edu/sociology/alumni/Hughey.2009.Cinethetic%20Racism.pdf">Cinethetic Racism</a> <a href="http://mwh163.sociology.msstate.edu/Index/Home.html">Matthew W. Hughey </a>describes the noble savage as the belief by eighteenth century Europeans that, "Africans and indigenous 'new world' peoples were said to have noble qualities: harmony with nature, generosity, child-like simplicity, a disdain of materialistic luxury, moral courage, natural happiness even under duress, and a natural or innate morality." Readers of <em>Mutant Message</em> will immediately recognize this description as the Real People tribe encountered by Morgan.<br /><br />Many who believe in the noble savage, or its modern offspring the Magical Negro, view themselves as enlightened. I'm sure Morgan does not see herself as racist. She only portrays the Real People tribe in the most positive light. In her mind they are superior to us. Her logic fails on a couple of points. First of all the concept of the noble savage is a two-hundred-year-old, over-simplification of rich and varied non-european cultures that diminishes its subject to a philosophical concept rather than understand them as flesh and blood human beings. Secondly her idea of positive light involves enough radioactive libel to cause these "real people" to actually become mutants so simple that they are incapable of finding any other way of sending their message to the world other than abducting a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVF-nirSq5s">nice white lady</a>.<br /><br /><p align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 278px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565140024986015426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0k1ZtoN4PDBqBTzfxM87S7l0tbYyZIAzkAzZv87-S5TwZLPlByyC3bR0aEc9mtCiAnsyxcVE-2d09-J5GjD27XxAbsWhaivOWj0xioealvX0pwElYFAt5k-s9KnSJ7Ar6MsNew/s320/old+lady.jpg" /> <span style="font-size:78%;">Our Savior</span></p><br />When the only English speaking member of the tribe expresses sympathy for her narrow nose holes and laments that she does not have "a big koala nose" (68) as they have, it is obvious that she is exalting the superior evolution of these animal nosed people. Or as some might see it she is comparing them to the Australian version of a chimpanzee which as we all know is a perfectly acceptable thing for a white lady to say about a person of color. Later, in case we may have forgotten about "these people" and their "broad expansive nose and large nasal passages," she reminds us of the "nasal shape of the koala bear"(131) that makes them so perfectly adapted to this desert environment.<br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565559906113069090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2zZPOzAyuVNsG5-A4k_vx81WH7BXAKHWqLAkqtg-af23q6cNmS0R2401sjzbpOOe8niUo7ilhBv7bomhzpsFPo1axp_4yJCvhyhaGP9VEAxK9Pu4V1WPDXJ4J_C-LSLvWTMvZg/s320/stuffed+koala.jpg" /><span style="font-size:78%;">I seriously can't tell the difference. I'm going with adorable stuffed Aborigine<br /></span><br /></p><br />Unlike African Americans who purportedly have extra muscles in their legs to help them run and jump faster and higher than their white counterparts, the Aborigines have "a sort of animal hoof"(22) that allows them to perambulate about the Outback will little regard to protective foot gear. Of course this is not a genetic trait as is the nose, but an acquired trait that Morgan aspires too. Hopefully, the Aborigines can teach her how to walk-about just like generations of African Americans have taught white kids how to dance. (In a nice twist Morgan later teaches the Real People how to square and line dance.)<br /><br />Lest you think her maternalistic sense of awe and amazement is limited to the physical traits of the "Real People," Morgan points out that this tribe of "so-called uncivilized humans" have "virgin minds"(94). Amazingly in the same sentence that she tries to defend the Aborigines against claims of savagery, she infantilizes their brains and is grateful for being allowed into this unused, virginal space, a veritable blank slate.<br /><br />Perhaps I am being unfair. It is not like she is saying that they don't use their brains. She would never say that they didn't use any of her "so-called important educational concepts" like "logic, judgment, reading, writing, math, (or) cause and effect"(133). Seriously? She just claimed that they have no need for the left brain because they live in a right brain reality in which they only need to be masters of "using creativity, imagination, intuition, and spiritual concepts"(134). With such pronounced hemispheric asymetry, I am surprised that the Real People are not falling over in the desert from epileptic seizures.<br /><br />Ironically, the Real People <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_hemisphere">vocabulary manages to work despite this left brain deficit</a>. While our right brain society can only logically come up with one word for sand the Aborigines "have over twenty different words, which describe textures, types and descriptions of soil in the Outback." (84) This is merely an extension of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow">linguistic myth </a>that Eskimos have anywhere from 20 to 100 words for snow. In an attempt to give credence to her belief that the Aborigines are more in tune with the earth, Morgan simultaneously perpetuates and extends an urban legend, and undermines her own "scientific"(20)(51)(97) musings concerning hemispheric dominance. (Added bonus logic failure: If you follow the parallel structure in the quote you will notice that Morgan says the Aborigines have words to "describe descriptions")<br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 280px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 215px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565136111769595458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKVheyKKiQPAmXAWEY2TlRHl8NM5nUCmIu6OmY7m3-YtWY876NfDrZ2P62LHXw_eYGr6fIscdorb7e3OxFImvr4KdJstadCiY4wfVy2uO9vuRGmlE4dZ46lNLsora9gtYk1XLWQ/s320/sand.jpg" /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Aborigine IQ test: "Uh, sand. Seriously all I can think of is 'sand.'"<br /></span></p><br /><br /><p align="left"></p>Considering the paternalistic racism, pseudo-scientific devotion to nature, and the clunky dialogue the closest literary comp for Mutant Message is James Cameron's Avatar. Though Cameron clearly made a work of fiction (the Na'vi were blue for Christ's sake) he was still accused of have a simplistic view of Native Americans and other people of color. Considering that every actor playing one of the Na'vi was a person of color and they were saved by a square-jawed, white Marine, it is understandable. Morgan may not have a squared jaw, but we are led to believe that she is the chosen one sent with this mutant message from the Real People. This has offended <a href="http://dumbartung.org.au/report1.html">real Aborigines </a>to the extent that they sent a group of elders to confront her and ask her to stop promoting the book and using their culture to push her hodge-podge of eastern mysticism, pseudo-science, and new-age spirituality. She has never offered a public apology.<br /><br /><p align="left">Morgan's work is easily compared to a Hollywood science fiction movie, her diction indicates that she had a bout of childhood deafness, and her flourishes of figurative language are an effective argument that 100 monkeys with 100 typewriters could indeed produce a publishable work, albeit a work that is morally reprehensible, scientifically irresponsible, and grammatically incomprehensible. If you or anyone you know is considering purchasing this book don't. I suggest that you take up residence in the self-help (science fiction, malarkey, hokum, bunkum, hogwash, rot, drivel) section of your local Borders and harangue customers until they drop the book in fear. Then, even though Morgan says she has "saved you a trip to the public library"(xvii), I suggest that you go there and read about real Aboriginal culture.<br /></p>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-72711409815615954692011-01-04T11:52:00.015-06:002011-03-06T18:34:55.789-06:00Movies I Saw This Year<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhVjRDja3GkvH32Nfb4DIaGsfhlrMeyheO_y0540hcnHuCBMT_YAbYKKT6j5p8nKGcRJQjKHS73M8LDmpmkUVtNW7YwL4N-k38doAygUGpak30YYo07VecoZjcbWSPdBFvJ9YboA/s1600/tivoli.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559534541341126434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhVjRDja3GkvH32Nfb4DIaGsfhlrMeyheO_y0540hcnHuCBMT_YAbYKKT6j5p8nKGcRJQjKHS73M8LDmpmkUVtNW7YwL4N-k38doAygUGpak30YYo07VecoZjcbWSPdBFvJ9YboA/s320/tivoli.jpg" /></a><br /><div><strong>The Social Network </strong>- Sorkin's dialogue is awesome as usual, and Eisenberg delivers it beautifully. It was fun to explore the irony of the socially awkward Zuckerberg creating a social network. I don't know if it says anything about our world as a whole, but it is interesting that a plot about socializing, would have totally unravelled if any of the characters would just talk to each other.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Winter's Bone </strong>- Described as country-noir this film was not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be about the devastation wrought by drugs, but it turn out to be a mob movie set in rural Missouri. It never panders to the audience and allows them to piece the story together.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Inception </strong>- Beautiful movie with little heart. I can only think that Nolan did not mean for the ending to be a twist since it was telegraphed from the beginning. A bigger twist would have been to give us a definitive answer instead of the "is he" or "isn't he."<br /><br /><br /><strong>Toy Story 3</strong> - I wasn't as in love with this as other people. The ending was touching, but a lot of it seemed to service elaborate set pieces. I did tear up a couple of times. There just didn't seem to be as much depth to this world as there was in Ratatouille or Wall-e. Still the best animated movie of the year.</div><br /><div><strong>Black Swan</strong> - This makes me feel stupid for not seeing The Wrestler and The Fountain. Infinitely more complex and emotionally compelling than this year's other mind-bender Inception. Portman is awesome, even though I was a little ashamed of some of the things that Padme was doing. Aronofsky is amazing. It won't win picture of the year, but it will be nominated and should be seriously considered.</div><br /><div><strong>The King's Speech</strong> - M-m-m-my rrrrr-review of The K-k-k-k-k-k-k-king's Sp-p-peech. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush should both be nominated, and it was nice to be reminded that Helena Bonham Carter act and not just overact in movies by her baby daddy. "Excuse me, do you have Prince Albert in a can? Then let him out."</div><br /><div><strong>The Kids Are All Right</strong> - Julianne Moore nipple but after Shortcuts and Boogie Nights that not enough. Anette Bening will and should be nominated, but I never really understood the point of this movie. What is the take away.</div><br /><div><strong>127 Hours</strong> - Franco is a god and Danny Boyle is an underrated director. This movie is grueling, disgusting, inspiring, riveting, and amazing. It makes me thirsty just thinking about it. The cinematography was brilliant as well. We visited Canyonlands just this summer and even after seeing the ordeal he went through I was inspired to go on more adventurous hikes next time. </div><br /><div><strong>True Grit</strong> - "Fill your hand you son-of-a-bitch." Cohen brothers and Bridges 'nough said.</div><br /><div><strong>The Fighter</strong> - Christian Bale disappears into his role as a spastic, drug addicted, ex-boxer. In the final scene when I saw the real life people I was amaze at how dead on his portrayal was. Amy Adams is probably on my list after seeing this movie. The movie itself is fairly straight forward, but it is compelling and has you rooting for Mickey Ward to finally win in the ring and at home.</div><br /><div><strong>Greenberg</strong> - Okay, I only saw this one as I was passing through the living room. Ask Colette.<br /><br /><strong>Scott Pilgrim vs The World</strong> - Edgar Wright's first movie without Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and he proves that he is more than capable of working without them. When I found out about the movie I started reading the graphic novels and I would recommend them as well. Michael Cera is perfectly cast and delivers his second great performance of the year (see Youth in Revolt). It also has a great supporting cast including Jason Schwartzman and Kieran Culkin.<br /><br /><strong>Kick-Ass</strong> - Kicked ass. Again with the expectations. I thought it was going to be funnier based on the trailer, but that is not the case. I was also misled about the role played by Christopher Mintze-Plasse. Nicholas Copo. . . I mean Cage shows up and isn't embarrassing. Overall I think it was a good movie just darker than I expected.</div><div><br /><strong>How to Train Your Dragon</strong> - They cranked out another one. I don't remember a single gag from the movie and I didn't really care about the characters.</div><br /><div><strong>Tangled</strong> - If I was to rate this movie on expectations then it would score very high. Hopefully, John Lasseter's influence can continue improving the Disney product. Interesting characters and and some fun songs particularly <em>Mother Knows Best</em> and <em>I Have a Dream. </em>The film benefits from not having immediately recognizable voices that distract from the story.<br /><br /><strong>Tron: Legacy </strong>- They took the cheesy movie of my childhood and try to add Matrix level mythology. The entire second act is a snooze and the character of Zeus is as annoyingly out of place and Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element. Cool special effects, but young Jeff Bridges still resides in the uncanny valley. Daft Punk created and awesome score.<br /><br /><strong>Despicable Me</strong> - Of the two supervillian animated movies this year Despicable Me is the best. The minions are more memorable, and Carr<span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>ell</em></strong></span> </span>is able to deliver a more believable voice performance the Ferr<strong><em>ell</em></strong>. The soundtrack also has a nice little title tune by Phar<strong><em>ell</em></strong>.<br /><br />Also what the hell is with all the "ell." I smell the Illuminati.<br /><br /><strong>The Karate Kid</strong> - I have too much nostalgia mucking up my ability to review this movie. Jackie Chan is no Pat Morita and no villain can ever top those assholes from Cobra Kai. I think Evan liked it, but he has never spoken of it again.<br /><br /><strong>The Other Guys</strong> - I went to see this with my brother-in-law Paul and enjoyed it so much that I rented it so I could watch it with Colette. I went in expecting a dumb guy comedy and growing tired of Will Ferrell. I got the dumb comedy, but I also got so brilliant set pieces, satire, and a hilarious monologue detailing how a school of tuna would defeat a lion.<br /><br /><strong>Youth in Revolt</strong> - Bring back Arrested Development. Not that they will but I am required to say that about any movie starring Michael Cera. This a quirky coming of age story that everyone should see. At least that's what I would say if they wanted to use my quote in the ad campaign. Just because it is quotable doesn't make it not true. See this movie.</div><br /><div><strong>Alice in Wonderland</strong> - Unfortunately, I saw this at the $1.00 screen and was deprived of what was probably the only redeeming quality of this movie, Burton's visual style.<br /></div><div><strong>Salt</strong> - Bourne is better, but doesn't have the boobs.</div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Dinner for Schmucks</strong> - Best line: "You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not." A good performance by Carell, and it is worth seeing just for the mouse taxidermy. Colette tells me that Paul Rudd is cute.</div><div><br /><strong>Cop Out </strong>- I beginning to believe that Kevin Smith does not have talent. I forgot to watch the last 15 minutes before I returned it to Redbox.<br /><br /><strong>Hot Tub Time Machine</strong> - Funny as hell. Heavy doses of 80s nostalgia. If you have ever seen Better off Dead or Say Anything you will recognize the Cusack character, but the gags are funny enough to distract you from the story. Crispin Glover should be in every movie.<br /><br /><strong>Date Night</strong> - If not for the greatest actor of our generation James Franco this movie may have failed. Just as the movie is about to slip into boredom Franco and Kunis pump life back into it. Wahlberg does a good job as well. I was disappointed mainly because of my high expectations of Carell and and Fey.</div><br /><div><strong>Iron Man 2</strong> - Things blow up. I did you use it as a comp for Gilgamesh in my class this year.</div><br /><div><strong>Ramona & Beezus</strong> - Relatively innocuous kids movie. No harm, no foul.</div><div><br /><strong>Megamind</strong> - Not quite to the standard of Despicable Me. Character motivation was too subtle for kids and too cliched for adults.</div><div><br /><strong>Due Date</strong> - Downey and Gallifianakis are good together. Not as funny as The Hangover and a little derivative of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and you can't beat Martin and Candy. Still rent it if you want.</div><br /><div><strong>Day & Night (Pixar short)</strong> - Why?</div><br /><br /><strong>Easy A</strong> - I enjoyed the references to 80s teen movies. It is better than most movies marketed to teens, comparable to Saved and Mean Girls.<br /><br /><strong>Shutter Island</strong> - Oh yeah this is what a good director can do with a psychodrama. First of all the story is told visually and not like the exposistion laden Inception. Secondly, you get a better performance out of Leo and a character to actually root for. This movie made me realize that Nolan is just a slightly brainier Michael Bay, and that Marty is a genius even when working in pulp.<br /><br /><strong>The Town </strong>- I'm not sure why I should root for a cop-killing sexual predator. I was into it while I was watching, but it does not hold up to a lot of thought.<br /><br />Animal Kingdom - This may benefit from being compared to The Town, but this was a much more compelling crime drama. Now if you have a problem watching people continually do stupid shit, then this may not be the movie for you. The movie is from Australia and we all know that place was started by criminals so it must be good.<br /><br />Legion<br /><br />Exit Through the Gift Shop<br /><br />Video and Starz<br /><br />Ip Man (2008)<br /><br />Moon (2009)Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-21904315183295550122010-12-06T13:00:00.001-06:002010-12-08T07:58:10.984-06:00The Christmas LetterWar, Sports and Redemption<br /><br />A Year in Which Evan Earned 28 Junior Ranger Badges, a Turkey and Salvation<br /><br /><br />After years of avoiding guns and violence we succumbed to the rat-a-tat call of firearms. Colette figured that if Evan was going to be lured by the images of war, then he should actually learn history as opposed to the intricate political dealings of the galactic senate and the machinations of Chancellor Palpatine. With this goal we marched Evan to Indiana in January to visit the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln and a memorial to George Rogers Clark, America’s first action hero. Evan earned the first two of his badges on this trip .<br /><br />The next seven badges came on a trip to New Orleans that included stops at three battlefields and a fort; Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chalmette, and the Arkansas Post. While in the Big Easy,Evan also visited a swamp, ate plenty of beignets and played the washboard.<br /><br />Having covered the revolutionary war, the Civil War and the War of 1812 ,we decided that Evan should make a foray into more modern warfare, so in April we took him to a World War II reenactment. Evans favorite part was collecting the shell casings scattered throughout the field afterwards. The excitement of this reenactment, coupled with Colette’s NEH grant to study the Kansas Missouri Border Wars, paved the way to Mississippi for a staging of the Civil War Battle of Dover. Evan found himself close to the action when he was “accidentally caught on the southern side” during a skirmish.<br /><br />Fighting continued to be a part of our lives as Evan witnessed jousts and duels at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival in September and visited Fort Scott in Kansas the next month where he earned yet another Junior Ranger badge. For those of you good with math you have by now noticed that Evan is 18 badges short of our stated goal of 28. That is because I have not mentioned the epic vacation we took through five states in which Evan earned 17 more badges. Though Evan probably wanted to visit a few more forts on this trip, he had fun at Bent’s Old Fort, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, Natural Bridges, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon, Pipe Springs, Cedar Breaks, Great Basin, Canyonlands, Arches, Dinosaur, Colorado Monument and Nicodemus.<br /><br />When not learning about our illustrious military history or hiking through desert canyons Evan participated in athletic endeavors. He played coach pitch baseball, kicked around in soccer, competed in dive and continued to excel at swimming. He attained personal best times in all four strokes. He also took his first steps into the world of competitive eating, finishing two-and-half hotdogs at the Catsup Festival.<br /><br />Considering his increased consumption, we decided it was time that Evan started providing for the family, so he was enrolled in fishing classes over the summer. Most of the fish he caught were little more the bite size, but we hope that he will soon be appearing on the Fishing Network. In November Evan surprised us by winning a turkey in the soccer shootout. Because of Evan, we were able to have a happy Thanksgiving.<br /><br />The fourth Thursday of November was alsothe occasion of Evan’s first communion. He was very excited by it, but when asked if he wanted to go to church with Grandma the next Sunday he said, “I don’t want the bread of life today, maybe next time.”<br /><br />But it doesn’t add up, you say? We heard about the turkey, the salvation, and 26 badges. Aren’t we owed more badges? Indeed, Evan also earned a badge on Junior Ranger Day at Ulysses S. Grant’s farm home, and he completed the book at the Old Courthouse, part of the Jefferson Expansion Memorial. Evan’s curriculum of war, sports, and redemption will continue in the new year when he plans on taking up basketball and making a sojourn to our Nation’s Capital.<br /><br />Dan and Colette are still teaching.Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-29715027798703109492010-11-15T14:11:00.003-06:002010-11-17T13:07:18.869-06:00The Big Taste“Get that out of your mouth. You don’t know where it has been,” Devon Guntoe’s mom screamed as she rushed toward him to get the penny out of his mouth. “Devon that is filthy. It is covered in germs.”<br /><br />“How do you know?” Devon asked.<br /><br />“It doesn’t matter how I know. I just know. Now go get some mouthwash.”<br /><br />Devon stumbled up the stairs to the bathroom and got the mouthwash out of the cabinet. He was eleven years old and had been putting things in his mouth since as long as he could remember. Now let us be clear. He was not a biter. He was a taster. In fact he was a super taster.<br /><br />If Devon’s mom had taken the time to ask him where the penny had been instead of assuming he didn’t know, then he could have told her. “It was minted in Denver in 1978.”<br /><br />Big deal right? You can just read that. But then he would have gone on. It then traveled to the Federal Reserve in Kansas City and stayed there for two weeks until it was purchased by First National Bank. It was in a teller’s drawer along with 49 of its buddies for a while. The teller was a nice lady who loved to eat pickles. Eventually, its roll was purchased by a local gas station and given as change the next day.<br /><br />Devon could have gone on, but suffice it to say that the penny then spent the next few decades hopping pockets, making several trips back to various reserve banks and eventually finding its way to Devon who got it as change when he bought a package spearmint gum.<br /><br />“Swish, swish, swish, gargle, swish, spit.”<br /><br />Devon glanced at the trash. There were three empty bottles of mouthwash, two tubes of toothpaste, and a million gum wrappers. When you can taste everything, you will do anything to cleanse your palate.<br /><br />“Devon come down for dinner,” his mom yelled up the stairs.<br /><br />Ugh, dinner. Tonight was hamburgers, which was great for most kids, but Devon could always taste what the cow had eaten for its last meal, corn, field weeds and a little growth hormones. He had learned to cope by drinking gallons of water at every meal.<br /><br />“I made your favorite,” his mom said as Devon plopped into the chair.<br /><br />She had no idea what Devon liked. Long ago, Devon had given up trying to explain things to his mom. She just wouldn’t understand. So Devon made up a few “favorites,” and managed to make it through most meals.<br /><br />She had no idea the explosion of flavors that occurred every time he took a bite. It hadn’t always been a secret. When he was little, he had tried to explain to his mom and dad about the taste. When he ate liver, he would tell them that it tasted like poop.<br /><br />“Devon, just take one bite. It will make you strong.”<br /><br />He told them that lima beans tasted like moldy leaves and worm poop.<br /><br />“Devon, just eat three beans. It will make you smarter.”<br /><br />He told them that eggs tasted like . . .<br /><br />“Devon, everything does not taste like poop. Eat all of your eggs or you can’t leave the table.”<br /><br />Devon became quite skilled at sneaking, subterfuge, and sleight-of-hand. The family dog, whose name used to be Rover, changed to Porky. Devon felt bad when Porky was sent outside for taking food and hiding it in corners, but he couldn’t tell his parents the truth. So he ate what he could, and Porky just kept getting porkier.<br /><br />There was no dog to slip his food to at school so when students asked why he didn’t eat anything, he explained. Apparently, nobody wanted to know exactly how many fly wings were in each hot dog, or that each chicken nugget is only 5% chicken, or that the sloppy joe was left over meat from last week’s hamburgers. So Devon usually sat in the corner drinking tap water and eating a banana.<br /><br />“Eeewww gross! That is disgusting.”<br /><br />Suzie Meddleson was pointing at Devon. He stopped mid-lick. He had an annoying habit of tasting things that most normal people would not put in their mouth. This time he had been licking a library book that someone had left in at the table. Just the quickest taste and he knew the last person to check out the book. He actually could tell you everyone that had ever checked out the book.<br /><br />In this case it was a copy of Stinky Cheeseman that had been checked out by Eddy Bookman. Devon knew this because he had, quite by accident, tasted Eddy before.<br /><br />Of course none of this mattered because Suzie had the whole lunchroom chanting, “LICKER, LICKER, LICKER.”<br /><br />Devon jumped out of his seat and began to run. He didn’t know where to go, and before he could even ponder it, he ran smack in to Mr. Covert.<br /><br />“Hold on there Devon. Where are you going so fast?”<br /><br />“I have to get out of here,” Devon gasped.<br /><br />“Why don’t you come with me? We can finish our lunch in my classroom.”<br /><br />Happy to have a place to go, Devon walked silently to the classroom.<br /><br />“So, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” Mr. Covert asked.<br /><br />“The other kids were teasing me because I uh. . . uh.”<br /><br />“Spit it out, Devon.”<br /><br />“But I don’t have anything in my mouth,” Devon stammered.<br /><br />“The words Devon! The words!”<br /><br />“Oh,” Devon paused, “The other kids call me Licker.”<br /><br />“Why would they do that?” Mr. Covert asked as he pushed a little red button under his desk.<br /><br />Devon picked up a pencil off of Mr. Covert’s desk and started chewing nervously. Suddenly Devon saw images of unmarked vans, men in dark suits, and a secret lab in the basement of an old factory. Every taste bud on his tongue screamed, “RUN!”<br /><br />Mr. Covert glanced out of the corner of his eye. Devon followed his gaze and saw two men in black suits filling the window of the door. One was fat and one was skinny, but they both looked mean.<br /><br />“I’m sorry Devon, but you are going to have to come with us.”<br /><br />“Who’s us?” screamed Devon.<br /><br />“Let’s just say we head up an international team of ice cream makers and private detectives, and we are very interested in you unique abilities.”<br /><br />“Like my ability to kick your butt?” Devon yelled, charging at Mr. Covert.<br /><br />As he propelled himself over a student desk, the two men in the hall crashed through the door and snatched him mid-leap. They wrestled him to the ground with minimal effort.<br /><br />“Please prepare Mr. Guntoe for an E.T.L.”<br /><br />“Yes sir,” replied the agents.<br /><br />“What is an E.T.L.?” Devon demanded.<br /><br />“That is for me to know, and you to find out,” cackled Covert.<br /><br />The skinny agent whispered in his ear, “It’s an extreme tongue lashing, kid, and you are not going to like it.”<br /><br />When skinny leaned in, Devon was able to just barely get the tip of his tongue onto the shirt collar. Images flashed through his brain:<br /><br />A nice house on Maple Dr. with freshly cut grass<br />the coffee shop at the corner of Broadway and 1st<br />the dry cleaner on Main<br />The ice cream shop on Sherman<br />The post office on the square<br />ABC Daycare<br /><br />Wait a minute. Didn’t Covert say that they were ice cream making private detectives? Devon swished the spit around in his mouth a little more and focused on the ice cream shop. That was it. The ice cream shop must be their secret hide-out.<br /><br />“You get him out of here. I’ll call his mother and tell her that he has detention for not finishing his homework,” Covert said.<br /><br />“She won’t believe you. She saw me do it last night. Tell her you caught me eating food in class.”<br /><br />“Whatever, just get him out of here. We need to get the ETL started as soon as possible.”<br /><br />The two agents hauled Devon out of the school and into a van that was waiting outside. They threw him into the back and drove off.<br /><br />There were no windows, but Devon knew this van belonged to Skinny. There were three black suits with dry cleaning plastic still on them, a packet of coloring pages from ABC Daycare, and a coffee stirrer that tasted like dark roast and creamer. Devon just hoped his plan would work.<br /><br />As Devon relaxed he was able to hear the faint sound of The Entertainer by Scott Joplin chimed from a black box in the corner.<br /><br />“I thought I told you to turn that thing off. It just attracts attention,” the stumpy one said.<br /><br />“I can’t. The button is broken. Anyway, we are supposed to be an ice cream truck.”<br /><br />Devon licked the floor. This was an ice cream truck, but it hadn’t been used for that purpose in a long time.<br /><br />When they yanked him out of the van, they were parked in an alley. They odor of rotten milk and waffle cones filled the air, and the pavement was marbled with a sticky Neapolitan glaze.<br /><br />The agents lifted a metal door that revealed a service elevator, and Devon was forced in. The whine of the motor and grinding of gears would normally be quite obnoxious, but Devon had the slightly off tune calliope of The Entertainer bouncing around in his skull so he was grateful for the distraction.<br /><br />The smell of rotten milk became monstrous as they were lowered into the underground factory, and there was no sweet relief of waffle cone to same his senses. As his eyes adjusted to the light Devon saw row upon row of conveyor belts with armies of ice-cream cartons marching towards wide-mouthed trucks.<br /><br />Near the middle of each line was a dog, or sometimes a cat, held in cage with metal bars and leather straps. Their tongues were held out with a clamp and electrodes placed on either side. Wires ran to a computer with a read out that either said “YUCK” or “YUM.”<br /><br />The animals looked at Devon mournfully, but he didn’t know if it was because they hated the working conditions or because they knew that he was there to take their jobs away from them.<br /><br />“You’re not going to strap me into one of those things are you?”<br /><br />“No, of course not. We’re not monsters. We are just going to take a sliver of your tongue and clone it. It won’t hurt a bit.”<br /><br />Devon looked at him with a raised eyebrow.<br /><br />“Okay, fine. It will hurt a lot, but there won’t be any permanent damage.”<br /><br />“What do you need my tongue for anyway?”<br /><br />“Well, as you can see we have an elaborate ice-cream tasting apparatus, and we wish to simplify. And . . . uh . . .we kind of thought we could use your tongue to taste out criminals, spies, and terrorists.”<br /><br />“I’m pretty sure that would be you guys. You kidnapped me and I am pretty terrified. So mission accomplished. Can I go now?”<br /><br />“Yeah, no. We got some clonin’ to do”<br /><br />The two agents drag Devon into the ETL and strap him down, and then they wait, and wait some more, and wait just a little bit more, and after that they waited just the teeniest weeniest bit more. Skinny looked at his watch.<br /><br />“Where do you think Covert is?”<br /><br />“I don’t know,” replied Stumpy.<br /><br />. . .<br /><br /><br />Meanwhile, back at the school.<br /><br />“At least tell me what he was eating because he is the pickiest eater on the planet, and I just don’t believe he would be eating in class.”<br /><br />“Now calm down Mrs. Guntoe. I’m sure Mr. Covert can give a perfectly good explanation. Starting with some information about where Devon is,” said Principal Pavlov.<br /><br />Mrs. Guntoe turned to glare at Covert.<br /><br />“Uh, I sent him to the office,” stammered Mr. Covert.<br /><br />“Well he never made it,” replied Principal Pavlov.<br /><br />Mrs. Guntoe then grabbed Mr. Covert by the arm and demanded, “You better tell me where my son is right now, or I will give you such a tongue lashing.”<br /><br />“Well funny you should mention that,” Mr. Covert said as he tried to pull away. “We have been tracking Devon for quite some time because of his special abilities.”<br /><br />“First of all, who is ‘we’, and second of all what abilities?” Mrs. Guntoe demanded.<br /><br />“WE are the F.B.I.O.”<br /><br />“Oh what?”<br /><br />“No, the F.B.I.O, Flavor Based Information Organization. We are a super secret government organization whose goal is to collect flavor information and develop new ice-cream varieties. We were founded by Burt “Butch” Baskin after he discovered that the Russians were sending secret messages in the Rocky Road ice-cream.”<br /><br />“So how does this have anything to do with my son?”<br /><br />“Well, Mrs. Guntoe, Devon is a super-taster.”<br /><br />“Super what?”<br /><br />“Super taster. It means that he can taste just about anything. We were going to clone his tongue so that we could use it to find spies and create new flavors.”<br /><br />“Why didn’t you just ask him for his help?”<br /><br />“Uh, I said we were super secret. We can’t just tell anyone about our organization.”<br /><br />“Well you will tell ME where my son is right now.”<br /><br />. . .<br /><br /><br />Meanwhile back at the ice-cream factory.<br /><br />“Maybe we should start without him,” Skinny said.<br /><br />“I don’t know,” said Stumpy, “maybe we should wait.”<br /><br />“I'm with him. I think we should wait,” Devon chimed in.<br /><br />“Be quiet. No one asked you,” squawked Skinny.<br /><br />“Maybe they should have.”<br /><br />At that moment there was a loud squeal of tires, and a few seconds later the heavy metal doors clanged open.<br /><br />“Stop! Let the boy go,” Mr. Covert yelled down the hole. He pushed the button for the elevator.<br /><br />“Devon are you okay?” Mrs. Guntoe yelled down the hole.<br /><br />“I’m fine. Just get these goons off me.”<br /><br />“Let him go,” Mr. Covert said reluctantly.<br /><br />The elevator had reached the top and was descending again with Mr. Covert, Mrs. Guntoe and Principal Pavlov.<br /><br />Devon ran to his mother and gave her the biggest hug ever.<br /><br />Mr. Covert walked over to apologize to Devon. “Your mom says that you probably would have helped us if we had just asked.”<br /><br />“Yeah, maybe, but you guys totally freaked me out. Let me ask you a question. Can you help me so that I don’t taste everything all of the time?”<br /><br />“Actually, our scientist accidentally developed taste dulling technology we would be happy to share with you if you help us out.”<br /><br />“Dude, stop threatening people and just ask.”<br /><br />“You should talk Devon,” Mrs. Guntoe said. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that you had special powers?”<br /><br />“You never asked.”<br /><br />“Devon I am your mother. Sometimes you just need to tell me. I have a giant pile of hamburgers with your name on it.”<br /><br />“Mom? As long as we are telling each other things, I guess I should mention that I don’t like hamburgers.”<br /><br />“But Devon, they are you favorite.”<br /><br />“No. I think they taste like grass and chemicals.”<br /><br />“Well, what would you like to eat?”<br /><br />“How about a banana? And just bananas until Mr. Covert can fix my tongue. Oh and Mr. Covert, I would be happy to help you save the planet if you let the dogs and cats go.”<br /><br />“I would love to, but they don’t have anywhere to stay.”<br /><br />“I can take them,” said Principal Pavlov, “I have plenty of room and I already own a dinner bell.”<br /><br />“While I’m at it, here is the taste dulling paste I was telling you about. Just brush onto your tongue before every meal.”<br /><br />. . .<br /><br /><br />That night Devon discovered that hamburgers truly were his favorite meal, and Porky realized that it was probably going to be time to change his name again. For now he just sat next to Devin’s chair in a puddle of drool.Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29345724.post-73282377115453541832010-11-09T13:37:00.014-06:002010-11-15T06:55:13.946-06:00Turkey Winner<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdULxMnHIqh8ZMvNnSYpppMMYGNGDUUfIc5HOKskpODO-nH9e-q4C3NpiWjvH3PNucI-GHtKwYEqBos8iYWfFu988bhy6yWpkqhJ8RWu3XOlpQ9oQy43mCFgYaCER9rrRLUHpU1g/s1600/soccer.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 232px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537652529483050610" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdULxMnHIqh8ZMvNnSYpppMMYGNGDUUfIc5HOKskpODO-nH9e-q4C3NpiWjvH3PNucI-GHtKwYEqBos8iYWfFu988bhy6yWpkqhJ8RWu3XOlpQ9oQy43mCFgYaCER9rrRLUHpU1g/s320/soccer.jpg" /></a><br /><div>If last year was any indication, Evan would be eliminated in the first round.<br /><br />The little man spends at least three days a week flutter, dolphin, and frog kicking his way through swim practice, but ironically when it comes to soccer he does not have a power leg. So quite logically we were not expecting much when it came to the turkey shoot.<br /><br />As it had been throughout the fall soccer season, the weather was nice. This was the final game of the year, and the high that day had been in the seventies. Since the sun had gone down so had the temperatures, but it was still comfortable with just a light jacket. We were playing under the lights. I used plural because two light standards stood watch, but the field was pocked with dark blemishes and areas of half-light that lent to the feeling that we were all sharing a waking dream. The parents sat on the side line only occasionally looking at the field. Expectations had withered under the barrage of shut-outs and disappointments. We had won exactly one game, and on a regular basis the boys were outscored on average by about four goals. Several of the parents chose to perpetuate the stereotype of Catholics and have a beer to hold back the chill and wash down the taste of defeat. For the most part the players were oblivious. A few of the more mathematically inclined would announce the score, but huge grins of excitement were worn by all as they chased the ball up and down the field.<br /><br />Our guys scored a goal in the first half, but experience told us that this would not hold up. Evan had not been part of much of the game. He did have one nice break-away and pass, but nothing came of it. Most of us in the crowd were hoping that the clock would run a little faster and preserve our victory. The coaches facetiously promised a party featuring Justin Beiber, who happened to be in town that weekend. I don't know if it was the promise of the Beiber that did it or a lack of faith in the progression of time, but the boys of St. Roch scored a second goal, and the victory held.<br /><br />The turkey shoot would follow the game, but Colette and I started packing our chairs in anticipation of an early exit. The turkey shoot is not elaborate. The boys line up a random distance from the goal, determined by where the official threw down a jersey, and shoot in a single elimination format. Each successive round the distance from the goal increased. We were so certain of Evan's inevitable elimination that we boasted about it to other parents, but he made through the first round. There was no way that he would continue.<br /><br />At this point he was just shooting against other players on his team. There are players with much stronger legs. Some of them could kick the ball the entire length of the field, but this was not a game of strength; it was a test of accuracy. At this Evan excelled.<br /><br />With each round the big kickers would fire rockets, meteors, and other metaphorical projectiles at the goal. Shots that I would not consider standing in front of. Though the currents created by these shots surely resulted in Tsunamis in Japan, one by one they missed. Some by only a fraction of an inch. During the third round Evan was last to go. Every other player had missed. If Evan made this shot, he would move on to the finals. Our excitement was such that we had stopped talking about the event and were watch intently. Our chairs lay on the ground and we started to lament our failure to bring the camera. Evan lined up with the ball, took several steps back, made a running start and missed.<br /><br />The official recalled all of the kickers from the third round and tried again. Evan went first this time and made it. Every other player repeated their performance and Evan was the last man standing.<br /><br />Colette and I thought that he had won. Not quite. He now had to face the winners from the other teams in a final shoot-out. There were four players; Evan, the orange guy, the blue guy, and the other blue guy. Those were the descriptions Evan gave later on a phone call to his grandmother.<br /><br />Honestly, I have no idea why orange guy was in the shoot-out. He was eliminated in the first round. Blue guy went out next. In the third round other blue guy lined up for the kicked. It went wide right. All Evan had to do was make this final shot. The official placed the ball, and before he could remove his hand Evan ran up and kicked it. The official waved it off since the ball had not even stopped moving when Evan kicked it. If this had been an NFL game, I'm sure the opposing team would have asked for a video review, because this shot went left of the goal. However, since this was little league soccer Evan was allowed to kick again.<br /><br />Evan made the universal sign for "calm the heck down." He placed both hands palm down at about chest level and shoved the anxiety down to his waste. I don't think I had ever seen him this excited. It was like a real life Lego Clone Trooper had shown up to his birthday party.<br /><br />With the ball in place, Evan took a few steps back to get a running start. One . . . two. . . three, kick. The ball rolled straight on the ground. No lift. No air between ball and turf, and by turf I mean a lumpy, grass clumpy field that threaten to knock Evan's shot off course. But for each hillock and ant hill pushing the ball right there was an equal and opposite clump of soil making a course correction, and the ball trickled into the goal.<br /><br />I ran over and grabbed Evan hoisting him into the air. A reaction that should be limited to winning the world cup or greeting soldiers returning from war. Feeling a tad embarrassed, I immediately put him down so that he could be swarmed by his teammates who tried unsuccessfully to do some hoisting of their own. And for the next twenty-four hours Evan was known as Turkey-Winner.</div>Dan Holdenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11392306605743702497noreply@blogger.com0