Friday, December 2, 2011
Randoms 12/11
Addiction is the safest kind of Love you can find. Cigarettes, booze, food, etc... never asks anything in return.
Courage - It is not a passive activity.
Let go of the fear and use the celebration to catapult you forward in the creativity.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Some Chapters
1. THe Ferris Bueller chapter. be likable. it isn't about being the best, but rather being liked.
2. It is not community service it is sharing your gifts and passion.
3. So what?
4. Throwing a Party, who do you invite? why?
5. What do you love to do?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
College Admissions thoughts
I have been pondering some ideas about advice on the college admissions process. Who knows where it will go? book, blog?
*Start keeping a journal. Record thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Specifically about growth and reflection.
* Ask yourself the questions "So what?". Your smart, pretty, successful... so what? What have you done to give back or make change?
Colleges aren't always looking for the best, they are looking for those that are going to make a difference. Those that will bring something to the campus.
If you are hosting a good party you don't want all the same people there. Smart people are great, but you also need people to bring music, good food, people that will dance, you get the idea.
What can you do to get that college or university to want you on their campus?
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Education debate
If you enjoy following this stuff like I do this is pretty interesting. It is a discussion between Diane Ravitch and Geoffrey Canada about education reform. It is long but worth it.
Diane has done almost a full 180. She worked with the first Bush administration to help set-up no child left behind, merit teacher pay, etc... Now she has a new book. She is powerful.
The idea of wrap around services is fascinating.
http://www.amazon.com/Death-Great-American-School-System/dp/0465025579/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317828587&sr=8-1
Here is the link to the debate.
http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=0DA1B005-E93A-11E0-B00E000C296BA163
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
More educcation articles
Schools we need.
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6401
life long learner
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/09/01/the-single-best-idea-for-reforming-k-12-education/
replace the lecturer.
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/lectures/transcript.html
Midlle School Article
Friday, September 2, 2011
My best advice: group excercise
Find something you like to do that is physical and exercise related, then find a group of others that do it too. Join 'em! We are built to be social. We are built to love. Get involved with a group of people that share your goals and want to see you do well. It doesn't matter if it is a softball team, a crossfit class, or a walking group, gathering to sweat and talk is good medicine!
These people will love and support you, especially through the tough times. Endorphins work!
My Best Advice
Meet your in-laws early in a relationship. Once at their house and once outside their house. I am sorry to say all those things will come from your partner (spouse) at some time. How do they eat? How do they treat each other? What happens after dinner? The list could go one for a long time, but all these things matter. How do they treat the server? Tip? Hold hands? It goes on and on.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Buckminster Quote
"Humanity is taking its final examination. We have come to an extraordinary moment when it doesn't have to be you or me. There is enough for all. We need not operate competitively any longer. If we succeed, it will be because of youth, truth and love."
-Buckminster Fulller
Buckminster was a teacher and now I am a teacher. I work in a system of schools that uses competition as its vehicle. If your only goal is to find out who is the best, then this system seems to make sense. But if you value something else then it would make sense to call this system into question.
Many feel that our education system is broken, or at least pretty far off track. Yet we often hear a cry to increase accountability. The way we do that, we are told, is more testing and more competition. Creating competition between students, between teachers, between schools, between districts, and even between states.
What if we stepped back for a minute and asked a different question. What if our schools were based on cooperation rather than competition? What if students had to work together to answer complex problems and not race to win a standardized exam?
The geese fly faster and farther working together to form their “V”. The fish find safety working together as a school. Evolution welcomes efficiency.
Buckminster proved over and over again that the Earth can and will provide. Man must cooperate in order to share in it, but we must also provide for the needs of others. Hungry students don’t learn well. Students that are not safe or are alone can’t focus. Students consumed with chasing material gains or accolades don’t aspire to new challenges. By meeting the needs of those around us we all move forward together. Schools can and should be teaching that, not competing for funding.
-Buckminster Fulller
Buckminster was a teacher and now I am a teacher. I work in a system of schools that uses competition as its vehicle. If your only goal is to find out who is the best, then this system seems to make sense. But if you value something else then it would make sense to call this system into question.
Many feel that our education system is broken, or at least pretty far off track. Yet we often hear a cry to increase accountability. The way we do that, we are told, is more testing and more competition. Creating competition between students, between teachers, between schools, between districts, and even between states.
What if we stepped back for a minute and asked a different question. What if our schools were based on cooperation rather than competition? What if students had to work together to answer complex problems and not race to win a standardized exam?
The geese fly faster and farther working together to form their “V”. The fish find safety working together as a school. Evolution welcomes efficiency.
Buckminster proved over and over again that the Earth can and will provide. Man must cooperate in order to share in it, but we must also provide for the needs of others. Hungry students don’t learn well. Students that are not safe or are alone can’t focus. Students consumed with chasing material gains or accolades don’t aspire to new challenges. By meeting the needs of those around us we all move forward together. Schools can and should be teaching that, not competing for funding.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Schools: there is not one style
Schools don't have to be the same!
Why does everyone thinks the word school has to have a unified vision. No one thinks the word business means the same thing. Big, small, public, private, different management styles, different production models, some produce things, some manage things, some sell things, it goes on and on...
Just like we all don't need to eat vanilla ice cream, we want it our way.
But for some reason we think schools should be the same thing. Four walls, teacher upfront with chalk (now dry erase marker), text books, photocopies, etc, AND ONE METHOD THAT WORKS. The notion is ridulous. There has never been one thing that works for everybody, maybe water? How about we agree that everyone is right.
Montessori is right.
Waldorf is right.
Public is right.
Private is right.
Christian is right. In fact all religious schools are right.
Home schools are right.
Farm schools are right.
And all the other models of education are right.
Now let students, parents, and families CHOOSE what is best for them.
Clearly the model of public education works for some students! And that is great. Clearly Waldorf works for others. As an educator I can learn being in a Montessori classroom. I love seeing technology being integrated into classrooms. I love and learn from these things because I see students getting excited to work with information and grow.
Public education would take monumental leaps forward by injecting more methodologies into the mix, not creating a standard script.
And yes you would loose number to standardized tests, but who cares. They are indicative of very little. Finding superman missed its own point. World test scores are indicative of anything.
The gentleman, Anand Giridharadas, on John Stewart last night brought up the most compelling factor about India and China. He wrote "India Calling". It had nothing to do with test scores. It was about the fact that nationalism and the belief in hope were growing in India and China, while distain and antagonism is growing in the United States. That will bury us, not Math Scores.
Why does everyone thinks the word school has to have a unified vision. No one thinks the word business means the same thing. Big, small, public, private, different management styles, different production models, some produce things, some manage things, some sell things, it goes on and on...
Just like we all don't need to eat vanilla ice cream, we want it our way.
But for some reason we think schools should be the same thing. Four walls, teacher upfront with chalk (now dry erase marker), text books, photocopies, etc, AND ONE METHOD THAT WORKS. The notion is ridulous. There has never been one thing that works for everybody, maybe water? How about we agree that everyone is right.
Montessori is right.
Waldorf is right.
Public is right.
Private is right.
Christian is right. In fact all religious schools are right.
Home schools are right.
Farm schools are right.
And all the other models of education are right.
Now let students, parents, and families CHOOSE what is best for them.
Clearly the model of public education works for some students! And that is great. Clearly Waldorf works for others. As an educator I can learn being in a Montessori classroom. I love seeing technology being integrated into classrooms. I love and learn from these things because I see students getting excited to work with information and grow.
Public education would take monumental leaps forward by injecting more methodologies into the mix, not creating a standard script.
And yes you would loose number to standardized tests, but who cares. They are indicative of very little. Finding superman missed its own point. World test scores are indicative of anything.
The gentleman, Anand Giridharadas, on John Stewart last night brought up the most compelling factor about India and China. He wrote "India Calling". It had nothing to do with test scores. It was about the fact that nationalism and the belief in hope were growing in India and China, while distain and antagonism is growing in the United States. That will bury us, not Math Scores.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)