May 3...Teaching Toward Freedom (again)

Some complain that this book is too philosophical and too full of literature, poetry, movies, etc. to be of much use--in essence it's to abstract. I‘ve come to see it as providing great descriptions of classrooms where kids are getting taken seriously as people. In some ways it is a guide for how to teach in a way that overcomes Johnson’s problems of privilege and power and even the whole standardized culture of public school today. Try to find some evidence in the book that I am not crazy and that this is the case (or feel free to disagree and provide some critique of my use of this text).

April 19...Teaching Toward Freedom

Ayers claims that education is always “for something and against something else” (p. 10). He also talks about how education tends to be humanizing or dehumanizing and that it’s surprisingly hard to know which you are working toward (p. 16). Discuss some of what you’ve seen out in schools (via practicum or through other experiences) and what it might’ve been “for” or “against” and whether it was humanizing or dehumanizing.

April 12… Privilege Power and Difference, pt. 2 (no class but please post by the 12th)

Weigh in on what Johnson’s ideas (both his description of the problems of privilege and his proposed solutions) might have to do with being an educator? Do you think he accomplished his goal of trying to get those in privileged groups in dialogue in a way that doesn’t make them defensive?

April 5...Privilege, Power and Difference in the Context of Schooling in the U.S.

Read one of the following articles (click the title to access the article):

Some Scary Training for Teachers (Washington Post)

Odell Beckham Jr. vs. Toxic Black Masculinity

Lipstick and Nail Files Wont' Draw Women into Science

Why White Parents Wont' Choose Black Schools

Provide some comments about whether and how the article you read relates to the Johnson text and/or your life/future life as an educator. Note: the comments at the end provide a variety of points of view ranging from agreement with the author to well-reasoned disagreement to knee-jerk reactions against the article. While I often try to steer clear of comments sections, skimming them can present a shorthand version of some of the most common ways of thinking about the topics at hand.

From our class discussion I sense that there are a variety of opinions about the politics suggested by Johnson's ideas. I hope that regardless of your initial reaction to Johnson's project that you will do some hard thinking about the ways in which Johnson, your own ways of thinking, and the needs of the children you serve/will serve might relate to each other.

February 23...Honing our I-A-G Ideas

Great work last week! We've narrowed down our list of ideas considerably (rounds, gardens, autism, book drive for homeless kids, and STEM for girls). I have decided to use the blog again this week to help us hone and finalize our ideas for the group project. For this week's blog, please post about one or more of the ideas. Please feel free to use the evolving criteria for the projects as a way to understand and critique whichever idea you choose to consider. The latest version of the criteria is:

• ·       Meets community need? Identifies necessary community contacts/partners?
• ·       Is doable within constraints of the class? Has reasonable clear objective(s)? Plan is Clear?
• ·       Has some link to schools?
• ·       Does not require students (you) to be “experts”?
• ·       Is not exploitive or patronizing or potentially embarrassing for community partners?
•      Has potential for continuity (i.e., the project could live on beyond this class)? Note: this last one is preferable but not necessary.

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February 16…Ideas for our Inquiry-to-Action Projects

You recently received an email with a short description of each of the potential projects we brainstormed. Read over them and post your thoughts about one or more of them here. You are only required to post once, but my hope is that you will post and read through what others are saying and consider continuing to participate because the more we get done developing and critiquing these ideas now, the better off we will be when we get to class on Tuesday. To get started, either pick an idea and write something about it or feel free to propose a new idea! Here’s the ideas, thus far:

• ·       Hosting or volunteering “Girls on the Run” 5k to encourage girls to be active
• ·       Making community libraries for school(s) to promote literacy
• ·       Integration of arts in the schools (possibly using Visual Arts Center
• ·       Rounds (this is a new one)
• ·       Interactive cards to learn about garden
• ·       Parent interviews to compare feelings about homework
• ·       Autism awareness (surveys or booth)
• ·       Cultural awareness schools
• ·       Working with local libraries for a book drive
• ·       Homelessness (Spotlights, mattress drive, making materials
• ·       Female population in STEM

February 9... Practical Wisdom and the Life of an Educator

Have you done much thinking about how and whether the professional responsibilities of educators go beyond the classroom and school? Does the idea of practical wisdom (from the Schwartz and Sharpe reading) jibe with your idea of what it means to be a teacher/counselor? Do you see any connections between these questions and last week's discussion about the relationship between the private and public parts of an educator's life? Note: you don't need to address all of this, the blog prompt is simply intended to get you thinking about what we've read and discussed... 

February 2...Visions of Teaching and Reasons for Schooling

Take some aspect of what Kumashiro is talking about and use it to reflect on your program thus far (this will work for counselors, too!).  Feel free to write about whatever you want, but one possibility is to think about whether/how you’ve seen Kumashiro’s three kinds of teachers (teacher as learned professional, as researcher, as professional) show up in your classes, practica, etc.).

January 26...Labaree’s Competing Purposes of Schools

Are there any major purposes of schooling left out by Labaree? What do you make of his conclusion (Is there any hope to push back against the predominant notion of education as a private good?)?