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...