I've been concerned about the fact that I've only been given credit for Thing #0 on our spread sheet, so I've been going through said Things making sure I have crossed all my Is and dotted all of my Ts (yes, I know I screwed it up but I was more concerned with how I wrote Is and Ts . . . is this a quotation mark moment - "I" & "T" - and, if so, do I include the "s" within the quotation marks - "Is" & "Ts" or "I"s & "T"s? I chose to go without and put an end to it).
Anyway, whilst I was doing this, I came across the first non-required blog (Thing #6 I believe) I wanted to add to my feed in Google Reader. It is kind of cheating to use a blog that was given to us to read as an assignment, but the man used the word "halfassedly" and I was in love! What choice did I have but to become a devoted fan to Dan Meyer and his dy/dan blog?! And our affair only improved when I discovered he had created a video of himself paper-clipping for 24 hours! This man is a GOD!
I was scanning the Student 2.0 feed when I came across a post playing off an old Apple ad. As most of my co-workers can tell you, I'm the first person to gripe about how our federal, state and local governments have screwed up education, but I think this blogger got it wrong. The educational system may not be set up to "handle the square pegs", but the teachers do it anyway. We break rules, we fudge the guidelines on assignments, we allow for alternate assignments . . . H E double hockey sticks, some of us will even go so far as making deals with the devil himself to get our "square pegs" graduated on socially accepted terms. Honestly, our students, square or otherwise, are learning so much more than just reading, writing, and math when the attend most of our classes; they're learning how to navigate through society, that sometimes it's necessary to jump through a few hoops in order to get the treat at the end of the trick, that not all adults, not all authority figures are out to get them, that a person can be cool while still following the rules and not doing drugs. Most importantly, they learn to pick their battles. Speaking as a person who has spent her entire life in a school of some form or fashion, isn't learning to negotiate the course what school is all about?
Anyway, whilst I was doing this, I came across the first non-required blog (Thing #6 I believe) I wanted to add to my feed in Google Reader. It is kind of cheating to use a blog that was given to us to read as an assignment, but the man used the word "halfassedly" and I was in love! What choice did I have but to become a devoted fan to Dan Meyer and his dy/dan blog?! And our affair only improved when I discovered he had created a video of himself paper-clipping for 24 hours! This man is a GOD!
I was scanning the Student 2.0 feed when I came across a post playing off an old Apple ad. As most of my co-workers can tell you, I'm the first person to gripe about how our federal, state and local governments have screwed up education, but I think this blogger got it wrong. The educational system may not be set up to "handle the square pegs", but the teachers do it anyway. We break rules, we fudge the guidelines on assignments, we allow for alternate assignments . . . H E double hockey sticks, some of us will even go so far as making deals with the devil himself to get our "square pegs" graduated on socially accepted terms. Honestly, our students, square or otherwise, are learning so much more than just reading, writing, and math when the attend most of our classes; they're learning how to navigate through society, that sometimes it's necessary to jump through a few hoops in order to get the treat at the end of the trick, that not all adults, not all authority figures are out to get them, that a person can be cool while still following the rules and not doing drugs. Most importantly, they learn to pick their battles. Speaking as a person who has spent her entire life in a school of some form or fashion, isn't learning to negotiate the course what school is all about?
NM, you peaked my curiosity and I had to check Dan out. You're right: he is one cool character. I remember his "halfassedly" remark, which reminded me of what my dad often said, but when I first read it, I didn't take the time to get to know Dan. Thanks for the reminder. I, too, have added him to my reader.
ReplyDeleteThen, after your comments about the square pegs and the round holes, I had to visit the Students 2.0, which I did have on my reader. I wanted to see what the bass player had to say about education and his remarks on teachers in general. I guess he must have felt neglected by his teachers and sees himself as a square or whatever. You have hit your mark when you explain how we, as educators, "break rules, fudge the guidelines on assignments, allow for alternate assignments . . . and even go so far as making deals with the devil himself to get our 'square pegs' graduated on socially accepted terms." Many of us, too, were "square pegs," so we don't try to squeeze a square peg into a round hole, we carve out the hole to accommodate the square.