Teachers as Designers

This book was as difficult to read as it is to pronounce his name. I could probably read it several times and struggle. As someone in class said I was reading the words but nothing was coming up in my thoughts. Our class discussion was most helpful in digesting the contents and actually found it to be fascinating information of which I would like to find out more about his theories. I always like to think about the development with my own children as I'm reading these books. As I look back at our discussion, I'm trying to understand what he meant by language shapes how you think. Does he mean spoken language or any form of communication? Did the spoken language we used at home while my children where infants/toddlers affect how they think now or in the future? Will they even remember those periods of their life as they age? Does the language I use in the classroom help or hurt student learning? Do I need a different symbolic tool to use while I'm teaching? The biggest t...

I have to admit that I needed an on line dictionary open while I was reading this and I'm still not totally sure of what I read...3 times! I only wish it was an easier read as the class discussions helped digest it all and I found the topic very compelling. I'm glad we were able to pull out the guts to shed some more light on the article. Of particular interest to me were the examples that the authors shared with us. They were able to make a little more sense of the point they were trying to get across. One that really caught my attention was the first one regarding how many words kids are able to learn by listening, talking, and reading vs. the traditionalist way vocabulary is taught from abstract definitions without the context of normal use. Two things I thought about, one personal and one professional. Since my children aren't too far removed from their preschool days, I always remember being fascinated by how quickly they learned new words to use when they were com...

The Saber Tooth Curriculum and the End Principle...right now I feel like a Saber Tooth Tiger and am ready to pounce on all of these different locations that I have to go to for completing assignments. Maybe I'm too used to fish grabbing and tiger scaring so I'm going to end this and go get a pickle from the fridge! Ok, I'm back. Lesson learned. Do not try and write my blog late at night before class after a week's gone by. Here is the one I wrote at a more reasonable hour I absolutely loved reading The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, I sure hope that the rest of the chosen books are this entertaining and easy to read. I found the satire and tongue and check style of the author J. Abner Peddiwell to be spot on when making an allegory of the evolution of the Paleolithic period to the evolution of our educational system. As I was reading I was thinking that this guy has really nailed in with such an easy to understand comparison and I was so shocked to learn this was written...

As I embark on this journey in higher education, i have no idea where it will end up. I haven't been in this seat or on this side of the fence in over 20 years. Well, I've taken lots of professional development as a teacher but this feels different somehow. My first assignment is to create a blog so here I am. I guess I'm in the right place, it says "Blogger" at the top but other than that I have no idea.  A couple things that I found interesting about this weeks class. The first was the idea of overt and covert learning that we discussed in the beginning. Having not gone the traditional route of becoming a teacher, I'd never really studied this. I had the content knowledge so I planned and delivered it, never really marrying the two together in the classroom. The other eye opening thing for me was the difference between planning and design and that they are not one in the same. I have always been given a curriculum framework that was designed for me by th...