Beyond School - Latest Comments

Re: “School is Making Me Suicidal”

Helpivebeenbullied — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:30:51 -0000

Visit the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/BEENBU... I've Been Bullied ... lots of great support and information that you can get involved in! Also they have a counselor that you can email into to speak with about the bullying, depression and suicide feelings. helpivebeenbullied@hotmail.com.com Sometimes all you need is someone to listen and be there for you.. please reach out.

Re: Wikipedia: “Wikipedia is not a reliable source”

John Jackson — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:53:48 -0000

Hi Clay -
Interesting post and also, very interesting comments. I find the more technical replies most telling, for example Interceptpubs who found WP was "...controlled (via reversion, etc.) by people who literally do not know what they are talking, er writing, about."

I've documented my experiences with WP admin at some lowish levels here:

http://tinyurl.com/czt9ryr

and here

http://tinyurl.com/bmqvgzv

I especially sympathise with Physics Guy, when he says: "Wikipedia has become the number-one source of information, which I find
absolutely terrifying, and I think that those in charge of the site are
shirking the responsibility that should place on them to find a way to
clean up the bias, lies, and stupidity absolutely riddling it."

Re: Teaching Gallery

Sarah — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:32:42 -0000

Clay-
I so enjoy your work. I am thinking about taping my own metacognitive process of thinking through an essay prompt--or even multiple choice type questions. While viewing your blip site I got very interested to see your lecture/video on the Roman Republic as I might be teaching Latin too next year. It's not loading for some reason.

http://blip.tv/beyond-school-t...

I was wondering if there's a way to fix that?

I know I'm several years late to the game here in terms of when they were updated! Thanks for putting this material out there on your website. I have returned many times since stumbling upon your reading of Gilgamesh and have taken something helpful away each time.

Best-
Sarah

Re: “School is Making Me Suicidal”

Jmie — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:56:54 -0000

well this doesn't help the problem neither

Re: Wikipedia: “Wikipedia is not a reliable source”

cburell — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:05:20 -0000

Wow, congrats for managing not to understand my response to Peter in both tone and content.

Re: Wikipedia: “Wikipedia is not a reliable source”

cburell — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:03:39 -0000

I hope your dance steps are better than your logical ones....

Re: Wikipedia: “Wikipedia is not a reliable source”

A2aaron — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 23:22:37 -0000

Step 1: Find the "edit" button on a page in Wikipedia that you would like to correct.
Step 2: Edit said page so it is correct.
Step 3: OH MY GOD! IT'S NOW CORRECT!!!!
Step 4: Destroy this blog.

Don't complain, do.

Re: Wikipedia: “Wikipedia is not a reliable source”

Asdf — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 23:16:45 -0000

Wow, congrats for managing the not understand the point Peter has, refuting and rebutting the post. Double congrats for thinking that counter-points aren't allowed. Good job.

Re: “School is Making Me Suicidal”

Homestuckhetalian — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:09:36 -0000

I've cut myself due to school. Bullying by students, and even fucking teachers.

Re: Wikipedia: “Wikipedia is not a reliable source”

Guest — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 13:21:39 -0000

Wikipedia is a piece of shoes that I can't even stop laughing when I read some of those pages. It sounded like a child wrote it or something.

Re: On Leaving Teaching to Become a Teacher

Mr. C.K. — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:49:03 -0000

Yup. I'm doing that.
Creatively and emotionally burned out by the current education set up, so I quit and finish up today.
Going to have a short break, get my mojo back, then start a creative, collaborative, mad inventors society.
Fortunate to have the support of like minded people, and a principal who isn't afraid to try out new things.
Taking a risk. Hope the rewards will come, both to me and to the kids who will love the chance to create and hack and invent.
Exciting times....... as soon as I have had a good sleep in.
What an Xmas Prezzy...... [even if I don't believe in santa]

Re: Wikipedia: “Wikipedia is not a reliable source”

Daniel Clements — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:10:49 -0000

I think it's important to mention that you may not be entirely clear on what a reliable source would be in this context. Much like ID morons constantly putting undue emphasis on the "THEORY" element of evolution, lacking any idea of what a scientific theory is and instead leaning upon colloquial understanding of the word, in this case actual reliability is not determined by whether something is able to be listed as a reliable source within its own writing guide. Wikipedia is famously reliable, in fact many studies place it above traditional encyclopedias such as Britannica. Wikipedia does not consider itself a reliable source within it's writing guidelines, just as any other encyclopedias would not call itself a reliable source to its own writers. Encyclopedias draw upon other sources to form coherent and exhaustive records of information and knowledge. If the writer of an encyclopedia or the editor of a wikipedia article could consider his own writing to be a reliable source simply by the merits of it appearing in the very publication he is contributing to, than both formats would be reliant upon faulty circular referencing, where one article is used as the basis for another.

Re: On Meaning-Focused History

cburell — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:45:25 -0000

Just for the record, I replied to Joe on his linked post above.

Re: On Meaning-Focused History

cburell — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:44:28 -0000

Hi Steve,

Sorry to be late on this.

The short version--and another challenge of PLC implementation--is this: though I teach the course, I'm not in the PLC, so I don't attend the weekly meetings in which decisions are made.

Since writing this, I and another teacher in the same situation did attend a meeting and voice our concerns. We're hoping we'll see a difference moving forward. One of the big obstacles, though, is the philosophy of (over-) coverage pre-empting the time to devote to juicy questions. But maybe that will improve as well. Fingers crossed.

Clay

Re: On Meaning-Focused History

Newtons — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:53:46 -0000

Clay,
With all due respect, what is limiting your collaborative team from developing better questions? The frustration you're describing is very real, but I don't see how even a poorly designed curriculum from above can't be resurrected to some degree by a robust assessment system. Perhaps if you proposed a better alternative, your colleagues would have no choice but to concede. I appreciate the thoughtful posting. I too am trying to stimulate conversation around ed issues. I hope you don't mind, but I'd be thankful if you'd stop by my blog and take a look at some of the questions I'm trying to pose...www.cuttingeducator.com
Regards,
Steve

Re: On Meaning-Focused History

Joe Bower — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:48:46 -0000

I also challenge multiple choice quizzes and tests here: http://www.joebower.org/2012/0...

Re: On Meaning-Focused History

Joe Bower — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:47:09 -0000

I can relate to your frustrations. As a middle school teacher and now a special education teacher, I have grown tired of being held a prisoner to dysfunctional professional learning committees that's sole purpose is to standardize my teaching and my student's learning to drill and kill.

I wrote about dysfunctional PLCs here: http://www.joebower.org/2012/0...

Re: On Meaning-Focused History

cburell — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 08:02:22 -0000

"So tired of schooliness. Still in love with the big ideas, and with my students. Stuck in the middle."

--I couldn't say it any better, because you hit the low and high notes perfectly, and those highs are so worth the lows.

Re: On Meaning-Focused History

Sarah Miller — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 07:44:51 -0000

Bingo! My student's legitimate question (whether internally-raised or vocalized to me) is "What's the point?" In my classroom, I'm probably at about a 50% rate --50% of the time it does feel meaningful, and 50% of the time it feels so idiotically pointless. Facing the imminent extinction of millions of species and the inevitability of our own deaths--whether the individual or even our species, I am sometimes floored at the pointlessness of what gets taught in school. (And what I teach.)

I really love that other 50% though. When we talk about what matters, and we talk about what is true.

I think I would be a better teacher if I taught at your school, and we could have discussions like this about meaningful education in the humanities.

So tired of schooliness. Still in love with the big ideas, and with my students. Stuck in the middle.

Best of luck with your conversations at school!

Re: Love at First Read–A Daoist Thanksgiving

Stephen Downes — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:52:46 -0000

I thought about death a while back, as I do from time to time, and realized to my surprise that the purpose of death is to allow future generations to change and grow. There's no need to hasten it, but neither is it the terrible thing it seems.

Re: An Enchanted Place, Part 2: In Which We Say Goodbye

Clarence L. — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 07:34:51 -0000

It is kind of interesting how Christopher Robin and Pooh kind of relates to Daoism. The value of doing nothing compelling or forcefully is what Christopher thinks as good, just like the Daoists.

Re: An Enchanted Place, Part 2: In Which We Say Goodbye

Granite — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:39:32 -0000

I see a strong Daoist connection in this as Christopher Robin is attempting to preserve an inner part of himself separate from the influences of the outer world.

Re: An Enchanted Place, Part 2: In Which We Say Goodbye

Avinash Subramaniam — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:40:24 -0000

There is a really obvious connection here with Daoism, which I picked up - Christopher Robinson's words about Nothing. It's not exactly inaction as Zhuangzi and Laozi characterized it, since doing Nothing for Robinson is actually going into the real world and interacting there. I do however believe that it's similar. Robinson probably believes that the imaginary world is more fulfilling than the real world, since he does describe the real world as Nothing. Zhuangzi also dismisses the real world and material possessions, and extols the spirit.

Re: An Enchanted Place, Part 2: In Which We Say Goodbye

Justin Smith — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:32:16 -0000

I find it very interesting how John Robinson strives so hard to achieve peace and blandly, nothingness. These are similar if not the same goals of achieving neutral purpose in the world.

Re: An Enchanted Place, Part 2: In Which We Say Goodbye

Kendall — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:31:10 -0000

When Christopher Robin says, "but what I like best is doing nothing", this is an indirect mention of Daoist beliefs. Christopher Robin enjoys not doing anything that may effect and get in someone else's way. He doesn't want to meddle in someone else's affairs, but he still wishes to make plans for the future. Rereading this story after studying a bit about Daoism, it's really and eye-opener.