Too Many Kids Go To College: Our First Debate in Chicago.
This boils down to Peter Theil (For) vs. Vivek Wadhwa. What I like about this site is that it allows the audience members to weigh in. So far Theil's panel did a better job convincing the audience than Wadhwa's side.
Instead of placing the blame on too many kids going to college, why don't we try and spotlight the availability of jobs that don't require college degrees? Maybe if there were more of those, the issue would be moot.
LHS is tackling this head on with our college and career readiness program that is being instituted this year.
I have this pipe dream that if I ever take over the National Honor Society program at Lincoln, I'd love to build some form of debate into it as a requirement. I'd love to spotlight our faculty, with panels of students, who debate serious concepts.
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Secret of a Successful Learner
This is an interesting blog post that is all too relevant right now. A teacher can have all the bells and whistles in their lesson plans and they can strive hard to entertain and engage the students, but if the student isn't willing to put worth a bit of effort, then learning doesn't occur.
The blame cannot be place solely on the teacher nor solely on the learner. It has to be an instant of where each work hard to meet in the middle. Too often, though, learners have had to do the bulk of the work. That's sad and a big part of the problem with education in our country.
Here are some infographs from the post that I thought were very interesting.
This one terrifies me. I don't want us to start educating our kids like the Chinese.
First, I don't want students to take even more high stakes tests than they do. I'm not anti testing at all. I just want better more engaging tests.
Second, I don't know that we should put our kids through 12 hours of education every day. I certainly don't think we should be so driven by athletics like we are though. Maybe if we built internships or praticums into the school day, then I wouldn't have a problem with it stretching out to 12 hours.
Here is a great video examining how students learn and what we can do differently to engage them.
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Here is a article and an great infographic on the greatest books of all time.
Nothing makes me feel like an inadequate English major than lists like this! There's just so much I haven't read.
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If you have ever taken a class of mine, you will recall me talking about the importance of failing.
This blogger agrees. And I am terrified that we insulate our kids against failure. Sure we protect them and want them to succeed. Yet what is going to happen to them when they get into college or the real world and experience some adversity?
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This comes from one of my favorite bloggers, Connected Principals, and it focuses on 7 Ways to Transform Your Classroom.
If you know me at all, you know I'm a huge advocate of voice - in both writing and also in giving students a voice in how the class is shaped and structured.
I love something Thomas Friedman said in The World is Flat: if it ain't happening, it's because you aren't doing it. Let's empower our students to make changes and get involved.
I'm also a fan of play. We all learn best while we play. In fact, sometimes the most rewarding aspects of our lives come from when we enter a state of flow, and this usually results from some sort of aspect of play. And by this I'm not implying just sports.
Think of something you love to do. Or think of something that really entertains or engages you. Where the time flies by. Where it doesn't really even feel like work. Where it feels like, well you guessed it, play. We need more of that in classes and in our lives.
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And finally, with Halloween not too far away, here is a look at one of my favorite gothic writers, the legendary HP Lovecraft, with a Dr. Seuss twist. Love it.
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