Re Defined II

Yesterday, we went to an upstart in Charlotte. I'd call it a church, but wouldn't that poison your mind with preconception from the start? Well, part of the teaching yesterday was about that very fact. The Church brings with it connotations--and most of the time those are not all that warm and fuzzy.

I remember very clearly the events of September 11. I also remember words from a wise man after that attack occurred. He said, "You've got to temper your patriotism with your religion."

For the past years I have bought into the notion that my enemy was the Islamic terrorists and the Post Modernists who would have everyone believe in--well nothing. Politically, I'm not quite sure what the solution to these particular problems/issues is... but I'm going to retreat from that particular sphere for a while.

So. If those mentioned above are not the enemy, and the enemy is clearly defined... well then?

Pride. Arrogance. Apathy. Avarice. Greed. Selfishness. Prejudice.

The Book explains all this over and over, yet somehow we are willing to miss it. Somehow, we buy into the Us vs Them mentality so easily. Somehow we are enamored with the prospect of political power and influence. Somehow we miss the message of the One who explains it so very simply.

I hope to flesh all of these ideas out a little more in my next few posts with a few quotes from a book I just finished and an explanation and photograph of my brother-in-law's latest work of art.

Hebrews 13:12-13

dt

Re Defined

Isaac Avery (currently the front runner in the name game if our newest is a boy) was a confederate officer who offered this quotation upon his death:

"Tell my father I died with my face to the enemy."

Confession: I have misidentified the enemy.

I thought about creating a new blog for my upcoming line of thought--but why separate?

dt

Shattered.

I watched the BBC last night to see the updates of the current Middle East tragedy as well as the escalating violence in Iraq. (This was after I watched the Antietam episode from Ken Burns' Civil War documentary)

I got the same feeling watching the news last night that I got when I was on the battlefield in Sharpsburg a few weeks ago. It was a sinking feeling... deep in my gut. I saw the kids that were being separated from their mother as the transports left with refugees from Lebanon. The thing is that the kids don't really know... they just know they aren't with their mother. They don't understand the death. They don't understand the destruction. They don't understand the torment.

But that's what war brings: always. You want absolute truth? War is terrible!

I'm really conflicted. I went to New York two months after it was attacked. I saw the terrible destruction. I saw the makeshift memorials with the letters to Daddies and Mommies that would never return. I wept.

I don't want that same feeling for other peoples. I want to pray for my enemies as my Lord instructs. But how does it play out when other peoples want conflict? Hezbollah and Israel... who is guilty? What about Iraq? The intent is to bring hope to those people. Now what? Ethnic cleansing? Maybe the idea of democracy in that region simply is untenable. I pray that we will look back at these days as the low points of the war. Maybe we will have our Gettysburg soon. The turning point in the world where the forces of victory will emerge.

I'm afraid we're merely at the beginning though.

RePondered...

Wired News: Marines Use MySpace to Recruit:

I've blogged before (notes from a NECC session presented by Mark Wagner) about the US military's great ability to educate/train our nation's youth -- often the same youth our K12 system betrays -- using modern techniques of video games and simulations.

Now it looks like they've caught on to the importance of MySp@ce to America's teenagers.

So far, over 12,000 web surfers have signed on as friends of the Corps in response to the latest military recruiting tactic. Other military branches may follow.

MySpace.Com, the internet's most popular social networking site with over 94 million registered users, has helped redefine the way a generation communicates. Users, many in their teens and 20s, post personal profiles and accumulate lists of friends and contacts with common interests.

The Marine Corps' MySpace profile -- featuring streaming video of barking drill sergeants, fresh recruits enduring boot camp and Marines storming beaches -- underscores the growing importance of the internet to advertisers as a medium for reaching America's youth.

"That's definitely the new wave," said Gunnery Sgt. Brian Lancioni at a Hawaii recruiting event. "Everything's technical with these kids, and the internet is a great way to show what the Marine Corps has to offer."

Patrick Baldwin, an 18-year-old recruit from Saratoga, New York, who linked his profile to the Marines' site after hearing about it from a friend, said MySpace was a good place for interested teens to start learning more about the Marines.

Teens get it. The military gets it. And K-12? Um. Not so much. As Will Richardson says, "we need to teach myspace, not ignore, not ban it, not pretend it doesn't exist."

Concept Based Instruction

Ok. So it seems as though we're going to emphasize building our curriculum via concepts. In a sense--at least as far as I understand it so far--to provide the students with the proper schema in which to categorize information/events.

My initial question came after reading "Ernie's Big Mess" to my little boy. I realized that the premise of the book was the same as in the classic "Puddle Duck." (you'll have to read for yourselves to discover the connection:)

"So," I said to myself, "why is it that students aren't able to do that?" I mean why do we have to deliberately provide them with these critical thinking skills? I read stuff and incorporate it with the other stuff I know without anyone providing me with the proper schema...

Why does it not work to simply teach the content and allow the thinking to ride on top of that wave of increasing knowledge? Is it because of the changing economy--global competition? Is it lack of interest/motivation on the behalf of the students? Is it poor home education--parents relying too much on the state for their children's education?

Related: one of the suggestions was that in teaching about African Nations one could enhance the learning by changing the focus to Changing Perspectives on African Nations. Why do teachers not already bring in more than one perspective? These latter thoughts need more refinement--of course don't they all.

This should be an interesting journey through the ebbs and flows of educational theory.

dt

Distance Education

I'm realizing that one of the shortfalls of Distance Education/Online Learning is the lack of accountability concerning the instructor. The pitfalls associated with authentic work on the students' behalf has been discussed. But in my experience with an online class through NCCU, the professor has provided little assistance.

There are many instances of quizzes not matching up with assigned readings--and I don't mean the material is in another chapter... it simply is not in our textbook or online reading.

There are instances of the prof not being cooperative with technical difficulty. Most of the students were having trouble finding posted quizzes, and the prof took the attitude that it was the students' fault.

Questions on the midterm are outdated. For example, one asks about the "current leader of Afghanistan." Hamid Karzai was not listed as an option. Mullah Mohammed Omar was--I assume--the correct answer, but uh, Dr. W, that was so 2000.

Overall, I have queried the instructor, politely and respectfully, 4 or 5 times during the course via email. The Discussion Board has not been opened. Each response from the instructor has been a one word answer? Example: (me) "Am I looking in the right place for the quiz because it is not there?" (him) YES.

another (me) "will we be able to view the questions we missed on the midterm once the time has expired?" (him) "NO."

one word answers with no explanation or reason. FRUSTRATING.

this takes me to a whole 'nother issue and that is that i'm having to take all these classes in order to be "highly qualified." but that's a box to stand on for another day...

dt

...in an Age of Hunger

About halfway through Ron Sider's Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. It is quite a punch in the teeth. Here is one of the many passages that has my wheels turning. Kinda long but worth reading the whole thing: in fact worth buying the book. I got the '96 version off Amazon for 7 bucks. The newest is 2006.

"Please do not misunderstand my point. I am not saying that the resurrection is unimportant. The bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is absolutely central to Christian faith and anyone who denies it has fallen into heresy. But if centrality in Scripture is any criterion of doctrinal importance, the biblical teaching about God's concern for the poor ought to be an important doctrine for Christians

Those who consider themselves most orthodox have fallen into theological liberalism on this issue. We usually think of liberalism in terms of classical 19th century liberals who denied the deity, the atonement, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus our Lord. And that is correct. People who abandon those central biblical doctrines have indeed fallen into terrible heresy. But notice what the essence of theological liberalism is--it is allowing our thinking and living to be shaped by society's views and values rather than by biblical revelation. Liberal theologians thought the belief in the deity etc, was incompatible with modern science, and they followed science rather than scripture.

Theologically conservative Christians rightly called attention to this heresy--and then tragically made exactly the same move in another area. We have allowed the economic values of our affluent, materialistics society to shape our thinking and acting toward the poor..."

Independence

Though it is a concern that more and more of our population seem to be growing ever more dependent on the state, we can still celebrate our Founders' vision of what this country was about.

It is easy to look back and declaim all of the evils that America has perpetrated on races and peoples, but overall one will still be hard pressed to compare this country to another in terms of freedom and opportunity.

Let us be ever vigilant as we protect our natural rights from others as well as from our own government. We desperately need a return to civic responsibility which includes first and foremost a decent education on what that actually means--with that comes the understanding of relevance and the desire to motivation. If we wait until the motivation comes by itself then I fear it may be too late in the game.

Patriotically,
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Standards Debate

This is my response to an infant debate in our Social Studies department about needing to raise our test scores because one of our sister schools is constantly outperforming us.

By my figurin', Civics/Econ scores were only 17 or 18 students behind KM--one class. Not that we needn't improve, but that ain't too bad.

Also, I'm not trying to be a contrarian, why do "we lose to Kings Mtn"? It's about the students, right? Maybe this is just semantics, but it would seem that if we start judging our own work by test scores, then we've lost sight of the purpose of what we do in the first place.

I suppose I understand the sentiment that "we can either master the test or become slaves to it," but I just wonder when we will begin to be honest about the real situation. There is no question that methods could be improved. Unfortunately, most standard classes are not going to do very well sitting there while we talk about our particular subject. They have to be convinced that what we are telling them is relevant to them, and that is difficult to accomplish since obviously the case hasn't been made very well up to this point. So a bit of creativity and a dose of respect towards the students will probably go a longer way than we realize.

But that brings me to the bigger point. I've been studying the philosophy and history of curriculum for one of my GWU classes. The differences between the conservative and liberal/progressive philosophies are worthy of discussion as well--probably moreso--but the agreement is that curriculum should focus on the goal of creating "educated citizens that are capable of contributing to society." But dad gummit (I don't think I've ever spelled that word before) that starts at home!

So, let's really raise the bar. Let's take education where it needs to be. Why not challenge parents to do their part? Why not work our butts off so that we are above reproach, and then truly be honest with folks as to why test scores are the way they are? I suppose the answer to the previous questions is one of job security. But if teachers aren't going to be honest about the status of education--I mean if we are simply going to play the game as it has been set up for us, then how can we possibly expect results?

Maybe this is my idealism creeping up again. Maybe I need to be convinced that I need to think practically and pragmatically. But to me, this is not a competition between me and Anne Pasco or anybody else; this is about hundreds of students who regardless of whether they pass an EOC or not, are not going to possess the thought processes or skills to get a decent job when they graduate. Which it would seem will continue this vicious cycle that we find ourselves in...

DT
"Tell my father that I died with my face to the enemy." --Col. Isaac Avery

Curriculum Philosophy

I am going to try to blog my ideas fairly regularly from my grad course "Curriculum Foundations"

The first entry is about the first philosophy that I've read called Perennialism:

It is basically the idea that truth is knowable and that human nature is constant in being able to know that truth. To get there one must read the "Great Books" (Plato, Rousseau, Shakespeare, to name only but a few) and the mind will become disciplined as a result--which will ultimately lead to understanding/analysis/investigation--a stretching of the mind so to speak.
I suppose one of the big proponents was Allan Bloom who in his work The Closing of the American Mind, argues that as a society we are in decline because we have subjected our education to cultural relativism and have lost sight of the rigor and discipline that is necessary to produce truly educated individuals.

Now, this entry is only based on a quick reading of the Perennial section in my Text Book. Please comment on the merits of said philosophy and drawbacks as well.

dt

Conviction.

Charge of the 1st Minnesota

Ready and ripe for the harvest lay the acres of golden grain,
Waving on hillock and hillside and bending along the plain.
Ready and ripe for the harvest two veteran armies lay,
Waiting the signal of battle on the Gettysburg hills that day.
Sharp rang the blast of the bugles calling the foe to the fray,
And shrill from the enemy's cannon the demon shells shrieked as they flew.
Crashed and rumbled and roared our batteries ranged on the hills,
Rumbled and roared at the front the bellowing guns of the foe
Swelling the chorus of hell ever louder and deadlier still,
And shrill o'er the roar of the cannon rose the yell of the Rebels below,
As they charged on our Third Corps advanced and crushed in the lines at a blow.

Leading his clamorous legion, flashing his saber in air,
Forward rode furious Longstreet charging on Round Top there-
Key to our left and center-key to the fate of the field-
Leading his yelling Southrons on to the lion's lair-
And our Third Corps broken and scattered and only one battery there.
And there,-its only support,-the "Old First" regiment stood-
Only a handful of heroes from many a field of blood-
Bearing the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day.
Down at the marge of the valley our broken ranks stagger and reel,
Grimy with dust and with powder, wearied and panting for breath,
Flinging their rifles in panic, flying the hail-storm of death.
Rumble of volley on volley of the enemy hard on the rear,
Yelling their wild, mad triumph, thundering cheer upon cheer,
Dotting the slope with slaughter and sweeping the field with fear.

Drowned is the blare of the bugle, lost is the bray of the drum-
Yelling, defiant, victorious, column on column they come.
"The Old First"-only a handful-there in the gap of our lines,
Holding the perilous breach where the fate of the battle inclines,
Only a handful are they-column on column the foe-
Flaunting exultant their colors-column on column they come.
Thunder of cheers on the right!-dashing down on his stalwart bay-
Spurring his panting charger till his foaming flanks dripped blood-
Hancock-the hero-the lion-rode down where their Colonel stood.
"Charge those lines!" thundered Hancock; Colvill shouted the charge to his men:
"Charge-Double-quick,-Minnesota!"-They sprang to the charge and away
Like a fierce pack of hunger-mad wolves that pant for the blood of the prey.

Two hundred and sixty and two-all that were there of them then-
Two hundred and sixty and two fearless, unfaltering men
Dashed at a run for the enemy, sprang to the charge with a yell:
On them the batteries thundered canister, grape-shot and shell:
Never a man of them faltered, but many a comrade fell.
"Charge-double-quick, Minnesota!"-Like panthers they sprang at their foes;
Grim gaps of death in their ranks, but ever the brave ranks close:
Down went their sergeant and colors-defiant their colors arose!
"Fire!"-At the flash of their rifles grim gaps in the ranks of their foes!
"Forward, my First Minnesota!" their brave Colonel cried as he fell-
Gashed and shattered and mangled-"Forward!" he cried as he fell.
Over him mangled and bleeding frenzied they sprang to the fight,
Over him mangled and bleeding they sprang to the jaws of hell.
Flashed in their faces the rifles-roared on the left and the right;
The foe swarmed around them by thousands-they fought them with desperate might.

Five times their colors went down-five time their colors arose,
Shot-tattered and torn but defiant, and flapped in the face of their foes.
Hold them! They held them at bay, as a bear holds the hounds on his track,
Steel to steel, banner to banner, they met them and staggered them back.
Desperate, frenzied, bewildered, the enemy fired on their own;
Like reeds in the whirl of the cyclone columns and colors went down.
Banner of stars on the right! Hurrah!-It's the gallant "Nine-teenth!"
With a yell and a rush and a roar the Old Bay State heroes they come!
Thunder of guns on the left! 'Tis our own Gibbon's cannon that boom!
Shrapnel and grape-shot and canister crash like the cracking of doom.
Baffled, bewildered and broken, the ranks of the enemy yield;
Panic-struck, routed and shattered they fly from the fate of the field.

Hold them? they held them at bay as a bear holds the hounds on his track;
Steel to steel, banner to banner, they met them and staggered them back;
Two hundred and sixty and two, they held the mad thousands at bay;
Met them and baffled and broke them, turning the tide of the day:
Two hundred and sixty and two when the sun hung low in heaven,
But ah! when the stars rode over they numbered but forty-seven.
Dead on the field or wounded the rest of the "Old First" lay;
Never a man of them faltered or flinched in the fire of the fray,
For they bore the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day.
Honor our fallen comrades-cover their graves with flowers,
For they fought and fell like Spartans for this glorious land of ours:
They fell, but they fell victorious, for the Rebel ranks were riven,
And over our land united-one nation from sea to sea-
Over the grave of Treason, over millions of men made free,
Triumphant the flag of our fathers waves in the winds of heaven-
Red with the blood of her heroes she waves in the winds of heaven.

Honor our fallen comrades-cover their graves with flowers,
For they fought and fell like Spartans for this glorious land of ours;
And oft shall our children's children garland their graves and say-
"They bore the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day."

by Hanford Lennox Gordon, 1884.

1,826 Days.

Five years ago today was the best day of my life. The paradox of life is that days have been getting better and better ever since. At about 8pm on Saturday June 9, 2001 the white horses pulled the carriage around the lake at GWU at sunset. When they arrived at the three in one tree, the most beautiful woman jumped out. We became one that day. Not in a figurative sense, but in a Real sense. The mystery of union was made clear.

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Charge to the class of 2006.

This charge was directed at this year's graduating class of Statesville Christian School. It was delivered by one of the more intelligent, thoughtful, and well respected persons that I have come into contact with. It was a powerful and stern charge. The speaker's stated goal was to deliver a challenge that not only "penetrated, but resonated." There were three components to the charge framed in the context that the students were about to leave the comfort and nurture of a relatively safe environment that espouses the Word of Truth.

1) Tolerance: the world wants tolerance and that is the mantra of your generation. But they are also speaking of a tolerance of evil. You do not have the privelege of tolerating evil. You must be patient with all men, but you must not back down or compromise on the Truth.

2) Thinking for yourselves: though the world declares the value of "free exchange" and free speech, there are certain limitations. You are a minority of people in your generation who hold to the reality of Truth. You will be chastised and mocked and perhaps shouted down for expressing your views of the Truth--but you must not falter.

3) Neutrality: the world will have you to be neutral, to ride the fence. The prevalent philosophy of the day is that Truth cannot be known, therefore it is up to the individual to decide his/her own truth. You must be willing to stand for the one True God and His Word--even unto death.

As I was listening to this message to the class of 2006, I understand how perception of these words could cast them in a negative light. I realize that there are too many who call themselves by the name of Christ, that use buzz words such as these to legitimize their hatred of certain groups of people.

In fact, the great difficulty or challenge of the gospel, is that we are to hold fast to Truth and Purity through Love. We must be patient and compassionate to those who do not believe. The message of Christ is not a game of gotchya. It's not about finding all of the folks out there who may be doing something sinful outwardly. We all have sinned and fall short of the Glory. The point of the gospel is that we can gain salvation because of His Truth. Because of our knowledge of that we must resist impurity and falsehoods, but we must do so for the sake of Love. We must do so for the sake of Glory.

I throw this out to see what comments may come from the few that read this blog... A conversation of True substance.

Collabo Doo Wop

So after a few long years of teaching, I am planning on integrating all--or as much as possible--of the progressive line of thinking/teaching into my Civics classes. This title--heretofore CDW--will serve as my planning zone. The first thing that I have been thinking about are some rules/practices I found for a successful group learning activity. Rules such as make eye contact, don't use negative body language, disagree agreeably, communicate your ideas effectively and so forth.

And I admit that I have taken these skills for granted. I don't remember ever "learning" these in class. I think that I acquired these from my folks and the other folks around me. But for whatever reason--and the absence of effective parenting is probably the biggest--these skills are not present in many of our students. So I'm willing to go back to square one. I've always been skeptical of the notion that teaching kids to think/understand without some base of core knowledge can be successful--and certainly there is little time to work with both of these concepts. But I'm feeling more and more conviction that that's what I get *ahem* paid for, so as Matusow might say, "I'm all in."

An issue for a later debate is what to do with students like me. I'm really not a fan of group work. I always opt out of group projects in favor of solo work if allowed. I am able and enjoy learning on my own. So do we force those students to perform just as well in a group setting?

dt

Art.

It's about this time each year that the artform of being an educator comes into play. The skill and science of teaching is certainly helpful, and perhaps underrated, in many respects. We've been through the process during the semester, however, and now comes time for review. There are so many factions in the classroom that make figuring out the right balance difficult. So the remainder of this particular post will simply be brainstorming on getting my students towards mastery of the Civics/Econ. curriculum.

I feel fairly confident about the historical aspect of the course. The colonial period through the War for Independence was removed from US History and few years ago and now resides in Civics. We will still drill and role play some, but for the most part I think it's time to move on from here.

I've got some kind of idea in my head with the Amendments--especially the Bill of Rights and a few select others--but I can't seem to flesh it out. I had the students today collaboratively create rough sketches of the amendments with illustrations/pictures/etc. (ie 2nd amendment they get to put guns, 8th electric chairs, and so on...) I think that by placing these images along with them and then perhaps selecting the better ones for production and display in the classroom will serve most of the students well for trying to remember them. Even if they don't translate the knowledge into correct answers on the EOC, I think that at least they will retain the knowledge of their rights as citizens.

Let me point out how backwards our system of education is. Notice the last sentence in the previous paragraph. What are we doing?

Legislative powers (delegated/reserved/concurrent) I'm not too concerned about, but we'll see how the review goes tomorrow. Currently I'm thinking some kind of matching game with the three categories posted somewhere, and the students would be charged with placing the particular power in the correct category. I want to make some kind of baseball game out of it, but I haven't quite figured out the details of that yet. I'm good at big picture stuff, not great at translating into practice...

As for structure of Congress and How a Bill becomes a Law, I feel that a few more trial runs with our 'mock Congress' addressing issues such as dress code/lunchroom food/etc, that the process will be learned fairly well by the students.

Executive branch is a different monster. There are so many executive agencies--some independent, some regulatory, and then the Cabinet, and the bureacracy... It's tough to convey the breadth and depth of governmental power in this respect, so if anyone has any ideas feel free to post a reply. All 1/2 of you that happen to read this weblog.

The Law is fairly straightforward as well. The process they can grasp; the jurisdiction is a bit trickier.

Political parties and elections. Yeah, so since probably 75% of the American people in general don't seem to understand the Electoral College, that stacks the odds against me for convincing 15 year olds of how it works. I was thinking of a campaign commercial for the effects of media and a bit of political spectrum... We'll see how the time constraints play on that one.

Economics. Yuck. Who really cares about the producer price index? Supply and demand is easy to convey, but the differences in GDP and GNP--I love the blank stares when we try to get that one across. Much creativity will be needed to address the Econ section. Need to hit local govt some too.

Ok, enough incoherent rambling for now. Three weeks from tomorrow is the End of Course exam. So plenty of time for good, thorough review. I just want it to count and be meaningful rather than just effective for test taking. Does that make me weird? hahaha

dt

Sigh.

AP Exam has come and gone. Early reports are from fairly confident students. We'll see the damage in early July or so. Not much time to blog due to intense review. Now it's time to turn focus on preparing my Civics students for the EOC. Oh, testing how do we love thee?

On a different note, I've been reading like a madman as of late. Finished Gibbon, read CICERO by Anthony Everitt (highly recommended) and am now about halfway through the Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand--excellent so far but very heady.

T Minus 4 Weeks:) WOO HOO!

dt

Gibbon

Reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Chew on this quotation:

The name of Poet was almost forgotten; that of orator was usurped by the Sophists. A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste.

Refreshed.

Physically, Mentally, Spiritually... This has been a great break and a great time for a break. Now I'm ready--I think--for the final 6 week push towards the end. Only a few weeks until the AP Exam in Psych, so these coming days will be full of stress and pressure, but I think we can pull it off. Then it will be full focus on getting the C/E kids ready for the vaunted EOC. But enough about that...

I finished reading Smart Schools by David Perkins over the break and it has given me a lot to chew on. I do look forward to trying to implement the new ideas in education next year, but maybe I can squeeze some of them in these last few weeks.

I'm now on to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It's tough reading in parts, but the author packs so much insight into the history it's often hard to put down.

Time to go make some lesson plans and reflections for the TAH Grant.

dt

Saturday.

Have you ever wondered what the Saturday was like? I mean we have Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but what was it like on that Saturday? Were there any who thought that just maybe... just maybe He isn't really gone? Were there hearts filled with utter despair, or were there some who thought about the words that He had used and began to wonder? Did any anticipate what was to come?

I can't imagine the grief. I can only try to imagine the despair. I wonder what the conversations were.

dt

Long Hard Slog

It's been a trying couple of weeks. Acid Reflux, Big Family Decisions, and a mutual weariness on the part of both students and teacher. But Easter is just around the corner. Birthday party (go team orange), High Rock Lake, the Beach, and the Zoo, and some much needed R and R will surely bring about renewal.

After all, that's what this holiday is all about. Renewal. Perhaps a post for a later time. Now I must to the television to watch Clifford the Big Red Dog.

dt