Teacher education

John
May 13, 2008 at 12:51 pm

“I wonder: does this shrinking vocabulary also indicate a diminished ability to think? If it is true that we have – or, at least, that we use – fewer words, is it also true that we are less able to express complex ideas and, in true Orwellian, 1984 form, that our inability to express ideas means that we can no longer have them?”

Absolutely not. English has a larger vocabulary than other languages: does this mean that English speakers are better at thinking than speakers of those other languages? Different languages express concepts in different ways. A language might use a single word where English uses a phrase; for instance French connaitre and savoir are both translated as “to know”, but the first indicates knowledge from recognition, and the second indicates knowledge from understanding. So are French speakers better at knowing because they have twice as many words?

Surely it makes much more sense to suppose that if we need to express a concept, we’ll find a way of doing it, no matter what language we speak or how many words we need to use.

AIUI, “1984? postulated a society where certain words were banned in the hopes that it would prevent people from expressing those concepts. But it didn’t work.

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6 Comments.
Jules
May 9, 2008 at 11:39 pm

Doesn’t it just recharge your desire to teach each time something like that happens? I applaud your restraint – I don’t know if I would have been able to do that. And I feel sad for any of the students who don’t realize what a great opportunity they’re wasting with such a good teacher.

I assume, since you addressed him in your writing, that you gave it to him. At least I hope you did because I know he would appreciate it. It’s difficult being one of the “good” ones who puts forth solid effort in class, only to watch the teacher (I’m not speaking of you specifically) spend all her time and energy giving guidance and feedback to the challenging students. When I taught composition I tried to look at it like a bank account: for each “withdrawal” I made by spending time dealing with a challenging student, I tried to make sure I made a “deposit” by giving unsolicited positive feedback to the students who required less of my time. I was usually overdrawn, but I felt good about my efforts.

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Wayfarer
July 27, 2006 at 11:35 pm

Well, I can tell you that I took a pay cut of just shy of $15k to go to work for the charter school I teach at now. That does not include the difference in gas from a 4 mile commute to a 35 mile commute. That lost money has hurt us some in the short term, no doubt, but there have been two important payoffs. One–I am teaching in an innovative, nurturing environment that lets me teach to my passions. Two–I have seen what a quality alternative educational model is, and that will be invaluable as I work to develop my own over the next couple of years (are you listening for the gong?).

If you’re offered the job, take it. Don’t take it for the money. Take it for the experience.

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3 Comments.
Mrs.Chili
July 25, 2006 at 8:15 pm

Of COURSE I DID!!

I also found the Ladybug Picnic, Grover as the flustered waiter, Big Bird losing his nest to a hurricane (though that happened “after my time”) and a BUNCH of other stuff that made me really miss Jim Henson.

1 Comment.
HomeFireBlue
July 11, 2006 at 8:27 am

Bears … COOL!

I hope they’re viewing so as not to disturb the bears in their natural habitat. (As opposed to, like, feeding them twinkies next to a busy motorway).

Man, I’d LOVE to visit Alaska.

-Blue

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5 Comments.
Mrs.Chili
July 5, 2006 at 9:13 pm

Calvin is my favorite. I’m convinced that all the truths in the Universe can be found in Calvin and Hobbes.

I’m in the last few pages of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I can’t put it down, but I’m DREADING its being over. I have SO enjoyed this book! After the pressures of finishing grad school, I have been revelling in being able to read for pleasure, and have been shirking some responsibilities of laundry and cleaning to find a comfy spot to read.

Truly one of the great joys in life!

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Kizz
February 15, 2006 at 11:28 am

You made a list of things to work on, you wrote a blog entry about not being allowed to work AND I feel certain you spent a good chunk of time obsessing about not being able to work. Those things broke the moratorium. I don’t say that as a rebuke, just saying it to keep you honest while you learn the balancing.

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3 Comments.
S
February 11, 2006 at 8:04 am

No, I don’t think that my intent would be to come in there and not treat them with respect. My intent would be to go in there and enforce the (very reasonable) rules and establish an environment where actual learning can happen.

Discipline does not equal disrespect.

Would it be unpleasant at first? Perhaps, but they get to choose, by their behavior, how long the unpleasantness lasts. I’m not sure “dictator” is the right word to use, either, particularly because the rules of the classroom are those that they themselves chose at the beginning of the year. My purpose would be to reinforce the boundaries they set up then promptly disregarded.

It IS too bad that they can’t be integrated into other classes. No – “can’t” is the wrong word here – they won’t be integreated into other classes because of the shortsightedness of some of the administration. They are fully capable of functioning in an integrated classroom and, I think, of thriving there because of the positive influence of expectations and the lack of stigma that goes along with being a “400 kid”. I can see, if I look at the students individually and not as a group, that all of them have far more potential for success than they’re utilizing in this environment.

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shaz Posted June 24, 2007 at 5:17 am | Permalink

my opinion is obviously a bit biased, but I do agree that design is really important, not only with blogs, but for any type of web property. For example, I recently bought a journal and was so impressed with it that I immediately visited their website, which was so ugly and unprofessional that I was completely turned off.

Sometimes I do wonder if the average person really care how well-designed a website really is, because in conversations with my husband, it becomes really obvious that I am extremely critical of designs, but as long as he likes the content, the design doesn’t really bother him (he does appreciate well designed websites, but it’s not that important to him).

One thing we do agree on however is flashing, animated images all over the page – not a good first impression!

One Comment.
Matt Posted December 27, 2006 at 12:48 pm | Permalink

It’s just a shame that this isn’t something that a business would do on its own. Like ethics, just something you do because it’s right.

As for companies being scared of their customers, they are rightfully so. It’s the customer who is going to make or break their next “big thing”. Blogs are a very useful tool in which the customer and general public can give feedback in a positive way, instead of the old method: sit back, and wait for it to either fail or succeed.

Blogs should be incorporated into the testing phases of the product as well. This could potentially lead to fewer products coming out that fail, so to speak.

This from the Bond Buyer, the daily newspaper of public finance. This article is hard to read. It cuts to the core of what everyone has been saying for a long time now. It really gets to the meat of the issue of school finance. I have to admit, when searching out data, to post and to learn and gain powerful information, I got this from our own Humble ISD website. I don’t check it that often, but today I did and read up on this article from the Bond Buyer. See for yourself:

Two years ago, Texas lawmakers passed the largest property-tax relief package in the state’s history. This year, Texas school districts are the ones begging for relief as operating costs soar but revenues remain capped under the new funding formula.

Five months before the next legislative session, coalitions are forming, with homeowners and landowners challenging the state’s businesses to carry more of the tax load for the struggling schools. At the same time businesses are complaining about tax bills that have risen 500% for some.

The article goes on to explain some of the devastation we are up against.

Complicating matters further are rising home foreclosures, the prospect of weak growth in property tax bases, a constitutional prohibition against a state property tax, lack of a state income tax that could simplify the formula, and public confusion about how school financing works, officials say. Thus, Texas is left to equalize per-pupil expenditures across 1,031 school districts that range from third-world poor to astronomically wealthy. And the districts lie in 121 tax appraisal districts led by elected tax assessor-collectors whose assessments face annual challenges.

This is really good:

“If Texas financed roads the way it finances schools, you wouldn’t have a road in front of your house,” said former state legislator and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ray Hutchison, partner and bond counsel at Vinson & Elkins LLP. In 2006, Vinson & Elkins led a coalition of 18 law firms seeking to mitigate the impact of a new business tax law on their partnerships.

What supers had to say at the summit:

At an education finance summit in Austin last week, school superintendents expressed alarm over faltering funding that’s forcing some to dip into their reserves in a form of deficit spending.

“The most compelling statement from this summit was: ‘We need help!’ ” consultant Joe Smith, a former Hudson Independent School District superintendent, wrote on his Web site TexasISD.com. “The financial situation of our schools is worse than you think.” “When a superintendent makes the statement, ‘We need help,’ he is saying that he sees something he cannot handle alone,” Smith wrote. “He also understands before making the statement that some may conclude that the superintendent is the problem. This may account for the silence on the subject.”

Indeed, school administrators say they must bear the wrath of taxpayers when taxes rise or when school services decline, even though they have no role in appraising property. This same constituency must approve bond issues for burgeoning schools, even though approval might mean higher taxes. In a pinch, districts must ask voters to, essentially, surrender the tax relief they received under HB 1 in 2006.

And of course it goes on and on and on…