Articles of Note

Two food articles I thoroughly enjoyed

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Reading The Baffler and Heather Havrilesky here. She quoted this article:

If shopping and cooking really are the most consequential, most political acts in my life, perhaps what that means is that our sense of the political has shrunk too far—shrunk so much that it fits into our recycled-hemp shopping bags. If these tiny acts of consumer choice are the most meaningful actions in our lives, perhaps we aren’t thinking and acting on a sufficiently big scale.

Havrilesky, Heather. “Delusion at the Gastropub.” The Baffler. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://thebaffler.com/salvos/delusion-at-the-gastropub-havrilesky.

Lanchester, John. “A Foodie Repents.” The New Yorker, November 3, 2014. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/03/shut-eat.

Articles of Note

Another article for the “why read?” conversation

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Money all the way through; I would love to have students keep the first and last paragraphs and then rewrite the middle paragraphs based on the novels, stories, and poems they’ve read.

Last paragraph:

So reading is not merely a diversion or distraction from present pain; it is also an enlarging of our universe, our sympathies, wisdom and experience. The act of entering into the consciousness of another being, another sex, or sexual preference, social group, political outlook or religious persuasion, allows a respite from private and parochial preoccupations. That widening of our concerns may entail entering another location, or period in history – or an arena of which we would otherwise be ignorant. Education, as people are never tired of repeating, is a process of leading out, which suggests another benefit: that in being led by reading into previously unknown territory, we learn.

Source: “Move over Freud: Literary Fiction Is the Best Therapy.” The Guardian, November 26, 2016, sec. Books. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/26/move-over-freud-literary-fiction-is-the-best-therapy.

Teaching 2016_2017, Uncategorized

Day of gratitude, day of eating

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Before we ate — thanks to everyone who brought food and every parent who prepared food — we gave thanks. On a piece of paper folded like a greeting card, we drew a picture of ourselves and listed all we’re thankful for. Then we began to pass and each person at the table had to write why they were thankful for each other person by writing within their card. Twenty two people at the table…it took awhile.

Then we passed to the person to our right who had to share just ONE thing that was written.

Yeah, I know I like the paper-based activities, but I’d point out that only one of these cards was left behind, that all of them stayed with the students. The talk meant something — you could feel the l*ve around the table — but the cards definitely got kept.

Teaching 2016_2017

Gratitude, day two

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We began the Tuesday before Thanksgiving thinking about three people:

our favorite celebrity,
our favorite relative,
and the person to our left.

Each student had to write down what they thought each person was thinking or feeling on a regular basis. After sharing out the top two categories, we talked about why being able to reflect on what another person thinks and feels might be helpful for thinking about gratitude.

MH: Helps you take a different perspective; humbling
AM: Think about the people around us.
VG: Think about the positive things people bring
KM: Getting a sense of knowing someone helps you figure out gratitude
BC: Seeing something from someone else’s eyes; do people change

Money: If you care about someone else, then it’s hard not to be grateful.
Think about sacrifices other people make…

The heart of this activity was the discussion, although I think that this notion of caring and knowing someone leads to gratitude needs to be fleshed out more.

First picture: Beyonce, Mom, and Clapper
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Uncategorized

Friday debate questions

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1. Which is more helpful, thinking about accountability or thinking about responsibility?
2. What is the best way to develop accountability?
3. Can accountability grow or develop? Or is t something that can happen overnight?

All three emerged from the writing we’ve done this week. We employed our dual podiums and got started shouting.

One deep thought: “you can’t be accountable until you understand that it’s your responsibility to do something.”

There was a subtle argument being made about the differences between accountability and responsibility. I’d started making this distinction as a teacher from working with Bob Fecho and Marsha Pincus: you have to be accountable to yourself, to the students, and to the work, but you should not consider yourself responsible for the decisions that students make.

Nearly everyone who spoke discussed how you need to own your work and how you need to “take things into your own hands.”

Another good distinction was describing accountability as a short-term, immediate idea and responsibility as something long-term or permanent.

Teaching 2016_2017, Uncategorized

When is accountability easy? When is accountability hard?

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We had a terrific opening conversation this morning as kids started to consider ideas of accountability. We had started this earlier in the quarter but as with most things, you need to deal with it again and again.

KS led the discussion effectively.

I had two things that I wanted to get on their radar: one, how do social pressures affect ideas of accountability? In other words, how do we manage this one-on-one, in small groups, and as a large group? Two, how do we deal with situations when there’s no dissonance as a student talks about their work? In other words, when a student holds up a crap project and claims that it is amazing, how do we help puncture that illusion/delusion?

Some notes from their conversation:
It’s hard to hold people accountable when:
MH: ou don’t know them or the their work; when it doesn’t affect you.
AH: you’ve never done that work before
TC: they’re upset or angry
VG: people won’t reflect honestly; when it’s subtle (big is easier than small)
IP: they don’t accept responsibility

It’s easy to hold people accountable when:
DD: you have proof
VG: you share the same goals
MT: you focus on their goals
VG: you know their situation
KS: you’re aware of their (unique) situation.

Favorite line: We’re doing complex projects so it’s not always clear what good work is.