I'm coming to the end of Ali's book on fundamentalism(s) and he is carefully trying to explain how, as a critic of religion and believer in Enlightenment values, he can nonetheless sound the call for a much-needed Reformation within Islam... his take on the nature of this justification struck me:
"The Enlightenment attacked religion - Christianity, mainly - for two reasons: that it was a set of ideological delusions, and that it was a system of institutional oppressions, with immense powers of persecution and intolerance. Why then should I abstain from religious criticism?" ch.22/p337
After a thoroughly eye-opening and depressing read about political corruption, slaughter, rape, theft, and mayhem in the Middle East and elsewhere, some by fundamentalists, some by imperialists, some by murderous power-mongers, I am glad to get to the bit where he looks with some hope towards the future. He bemoans the lack of Nobel Prizes in the Muslim world , the lack of political, philosophical, and religious debate that was once present in Islam and was so powerful in shaking up Europe. He speculates on the chance to skip right past the neo-liberal global agenda for commodification enabled by "modernity" and move on to something new... if only Islam could open up real debate and scholarship and separate state and mosque.
I expected to learn a great deal about the layers of Muslim society past and present... blown away by this actually. I also hoped to read a different perspective on 911. One of the unexpected outcomes, though, is the idea that someone who has stripped their faith of religion and embraced humanist ideals still has a valid perspective on religion. This is obvious to most people, I'm sure (that the reformed/deformed can and should engage the rest) but it is often these simple ideas that grab me, give me something to build on.
To be fair to Ali's thesis, he makes pains to show how religion is most often the vehicle or instrument of oppression rather than the ultimate cause, especially in the case of American fundamentalism, which lies beneath the surface throughout many if its international blood-lettings (I'll save that for another post)...
"Exploiters and manipulators have always used religion self-righteously to further their own selfish ends. It's true that this is not the whole story. There are, of course, deeply sincere people of religion in different parts of the world who genuinely fight on the side of the poor, but they are usually in conflict with organised religion themselves. The Catholic Church victimised worker or peasant priests who organised against oppression. The Iranian Ayatollahs dealt severely with Muslims who preached in favour of a social radicalism." ch.22/p.329
I am reminded of how education on climate change, peace, and women's rights, and HIV/Aids (to name a few) still have an uphill fight within evangelical denominations in Canada. In the Mennonite Brethren church I grew up in, the environmental movement throughout the 1980s and 90s was considered "New Age" (of this world, or Satan), something to be viewed with suspicion. On the question of peace, a telling example came with the first Gulf War in 1990. How would this war for oil be met by our belief in non-resistance and the stance of non-participation? After some pressure for some kind of response, a prayer meeting was held - not to ask for peace or and end to conflict, certainly not to condemn violence or examine causes - but to wish Bush, Sr. and other leaders wisdom as they made tough decisions. It marked a key moment in the church -- Anabaptist peace theology got locked in the closet. On the question of rights, the same church continues to bar women from serving as elders (trustees), in violation of it's own Conference principles (from 1985 to the present) and probably the Charter of Rights. The subject of gay rights & acceptance wouldn't even make it past the front doors (please please someone prove me wrong on any of this). I am sure this and others evangelical churches do remarkable things, and that most individual attenders might not even realize these issues exist in their midst, but if they want to rise above the history of institutional oppression, they need to collectively engage with tough issues in the world they presume to affect (start with peace and equality).
So... adieu Tariq Ali... I will never think about Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Israel, or the United States the same way again.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
What I'm reading
Clash of Fundamentalisms by Tariq Ali (see interview on his even newer book). After he establishes his leftist credentials, he moves into a stunning and learned history of Islam from its origins to the present, particularly its abuses by murderous power-hungry despots and imperialists alike. That's as far as I've got, but it's heading towards an early (2002) analysis of 911. I'd like to follow up with Rushdie's The Satanic Verses!
Dressing the Assessment
I read an interesting op-ed piece in the PG CItizen... Student Academic Excellence Deserves Recognition, basically arguing that removing academic awards in favour of you-learned-alot awards is a bad idea; competition and achievement are valuable and relate to actual learning.
I'm 50/50 on the argument but the causal "debate" I detect is one I find very interesting and it reminded me of two questions that have been on my mind for a couple of weeks (well o.k. since 1994): What kind of people is our education system designed to turn out? What is the difference between schooling and learning? I've seen a spate of pro-d, school, district, and teaching & learning initiatives focused on the second question over the last 6 or 7 years, increasing in frequency with a recent focus on assessment-for-learning and varieties of the "PLC™" (professional learning communities). Given the chance to "jump in," I am torn, like many of my most respected colleagues, between the inherent logic of certain ideas (meaningful assessment, clear learning goals, the value of collaboration, the importance of coherent support strategies, etc.) and the willingness of educators to adopt structures and philosophies they haven't critically examined or taken the time to practice or understand. My own dedicated and caring staff seems to struggle with the basic difference between classroom (personal/relational) structures and school (institutional) structures. The idea of "moving forward" spellbinds leaders and followers alike, with the promise that a new set of packaged concepts will seamlessly bridge the personal and institutional domains. It's much like our political system... I believe in democracy but I'm not confident that most people know what it is they are voting for, or can navigate the span between self and society. I don't think my staff is any more reactionary or fickle than any other group, I just that our educational culture dumbs us down and erodes the middle ground between the two. The result is a fear of theory by folks who are otherwise skilled and learned. Anyways, I'm seriously digressing... I should get to my point.
I've been as guilty as the rest of shoving kids through the turnstile of schooling, of not equating success with learning. I think I've built a rich learning environment with many opportunities to demonstrate understanding, a place where the ecology of identity is as much the curriculum as "social studies." But too many of my students (always seems to be 1 or 2 per class but maybe it's more?)) who have scraped through with 50% or better would not be able to articulate a genuine response to 50% of my intended learning outcomes. That's O.K. in some ways -- many of the learning outcomes are and should be student-generated, some of them can not be found in the curriculum guide, and others relate to the great social functions of our education system (like training kids to follow instructions, be good workers, and stay off the streets so their parents can be good workers). So, I don't pretend that my panoply of learning outcomes (that I find interesting as a "Socials" guy) are necessary for students to be whole or educated or even employable; thus, many who do not meet expectations get a passing grade anyways. Nonetheless, I wonder if I underestimate my students I teach, maybe they will work to "pass" whatever level the bar is set at.
Hmm... I pause here to say that I've had a cynical week, emotionally and intellectually draining, so take all this with a grain of salt... I'm a lousy blogger, only writing when I want to vent. Also, I'll freely acknowledge that I've stolen many ideas here from friends like Rob and Ian and even Norm and Derk!
Solutions? Here's what I'm going to try next year in order to close this philosophic gap (success vs learning). I'm sifting through all the courses I teach, and I'm reducing the content to a short list of basic questions to be answered, although demonstrating mastery of the material will still require some serious thinking, working, and learning. I'll continue to use the formative assessments I've developed over the last 8 years, but I'll use two summative assessments (test & a project) to gauge whether a students has met expectations (2/3 of the learning outcomes) or not. Met the goal? Marks are recorded and all the rest is bonus. Did not meet the goal? No marks are recorded and the student has one more teacher-directed opportunity to demonstrate learning, followed by as many student-led attempts as he/she wants. I won't coerce learning from my students, but I also will not let them drift away for lack of opportunity. To force learning (especially as interpreted by the state or even a teacher) is arrogant, something that belongs in a taliban madrasa, not in a free society. I also want my practice to swing (wildly) towards an inquiry model, one in which students will challenge not only themselves and my classroom structures, but the group-think encountered in wider circles (school, community, beyond). Realistically, this means that 6 or 7 kids in every class are going to be confused when a minimal effort does not guarantee success, but are confronted with some new questions (for them) -- what am I learning? how can I express this? how'd that work out?
I predict that the net result will be both higher achievement, both in my "schooled" sense of success with learning outcomes and also in the self-esteem sense as students are able to answer questions (theirs and mine) with some confidence (maybe after multiple attempts). That brings it back to the Citizen article I guess; I believe the author was trying to connect these. There's more to this of course but this much at least I needed to get out... catharsis or whatever else comes of it.
I'm 50/50 on the argument but the causal "debate" I detect is one I find very interesting and it reminded me of two questions that have been on my mind for a couple of weeks (well o.k. since 1994): What kind of people is our education system designed to turn out? What is the difference between schooling and learning? I've seen a spate of pro-d, school, district, and teaching & learning initiatives focused on the second question over the last 6 or 7 years, increasing in frequency with a recent focus on assessment-for-learning and varieties of the "PLC™" (professional learning communities). Given the chance to "jump in," I am torn, like many of my most respected colleagues, between the inherent logic of certain ideas (meaningful assessment, clear learning goals, the value of collaboration, the importance of coherent support strategies, etc.) and the willingness of educators to adopt structures and philosophies they haven't critically examined or taken the time to practice or understand. My own dedicated and caring staff seems to struggle with the basic difference between classroom (personal/relational) structures and school (institutional) structures. The idea of "moving forward" spellbinds leaders and followers alike, with the promise that a new set of packaged concepts will seamlessly bridge the personal and institutional domains. It's much like our political system... I believe in democracy but I'm not confident that most people know what it is they are voting for, or can navigate the span between self and society. I don't think my staff is any more reactionary or fickle than any other group, I just that our educational culture dumbs us down and erodes the middle ground between the two. The result is a fear of theory by folks who are otherwise skilled and learned. Anyways, I'm seriously digressing... I should get to my point.
I've been as guilty as the rest of shoving kids through the turnstile of schooling, of not equating success with learning. I think I've built a rich learning environment with many opportunities to demonstrate understanding, a place where the ecology of identity is as much the curriculum as "social studies." But too many of my students (always seems to be 1 or 2 per class but maybe it's more?)) who have scraped through with 50% or better would not be able to articulate a genuine response to 50% of my intended learning outcomes. That's O.K. in some ways -- many of the learning outcomes are and should be student-generated, some of them can not be found in the curriculum guide, and others relate to the great social functions of our education system (like training kids to follow instructions, be good workers, and stay off the streets so their parents can be good workers). So, I don't pretend that my panoply of learning outcomes (that I find interesting as a "Socials" guy) are necessary for students to be whole or educated or even employable; thus, many who do not meet expectations get a passing grade anyways. Nonetheless, I wonder if I underestimate my students I teach, maybe they will work to "pass" whatever level the bar is set at.
Hmm... I pause here to say that I've had a cynical week, emotionally and intellectually draining, so take all this with a grain of salt... I'm a lousy blogger, only writing when I want to vent. Also, I'll freely acknowledge that I've stolen many ideas here from friends like Rob and Ian and even Norm and Derk!
Solutions? Here's what I'm going to try next year in order to close this philosophic gap (success vs learning). I'm sifting through all the courses I teach, and I'm reducing the content to a short list of basic questions to be answered, although demonstrating mastery of the material will still require some serious thinking, working, and learning. I'll continue to use the formative assessments I've developed over the last 8 years, but I'll use two summative assessments (test & a project) to gauge whether a students has met expectations (2/3 of the learning outcomes) or not. Met the goal? Marks are recorded and all the rest is bonus. Did not meet the goal? No marks are recorded and the student has one more teacher-directed opportunity to demonstrate learning, followed by as many student-led attempts as he/she wants. I won't coerce learning from my students, but I also will not let them drift away for lack of opportunity. To force learning (especially as interpreted by the state or even a teacher) is arrogant, something that belongs in a taliban madrasa, not in a free society. I also want my practice to swing (wildly) towards an inquiry model, one in which students will challenge not only themselves and my classroom structures, but the group-think encountered in wider circles (school, community, beyond). Realistically, this means that 6 or 7 kids in every class are going to be confused when a minimal effort does not guarantee success, but are confronted with some new questions (for them) -- what am I learning? how can I express this? how'd that work out?
I predict that the net result will be both higher achievement, both in my "schooled" sense of success with learning outcomes and also in the self-esteem sense as students are able to answer questions (theirs and mine) with some confidence (maybe after multiple attempts). That brings it back to the Citizen article I guess; I believe the author was trying to connect these. There's more to this of course but this much at least I needed to get out... catharsis or whatever else comes of it.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Election Day in BC choices
Why I want to vote Green... their platform represent the kind of society I'd like to live in: sustainable development, just and caring society, protection of resources for future generations.
Why I don't want to vote Green... under our current system it would be a vote for an ideal, but not a vote that could elect in my riding where strategy is important.
Why I want to vote Liberal... I think the carbon tax is a good start for dealing with CO2 emissions, and their promise (which is just a promise) to negotiate treaties is the right thing to do.
Why I don't want to vote Liberal... the run-of-river projects are scary, sounds like a resource sell-off, Gordo and the rest are capitalism crazy. The education minister is out to lunch and she represents my riding. The scandals don't help either.
Why I want to vote NDP... best chance to stop-and-think on the run-of-river projects, best chance to change my local representative. Balance of capitalism and socialism.
Why I don't want to vote NDP... screechy campaign, focused on bad liberals and head-in-the-sand on the carbon tax. Bad memories of Glen Clark (bring back Barrett).
Why I want to support the STV... provide better electable choices, represent a larger and more diverse voice in legislature. Cool election result to break down with a Socials class.
Why I don't want to support the STV... might mess with local representation, esp. for rural areas (although this is a problem now, too).
Why I don't want to vote Green... under our current system it would be a vote for an ideal, but not a vote that could elect in my riding where strategy is important.
Why I want to vote Liberal... I think the carbon tax is a good start for dealing with CO2 emissions, and their promise (which is just a promise) to negotiate treaties is the right thing to do.
Why I don't want to vote Liberal... the run-of-river projects are scary, sounds like a resource sell-off, Gordo and the rest are capitalism crazy. The education minister is out to lunch and she represents my riding. The scandals don't help either.
Why I want to vote NDP... best chance to stop-and-think on the run-of-river projects, best chance to change my local representative. Balance of capitalism and socialism.
Why I don't want to vote NDP... screechy campaign, focused on bad liberals and head-in-the-sand on the carbon tax. Bad memories of Glen Clark (bring back Barrett).
Why I want to support the STV... provide better electable choices, represent a larger and more diverse voice in legislature. Cool election result to break down with a Socials class.
Why I don't want to support the STV... might mess with local representation, esp. for rural areas (although this is a problem now, too).
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
moving forward
Wow do I ever dislike this cliche... a handy and trendy catch-all that suggests "we've made a decision, we hope it's the right one, we'd better call it progress so nobody challenges our assumptions." It's like Billy Bragg's song: Just because you're better than me/ Doesn't mean I'm lazy / Just because you're going forwards / Doesn't mean I'm going backwards.
Still, when I think of moving forward I a reminded that we finally put the toilet paper back on the toilet paper holder a couple of weeks ago. We took it off 4 years ago when our daughter could crawl up to the roller and start spooling off heaps of tp. She was barely weaned from this when our son came along with just as much passion for lining the floor with shwipes. They done with that now, and although there are still diapers and plastic toys and crayons and teddies and half-done art projects everywhere all around, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. A tenth of my life has whizzed by with no toilet paper handy, always just out of reach on the counter. The little kid things, the toys and crayons and what not, some find cute or sentimental, but we find annoying. We can't wait to graduate to the time when the kids are more self-sufficient and conversational. At this point, it doesn't look like either one will be the pensive bookworm or reflective observer (dream come true), they will be quick-thinking fiery clumsy strong funny, but not quiet.
Still, when I think of moving forward I a reminded that we finally put the toilet paper back on the toilet paper holder a couple of weeks ago. We took it off 4 years ago when our daughter could crawl up to the roller and start spooling off heaps of tp. She was barely weaned from this when our son came along with just as much passion for lining the floor with shwipes. They done with that now, and although there are still diapers and plastic toys and crayons and teddies and half-done art projects everywhere all around, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. A tenth of my life has whizzed by with no toilet paper handy, always just out of reach on the counter. The little kid things, the toys and crayons and what not, some find cute or sentimental, but we find annoying. We can't wait to graduate to the time when the kids are more self-sufficient and conversational. At this point, it doesn't look like either one will be the pensive bookworm or reflective observer (dream come true), they will be quick-thinking fiery clumsy strong funny, but not quiet.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Eastwood's Gran Torino
I guess this is my movie pick of the year... which says a lot to me. First, It was good -- the redemption factor of Unforgiven and the very direct film-making style of Million Dollar Baby. I like a movie that delivers the forms of "modernity" and leaves the abstraction to the viewer... bizarre stories with no real endings or resolution leave me exasperated. I'll take postmodernism for spirituality, politics, and philosophic discourse, but I'll stick with modernism for art, film, architecture, and food. Second, when I think of what the film does to me, I am reminded of some of my other favourite films like Deliverance, The Mission, Clearcut, Apocalypse Now, and Rupert's Land -- intact stories with round characters, a generous pace, and a complex of values which emerge from the telling. I could see it coming but was still floored by Walt Kowalski laying down his life in an act of nonviolence (yet no less bravely/insanely than a Dirty Harry move). Third, I loved the references to his other film characters... especially the spitting of large wads of chaw-juice. Fourth, I liked the car, even though he never drove it... the nostalgia reminds me of my 1972 Dodge Charger which I got to drive from 1986-1991 ish. Fifth, the racial epithets were handled well... the idea of slandering and denigrating everything "Other" (saving acts of kindness which were given tender treatment) was an interesting way to convey time (i.e. time periods), history, and values. Sixth, it says a not because I don;'t really read much anymore (when will that change?) and I've seen a fest of movies in the last few months so yeah this one rose to the top.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Digital Storytellers Pro-D session
How can/do our students tell us about what they are learning? How is technology helping or hurting in the demonstration of
learning? How can we build on this?
Thanks for helping us address these questions today. Can you add anything to what we talked about today? Could leave a comment about what you got out of the session? Click on the comments link below to leave some feedback.
learning? How can we build on this?
Thanks for helping us address these questions today. Can you add anything to what we talked about today? Could leave a comment about what you got out of the session? Click on the comments link below to leave some feedback.
Monday, March 02, 2009
carts of darkness
A student reminded me about this one... I remember it was in the news a couple of years ago, some controversy over the ethics of making a film about high-speed homeless cart-riders in North Van. Anyways, here is the full movie -- http://www.nfb.ca/film/carts_of_darkness/ --shorter clips are also available on youtube.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Anthem in N.B.
You've seen the story? I caught a video story on this again last night, too. A New Brunswick elementary principal (Millet, see pic) decided (with his staff's support) to stop playing the Canadian anthem every morning in response to "inclusion" concerns from some parents. Another parent fired back, making it a patriotism/support our troops issue, her daughter likes the anthem as it reminds her cousin who died in Afghanistan. The principal suggests that the anthem can be played at regular assemblies; the daughter can even lead in O Canada. But... the principal is vilified by his community (threats of violence) and the press (making it out to be a ban on the anthem), thousands of calls and emails (including death threats), even Conservative MPs put on their pointy white Reform hats in Commons and stand up to condemn the principal for his unCanadian actions. To top it off, his N.B. school district superintendant overrules his decision (even though it was a school choice to begin with to play the anthem daily) and the education minister is considering mandating the anthem in all schools. In my mind, having an anthem played to children every day (just like the Lord's Prayer or American pledge of allegiance, etc.) is a form of indoctrination, a propaganda technique that fits a totalitarian or nationialistic regime but not Canada. I admire quirky rituals and chance to sing in public, but once in a while is fine for flag-waving and musical salutes. I am a creature of the earth on which I was born, a citizen of humanity, a plant grown in a Canadian ecosystem. I do not have to be patriotic to love certain Canadianisms, nor is "country" always right (although it could be always wrong). My wife jokes that Maritimers are messed up with each other and cruel to the "different" and blind to change when it is needed... too bad the "attackers" on this issue fit the stereotype. I am disgusted with the people who trashed the principal (especially the neocon/nutter-mother and the ball-less superintendant) and used ignorant 19th century arguments to do so. I wish we could find him a job in our district... he seemed completely broken on the news last night.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Skookum Presentations!
So, my two Social Studies 10 classes have been presenting "Heritage" projects for the last few days and I am "caught" (as an old prof used to say) by the powerful sentiments and connections the students have revealed. Their job was to ask some questions of their own past (family trees, interviews, story-gathering, etc.) and report on interesting findings and connections to Canadian history (where do I come from? where do we come from?). We've heard of new languages learned, sod houses built, businesses started, wars fought (one g-g-gfather fought in 3!), and doing things "the old way" (heritage skills). The Irish Potato Famine came up, as did the Royal Wardrobe of Elizabeth I, Japanese internment, the RCAF, racism & residential schools, Ellis Island & Pier 21, the potlatch, the smudge, the Stock Market Crash, Nazi spies in Prince George, escape from terror, family break-ups, sad deaths, and and also times of healing & celebration & humour. I've learned (again) that students are hungry to ask questions when their identity is involved. For example, one student talked about interviewing her grandmother who used to jump on the frozen river and ride rafts of ice... she asked "why don't we do stuff like that anymore?" A student then asked "what will we tell our grandchildren?" Another student suggested her generation watched the world go by: our grandparents talked of their adventures and "we talk about going on facebook" -- many thoughts turned to "what difference will I make in the world, in the lives of others?" We got to see, and have explained, photo albums, ration cards, old leather books with curious hand-writing, moccasins, teapots, an A.R.P. helmet, and lederhosen. We are, it turns out, Aboriginal, American, Chinese, Dutch, East Indian, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Metis, Phillipino, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Scottish, Slovakian, South African, Syrian, Thai, and Ukrainian, and probably a few more... as one girl said "I'm a typical Canadian Calico kid." We got to eat tea biscuits, samosa, egg tarts, gingerbread cookies, and canned wieners. We thought we were going to meet a cat. The classroom walls are festooned with photos and family trees -- trees shaped like trees, like charts, like maps, and even one shaped like a dream. The students have been wowed by the presentations and many have caught a genealogy bug which they will pursue beyond this course -- "this is something I'm going to look into later" or "I didn't get ahold of this story but I'm going to track it down at Christmas." To all the students who have so thoughtfully made connections with their/our past, I thank-you!!! This project, and these two wonderful Socials classes, will occupy a special place in my memory. I'm talking about it like the semester is done but I wanted to get this out while the gratitude was fresh.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
It's just hair!!!
I'm amazed how many people freaked out when I put in the dreads and then later when I cut them off. Most comments implied that it all meant something. Can't a guy just have long hair or short hair without it being about subversion or complicity with the system? Can't a guy wear a tie without people asking him if he has a job interview? O.K. who am I kidding. I don't really have a tie and I'd have hair 6 feet long if I wasn't going bald. Speaking of subversion, I'm reading a fantastic book right now... "Teaching as a Subversive Activity" (Postman/Weingartner 1968)... one of my dad's old books which found a home in my library. Their focus was on the problems if the US education system as it entered a new era, and a call for inquiry-based learning. What's amazing is that the "charges" they level against the education system of the 1960s, the slow response to change, the teacher-knows-best attitude, and the factory system of classrooms, could be used effectively today with very little change in syntax or semantics, although I think many modern proponents have hijacked inquiry-based learning for privatization agendas. I am reading it slowly (nothing new there) because it poses many challenges to my teaching practice which are not easy to resolve. Like the dreadlocks, my thoughts are bound tight and hard to work with, but also provide some joy, interest, and concern to others. There's the meaning you can take from my hair.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Paris of the North
Saw this on the CBC News website story on the big plywood plant fire and subsequent fires in the BCR industrial site in Prince George. The interesting part comes in the comments, where PG's industrial zone is elegantly slandered and someone rebuts... a good case study in heartland/hinterland dynamics!
Punchinello's comment #1 "Yes, Prince George is the Paris of northern BC. This cultural icon, the industrial district is the Champs d'Elysée of the Cariboo with it's famous neo-baroque second empire poured concrete cinder block truck stop. I think it was about to be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site too. What a loss."
kristahuot's response: "To Punchinello: I see a Vancouverite has seen fit to grace us all with their perspective on Prince George. Congratulations on knowing the main street in Paris, how extremely worldly and cultured of you. It is industrial cities like Prince George who provide BC's economy with most of its revenue, so this fire is actually more devastating than your comment implies. Many of those hardworking people will be out of jobs, and they are already suffering enough due to the pine beetle infestation and the softwood lumber crisis. I grew up in Prince George, and I lived in Vancouver for 5 years. I've also lived in Toronto and Montreal which are both 5 times the city Vancouver will ever be. Call Prince George whatever you like, but Vancouver as a city is nothing but a cultural black hole, with the artistic merit of a condo developer's sales model made out of used syringes. The beauty in that city is its natural surroundings, not the city itself. The poverty and addiction in Vancouver are an absolute disgrace, something that most Vancouverites turn a blind eye to, while they hang out in Yaletown sipping lattes and toting around tiny dogs. Maybe Main and Hastings can be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site too?"
Romeo
I had a chance to hear Romeo Dallaire speak to delegates at a Colleges Conference in PG. Wow... he had a few interesting loose ends that left me with some questions (military simplicity vs political ambiguity), but I came away with a renewed sense of the difference between management and leadership. He suggests we have too much of the former and a vacuum of the latter in Canada ("there is no one selecting and maintaining a vision for Canada"). He also suggested that Canada has stumbled onto world power status and thus needs to be more responsible on the world stage in preventing and addressing humanitarian issues (perhaps starting with keeping the Americans accountable for their human rights abuses in Gitmo). He figures the way forward is better cooperation between gov't, military, and NGOs.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
All grown up
My Nephew Matt has moved to Squamish! He's the first of my siblings' kids to leave the nest and has set a unique standard for doing so. After years of biathlon and related training, he is off to work with a world-class team near the 2010 Olympic venue. I think he might be a year too young to compete at Whistler, but he has kicked some butt this year, winning the PG Iceman and grabbing a gold for his age category at biathlon nationals. We're proud of Matt and a bt anxxious, too... will he starve? Will he understand the saltwater and the cedar? Will he fall victim to a shameless timeshare scheme?
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Identity Curriculum Technology links
wikis and currikis - online community used to develop and share open source knowledge and curriculum
Wikispaces -- http://www.wikispaces.com
PB Wiki -- http://www.pbwiki.com/education.wiki
Curriki -- http://www.curriki.or
blogs - web journals for teachers and students
Education Blogs -- http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blog
Blogmeister -- http://classblogmeister.com/
Google's Blogger (blogspot) -- http://www.blogger.com/
ipod extras - using portable players for quizzes, notes, references, news feeds
ipod in education -- http://www.ipodined.org
iPrep Press -- http://www.ipreppress.com
podcasting - audio (and visual) storytelling for learning, review, expression
Zencast -- http://www.zencast.com
Variety of podcasts -- http://www.podcast.net
Variety of podcasts -- http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcasts.html
tags and social bookmarking - labels on web entries and web-published bookmarks for easy access and sharing Delicious -- http://www.del.icio.us
Digg -- http://www.digg.com
Technorati -- http://www.technorati.com
online communities (com/unities) and forums - many kinds, some to join, others to watch, others to mine for curriculum and inspiration -- add community to your google search
Technology, Entertainment, Design -- http://www.ted.com
Amateur musicians sharing work -- http://www.macidol.com
Historical Recreation -- http://www.ancientworlds.net
Teacher's forum -- http://www.educationforum.ipbhost.com
Matching goals with others -- http://www.43things.com/
online conferencing and collaboration - shared documents, video/online classroom tools, communities focussed on contribution (other than wikis)
Virtual Conferencing -- http://www.elluminate.com
Collaborative Editing -- http://docs.google.com
Amateur writing community -- http://www.fanfiction.net
youtube on education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM
DOCUMENTS
Session Handout
Great Primer on Web 2.0
TechLearning New Literacy
Wikispaces -- http://www.wikispaces.com
PB Wiki -- http://www.pbwiki.com/education.wiki
Curriki -- http://www.curriki.or
blogs - web journals for teachers and students
Education Blogs -- http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blog
Blogmeister -- http://classblogmeister.com/
Google's Blogger (blogspot) -- http://www.blogger.com/
ipod extras - using portable players for quizzes, notes, references, news feeds
ipod in education -- http://www.ipodined.org
iPrep Press -- http://www.ipreppress.com
podcasting - audio (and visual) storytelling for learning, review, expression
Zencast -- http://www.zencast.com
Variety of podcasts -- http://www.podcast.net
Variety of podcasts -- http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcasts.html
tags and social bookmarking - labels on web entries and web-published bookmarks for easy access and sharing Delicious -- http://www.del.icio.us
Digg -- http://www.digg.com
Technorati -- http://www.technorati.com
online communities (com/unities) and forums - many kinds, some to join, others to watch, others to mine for curriculum and inspiration -- add community to your google search
Technology, Entertainment, Design -- http://www.ted.com
Amateur musicians sharing work -- http://www.macidol.com
Historical Recreation -- http://www.ancientworlds.net
Teacher's forum -- http://www.educationforum.ipbhost.com
Matching goals with others -- http://www.43things.com/
online conferencing and collaboration - shared documents, video/online classroom tools, communities focussed on contribution (other than wikis)
Virtual Conferencing -- http://www.elluminate.com
Collaborative Editing -- http://docs.google.com
Amateur writing community -- http://www.fanfiction.net
youtube on education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM
DOCUMENTS
Session Handout
Great Primer on Web 2.0
TechLearning New Literacy
Monday, January 28, 2008
Swaraj
I've been reading The Essential Gandhi (edited by Louis Fischer), and have emerged with both guilt and hope. Guilt because I recognize the truth about my complicity with consumer culture, but hope because of the strength a non-violent, self-sufficient, and power-resistant mindset affords.
I've been trying to think about how the concept of Swaraj (independence, beginning with self) applies to some of the power-structures I interact with: family/social, classroom/school/district, community/society. Also the identities of self, space, and landscapes (natural, human, and imagined). For example. what my classroom look like if I refused to exercise coercion in any form? What would our school's interaction with the district be like if we engaged in passive resistance to the policies and language which are ill-conceived for our context and collective goals? I often think that there are many fights which deserve my involvement, mostly educational crusades of one kind or another, but I'll admit that my motive is often not peace , love, and understanding so much as exposing bizarre thinking and thoughtless action in others with the hope that they'll leave me/us/them alone. Hmm... I'll read some more Gandhi before I pick this up again... the sleeping anarchist in me needs more time.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
panic and mirth
So... our server crashed at school on Thursday and the staff and students went without internet, email, home folders, everything on the computers, in fact (couldn't even log in as this requires a server connection). Thus, midst the frustration and despair, there was lots of storytelling, chalk & talk, bookwork, conversation, and face-to-face interaction. Let's not have too much of that or the system will collapse!
An outcome... I've put a backup website on my home computer which will only work if the computer is on at home!
An outcome... I've put a backup website on my home computer which will only work if the computer is on at home!
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Finn
Finn, our son,
born 4:55 am, Tuesday, April 17th
weighed 8 lbs 7 oz (3.83 kg)
length 20.7" (52.5 cm)
head circumference 13.8" (35 cm)
Of our daughter Luthien I said she came from one place of wonder to another, slowly, with great pain, and many scientific interventions. With Finn, the story is quicker and more connected with the elements. Following building contractions for days, Kate entered active labour at about 1:00 a.m. on the 17th. After a check-in at the hospital at 3:30 a.m., a rushed ride home brought Kate (with the midwife and the doula) in at 4:30 a.m. to make noise and bear down, waiting for the big black watering trough to fill. Someone cranked the heat and I dimmed the lights (pleasant to some, but I found it rather spectral). At about 4:50 Kate slid into the tub and pushed a few times as the baby and her body led themselves to "outness" and Finn came rushing out. The midwife Ruth (not my mom) caught him in the water and placed him on Kate's breast, where, after some gurgles and squawks, he fed and we all started to breathe deeper.
Finn's eyes dark blue-grey, some dark hair, red skin and white wrinkled hands and feet. Digits long and ears close to his round head. Cry is soft, but his neck is strong. He has slept well, some 4+ hour stretches, and is latching with relish. Peeling now less red, no white, skin and hair becoming fair.
The name Finn comes from Gaelic or Old German meaning fair. In Scandinavian languages, it would refer to Laplander. The story of Finn and Hengest (a version of which has been written by Tolkien) in Beowulf and the FIght at Finnsburg has Finn as a Frisian king. Now there is also Twain's Huck Finn and the Irish hero Finn and the giant Finn who built the cathedral in Lund.
Fin is also a root word in Tolkien's mythology meaning skill in Quenyan. It is found in Finwë, his sons Curufinwë, Fingolfin, and Finarfin, and many others. They were a powerful family of Noldorin elves, and none were more skilled and beautiful than Finwe's eldest son who was named Fëanor by his mother (Sindarin for spirit of fire). Fëanor wrote alphabets, crafted three powerful gems called Silmarils, led a rebellion against the gods, and was exiled with many of the Noldor to Middle Earth, thus setting up much of the history that Tolkien described in his books.
Some of these strands have resonated with us, and may make more sense as our children grow. Perhaps our Luthien has more of the charactersitcs of a Fëanor, and maybe Finn will have more of the grace and calm of a Luthien Tinuviel than his Noldor namesake. The name Finn appeals to us for many of the same reasons that Lu does, something easy shout as you watch your child run towards the edge of ravine or what not, but their longer names speak of our hopes for our children in some ways, which are probably our dreams for ourselves. Like many of Tolkien's characters, there is much grief to balance joy, but hope also comes from strange places. For our fiery and talkative daughter, we bless her with peace and patience, and for our (so far) gentle son, we bless him with bold words and deeds.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Help me pick our baby's name
MALE (pretty sure it's a boy): Alec, Aragorn, Avi, Bëor, Fëanor, Fin/Finn, Hemlock, Lewis, Lief/Liev, Mac, Max, Oromë, Ossë, Owen, Pierre, Rowan, Thor, Viggo
FEMALE (just in case): Arwen, Claire, Freya, Galadriel, Hilary, Lauren, Olivia, Rose, Yavanna, Zoë
be kind!
FEMALE (just in case): Arwen, Claire, Freya, Galadriel, Hilary, Lauren, Olivia, Rose, Yavanna, Zoë
be kind!
Friday, March 16, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
response to technology issue
A response to a developing technology issue in my district... the plan to make elementary schools go to a single platform ("minutes" related to this decision are in the previous post). I publish my thoughts here as a personal record and in case it serves to inform others.
Who am I and where am I coming from on this issue?
I’ve taught in SD57 for 11 years and have been an active user and teacher of technology and advocate for choice & experimentation. I have sat on and chaired school tech committees, acted as a teacher rep on the District Tech Team (DTT), served as a tech trainer for 4 years, serve as a Key Tech Contact (KTC) and hold the “POSR” position at my school (D.P. Todd) which provides technology leadership and facilitates school planning. The 40+ workshops I have conducted in the last 7 years on technology for transformative learning have included topics like blogs & podcasts, audio and video editing, web design, and the connection between student identity and the new digital world. This was also a key focus during my last university degree, and has guided the use of technology by students in my classes. My school (D.P. Todd) and district 57 (central administration and the DTT in particular) have been very supportive of my work, in terms of professional development, grant money, release time, hardware & software, and opportunities to lead, share, and learn.
I understand the rationale behind the funding and evergreening plans, but the single-platform issue warrants my feedback. It has already been the subject of 62 posts to the teacher’s union folder, and 22 posts to the district-wide Technology folder. Within the context of mass-delivered tech services, some decisions based on efficiency are necessary, but I believe the nature and costs of efficiency are often overlooked. I also understand that there must be a compromise between maximum efficiency and maximum choice; also a compromise between the ability of techies to administer a system and the ability of teachers to direct their own use of educational technology.
Nonetheless, I have concerns about the district’s past commitments and the current lack of inclusion on an educational decision.
A long-term commitment to being a dual-platform district was publicly made by senior admin this year and last at Key Technology Committee meetings and the previous year at an open Tech Conversation meeting. This commitment is also described in our published District Technology Standards and has been one of the diversity themes which has distinguished our district and helped make it a technology leader in the province. This commitment was also reiterated when the Debian server was introduced in the district. The DTT was told that the choice of servers was not a judgement on platforms and was specifically chosen for its purported ability to work with both macs and pcs.
The decision appears to have been imposed without adequate consultation or respect for existing processes and users; only an incomplete and group of elementary principals were involved to some (unknown) extent. The teachers on the DTT, the KTC, and the tech committees at elementary schools were avoided for decision and/or input. This issue of consultation without actively considering other frameworks (i.e. one represented by teacher/user-input) is problematic and does not lend itself to “buy-in.” Teachers, not tech support or principals, are the ones most closely tied to daily implementation of classroom curriculum and adaptation of technology.
It is not too late to consult on this issue, consider impacts, allow flexibility or room for variance. Perhaps some of this is already in the works, but just needs to be communicated to affected educators? In addition to the commitment and lack of consultation mentioned above there are other reasons why this decision warrants a second look.
Was efficiency the criteria for making the decision? It may be simpler for system technologists to conceive of a single-platform management environment, but this will not guarantee that tech problems will go away or that their jobs will be easier. The migration to a new platform and software set will require a vast amount of time and help, and will not shorten the workloads. Teachers have developed curriculum based on software which is platform-specific and is not available on pc without considerable expense or support which is not currently provided. Finding, installing, licensing, debugging, training, supporting replacements for mac's iLife suite alone would overwhelm our tech support, unless there are no plans to match level of "service" provided by existing computers. A plan to lower level of service will result in teacher frustration and cynicism as a trade off for efficiency and centrally administered delivery.
Was this decision made for financial reasons? When some of our techies studied costs this last year, they found (and published) that similarly stacked & equipped macs and pcs cost about the same; this initiative won’t save much money, but it will create work for those who are already well-served by their platforms; to start with it would fall on teachers to find replacements for software currently used and convert their files and projects. Many teachers have purchased their own computers and peripherals to match what they use at school with the belief that the district had a long-term commitment to supporting dual platforms.
One only has to see the teaching & learning projects resulting from the numerous TLITE (SFU’s tech ed diploma program) alumni in our district to see an explosion of innovative work in the last four years. A significant portion of this innovation relates to media-rich, platform-specific software beyond the cross-platform “Office”-type programs and internet browsers. What is said about this work when the tools are taken away? Teachers have been very busy spending school time and free time developing curriculum based on software which is not available on pc without considerable expense or support which is not currently provided. Finding, installing, licensing, debugging, training, and supporting replacements for mac's iLife suite alone would overwhelm our tech support. A recent case involved a teacher at Heather Park looking for a pc alternative to Mac’s iMovie which is commonly used by teachers and students for video editing. Tech Support here was limited to suggesting names of other software; the work of getting an alternative will fall on the teacher. How much extra work will teachers need to do to in order to archive and reformat years of teaching material? What will the district offer in the way of re-training, assistance with file-migration, and purchase of new software to allow new pcs to measure up to the educational uses provided by macs in the past? WIll they allow schools to purchase intel-based macs which can handle both platforms? Limiting the kinds of work teachers and students can do with technology is not a progressive move, even though I’m sure it will be marketed as “moving forward.”
Standardization and reducing the variety of configurations available to students might make tech planning easier and tech support conceptually simpler, but it does not necessarily help us teach and learn. In my school, we have a variety of tech needs: teachers with media-rich tech demands, teachers with basic computing needs, physically and mentally disabled students, film students with huge storage requirements, mini-labs with recycled computers and scaled-down configurations, "locked down" labs, wide-open workstations, office staff and admin with particular needs, and so on. Our “techie” works skilfully to accommodate these different platforms, software-sets, configurations, and generations of computers. He shares the vision of the transformative use of technology and knows how unwanted and unstudied standardization will kill programs and projects in our school.
Who am I and where am I coming from on this issue?
I’ve taught in SD57 for 11 years and have been an active user and teacher of technology and advocate for choice & experimentation. I have sat on and chaired school tech committees, acted as a teacher rep on the District Tech Team (DTT), served as a tech trainer for 4 years, serve as a Key Tech Contact (KTC) and hold the “POSR” position at my school (D.P. Todd) which provides technology leadership and facilitates school planning. The 40+ workshops I have conducted in the last 7 years on technology for transformative learning have included topics like blogs & podcasts, audio and video editing, web design, and the connection between student identity and the new digital world. This was also a key focus during my last university degree, and has guided the use of technology by students in my classes. My school (D.P. Todd) and district 57 (central administration and the DTT in particular) have been very supportive of my work, in terms of professional development, grant money, release time, hardware & software, and opportunities to lead, share, and learn.
I understand the rationale behind the funding and evergreening plans, but the single-platform issue warrants my feedback. It has already been the subject of 62 posts to the teacher’s union folder, and 22 posts to the district-wide Technology folder. Within the context of mass-delivered tech services, some decisions based on efficiency are necessary, but I believe the nature and costs of efficiency are often overlooked. I also understand that there must be a compromise between maximum efficiency and maximum choice; also a compromise between the ability of techies to administer a system and the ability of teachers to direct their own use of educational technology.
Nonetheless, I have concerns about the district’s past commitments and the current lack of inclusion on an educational decision.
A long-term commitment to being a dual-platform district was publicly made by senior admin this year and last at Key Technology Committee meetings and the previous year at an open Tech Conversation meeting. This commitment is also described in our published District Technology Standards and has been one of the diversity themes which has distinguished our district and helped make it a technology leader in the province. This commitment was also reiterated when the Debian server was introduced in the district. The DTT was told that the choice of servers was not a judgement on platforms and was specifically chosen for its purported ability to work with both macs and pcs.
The decision appears to have been imposed without adequate consultation or respect for existing processes and users; only an incomplete and group of elementary principals were involved to some (unknown) extent. The teachers on the DTT, the KTC, and the tech committees at elementary schools were avoided for decision and/or input. This issue of consultation without actively considering other frameworks (i.e. one represented by teacher/user-input) is problematic and does not lend itself to “buy-in.” Teachers, not tech support or principals, are the ones most closely tied to daily implementation of classroom curriculum and adaptation of technology.
It is not too late to consult on this issue, consider impacts, allow flexibility or room for variance. Perhaps some of this is already in the works, but just needs to be communicated to affected educators? In addition to the commitment and lack of consultation mentioned above there are other reasons why this decision warrants a second look.
Was efficiency the criteria for making the decision? It may be simpler for system technologists to conceive of a single-platform management environment, but this will not guarantee that tech problems will go away or that their jobs will be easier. The migration to a new platform and software set will require a vast amount of time and help, and will not shorten the workloads. Teachers have developed curriculum based on software which is platform-specific and is not available on pc without considerable expense or support which is not currently provided. Finding, installing, licensing, debugging, training, supporting replacements for mac's iLife suite alone would overwhelm our tech support, unless there are no plans to match level of "service" provided by existing computers. A plan to lower level of service will result in teacher frustration and cynicism as a trade off for efficiency and centrally administered delivery.
Was this decision made for financial reasons? When some of our techies studied costs this last year, they found (and published) that similarly stacked & equipped macs and pcs cost about the same; this initiative won’t save much money, but it will create work for those who are already well-served by their platforms; to start with it would fall on teachers to find replacements for software currently used and convert their files and projects. Many teachers have purchased their own computers and peripherals to match what they use at school with the belief that the district had a long-term commitment to supporting dual platforms.
One only has to see the teaching & learning projects resulting from the numerous TLITE (SFU’s tech ed diploma program) alumni in our district to see an explosion of innovative work in the last four years. A significant portion of this innovation relates to media-rich, platform-specific software beyond the cross-platform “Office”-type programs and internet browsers. What is said about this work when the tools are taken away? Teachers have been very busy spending school time and free time developing curriculum based on software which is not available on pc without considerable expense or support which is not currently provided. Finding, installing, licensing, debugging, training, and supporting replacements for mac's iLife suite alone would overwhelm our tech support. A recent case involved a teacher at Heather Park looking for a pc alternative to Mac’s iMovie which is commonly used by teachers and students for video editing. Tech Support here was limited to suggesting names of other software; the work of getting an alternative will fall on the teacher. How much extra work will teachers need to do to in order to archive and reformat years of teaching material? What will the district offer in the way of re-training, assistance with file-migration, and purchase of new software to allow new pcs to measure up to the educational uses provided by macs in the past? WIll they allow schools to purchase intel-based macs which can handle both platforms? Limiting the kinds of work teachers and students can do with technology is not a progressive move, even though I’m sure it will be marketed as “moving forward.”
Standardization and reducing the variety of configurations available to students might make tech planning easier and tech support conceptually simpler, but it does not necessarily help us teach and learn. In my school, we have a variety of tech needs: teachers with media-rich tech demands, teachers with basic computing needs, physically and mentally disabled students, film students with huge storage requirements, mini-labs with recycled computers and scaled-down configurations, "locked down" labs, wide-open workstations, office staff and admin with particular needs, and so on. Our “techie” works skilfully to accommodate these different platforms, software-sets, configurations, and generations of computers. He shares the vision of the transformative use of technology and knows how unwanted and unstudied standardization will kill programs and projects in our school.
from the District Technology Team Minutes 07.02.27
[Here lies an issue which deserves a response...]
"Funding for technology at the elementary level
Given the challenges elementary schools face from year to year, a system is required to provide predictable and increased funding for technology. There are 2 objectives:
-Redistribute the funding among large and small schools to support differences of scale that these different sites.
-Raise the overall funding level in all schools.
Elementary school principals were consulted regarding a plan to give them “targeted” funding on an annual basis to green technology over the course of five years.
Feedback from schools was positive for the plan, many of whom suggested that if funds were to be targeted, it would be easier to have it handled centrally.
[HERE IS THE CONTROVERSIAL PART]
If systems are going to be deployed centrally, principals suggested the efficiency of using a single operating system platform. With this feedback, Tony went to Senior Administration and has been given a mandate to begin to develop a process for moving the systems to centrally administered single platform system across the elementary schools.
This process will begin in 2007/08 and will employ a five year greening cycle for all elementary schools."
"Funding for technology at the elementary level
Given the challenges elementary schools face from year to year, a system is required to provide predictable and increased funding for technology. There are 2 objectives:
-Redistribute the funding among large and small schools to support differences of scale that these different sites.
-Raise the overall funding level in all schools.
Elementary school principals were consulted regarding a plan to give them “targeted” funding on an annual basis to green technology over the course of five years.
Feedback from schools was positive for the plan, many of whom suggested that if funds were to be targeted, it would be easier to have it handled centrally.
[HERE IS THE CONTROVERSIAL PART]
If systems are going to be deployed centrally, principals suggested the efficiency of using a single operating system platform. With this feedback, Tony went to Senior Administration and has been given a mandate to begin to develop a process for moving the systems to centrally administered single platform system across the elementary schools.
This process will begin in 2007/08 and will employ a five year greening cycle for all elementary schools."
Monday, January 29, 2007
Frankenfoods... my kids will not be lab rats!
After watching "The Truth About Genetically Modified Food," I’m more convinced than ever that Canada needs mandatory labelling of GMOs. Here are some reasons why:
(Problems with GMOs)
-testing is limited, left to others, or done by gmo company funded reseach
-use of invasive bacterial/viral technlogy to mutate food
-concerns over toxiicity/ effect on immunity
-poses threat of new allergens and tampering with antibiotic
-cell-invasion process affects nutrition
-patenting of life and native plant species by gmo companies
-ecological/soil cutrient cycling impact of gmo plants
-use of gmo-associated pesticides and herbicides
-gene-patenting & threats to individual privacy and freedom
-malicious lawsuits by gmo ccompanies to protect patents
-conflict of interests - gmo execs become government officials (EPA/FDA)
-impact of monoculture on genetic/bio divesity
-lobbying/campaign contributions to ensure deregulation
-unfair/subsidized competition with traditional plant varieties
-demands for payment when gmo plants contaminate adjacent fields
-threat to food secuirty/genetic heritage through gmo hybridization
-consolidation of food supply/mulitnational character of gmo companies
-use of suicide genes to prevent re-use
-creation of green deserts of genetically locked species
(Problems with GMOs)
-testing is limited, left to others, or done by gmo company funded reseach
-use of invasive bacterial/viral technlogy to mutate food
-concerns over toxiicity/ effect on immunity
-poses threat of new allergens and tampering with antibiotic
-cell-invasion process affects nutrition
-patenting of life and native plant species by gmo companies
-ecological/soil cutrient cycling impact of gmo plants
-use of gmo-associated pesticides and herbicides
-gene-patenting & threats to individual privacy and freedom
-malicious lawsuits by gmo ccompanies to protect patents
-conflict of interests - gmo execs become government officials (EPA/FDA)
-impact of monoculture on genetic/bio divesity
-lobbying/campaign contributions to ensure deregulation
-unfair/subsidized competition with traditional plant varieties
-demands for payment when gmo plants contaminate adjacent fields
-threat to food secuirty/genetic heritage through gmo hybridization
-consolidation of food supply/mulitnational character of gmo companies
-use of suicide genes to prevent re-use
-creation of green deserts of genetically locked species
Monday, January 08, 2007
Diamond's top 12
From "Collapse," here is Jared Diamond's most serious environmental problems facing past and present societies: 1. Destruction of natural habitats
2. Loss of wild food sources (especially fish)
3. Loss of wild species and biodiversity
4. Soil loss and damage
5. Reliance on non-renewable energy sources
6. Threats to freshwater
7. Abuse of the photosynthetic ceiling (reducing growing capacity)
8. Chemical pollution and toxic overload
9. Introduction of alien species
10. Greenhouse gas emissions (global warming) & ozone depletion
11. Unchecked population growth
12. Resource consumption & per-capita impact
What would you add to the list?
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Christmas reading
I'm not sure why, but against the advice of almost everyone I respect, I never bothereed to pick up and read A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. Well, I finally did, and I think it was worth the wait as the ecological wisdom might have been lost on me 16 years ago when my brother-in-law John first recommended it. John got me a book for Christmas (Dillard's For the Time Being)... hopefully this one will take me less time to read!
Monday, December 25, 2006
2 weeks of playdough
Christmas break is here and I'm looking forward to doing not much and puttering around the house. My daughter has discovered televsion (she resisted all previous attempts at "couch=training") and thus (finally!) gives Kate and I breaks to cook, clean, read, whatever. Lu's favourite is Little Bear, and then Franklin (probably the Cockburn intro). Three years ago, Little Bear, Franklin, and Cockburn were not names I associated with kid's shows (constellation, Arctic explorer, folk icon)... how far I have fallen. Well, Christmas day, the gifts are long unwrapped, and I've got 2 weeks of playdough, snowshoes, blocks, books, puzzles, and kid's shows to look forward to. Playdough video here, btw.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
blog cabin fever
Like I said in this year's Christmas letter... I have written many things this year, dispatched many trees in the service of this writing, but, alas, very little of it was good writing.
Friday, November 24, 2006
GarageBand workshop
GarageBand has many purposes among educators. Some are using it to create student or teacher podcasts, others are using it more musical composition or to aid in creating media-rich presentations. There are a number of communities sharing GarageBand-made music, many by and for children & students. Here are some useful links:Tutorials & Guides
Apple's intro to GarageBand capabiliites & possibilities
Apple's guide to GarageBand includes tips & video tutorials
NewMediaGuides on Audio thorough guide to audio editing, hardware choices...
MediaBlab how to build your own microphone popscreen
Shared GarageBand songs & ideas:
Macband.com very cool, GB songs and loops
Macidol.com wicked cool, amazing repository of sound
Garageband sample songs Apple's rss feed of student GB projects
Other related links:
Macjams.com all about audio, includes GB resources
Audacity free cross-platform audio editor & recorder
Apple project gallery student video uses GB
Teaching with GarageBand creating recorder accompaniments
Any other feedback or suggestions?
Thursday, November 23, 2006
campus 2020 thoughts
I recently spoke at a "Campus 2020" forum where participants were asked to respond to some questions about the future of post-secondary education in BC... here were my responses:
1. Understanding the future: How will the BC of 2020 be different than today? How will these differences affect the way people live and the way people learn? What will this mean for our post-secondary education system?
Threats to the environment will create & deepen issues which are not present priorities; mostly related to habitat loss, agriculture & forest land alienation, and loss of biodiversity
Electronic learning & the interactive web will challenge & replace much of what occupies present pedagogical space. By this I mean that new media and new ways of connecting people & ideas don’t necessarily fit well with how education is done in most schools
The connection/disconnection of people from sense & place will become a major theme for both of these trends, and post-secondary education will increase the time, effort, and money it applies to this theme.
2. Creating opportunity: In 2020, what are the barriers people face in getting the education or training they want or need? Are those barriers geographic? Financial? Technological? Other?
Yes, yes, and yes. Besides these ones, I think one could find lots of evidence for age, gender, and race barriers in BC.
Probably the best thing we could do to address barriers is to deconstruct colonialism in the system and make it easier for people to take post-secondary education at any age or situation.
Another barrier will be overcoming the socially isolating tendencies of technology and environmental disconnect.
3. Understanding the purpose: As we move toward 2020, what are we educating people for – jobs? intellectual achievement? informed citizenship? personal interest? all of these and others? Can our institutions, programs and services be better designed and governed to support these goals?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes. Like the caption on the 2020 Think Pieces page states: “be intrigued, be enlightened, be outraged, be an explorer.” Whatever the purpose or designation of an education program (trades & training, arts, sciences, continuing studies), allowing the experience to be open to experimentation and dissent will help guarantee that it stays intriguing and enlightening. Practically, this could mean developing and funding programs enhance quality of life and aren’t tied to research dollars.
As a secondary teacher I’ve seen what often happens to elementary students when they come to high school. We beat the “play” out of them and then wonder why they lack creativity and original thought. Society can do the same things to college & university grads, so I think it is really important that young people squeeze all the revolutionary juice from their post-secondary experience -- deep questioning, energy, passion, originality; the man will try to beat it out of you, so get your kicks in while you can.
4. Defining quality and measuring success: How we will define terms like “student”, “teacher”, “program”, “institution” in 2020? How will we measure their success? Do we have the appropriate mechanisms to measure our progress?
Too little emphasis on accountability and things don’t change, teachers and students get lost in the system or stuck in a rut.
Too much emphasis on accountability and individual experimentation gets stifled, teachers and students have to follow the program and don’t have the free space to innovate. Collaboration is forced from aboev, and not allowed to develope as an deeply felt need withing a community of educators. It is tough to create mechanisms which support the right kind of accountability without prescribing behaviours for teachers and students.
Concepts like life-long learning will become more relevant as people see education as something they return to over and over again and as education becomes deschooled. Campuses will still be important places, but they have to offer something special to compete or coexist with virtual schools and independent learning
5. Supporting innovation: As we move toward the future, how should our post-secondary system define BC’s position on the national and world stage? How should we support individuals and institutions to be innovative and responsive to change and opportunity?
Take some cues from the environment: we have an incredible biophysical heritage in BC which has sustained people for thousands of years and must continue to do so.
Take some cues from the interactive web: innovative work which honours student identity and pushes teaching and learning is taking place in elementary and secondary schools all over the province. This work experiments in multi-modal literacy and both reflects and develops a new kind of learner. I’m talking about podcasts, blogging, wikiwork, videojournals, web portfolios, gaming, and forums. Post-secondary universities need to pick up where this leaves off and really provoke society with high-quality, thoughtful, poetic forays into new media and critical response to relevant issues.
I think the most innovative work will focus on the issue I’ve raised, that of connecting people with their senses, with others, and with the earth in a future that faces environmental crises and pervasive technology. With our cultural and ecological diversity, high-tech & media industries, and the need to move beyond resource extraction in BC, I think we could be a real leader on this issue. I know many post-secondary institutions have already started to make this shift, but it is by no means mainstream.
1. Understanding the future: How will the BC of 2020 be different than today? How will these differences affect the way people live and the way people learn? What will this mean for our post-secondary education system?
Threats to the environment will create & deepen issues which are not present priorities; mostly related to habitat loss, agriculture & forest land alienation, and loss of biodiversity
Electronic learning & the interactive web will challenge & replace much of what occupies present pedagogical space. By this I mean that new media and new ways of connecting people & ideas don’t necessarily fit well with how education is done in most schools
The connection/disconnection of people from sense & place will become a major theme for both of these trends, and post-secondary education will increase the time, effort, and money it applies to this theme.
2. Creating opportunity: In 2020, what are the barriers people face in getting the education or training they want or need? Are those barriers geographic? Financial? Technological? Other?
Yes, yes, and yes. Besides these ones, I think one could find lots of evidence for age, gender, and race barriers in BC.
Probably the best thing we could do to address barriers is to deconstruct colonialism in the system and make it easier for people to take post-secondary education at any age or situation.
Another barrier will be overcoming the socially isolating tendencies of technology and environmental disconnect.
3. Understanding the purpose: As we move toward 2020, what are we educating people for – jobs? intellectual achievement? informed citizenship? personal interest? all of these and others? Can our institutions, programs and services be better designed and governed to support these goals?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes. Like the caption on the 2020 Think Pieces page states: “be intrigued, be enlightened, be outraged, be an explorer.” Whatever the purpose or designation of an education program (trades & training, arts, sciences, continuing studies), allowing the experience to be open to experimentation and dissent will help guarantee that it stays intriguing and enlightening. Practically, this could mean developing and funding programs enhance quality of life and aren’t tied to research dollars.
As a secondary teacher I’ve seen what often happens to elementary students when they come to high school. We beat the “play” out of them and then wonder why they lack creativity and original thought. Society can do the same things to college & university grads, so I think it is really important that young people squeeze all the revolutionary juice from their post-secondary experience -- deep questioning, energy, passion, originality; the man will try to beat it out of you, so get your kicks in while you can.
4. Defining quality and measuring success: How we will define terms like “student”, “teacher”, “program”, “institution” in 2020? How will we measure their success? Do we have the appropriate mechanisms to measure our progress?
Too little emphasis on accountability and things don’t change, teachers and students get lost in the system or stuck in a rut.
Too much emphasis on accountability and individual experimentation gets stifled, teachers and students have to follow the program and don’t have the free space to innovate. Collaboration is forced from aboev, and not allowed to develope as an deeply felt need withing a community of educators. It is tough to create mechanisms which support the right kind of accountability without prescribing behaviours for teachers and students.
Concepts like life-long learning will become more relevant as people see education as something they return to over and over again and as education becomes deschooled. Campuses will still be important places, but they have to offer something special to compete or coexist with virtual schools and independent learning
5. Supporting innovation: As we move toward the future, how should our post-secondary system define BC’s position on the national and world stage? How should we support individuals and institutions to be innovative and responsive to change and opportunity?
Take some cues from the environment: we have an incredible biophysical heritage in BC which has sustained people for thousands of years and must continue to do so.
Take some cues from the interactive web: innovative work which honours student identity and pushes teaching and learning is taking place in elementary and secondary schools all over the province. This work experiments in multi-modal literacy and both reflects and develops a new kind of learner. I’m talking about podcasts, blogging, wikiwork, videojournals, web portfolios, gaming, and forums. Post-secondary universities need to pick up where this leaves off and really provoke society with high-quality, thoughtful, poetic forays into new media and critical response to relevant issues.
I think the most innovative work will focus on the issue I’ve raised, that of connecting people with their senses, with others, and with the earth in a future that faces environmental crises and pervasive technology. With our cultural and ecological diversity, high-tech & media industries, and the need to move beyond resource extraction in BC, I think we could be a real leader on this issue. I know many post-secondary institutions have already started to make this shift, but it is by no means mainstream.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)