teachers.mrproctor.net

I just perused the draft Common Core Standards released today by the Common Core Standards Initiative, and found some of the language intriguing. As I was reading, I realized that I need to incorporate written assessment into more fields, particularly groupwork. I want to assign my students to formally critique group interactions next year. Here and more generally, I want to start mandating the use of certain technical terms in student writing.

I just read a really interesting article from Wired's GeekDad column about the way we think about education. The author, Kevin Makice, draws on Alfie Kohn and Elizabeth Ostrom to argue that many of the policies and systems we use in education are short-sighted, and do not consider their own ultimate objectives. I was particularly impressed with Ostrom's research on non-competitive economic systems which can outcompete traditional systems in the marketplace.

I've been listening to The Portable Dorothy Parker in the car, and this pairing occurred to me, which might work quite nicely in a unit on approaching abstract ideas:

The Trifler, Dorothy Parker

Death's the lover that I'd be taking;
Wild and fickle and fierce is he.
Small's his care if my heart be breaking-
Gay young Death would have none of me.

Hear them clack of my haste to greet him!
No one other my mouth had kissed.
I had dressed me in silk to meet him-
False young Death would not hold the tryst.

Slow's the blood that was quick and stormy,

I just got back from the Houston AP Conference, my first experience at such an event. The lack of vegetarian options notwithstanding, I had a fantastic time. Here's the presentation I put together to share some ideas with my colleagues back at Westlake.