Friday Night Out on the Town

I just wanted to post a few pics from my evening with a couple science teachers from Thailand. Enjoy!

Posing with a Buffalo in front of the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark

A Great Look at OKC from Bricktown

It's ball time! Noom (left) and O (right) are posing, while Adam is focused.

And the pitch!

Here are Noom (left) and O (right) leaning in, hoping to catch a foul ball.

Hijacking, Rain, and Posters

Well, I made it to DC! I’m not generally a nervous passenger on flights, but first news today: Plane Hijacking in the Bahamas! Naturally, I began brushing up on my “recover control of the plane” skills.

My flight was uneventful, at best. But, now I find myself in a beautiful, historic, and wet capital city. I literally stared at the White House for about 8 minutes. So much history!
I’ve just spent the last 1.5 hours perusing the poster session here at the magnificent DC Convention Center (notice image – top left). Lot’s of smiling presenters giving their, “here’s what I’m doing to change the world” talk. The rumble of greetings, contemplation, and theoretical bliss hovers in the small browsing area. A solid 100 to 150 attending. Not bad for my first session. Not bad.

Well, dinner calls. More exciting updates from NCTM 2009 to follow!

P.S. – Follow me on Twitter _levi_ (yes, those are underscores)

Reflections on Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Holy Cow! I have read this book in sections for a class before… this time I read it as an entirely new person. One with fervent passion for being part of an education revolution.

I practically underlined everything in the 1st chapter. Of course I appreciate this diametric debate between the oppressor and the oppressed, between objectivism and subjectivism, and so on. The most profound statement of the whole chapter, however, was quite possibly the most simple:

with, not for (p. 48)

Freire discusses the complex dualities of the oppressed,

It’s been a while and here’s why.

I’ve taken somewhat of a hiatus from posting recently. Here’s why.
In December, I was spending a lot of time wrapping up projects for my classes at the University of Oklahoma. One of those projects is a preliminary literature review for a research study I am planning to do on the experiences had by teachers in alternative education. I am planning a three part series about this and hope to begin the first soon.

Have opportunities for students to be creative and artistic vanished under NCLB?

It has always been my focus, through 26 years of being an elementary teacher and principal, to encourage creativity, artistic expression, thinking, problem solving, and thinking outside the box.  My greatest concern, with all schools focused on NCLB mandates, is that learning opportunities in the above areas have almost vanished.  Yearly Academic Performance Index scores are 80% test scores and 20% attendance at the elementary level in Oklahoma and the tests students take are in reading and math.  What’s tested is taught is pretty much it!  In this system, most students will become proficient readers.  I have many concerns related to mathematics but that’s another post.

I work with Oklahoma teachers in a consulting role and many report that they devote large blocks of instructional time to reading and math.  They report some instruction in science and social studies but

High Stakes Testing Kills Education

I know you’re probably thinking that I take a pretty hard line on a lot of issues, but this is the beautiful thing about FiboThinks; opinions can be shared and ideas for solutions can be posed. I sincerely believe that the future of education is up to those of us who are willing to go out on a limb and challenge the usual educational game and say that we want change!

So… I think that high stakes testing is killing education.

The Problem: For some reason, the government has seen fit to demand that public education focus less on learning and more on creating a more business-like system. Learning gets pushed to the side and schools are made to act as businesses do in the global market. Yes, I know that the American education system isn’t “measuring” up to the standards of the world, but that is a whole new post.

Internet in Schools: An Asset or a Liability

That’s right. I’m going straight for the big topic today: the Internet. Please commence all screaming now and continue to read when composure is regained.

I’m am of one opinion; I believe that the Internet is not evil. Yes, I know there is an entire world of BAD things, people, and such on the Web, but the Internet is here and although evil things are carried out using the Internet, we cannot shy away from it.

Engaging Curriculum

What gets kids into it? Is there really a way to get students to buy in, whole-heartedly, to the content of the course? I think that this is an incredibly difficult question to answer. In fact, I think that really the only way to really answer that question is to consider another question.

Stagnant Teaching

What if teaching could be as engaging as we all want it to be? Yes, there are so many things that make people love teaching, but how many times do we set down and think, “Wow! I really love planning lessons… and dealing with behavior issues… and under, or over-involved parents.”

Student Curiosity

A recent conversation of mine led to my beliefs about the future of curriculum in public education. The conversation was had with someone I respect greatly and who has been in leadership consulting and the energy industry. His expectations about education have always interested me as he approaches each and every discussion from a business mindset.