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The Reason I Write :: johnp

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:46:30 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

But actually, this “digression” became just another part of my reason to began blogging: just writing down my thoughts, disorganized or not, nothing more or less. I hope Mr. Burrell understands the parts about my digression. I think he will understand this because I know he doesn’t want to be schooly…( uhm… don’t you? I mean, seriously I will do as you tell me to do if what I did in this post was too disorganized) But I deem those digressions fine as far as they reflect my thoughts.

Disorganized writing is not good writing. If you look at the rubric about "QUALITY" writing on weblogs that I assigned you, you will see that clear ideas and reasonably organized writing are expected. Writers who care about their readers - and about their own persona as a writer - take care to be clear and well-organized. That's not "schooliness" - that's writing. You are a writer on these pages. If you choose not to be, then you're not being a writer. As you say, you're instead simply pretending to write for only one schooly purpose: to get a grade. And real writing is not done for a grade. It's done to express an idea well, and for a reader. posted by cburell

The reason I had been reluctant about writing posts in my blog was that my interest toward the outside world is too shallow yet that I still do not think blogging is efficient tool for me to use yet.

If you're shallow and uninterested in learning about the world or improving your writing, then NO form of writing is efficient for you. It would be no better on paper than online (and it would be an inefficient and wasteful use of paper at that). posted by cburell

my shallow level of interests in the outside world and fate to be so shallow. This also adds to the reason that I often want to digress. I still write my own diaries and even record my voices, because I definitely want to practice my verbal aptitude( writing and reading), and digress a lot. And I just want to continue that practice smoothly in this blog.

It's really easy to blame fate for not doing your work. Isn't laziness a more honest word, though, seriously? posted by cburell
Rambling is not a good way to practice "verbal aptitude." It's self-centered. Center on your reader and look - literally look - at your own work through your readers' eyes. THAT will improve your "verbal aptitude." Because it is the reader, in real writing as in schooly writing, who is the ultimate judge of the quality of your writing. posted by cburell

Tags: no_tag

Posted by: cburell

The Public-Domain Movie Database

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:09:16 -0000

Tags: archive copyright creativecommons digitalstorytelling editing film multimedia

Posted by: cburell

plbk5 Paradise Lost Bk 5 Outline

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:57:01 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

*lines 1-128 Adam awakes surprised to find Eve still sleeping. He admires her beauty and then wakes her by calling her his new delight. She wakes and embraces Adam fearfully. She then tells Adam of a terrible dream she has had in which an angel tempts her into eating the forbidden fruit. The angel convinces Eve to eat the fruit by telling her that it will make her a goddess. Eve eats. Adam is scared by Eve's dream, but he comforts her by telling her that he knows she would never eat the forbidden fruit.

[377-450] Adam leads Raphael to his home in Eden. Eve is standing naked waiting for them. Raphael greets her, calling her the mother of mankind. Adam invites Raphael to join them in a meal, but Adam is not quite sure whether or not angels can eat the same food. Raphael explains that he can eat the same food -- showing that men and angels aren't totally different.

Tags: literature milton

Posted by: cburell

You Can't Predict Who Will Change The World - Forbes.com

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:15:45 -0000

Comments:

Great evidence that "memorization of facts" does not lead to success, but creativity does - even in business.
posted by cburell

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

If the success rate of directed research is very low, though, it is true that the more we search, the more likely we are to find things "by accident," outside the original plan. Only a disproportionately minute number of discoveries traditionally came from directed academic research. What academia seems more masterful at is public relations and fundraising.

This is good news--for some. Ignore what you were told by your college economics professor and consider the following puzzle. Whenever you hear a snotty European presenting his stereotypes about Americans, he will often describe them as "unintellectual," "uneducated," and "poor in math," because, unlike European schooling, American education is not based on equation drills and memorization.

Yet the person making these statements will likely be addicted to his iPod, wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans, and using Microsoft Word to jot down his "cultural" statements on his Intel-based PC, with some Google searches on the Internet here and there interrupting his composition. If old enough, he might also be using Viagra.

America's primary export, it appears, is trial-and-error, and the innovative knowledge attained in such a way. Trial-and-error has error in it; and most top-down traditional rational and academic environments do not like the fallibility of "error" and the embarrassment of not quite knowing where they're going. The U.S. fosters entrepreneurs and creators, not exam-takers, bureaucrats or, worse, deluded economists. So the perceived weakness of the American pupil in conventional studies is where his or her very strength may lie. The American system of trial and error produces doers: Black Swan-hunting, dream-chasing entrepreneurs, with a tolerance for a certain class of risk-taking and for making plenty of small errors on the road to success or knowledge. This environment also attracts aggressive tinkering foreigners like this author.

Globalization allowed the U.S. to specialize in the creative aspect of things, the risk-taking production of concepts and ideas--that is, the scalable part of production, in which more income can be generated from the same fixed assets through innovation. By exporting jobs, the U.S. has outsourced the less scalable and more linear components of production, assigning them to the citizens of more mathematical and culturally rigid states, who are happy to be paid by the hour to work on other people's ideas.

Tags: constructivism creativity education pedagogy

Posted by: cburell

Milton: Paradise Lost - Book 3

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 06:51:06 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

the Stygian Pool

River Styx is a major allusion: the river you cross after death to go to Hades in Greek myth. "Stygian" is the adjective. posted by cburell

long detain'd
In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight [ 15 ]
Through utter and through middle darkness borne

I love how Milton describes his "adventurous song" as his "flight." He hasn't forgotten his totally egomaniacal goal to write the highest epic ever penned by man. posted by cburell

th' Orphean Lyre

If you don't know Orpheus, you should. THE "poet" of Greek myth, his lyrics actually charmed Hades to let him visit hell while alive. His wife Eurydice was there, he wanted her back. Almost made it out with her, but she looked back on the way (a no-no) and was turned to a pillar of salt. What the moral of that myth is, I have no idea. It's an interesting riddle. And notice the site links to Ovid's telling of this myth. Very worth reading, just for fun. posted by cburell

I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night,
Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down
The dark descent, and up to reascend, [ 20 ]
Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe,
And feel thy sovran vital Lamp; but thou
Revisit'st not these eyes, that rowle in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs, [ 25 ]
Or dim suffusion veild. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt
Cleer Spring, or shadie Grove, or Sunnie Hill,
Smit with the love of sacred Song; but chief
Thee Sion and the flowrie Brooks beneath [ 30 ]
That wash thy hallowd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit: nor somtimes forget
Those other two equal'd with me in Fate,
So were I equal'd with them in renown,
Blind Thamyris and blind Mæonides, [ 35 ]
And Tiresias and Phineus Prophets old.
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful Bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest Covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal Note. Thus with the Year [ 40 ]
Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of Ev'n or Morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or Summers Rose,
Or flocks, or heards, or human face divine;
But cloud in stead, and ever-during dark [ 45 ]
Surrounds me, from the chearful wayes of men
Cut off, and for the Book of knowledg fair
Presented with a Universal blanc
Of Nature's works to mee expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdome at one entrance quite shut out. [ 50 ]
So much the rather thou Celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight. [ 55 ]

Milton sings here of his own (literal) blindness, making himself, for a moment, heroic as the bard of this poem. Homer - this is wild - was said in legend to be blind as well. Milton was blind in fact. Even biographically, there are points of comparison between Milton and Homer. And what is it about physical blindness that leads to spiritual vision? There's a similar motif in lameness: the great artist-god Hephaestus ("Vulcan" to the Romans) was crippled, lame, bandy-legged, deformed - yet more able to create artistic beauty than any other god. These are ideas the Elect love to ponder, to wonder about. It's life. posted by cburell

Now had the Almighty Father from above,
From the pure Empyrean where he sits
High Thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye,
His own works and their works at once to view:
About him all the Sanctities of Heaven [ 60 ]
Stood thick as Starrs, and from his sight receiv'd
Beatitude past utterance; on his right
The radiant image of his Glory sat,
His onely Son; On Earth he first beheld
Our two first Parents, yet the onely two [ 65 ]
Of mankind, in the happie Garden plac't,
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,
Uninterrupted joy, unrivald love
In blissful solitude; he then survey'd
Hell and the Gulf between, and Satan there [ 70 ]
Coasting the wall of Heav'n on this side Night
In the dun Air sublime, and ready now
To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet
On the bare outside of this World, that seem'd
Firm land imbosom'd without Firmament, [ 75 ]
Uncertain which, in Ocean or in Air.
Him God beholding from his prospect high,
Wherein past, present, future he beholds,
Thus to his onely Son foreseeing spake.

Milton's "adventurous song" gets more adventurous still: HE IS NOW NARRATING NOT FROM SATAN'S POINT OF VIEW - RADICAL ENOUGH - HE IS NOW NARRATING FROM _GOD'S POINT OF VIEW_. Just wild. What nerve he has! posted by cburell

Tags: no_tag

Posted by: cburell

Milton: Paradise Lost - Book 2

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:14:49 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heav'n,

This is Satan speaking. There are no quotation marks to show it, but you can tell, can't you? posted by cburell

From this descent
Celestial vertues rising, will appear [ 15 ]
More glorious and more dread then from no fall,
And trust themselves to fear no second fate:
Mee though just right, and the fixt Laws of Heav'n
Did first create your Leader, next free choice,
With what besides, in Counsel or in Fight, [ 20 ]
Hath bin achievd of merit, yet this loss
Thus farr at least recover'd, hath much more
Establisht in a safe unenvied Throne
Yielded with full consent.

by what best way, [ 40 ]
Whether of open Warr or covert guile,
We now debate; who can advise, may speak.

the subject of the first "parliamentary debate" in Hell. posted by cburell

My sentence is for open Warr:

Moloch argues for more war. posted by cburell

But perhaps [ 70 ]
The way seems difficult and steep to scale
With upright wing against a higher foe.
Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench
Of that forgetful Lake benumm not still,
That in our proper motion we ascend [ 75 ]
Up to our native seat: descent and fall
To us is adverse.

"in our proper motion we ascend / Up to our native seat: descent and fall / To us is adverse." - you have to like the rhetoric. It's noble and glorious. posted by cburell

What fear we then? what doubt we to incense
His utmost ire? which to the highth enrag'd, [ 95 ]
Will either quite consume us, and reduce
To nothing this essential, happier farr
Then miserable to have eternal being:
Or if our substance be indeed Divine,
And cannot cease to be, we are at worst [ 100 ]
On this side nothing; and by proof we feel
Our power sufficient to disturb his Heav'n,
And with perpetual inrodes to Allarme,
Though inaccessible, his fatal Throne:
Which if not Victory is yet Revenge. [ 105 ]

And debaters want to give a score to Moloch's debate skills? Snappy ending - and look at the psychology: "If we can't beat him, we can at least keep him from being happy. That in itself is sort of a sweet revenge. God doesn't deserve happiness if we don't have it." posted by cburell

On th' other side up rose
Belial, in act more graceful and humane;
A fairer person lost not Heav'n; he seemd [ 110 ]
For dignity compos'd and high exploit:
But all was false and hollow; though his Tongue
Dropt Manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest Counsels: for his thoughts were low; [ 115 ]
To vice industrious, but to Nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful: yet he pleas'd the ear,
And with perswasive accent thus began.

Belial's description is fun. He's the demon "pretty boy," the lady's man, the smooth talker. Kind of like Paris in the Iliad, whose seduction of Helen started the whole Trojan War. posted by cburell

This is now
Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,
Our Supream Foe in time may much remit [ 210 ]
His anger, and perhaps thus farr remov'd
Not mind us not offending, satisfi'd
With what is punish't; whence these raging fires
Will slack'n, if his breath stir not thir flames.
Our purer essence then will overcome [ 215 ]
Thir noxious vapour, or enur'd not feel,
Or chang'd at length, and to the place conformd
In temper and in nature, will receive
Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain;
This horror will grow milde, this darkness light, [ 220 ]
Besides what hope the never-ending flight
Of future dayes may bring, what chance, what change
Worth waiting, since our present lot appeers
For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
If we procure not to our selves more woe. [ 225 ]

So Belial basically argues: Let's not get into more trouble by provoking God further. Let's hope he'll eventually forgive us, and make the best of our situation in hell. posted by cburell

Thus Belial with words cloath'd in reasons garb
Counsell'd ignoble ease, and peaceful sloath,
Not peace:

Does anybody else find Milton's narrator's opinion of Belial's attitude funny? posted by cburell

hus Mammon spake.

Mammon's turn. God of wealth and gold. posted by cburell

Suppose he should relent
And publish Grace to all, on promise made
Of new Subjection; with what eyes could we
Stand in his presence humble, and receive [ 240 ]
Strict Laws impos'd, to celebrate his Throne
With warbl'd Hymns, and to his Godhead sing
Forc't Halleluiah's; while he Lordly sits
Our envied Sovran, and his Altar breathes
Ambrosial Odours and Ambrosial Flowers, [ 245 ]
Our servile offerings. This must be our task
In Heav'n, this our delight; how wearisom
Eternity so spent in worship paid
To whom we hate. Let us not then pursue
By force impossible, by leave obtain'd [ 250 ]
Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, our state
Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek
Our own good from our selves, and from our own
Live to our selves, though in this vast recess,
Free, and to none accountable, preferring [ 255 ]
Hard liberty before the easie yoke
Of servile Pomp.

Some good lines here. posted by cburell

As he our darkness, cannot we his Light
Imitate when we please? This Desart soile [ 270 ]
Wants not her hidden lustre, Gemms and Gold;
Nor want we skill or Art, from whence to raise
Magnificence; and what can Heav'n shew more?
Our torments also may in length of time
Become our Elements, these piercing Fires [ 275 ]
As soft as now severe, our temper chang'd
Into their temper; which must needs remove
The sensible of pain. All things invite
To peaceful Counsels, and the settl'd State
Of order, how in safety best we may [ 280 ]
Compose our present evils, with regard
Of what we are and were, dismissing quite
All thoughts of warr: ye have what I advise.

Mammon's argument: Moloch and Belial both wrong. Let's start businesses in Hell, grow wealthy, make it more comfy, and expect that we'll get used to the pain. Who wants to serve a hated God back in Heaven? posted by cburell

As when farr off at Sea a Fleet descri'd
Hangs in the Clouds, by Æquinoctial Winds
Close sailing from Bengala, or the Iles
Of Ternate and T

"As when..." Homeric similie posted by jungmin25

I should be much for open Warr, O Peers,
As not behind in hate; if what was urg'd [ 120 ]

or open Warr: Of Wi

Tags: no_tag

Posted by: jungmin25

paradiselost » ALLUSIONS » discussion » Allusion in the book 1

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:54:34 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/God2-Sistine_Chapel.png/300px-God2-Sistine_Chapel.png

Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo shows God creating Adam, with Eve in His arm. While not strictly true to the Genesis account, this is one of the most famous depictions of the creation of Adam and Eve in Western art. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_and_Eve posted by jungmin25

Image:God2-Sistine Chapel.png

I think i fianally mastered one of the how to practice the "art of noticing." Am I approporiately linking the images? In addition, I think I finally mastered using the Diigo tool. Is anyone seeing my sticky notes? If you are doing, please leave any comment. I am not just having fun with this stuff. I actually am trying to learn it. So please. posted by jungmin25
Hey, John! Good job with both the images and the sticky notes :) - Catherine M. posted by shiningwizard

Tags: art images niticing of stealing

Posted by: jungmin25

Me-er than Me · Alone…

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:29:52 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

so the lack of friends? made him commit suicide? well i don't know i bet he had some friends it's just his wealth had put them in solitude posted by oliviajsp

However, his imperialistic characteristics made him somehow not belong anywhere. When he was so privileged, everybody wishing that they could be him, he, for just lack of friends and distance that people puts between him and the other inferior, he committed suicide.

Tags: no_tag

Posted by: oliviajsp

One-third of teens claim to experience "cyberbullying"

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:53:27 -0000

Comments:

This study is contradicted by another study this year. Where's the truth?
posted by cburell

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Roughly a third of all teenagers who use the Internet have been subject to some form of cyberbullying, according to a new report by Pew Internet. The telephone survey was conducted on a representative sample of 935 teens in the US between the ages of 12 and 17 and revealed a number of observations about manipulative and bullying activity online. However, despite the fact that so many teens had experienced some level of cyberbullying, two-thirds of the group said that they believed more bullying occurred offline than on.

The level to which teens have been bullied online varies from "slightly annoying" to death threats. One in six (about 15 percent) told Pew that private communications—IM logs, e-mails, or text messages—had been posted publicly by someone else or forwarded around. One middle-schooler told a story about how an IM conversation she had participated in got changed in her disfavor, printed out, and passed around at school so that she "looked like a terrible person." Apparently this kind of online/offline bullying mix is preferred by ego-starved bullies everywhere.

About six percent of teens said that others had publicly posted embarrassing photos of them without their consent as well, with the users of popular social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook suffering from this phenomenon more than others (9 percent of social network users had photos posted of them, versus 2 percent of non-social networkers). Those who post photos of themselves are also more likely to have unauthorized photos of them posted, according to the survey.

Another 13 percent reported that they had been the recipient of a threatening or aggressive e-mail, IM, or text message, and girls are more likely than boys to receive them (15 percent versus 10 percent). Older teens, those 15-17, were also more likely to receive threats than younger teens, with only 9 percent of younger teens receiving threats compared to 16 percent of the older crowd. The older group of girls received the most threats, at 19 percent.

a large majority of survey respondents still said that more bullying occurred offline. Unsurprisingly, though, those who had not experienced cyberbullying were more likely to say that bullying was more common offline than online (71 percent) than those who had experienced some form of cyberbullying (57 percent).

"Bullying has entered the digital age," writes Pew senior research analyst Amanda Lenhart. "The impulses behind it are the same, but the effect is magnified. In the past, the materials of bullying would have been whispered, shouted, or passed around. Now, with a few clicks, a photo, video, or a conversation can be shared with hundreds via e-mail or millions through a web site, online profile, or blog posting."

Tags: bullying education onlinesafety privacy students web2.0

Posted by: cburell

Bud\s Speech Blog: Types of Posts

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:38:06 -0000

Tags: blogging education lessons students writing

Posted by: cburell

Writing with Weblogs versus Blogging: More insights on teaching with Blogs | EDC Blog - News and Commentary

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:36:15 -0000

Comments:

Good tips from Bud Hunt for students who can't be writers when given the freedom.
posted by cburell

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

This is just a reminder post that I’m asking on behalf of those of you who wanted a reminder about the blogging requirement for this class. I’m requiring that you write a minimum of three posts a week. Each post should be a couple or more paragraphs long — nothing too scary, right?
You’re free to write about whatever you wish that’s relevant to our course, but here are the three categories of posts that we’ve discussed in class. Use these as a reminder of what you can and should write about when you’re stuck:

1. Research-related posts. These are posts that share information that you’re learning or questions that you’re having as you research. These might be questions for the class, or for me, or thoughts about the sources that you’re discovering. Remember to link to the sources that you talk about in these posts. If you’re writing about an offline source, make sure to include enough information about that source so that we can find it to follow up.
2. Speech-class content posts. These are posts concerning the ideas and tips and content we’re discussing in class. You might want to write about how you think you’ll begin a speech, or the type of visual aid that you want to use (you’ll be required to have at least one visual aid in your third and fourth speeches). You might write to express your frustration about what we’re talking about, or questions that you have about how to present the information that you’re learning.
3. Classmate-related posts. Sometimes, the writing on your classmates’ blogs will get you thinking. Other times, you’ll have questions about what they’re up to. Feel free to write about their work on your own blog. Make sure to link to what you’re writing about, and to quote any relevant passages for your readers. Also, you might want to drop a comment at your classmate’s blog to let them know that you’re continuing the “conversation” that they started.

Tags: blogging eduation lesson students

Posted by: cburell

The Truth About Homework

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:18:38 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Homework continues to be assigned – in ever greater quantities – despite the absence of evidence that it’s necessary or even helpful in most cases.

Finally, there isn’t a shred of evidence to support the widely accepted assumption that homework yields nonacademic benefits for students of any age. The idea that homework teaches good work habits or develops positive character traits (such as self-discipline and independence) could be described as an urban myth except for the fact that it’s taken seriously in suburban and rural areas, too.

Carole Ames of Michigan State University points out that it isn’t “quantitative changes in behavior” – such as requiring students to spend more hours in front of books or worksheets – that help children learn better. Rather, it’s “qualitative changes in the ways students view themselves in relation to the task, engage in the process of learning, and then respond to the learning activities and situation.” In turn, these attitudes and responses emerge from the way teachers think about learning and, as a result, how they organize their classrooms. Assigning homework is unlikely to have a positive effect on any of these variables. We might say that education is less about how much the teacher covers than about what students can be helped to discover – and more time won’t help to bring about that shift.

Alongside an overemphasis on time is the widely held belief that homework “reinforces” the skills that students have learned – or, rather, have been taught -- in class. But what exactly does this mean? It wouldn’t make sense to say “Keep practicing until you understand” because practicing doesn’t create understanding – just as giving kids a deadline doesn’t teach time-management skills. What might make sense is to say “Keep practicing until what you’re doing becomes automatic.” But what kinds of proficiencies lend themselves to this sort of improvement?

The answer is behavioral responses. Expertise in tennis requires lots of practice; it’s hard to improve your swing without spending a lot of time on the court. But to cite an example like that to justify homework is an example of what philosophers call begging the question. It assumes precisely what has to be proved, which is that intellectual pursuits are like tennis.

The assumption that they are analogous derives from behaviorism, which is the source of the verb “reinforce” as well as the basis of an attenuated view of learning. In the 1920s and ‘30s, when John B. Watson was formulating his theory that would come to dominate education, a much less famous researcher named William Brownell was challenging the drill-and-practice approach to mathematics that had already taken root. “If one is to be successful in quantitative thinking, one needs a fund of meanings, not a myriad of ‘automatic responses,’” he wrote. “Drill does not develop meanings. Repetition does not lead to understandings.” In fact, if “arithmetic becomes meaningful, it becomes so in spite of drill.”

Brownell’s insights have been enriched by a long line of research demonstrating that the behaviorist model is, if you’ll excuse the expression, deeply superficial. People spend their lives actively constructing theories about how the world works, and then reconstructing them in light of new evidence. Lots of practice can help some students get better at remembering an answer, but not to get better at – or even accustomed to -- thinking. And even when they do acquire an academic skill through practice, the way they acquire it should give us pause. As psychologist Ellen Langer has shown, “When we drill ourselves in a certain skill so that it becomes second nature,” we may come to perform that skill “mindlessly,” locking us into patterns and procedures that are less than ideal.

But even if practice is sometimes useful, we’re not entitled to conclude that homework of this type works for most students. It isn’t of any use for those who don’t understand what they’re doing. Such homework makes them feel stupid; gets them accustomed to doing things the wrong way (because what’s really “reinforced” are mistaken assumptions); and teaches them to conceal what they don’t know. At the same time, other students in the same class already have the skill down cold, so further practice for them is a waste of time. You’ve got some kids, then, who don’t need the practice and others who can’t use it.

Furthermore, even if practice was helpful for most students, that doesn’t mean they need to do it at home. In my research I found a number of superb teachers (at different grade levels and with diverse instructional styles) who rarely, if ever, found it necessary to assign homework. Some not only didn’t feel a need to make students read, write, or do math at home; they preferred to have students do these things during class where it was possible to observe, guide, and discuss.

Okay, I'm thinking maybe I'll make this shift. If you get it, you don't have to do hw. If you don't see me after school and we'll work on it together so you do get it. Then you won't have to do hw either. posted by cburell

Supporters of homework rarely look at things from the student’s point of view, though; instead, kids are regarded as inert objects to be acted on: Make them practice and they’ll get better. My argument isn’t just that this viewpoint is disrespectful, or that it’s a residue of an outdated stimulus-response psychology. I’m also suggesting it’s counterproductive. Children cannot be made to acquire skills. They aren’t vending machines such that we put in more homework and get out more learning.

But just such misconceptions are pervasive in all sorts of neighborhoods, and they’re held by parents, teachers, and researchers alike. It’s these beliefs that make it so hard even to question the policy of assigning regular homework. We can be shown the paucity of supporting evidence and it won’t have any impact if we’re wedded to folk wisdom (“practice makes perfect”; more time equals better results).

On the other hand, the more we learn about learning, the more willing we may be to challenge the idea that homework has to be part of schooling.

Tags: education pedagogy schoolreform teaching

Posted by: cburell