Group items tagged

We looked at some of Stephen Brookfield's techniques ADS/NZAS meetings. We have three of his books. This PDF has a good summary highlighting some of the classroom routines he suggests. I also have an ebook of the book these are taken from "The Skillful Teacher" if anyone is interested.

Thinking about unit / lesson planning.... I have a book about Understanding by Design if anyone is interested in seeing it.

"Again, intellectual virtues are the character traits required for good thinking and learning. They presuppose no controversial moral commitments. " Yes. This. An important distinction to keep in mind. If we come in to the classroom teaching moral or even civic character directly, then we rightly run the risk of being accused of educational imperialism. But, if the moral and civic values we may hold have any real worth, then the inherent value of them should be revealed through the application of intellectually virtuous learning and thinking actions.

and if moral/ethical positions are reached (or deconstructed) either in the classroom, or outside, through the sound application of intellectual actions, they have validity. Anything does not go, not all opinions, values etc... are valid unless we can expose the process by which they were reached and allow that process to be scrutinized.

I know this is just a bit of redundancy, but this suggests that not all values are created equal, and they are not. The must have good reason. Good might be defined imperialistically as Jeremy stated, in that a unilateral agency imposes them, but a reciprocal communicative action may prevail, especially within the ideal or virtuous framed by intellectual character. I have been accussed of esoteric comments, but I think this warrants a visit from Habermas: "We can only exercise tolerance towards other people's beliefs if we reject them for subjectively good reasons. We do not need to be tolerant if we are indifferent to other opinions and attitudes anyway or even appreciate the value of such 'otherness'. The expectation of tolerance assumes that we can endure a form of ongoing non-concurrence at the level of social interaction, while we accept the persistence of mutually exclusive validity claims at the cognitive level of existentially relevant beliefs." In other words, Habermas believes you can't just say, "I don't care" or "This doesn't matter" or "This doesn't happen here" and claim tolerance. You must engage to be tolerant, and you must engage in a way that presents your ideas or beliefs in contrast to the other, and that contrast must be relatable, or what Habermas means by "relevant" is communicable in the logical sense that rational ideas are modular, and they may be fitted into intellectual chains of rational arguments and "ongoing non-concurrence" in social interactions. Through this lens, intellectual virtues occupy toleration/tolerance because intellectual virtues "naturally" lend themselves or, as Jeremy stated, display the inherent value of the ideas through engagement and action which must be communicable and reciprocal, i.e. function as tolerant.

Forests and trees

I have the book mentioned in the article (Making Learning Whole) if anyone is interested in reading it. Despite my hatred of baseball, the book captured my attention and fully milks the sports metaphor in a useful way.

Some great resources if you are interested in making thinking visible. I have a copy of the book "Intellectual Character" if anyone is interested.

Here's an interview of the book "Making Learning Whole" that was discussed at our last meeting.

Well worth a read and visit to the blog that this one is responding to.

I feel like an idiot because I did not understand much of this. I understand that people misapprehend the Thinking Routines as algorithms that simulate thinking instead of visual representations of the internal process of thinking. Despite the author's insistence that he did support his argument, I merely read quotes from Making Thinking Visible without syllogism, dialectics, or exegesis. I just did not see how the case was made other than believe me because I read the book, and the authors said so.

Hi Troy- I think the point was the Webb didn't read the book and hasn't represented VT accurately.

Still thinking about our daytime programs and our expectations of out of class work. Are we killing the desire and ability to learn?