Re: [xmca] The national context for education funding in the US

[Mike Cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

they see it as non REAL academic. Will not get past academic senate
committees except under extreme pressure in individual cases with LOTS of
academic work slathered on. It can be done, but I have bruises all over to
show it isn't easy and takes a senior prof to bludgeon
people.

What educes?
when
mike

On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 10:21 AM, Duvall, Emily <emily@uidaho.edu> wrote:

> Eric, Peter, Mike, Jay and all,
> Interesting when it comes to the question of what does education look
> like, eh?
> Really, what are the characteristics that allow people to point and say
> this is education and that is not.
> Recently my grad class in dialogic and dialectical teaching and learning
> had a lively discussion on what counts as education, as knowledge, as
> learning... we'd been reading Dewey and were considering what might be
> miseducative.
> So back to contexts for what counts where and for whom: Mike, I wonder
> what the powers at UCSD see sl or s-l as?
> ~em
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> On Behalf Of ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org
> Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 7:36 AM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: RE: [xmca] The national context for education funding in the US
>
>
> Emily,  Mike, Peter, Jay, all interested:
>
> I believe this stream of posts is currently the most important issue
> facing
> education in the US!  Currently there is this administration led
> initiative
> to educate all students in the skill of high stakes testing (what a
> farce).
> When instead we have now a half century of research that shows testing
> is a
> specific skill set that does not translate to success in other theatres
> or
> mediums.  So, I believe, what is currently being discussed is the exact
> alternative that needs to be presented as being THE model for success!
> At
> the program I work at we have to do the testing but that is not what we
> have to use to measure success. Thankfully IDEA allows us to pass our
> students individually.  The real success is in the student's
> accomplishments of navigating community services, job training
> opportunities, independent living activities, etc.  Funny thing is the
> students and parents yell and scream that an education is not being
> provided because it looks so different then the traditional setting.
> Irony
> all around isn't it.  Let's keep up the fight and perhaps in the
> following
> years someone will listen.
>
> eric
>
>
>
>
>                      "Duvall, Emily"
>
>                      <emily@uidaho.ed         To:
> <mcole@weber.ucsd.edu>, "eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity"
>                       u>                       <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>
>                      Sent by:                 cc:
>
>                      xmca-bounces@web         Subject: RE: [xmca] The
> national context for education funding in the US
>                       er.ucsd.edu
>
>
>
>
>
>                      03/29/2009 02:06
>
>                      PM
>
>                      Please respond
>
>                      to "eXtended
>
>                      Mind, Culture,
>
>                      Activity"
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Let's see if I can make more sense of what we are doing and if it
> matches theoretically.
>
> One project is afterschool, a weekly Readers' Theatre Club.
> My pre-service teachers learn about reader's theatre and reading
> fluency, learn to write scripts, learn basic games for actors and
> non-actors (Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed), and learn mask making in
> art methods. They join the elementary students and lead a program that
> includes warm ups (games), reading and writing scripts, and creating
> reader identity masks. My students are currently looking for a good
> story to adapt into a script... a story that tackles identity. They are
> doing this search in a different course (children's literature). The
> latter will be used to write a script with the children and the
> culminating activity will be when the elementary students spend the
> afternoon roaming their school, wearing their reader identity masks and
> reading their script. The idea is to promote reading fun - with an
> emphasis on prosody and comprehension (rather than the usual speed read)
> - for the children in a Title I school, promote service (my hope is that
> my students will, when they become teachers, look to developing such
> clubs in their own schools), and emphasize alternate ways of engaging
> adults and children together. We will be doing the reflection portion at
> the end, but it is developing already.
>
> Other projects my students are involved in include painting mobile
> murals for the annual 4th grade Lewis & Clark activity (old murals have
> died), supporting writer's notebooks (we purchased them and we teach a
> class once a week, during the day. Our focus this semester is newspaper
> writing), creating literature resources (students work 1-1 with
> elementary students once a week and are developing resource kits for the
> teacher/ school as well), creating comprehension assessments (student
> give Dibles and IRIs once a week and will be developing a supplemental
> package to assess comprehension), providing a parent education night on
> text structure (students took on the Title I parent night and provided
> take home materials, posters, and workshop stations; all materials are
> now with the school), etc. The courses are not totally focused on
> service learning, but have that component. The students do what it is
> that teachers do - and what teachers often volunteer (or are
> volunteered) to do.
>
> All the activities are negotiated with the school(s) - students,
> teachers, principals, curriculum directors, superintendents; whomever is
> relevant -  so I never know what we will be doing and if it will
> suddenly change. The work with and within schools keeps us out of the
> ivory tower... and I provide free consultation to teachers as well. I go
> in and teach or provide in-service activities when I am asked, sometimes
> including my students, sometimes not. There are huge benefits to me as a
> teacher and academic to keep my feet firmly grounded in the day to day
> activity of institutionalized schooling processes and products.
>
> So... in our 'classes' we discuss readings and theory; in the
> 'classroom' we enact the readings and theory. However, where the rubber
> meets the road is in the ongoing reflection. That is, not just service
> learning style reflection for those projects, but also regular oral and
> written reflection on teacher-self (identity development) and teacher
> practice within the context of the social, cultural, historical and
> political aspects of the institution of schooling.
>
> ~m
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> On Behalf Of Mike Cole
> Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 12:25 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] The national context for education funding in the US
>
> One of our courses also meets in the school after work with the kids,
> Emily.
> Nice
> part of the partnership.
>
> But I really think we need a vocabulary that distinguishes what we are
> talking about,
> genuine theory/practice education from what is ordinarily understood as
> service learning.
> The service runs both ways while the ideology of the university "serving
> the
> community"
> rules. Got level that playing field.
> mike
>
> On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Duvall, Emily <emily@uidaho.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > Interesting course, Peter! I have become a huge fan of service
> learning;
> > it's such a natural fit for education. I am slowly adapting my courses
> > to include service-learning components. I'm working to develop our
> > elementary teacher education program in northern Idaho as a
> > service-learning program that also operates in schools. It is a blend
> of
> > lab school, professional development school, and service-learning.
> > Courses are taught on site in elementary schools which provide us with
> a
> > classroom. In turn, we go into classrooms to provide various
> > teaching-learning services to students and teachers with the goal
> being
> > collaboration and win-win for elementary students and university
> > pre-service teachers. We've also done some after school programs. So
> far
> > it has been all the language and literacy courses... but come this
> fall
> > we will incorporate elementary science, math and social studies
> methods
> > into our Partner School Initiative. What I find most fascinating is
> the
> > innovation that occurs when we all work together - the activity shifts
> > expertise around in interesting ways.
> > ~em
> >
> >
> > Emily Duvall, PhD
> > Assistant Professor Curriculum & Instruction
> > University of Idaho, Coeur d'Alene
> > 1000 W. Hubbard Suite 242 | Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
> > T 208 292 2512 | F 208 667 5275 emily@uidaho.edu | www.cda.uidaho.edu
> >
> > He only earns his freedom and his life, who takes them every day by
> > storm.
> > -- Johann Wolfgang Goethe
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> > On Behalf Of Peter Smagorinsky
> > Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 10:44 AM
> > To: 'eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity'
> > Subject: RE: [xmca] The national context for education funding in the
> US
> >
> > Hmmmm, this sounds remarkably like the way the 5th Dimension
> experience
> > at
> > UCSD works.
> > I know that others attempt similar ways to integrate student work into
> > communities, a.k.a. "service-learning" in US contexts. I'm teaching
> such
> > a
> > course this semester (see
> >
> http://www.coe.uga.edu/~smago/SL/SLSyllabus.htm<http://www.coe.uga.edu/%7Esmago/SL/SLSyllabus.htm>
> <http://www.coe.uga.edu/%
> 7Esmago/SL/SLSyllabus.htm>
> > for the syllabus), which I developed through a grant from UGA's Office
> > of
> > Service-Learning. One of my friends from the Fellows has a great
> project
> > described at http://www.uga.edu/columns/070910/news-urbanfood.html.
> > These
> > efforts can also serve as great research sites and thus combine
> > teaching,
> > research, and service into one project. They also provide students
> with
> > important experiences and close the town/gown gap by serving community
> > members in need. p
> >
> > Peter Smagorinsky
> > Professor of English Education and Program Chair
> > The University of Georgia
> > 125 Aderhold Hall
> > Athens, GA 30602
> > smago@uga.edu/phone:706-542-4507
> > http://www.coe.uga.edu/lle/faculty/smagorinsky/index.html
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> > On
> > Behalf Of Mike Cole
> > Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 12:02 PM
> > To: Jay Lemke
> > Cc: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] The national context for education funding in the
> US
> >
> > My answer to your last question, Jay.
> >
> > Make participation in real world settings, linked to relevant academic
> > work
> > including reading and writing, mandatory for all students attending
> any
> > college or
> > university. Use money to do this mainly to support grad student
> > supervisors
> > who themselves are gathered into groups supervised by senior
> professors
> > as
> > one
> > of their courses.
> >
> > All evidence is that such practices improve student commitment to more
> > serious study at the university, increase the intellectual and social
> > capital of those with whom
> > they work, and increase understanding of social justice issues among
> > more
> > privileged students, e.g., those who can afford to attend a
> university.
> >
> > mike
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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