Comments on: Mental Overdrive

By: Lone Star Ma

Lone Star Ma — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:50:29 +0000

Yes.

By: jackie

jackie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:25:14 +0000

I think partly what you’re talking about is intellectual curiosity, which is separate from intelligence and often isn’t present in people who are very good teachers or even who are well-educated. It’s the quality that keeps people wanting to learn more and more about the subject area or about education, when it’s much easier to just stick with what you know.

And yeah, the way research and policy get made is often troubling. I think it’s also crazy how often those same researchers and policy-makers have never spent a day teaching– you can’t isolate theory from practice, but they continue to try, which divides us when we could be working together.

By: Lone Star Ma

Lone Star Ma — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:20:22 +0000

I am very impressed with the teaching and commitment of practically all the teachers I know and I would not want anyone to judge their performance , etc, any more harshly because I think they are already expected to take on way too much. It is the way poorly tested or untested research is so liberally used in education policy-making that troubles me, and the way so many teachers are not very interested in intellectual pursuits generally, even when they are excellent at and devoted to teaching their course. Seems like teachers should model the life of the mind….but it isn’t like we get a lot of time for such things during the year, either, so I don’t know.

By: jackie

jackie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:45:21 +0000

LSM, I think part of paying teachers at a more professional level of salary would have to include a more rigorous selection/training process for sure.

But I also have to say that one of the benefits of this workshop for me, since it includes a cross-section of our faculty and staff from K-12 is that I’ve realized what a great and smart group of teachers I get to work with, and how interested we all are in becoming better teachers, even those who have been doing it for a few decades already. But again, since it’s a private school, we have a wide range of experience and education represented as well.

By: Lone Star Ma

Lone Star Ma — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:08:06 +0000

Yes, they made us go to one. It was very vomit-inducing. I just want to slap her. One thing about teaching that gives me the creeps is that one would think that teachers would be somewhat more intellectual than those entering other professions and more insistent on the use of rigorous research, etc. – but not-so-much! Argh.

By: jackie

jackie — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:05:49 +0000

LSM, did you have to go to a Ruby Payne workshop? I’ve read about her in “Rethinking Schools” before and that stuff is so infuriating. I wish there was an alternative to her crap, because I think teachers could really benefit from more sophisticated/accurate thinking about poverty, class and education.

By: Lone Star Ma

Lone Star Ma — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:13:30 +0000

I’ve been to both kinds. I love good workshops and really enjoy being a student but I get angry when my precious time is wasted by bad ones – especially invalid Ruby Payne crap (sigh). I’m glad you’re getting a good one!

By: jackie

jackie — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:47:43 +0000

I’m hoping that by the end of the week, I feel less overloaded and more fueled, but it did feel really great to be jotting down notes for my classes and feeling that inspiration. I have felt that way before i na writing workshop, but this is my first time in a teaching workshop.

By: She Started It

She Started It — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:12:00 +0000

I love workshops of any kind. They make my brain feel refueled and fresh. Like getting a good work-out in. I hope you have a great time.