As we know, not everything in our classrooms goes as expected. Often, we find ourselves trying to innovate and forge meaningful learning experiences for students that just don’t pan out. But what can we learn from these episodes if we really consider what is happening in the classroom? Here’s one of my experiences, let’s see what you get out if it, and I’ll provide my analysis afterward as well:
Archive for July 15th, 2010
Curriculum Experiments: When Teaching Episodes Go Wrong {Teaching and Learning, Reflective Practice, Effective Teaching}
July 15th, 2010
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The Subversive Support for Education in Harry Potter {Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Literature Reflects Life}
July 15th, 2010
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Reading the article Conjuring Curriculum, Conjuring Control by Robert J. Helfenbein from the journal Curriculum Inquiry, I felt a little like a child given a delicious candy. I mean, how often are scholarly reviews about curriculum tied to a text so popularized and current as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? As an English teacher, I was delighted. As a Masters student, I was impressed. Helfenbein really does a great job of tying together two seemingly disparate media and making sense of the implications of the resistance to authority developed in the Harry Potter novel. It’s true that many of the phrases and pressures from the novel resonate with educators of today, particularly those facing high-stakes testing and standards implementation.
Gaming as Education, Gaming to Save the Earth? {Student Engagement, Civic Action, 21st Century Learning},
July 15th, 2010
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This post is focused on a TED talk by Jane McGonigal, in which she argues that gaming could save the world if we do it right. Read the post to see where I fit with her theory!
