Topic Tuesday #160 2015/08/11 "First Day Of School"

Topic Tuesday #160 2015/08/11 "First Day Of School"

It is that time again. Back to school. My oldest will be going into second grade tomorrow and her little sister will be going in Thursday for an evaluation and starts kindergarten next Monday. I have spent the last several hours gathering and labeling and sorting school supplies for each of them. It was a lot of stuff! I'll have to drop some of it off with the teachers personally so they don't have to lug reams of paper and other sundry goods. See, the school board, no matter what school you are a part of, doesn't buy enough supplies for the teachers. Invariably they will be forced to dip into their own pockets to provide for the children. This is terrible and we should feel ashamed that we don't treat our teachers better. They are crucial to the kind of people we grow up to be. They empower us with knowledge. They love us. In return we don't pay them enough and treat them like they are glorified babysitters that ask the children to do too much homework and ask the parents to subsidize the education by sending in supplied for the whole class! Whoop ti do... 

Parents, Get over it and support your teachers. If you are strapped for cash and barely have enough to keep the youngster with a roof over their head, swallow your pride and tell the teacher what your situation is. It will help them understand the child and better respond to what is needed, and they will understand if you simply can't help more. Communication is key. 

Teachers, send home those progress notes. Let us know how they are doing and what you need from us to help. Email us, call us, whatever you have time for. There are parents that care about how things are going and want to know. You will never know if you don't reach out. It could mean a lot. 

Enough of all this, I have to pack some tissue for when I send my babies back to school.  

Topic Tuesday #137 2015/03/03 "Common Ground"

Topic Tuesday #137 2015/03/03 "Common Ground"

In any communication attempt between two individuals a common ground much be achieved before any discourse can be successful. 

As an example of a common failing, take the word "theory". We have established we are speaking English here, at least we have that going for us, now we have to deal with meaning.  

Do you have one or do you just ask Google everything now?

Where do we get our definitions from? 
In most cases, we get them from our circle of influence. Oh you thought I was going to say dictionary? Sadly, no. We learn language at the proverbial apron strings of our parents. Slowly, formal education can supersede incorrect entries in our inbuilt lexicon. More often than not, the cognitive dissonance that this can create usually causes the most trusted source to be adopted, in spite of correctness. In the United States there has been a rash of anti-intellectualism where facts are debated as if they are merely opinions.

Back to the example of "Theory". If we are speaking about the theory of gravity, then we are dealing with a scientific subject. In the logic tree of life, this would be an indicator that we should use the definition that refers to science: "A supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained." This implies a valid explanation of a phenomenon.

Seems straight forward enough but what if you are not familiar with the ways science? Then you use this definition: "A set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based. Or an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action." This implies that something is unproven or speculative, not a solid understanding of a subject. 

Here we have a dichotomy. What are we to do? We must agree on a definition to continue. We must reach common ground to continue.  

Anytime I have to deal with a situation where the definition of words is the problem, I scramble to rephrase the entire sentiment with other language, grasping at what tenuous understanding may be possible. I'm reminded of a Star Trek TNG episode. Captain Picard was kidnapped by another captain to try to foster diplomatic relations. It was a first contact scenario and though the words were understood by the universal translator, the meaning was lost as Captain Dathon's people communicated through metaphor and shared experiences. 

I guess you had to be there...

Do you have the Cliff's Notes?

Dathon understood that he had to give them common ground; a shared experience that could bridge the distance between their people. 

Translation: Finally the Terran get's it!

Have you encountered a problem with establishing common ground? What did you do to bridge the gap?

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Topic Tuesday #116 2014/10/07 "Common Core”

Topic Tuesday #116 2014/10/07 "Common Core”

Today was my first grader's parent/teacher conference. We talked about the usual about how they were doing, what they were learning and what the obvious obstacles were that had to be overcome. there was an underlying note of frustration from the teacher, but not with my child, or even me. This year she has been dealing with the aftermath of a promise that has not been upheld by her administrators. She was told that "common core would be less broad but more detailed" in it's approach. That she would be diving deeper on certain topics and not broaching others. That was partially true. She is diving much deeper on subjects with first graders than she ever has before, and she has been teaching more broadly also. The work load this poor woman has had to undertake to make this program work is monumental. Most K-12 educators already are famous for working LONG hours. This teacher was at school well before 7AM and wasn't likely to leave until it was time for dinner. I'm thinking a 12 hour day. Everyday. 

Now I am not a luddite, I want new things to be tried. However... I have noticed in my years, and even when I was in k-12 myself as a student that the School Board has a long history of not letting a program run its course to determine if it actually works or not. There is already more talk about scrapping this curriculum than many before it, and we are just a few months in. And I can see why.

Common Core seeks to build a more robust and in depth understanding of educational concepts from the beginning. The program is intended to smooth the path to college by making the knowledge gap between college level courses more equitable. Florida has partnered with American Institutes for Research to build the Common Core curriculum as laid out by the national math, language arts and literacy standards. This is great if it is well balanced and starts at the earliest grades and builds through the education path.

I'm not seeing the implementation as having the right fit, yet. The demands on our young kids are pretty severe and in turn the teachers that are expected to make it work are even worse. How do you teach a child a math problem that is all words when the child hasn't learned to read well enough to get through the question? How do you expect an enormous vocabulary of reading and writing that balloons weekly when the kids who are losing all their baby teeth are having trouble with certain sound combinations? It's frustrating, and kids this age have enough problems with frustration without setting them up for failure. 

I am willing to see this through, as I see the underpinnings are teaching not what to think as much as how to think about what they are learning. That is wonderful. My fear is that this will be scrapped and the progress that has been made will be stymied by another dramatic shift in how we are expecting to teach, and how we are expected to learn. Children need stability, and I wish someone would see that as best for the children and implement changes for an entire "crop" of kids. Starting at Kindergarten, make that education method the same through 12th. If there is a change in the method, address it with the next year's Kindergarteners and watch it go. Though there are many arguments against this approach, and rightly so, I would greatly like to see what happens if a plan is allowed to work from beginning to end...

Topic Tuesday #113 2014/09/16 "Originality"

Topic Tuesday #113 2014/09/16 "Originality"

Continuing the theme of language and communication, today let's chat about being original. 

In ye olde times when language was young and the populace was largely illiterate it was remarkably flexible. Words would flow from mouth to ear thus changing the way they sounded the next time they were uttered. By where and whom a phrase was spoken, would inflict the culture of the region on the meaning of the words used. Slowly technology stepped in to slow down the diverging babble. The jeweler Gutenberg and his typeset press made it so language had permanence. Most notable is the Bible. So much of our language today is derived from this tomb that it is easy to reconcile its lasting nature as a cultural cornerstone. Other works followed the scriptures.

Outside of this, as people become slowly more literate, a new concept was born out of an old tradition. Literary license. At the Globe Theatre in London, William Shakespeare (or Christopher Marlowe or  Francis Bacon, if you believe such conspiracies) wrote a volume of work that stands to this day as remarkable. Hit turn of phrase was without match and what really sets him apart in my mind is his inventiveness at creating new words. All in all, he crafted over 1,700 of our modern words. He verbed nouns, turned verbs into adjectives and cobbled together prefixes and suffix that had not business being wedded to prior words. When that failed to suit the needs he would manifest them from nothing and create something wholly original. For some in depth analysis of some of these, browse over to www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordscoined.html Some examples of my favorite Shakespearian words, which you might not have known owe their origin to the playwrite and master poet: 

Arouse, Addiction, amazement, bedroom, blushing, circumstantial, champion, dauntless, compromise, eyeball, gossip, gloomy, luggage, jaded, hint, fixture, obscene, laughable, grovel, scuffle, swagger, majestic, mimic, outbreak, radiance, obsequiously, and one of my all time favorites, rant.

The reconstructed Globe Theatre, London.

Obviously not everyone can be so original, but one must also look at the context for how Shakespeare's magic words were seeded into the vox populi. He relied on word of mouth, at the Globe, to spread the words and their meanings to the people, the common people. They entered everyday use rather quickly, being the cool thing to do at the time. It wouldn't take long for that to happen given how quickly our own society parrots whatever the best one liners were from the latest Saturday Night Live or blockbuster flick.In his day, his words were like a virus, and the contagion infected the language and peppers our pages today. He was bold and original and then made permanent in the mind and in print.  

I say this to you, be generous with your words. make then varied and vaulting. If you cannot find a word that fits, MAKE ONE UP! Be original. Make Shakespeare proud.

Topic Tuesday #109 2014/08/19 "Aviation and Education"

Topic Tuesday #109 2014/08/19 "Aviation and Education"

Today is Aviation Day. Yeah, I didn't even know there was such a "holiday".

Aviation Day falls on and commemorates the birthday of Orville Wright. Federal buildings in America may be required to fly the US flag on this day at presidential whim in order to promote the day, and general interest in aviation. https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/aviation-day/

This week, for my school district at least, was the first day of school for my children. So as they are out of the house and learning their letters, numbers and school yard politics, please be a little more careful on the roads. 

That's all. Short one this week, as I prepare for a heavy topic on the podcast.