Passover: A Holiday of Freedom

According to the Old Testament, after the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt for four hundred years, God heard their cries and redeemed them. Much can be learned from the story of the Exodus. But, I'd like to focus on something that can be meaningful to all people.

What does the word "freedom" mean?

Ask many people and they'd tell you that being free means that you can do whatever you want to do. If you want to sleep all day you should be free to do just that. If you want to say something you should be free to do so, regardless of what you say.

The problem with looking at freedom in this way is that one does not consider the relationship between actions and fulfillment. One does not recognize the absolute importance of being fulfilled if they believe that being free means that one can do whatever one wants whenever he wants.

The Old Testament reports that exactly seven weeks after leaving Egypt, the Hebrews arrived at Mt. Sinai where God revealed the Ten Commandments. Is it odd that exactly seven weeks after becoming "free" the Hebrews are told that they must follow certain specific laws?

I don't think that this is odd at all.

Too much freedom is debilitating. When people are completely free to do whatever they want it's easy to become paralyzed and do nothing. (Just think of a day gone by when rather than completing what you wanted to, you lounged and relaxed.) It's easy to alienate other people so that it becomes impossible to maintain any meaningful relationships. (Just consider the husband who violates the norms of marriage and sleeps around. What kind of relationship does he have with any of the women with whom he sleeps? What kind of a relationship does he have with himself?)

What does this mean for the classroom?

Voices in My Head

Before I write this post, I should clearly state that I am not a psychologist and I do not even play one on tv.

Why is it that we often joke about people having voices in their heads? I'm not talking about the kinds of voices that people who are schizophrenic have. Rather, I'm talking about the voices that reflective individuals have. For example, as I sit here writing this blog post, I am not writing everything on the screen that pops into my mind. Rather I am searching for the best words and the best phrases to convey my ideas. Basically, I am thinking and my thoughts are little voices.

I think that too often people are embarrassed about the voices that they have in their heads. I'll use myself as an example to clarify the kinds of voices that I mean. For many many years I had a very low self esteem. I used to say to myself, "I hate myself." "I am a wimp." "I can't do anything right." Imagine the negative ways in which these voices influenced me. (By the way, the voices were not accurate. While I was thinking these thoughts, I was doing well enough in school to get accepted to Columbia University. I was a leader in my high school youth group. Finally, I was matriculated at Columbia earning a fairly high GPA. But, if I'd thought this myself during those years I quickly would have rationalized, "Oh, come on, this is school. School is easy. Anybody could do well in school if they just tried.") I did not understand these voices and feelings. Furthermore, I never could have articulated them.

You might be wondering how I came to develop higher self esteem. For it is fairly safe to say that somebody with a low self esteem would probably not publish the previous paragraph.

Shortly after I graduated from college I had an idea. (Actually a therapist helped me formulate this idea.) Each day I would identify the things that I had done during the day that were truly accomplishments. At times I felt so down, that shaving felt like an accomplishment. But, over time, my lists helped me develop better feelings towards myself. Now, I often hear voices in my head that actually make me feel good. "I have a successful business." "I can make other people feel good."

Teachers work with students every day. My guess would be that on a regular basis, students have voices in their heads. These voices can promote high self-esteem. But, they can also promote low self esteem. I wonder how many teachers actually think about the voices and feelings of their students. My thought would be that not very many do so. Essentially this means that teachers do not get to know their students as individuals. I fear that not many parents think about these variables either. This means that many children and adolescents do not have adults who truly know them. Without this knowledge of youth it is very difficult to help them grow up in the best possible way.

It took me until I was in my mid-20s to feel good about myself. What if my parents or teachers had understood my feelings. Would they have been able to help me feel good about myself at a younger age. I was lucky. Eventually I did find somebody who could help me develop a deeper understanding of myself. Some people never really learn to understand their feelings and emotions.

We kid about voices in heads. But this kidding is destructive since everybody does have voices in their heads. These voices should be understood not made fun of.

What do you think?

Baseball in the Spring

Imagine that two different trains leave two cities at the same time, travelling in opposite directions along the same railroad track. The two trains leave at 11:00am. The train leaving from Chicago is travelling at 70 miles per hour. The train leaving from New York City is travelling at 55 miles per hour. The distance between New York City and Chicago is 711 miles. At what time will these two trains meet each other?

Most students would probably think, who cares. After all, couldn't they just look at train schedules?

The other day I was sitting at a baseball game with a friend and he started telling me about a book in which the author analyzed baseball statistics to determine who the best players at each position really were/are. (Interestingly, I just Googled baseball, statistics, and books and got a long list of books that relate to the topic.) My friend's comment prompted me to think, why don't more school exercises incorporate examples from subjects that are relevant to students? Wouldn't it be easier for many students to focus on math if they were asked to consider topics that they find interesting? Couldn't they learn the same math skills? Baseball is in the air, why isn't it in the classroom?

I recently read a blog post written by a Phillips Academy student who spent time in China. She visited a school and at one point was asked to teach a class to her age-mates. She writes, "Throughout my time there, several teachers had me introduce myself to the class, and one even had me teach a short lesson in English. I chose to go over the pronunciation and meaning of Justin Bieber’s song Baby because I knew that many of my classmates were big fans of his. My class was a hit with almost 100% active class participation!"

This high school student gets it. Students become engaged when they learn within relevant contexts. Her students were not really studying Justin Bieber's song; the lesson was on literary analysis. But, the context was interesting.

Why don't more teachers get this?

What do you think?

Asking Questions Contributing to Intellectual Discussion

I've often wondered, is it possible to contribute to intellectual conversations simply by asking questions?

Here's what I mean and why I am asking the question -

As people who have read me before know, I have a long tradition of asking questions about current events news articles. These questions are designed to promote high quality conversations on worldly topics. But the questions themselves do not offer direct insights and opinions. Rather they provide structures that support others in offering insights and opinions. Consequently, I can't help but wonder, if I ask questions am I personally contributing to intellectual discussion?

I guess another question could be asked - if a student asks a question in a classroom that promotes thought, should the question be considered as significant a contribution as an insightful comment or opinion? I'm specifically referring to the kind of question that would promote further discussion, not a closed ended question that could be answered with a simple yes or no.

Personally, I think that questions can often be more provocative and enhancing than comments. Questions are the impetus for learning. Questions demonstrate critical thinking ability. However, I fear that we live in a society in which questions are not considered as important as answers. People tend to want, not answers, but the answer.

Since single answers often do not exist, such thinking is limiting. But, I don't think that we live in the most intellectually engaging society.

What do you think?

Video Games and Education

Recently I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between video games and learning. More specifically, why can so many students who have a very difficult time engaging in school easily play video games, which also require intense concentration. What can educators learn from video games?

There are many different things that educators can learn from video games but here's one that I consider super important. When people play video games they know what they are trying to do. Players understand the game objectives. They know what they are supposed to do to beat the video game and they work hard to ensure their own victory. (Consider how boring a game might be if players did not know what they were trying to do. OK - such a non-descript game might be fun once in a while. But, by and large gamers like to know what they are trying to do.)

If people like knowing the objectives for which they are working, why is it that so many teachers have a hard time making learning objectives transparent?

Ask a student what they learned at school today and they'll likely say, "nothing." I'm convinced that the reason for this is not because students don't learn anything in school. Rather, it is because students cannot breakdown the vagueness of what they have learned into a meaningful sentence or two. It's not only that students can't do this. They also don't want to take the effort to do so.

Video games would likely not survive if players could not easily identify their objectives. But, of course, it's much easier for learning lessons to survive. They have a captive audience. Regardless, like good game designers, teachers should spend more time illuminating specific learning objectives for students. Curriculum developers must do the same.

Just a thought!!

Questions to Ask

It's hard to know how many educators ask themselves key learning questions when it comes time to using technology in the classroom. For that matter, it's hard to know how often important questions are explicitly asked before educators do anything in the classroom. But, I've been doing some thinking about questions that should probably be asked on a continuous basis during the teaching and learning process. The short list that I've developed includes:

1. What should students learn from doing this?

2. Are there any more effective strategies that I can help students learn this than by doing what I already have in mind?

3. How will I know that students have learned this?

You are probably thinking: these questions are not brilliant. In fact, every first year teacher education student who learns how to write lesson plans knows that these are the questions to ask. But perhaps that is exactly the point: there are a couple of key questions that educators should ask themselves about everything that they do with students.

No new technology should diminish the power of these questions. Without asking these questions and seriously thinking about the answers to these questions, learning will be disadvantaged.

I've asked a few questions - can you think of any additional questions that educators should ask when developing their teaching/learning plans?

Positioning A Pass Educational Group

This past week I attended EdNet a conference with about 500 educational stakeholders, largely publishers, held in Boston. A central goal of the conference was networking. In order to effectively network a business one must understand where the business fits within the larger universe of businesses.

While at the conference, I specifically grappled with the question of where A Pass Educational Group fits within the universe of educational publishers and other educational vendors. My time at the conference helped me solidify my thinking, if only a little.

A Pass Educational Group partners with educational publishers and other organizations needing educational editorial. For me, using the word editorial is new. With it I mean any type of writing that could be used to promote learning, including assessment. This types of writing includes both subject matter expertise and pedagogical expertise. A Pass has what it takes to develop engaging content.

We also have strong expertise when it comes to technology. While A Pass Educational Group does not actually code or develop new technology, we know how to use technology to promote high quality learning. We can write directions for coders so that they can make the technology do what we want it to do to promote learning.

A Pass Educational Group also has the ability to mash-up freely available Web applications to adapt them for educational needs. For example, I have previously used Google Earth as a package for student centered and project based learning. Google Earth is set up in such a way that non-techies are supposed to be able to use it. I applied my content and pedagogical expertise to use G.E. effectively. Smart board's Notebook software is also pretty intuitive. A Pass Educational Group has a Smart development team that can develop Smart activities rooted in sophisticated content knowledge and the best pedagogies.

Finally, I think it makes sense to tell people that they can think of A Pass Educational Group in much the same way that they would think of freelancers. We have the ability to staff the projects of others to help them achieve their editorial goals. As a result of A Pass's virtual structure we can also keep costs down.

The purpose of this particular blog post has not been to advertise A Pass Educational Group. Instead it has been to help cement my own understanding of what my company does. I wonder if my reader has a better understanding of what we do after reading this blog post? What questions still come to mind? How I can make this explanation clearer?