I think it’s no secret that I’m obsessed with learning. I am never without a read in my proximity, a handful of tabs open to good articles, or a laundry list of podcasts on my phone. A lot of these may seem to have nothing to do with education but I view everything through the lens of education. I often ask the question, “how does this apply to the way we teach or lead?”
I’m going to *try* to start sharing these on a more regular basis. So here we go: Currents: Listens & Reads, Volume 1
Listens
Aspen Ideas To-Go: Seeing Grey in a World of Black and White NYTimes columnist David Brooks speaks to Rev. Adam Hamilton about divisions, perspectives, and actually serving. I appreciated the way Adam spoke about seeing humanity in others and participating in civil discourse. Important concepts within our schools, for sure.
Aspen Ideas To-Go: What Would MLK say About Today’s America? A conversation between Walter Isaacson and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I listened to this on my drive to visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the first time and it was very timely to consider not only the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s but the the movement during Reconstruction that is often forgotten.
How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black: Episode #76 Reza Aslan I have followed Reza Aslan for a long time and find him to be a brilliant scholar. He spoke of being on the margins of religion in order to be creative and disruptive. I thought that directly related to our work in education. Not being fully embedded in “one way” allows us the opportunity to stretch, grow, and embrace creativity.
Read
KQED/Mindshift: Forget Talent: Why Practice is Key to Most Prodigies Success A summary of the 2016 book, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson. This is timely for our division as we explore the concept of persistence with our students this month in a variety of formats.
Catlin Tucker: Rethink Your Grading Practices We are just beginning a conversation on learning versus grading in small pockets of our community. I am a proponent of quality of feedback over arbitrary quantification. This article provides practical application for a shift in practice that is more substantial for students and less time intensive for teachers.
Edutopia: Will Letter Grades Survive? As schools and districts around the nation embrace student-centered and realistic reporting systems, how will we move the colossus of education from random letters to substantive assessment? Read on and see how competency based grading and groups like the Mastery Transcript Consortium are leading the way for massive educational overhaul.
That’s all for now. Be well in the world this week!
Teach2Connect 