Sting's Book Club

We Believe

2009-05-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Call it a pet peeve, but I hate when one person attempts to speak for an entire nation, group, or tribe.

Perhaps it happens as a matter of shorthand, but Oren Lyons (Barry Lopez, "The Leadership Imperative," page 205- 213) falls right into that trap. He says "We believe that everything is made by a Creator" (209). Oh really? So there's no place for atheism in Native American cultures?

That's just one example of the "we" statement, although there are plenty more throughout the essay. Some of the time the "we" refers to Native Americans from times long ago (like before the European invasion), and sometimes it refers to the current generation. So, not only is he speaking for everyone living today, but he's speaking for all of those that lived throughout hundreds of years of history.

Does being born into a tradition make you a spokesperson for that tradition? Does it make you the authority on that tradition's history? Does it give you the right to speak for all?

Maybe I'm just being sensitive here, but...

Virtual, non-authentic experiences

2009-05-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Lowell Monke's "Charlotte's Webpage" (pages 194-204) suggests that too much technology isn't good for the souls of little boys and girls.

And here's something to consider: if you're overexposed to a "similated world," you risk becoming dead to the real world. You risk losing all sense of connection, your sense of place.

Basically put, technology is way too powerful for human beings to use sensibly, especially little boys and girls with undeveloped brains.

Computers come with a cost, one that Monke describes as "a Faustian bargain." Wow.

Again, I understand the points Monke is making, although I do feel that he's being a bit over the top. Do kids need more experiential learning opportunities? Sure. Is too much exposure to technology, especially computers and gaming systems, harmful? Well, maybe. But maybe not to the extent that Monke suggests.

I was saddened to learn that many schools have eliminated recess. I cannot imagine how a school can eliminate the milk break at 10, the lunch break at 12, and the afternoon respite at 2. Seriously. Kids gots to play. And schools that don't get that are more of a threat than schools that spend money on technology.

Love It before You Know It

2009-05-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

David Sobel's "Beyond Ecophobia" (pages 181-193) begins the Reverence section of The Future of Nature.

It's hard to disagree with what he's saying, but let's be careful. He seems to suggest that we should insulate kids from the realities of the big bad world, and I guess I disagree.

I do agree that it's important to get kids outside, to give them an appreciation for nature before asking them to "save" the world; but I don't think it's necessarily an either/or question. And really, neither does Sobel.

When I attended grade school in the early 1980s, I distinctly remember a lack of science in the curriculum. We would do Math, Reading, and social sciences every day, but we only did science once a week. Is this because our tiny little minds couldn't handle science? Couldn't handle theories and so on?

Sobel also warns about "curricular brainwashing." What is that? When does something move beyond education to brainwashing? When does something become "activism"? And when do kids lose the ability to choose and decide for themselves?

All important questions, and this is a good article to help get the discussion started.

Protecting Human Stories

2009-04-09T12:03:00.000-07:00

William Cronon's "The Riddle of Apostle Islands" (pp. 167-177) is about protecting human stories. It's about the silliness of federal regulations, and it is against creating illusions of "wildness." I get all that, but I still find it difficult to get very worked up about the author's main thesis. And, judging by the author's own language -- "Why does this bother me so much?"-- Cronon seems to acknowledge as much. He knows people probably aren't going to care as much as he does about this topic.

I like the concept of "rewilding," and there certainly is value to making it clear that people have, for example, changed the landscape of the Apostle Islands. What we see, Cronon points out, isn't virgin wilderness. It's been "touched" by man, and there's no reason to try to imagine otherwise. In fact, clinging to the idea of the virginal can have dangerous consequences. True enough, but if I were going to visit the Apostle Islands, I'd probably be there for nature -- not for the cultural experience.

Do I care about Bill and Anna Mae Hill, and who planted the apple trees fifty years ago? Not really, but maybe that's just me. Like Cronon, I don't see the value in expunging their existence from the historical record, but I also don't see a lot of value in going out of our way to save evidence that they existed...

A Vinyl Killer

2009-04-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

Sandra Steingraber ("The Pirates of Illiopolis," pp. 268-283) is making an appearance at RCTC tonight, which prompted me to skip ahead in The Future of Nature to read her article.

Illiopolis is a small town between Decatur and Springfield, about 90 minutes from the town I grew up in. It's a pretty boring part of Illinois, actually, but it sure must have been a hoping place a few years back when the PVC plant blew up...

Is there more cancer in the community? Apparently no one has bothered to check. Is vinyl a dangerous product to make? Apparently so, but no one seems to care enough to do much about it.

The article mentioned the accident at Graniteville, South Carolina. This one killed a few people, and shut down the local community college for a week. I know, because I worked there at the time. Graniteville is South Carolina's version of Illiopolis: poor, run-down, and overlooked.

You know why no one cares about PVC and cancer and small town America? The short answer is money. Places that house chemical plants don't have any. The makers of chemicals have all the political pull.

And nobody ever bothers to think that the product they're walking on is dangerous.

Socrates--a gadfly martyred for free speech?

2009-04-04T00:04:00.000-07:00

I find it interesting that Gross portrays Socrates as a martyr for freedom--specifically freedom of speech. I submit that Socrates was not a martyr or a "gadfly" in the sense of a Thoreau, Gandhi, or Martin Luther King. Socrates was indeed a "gadfly"but in what sense? Was Socrates' purpose in his role as a "gadfly" to awaken the city of Athens as a dissident, whistleblower, maverick (after this past election, I loathe this word), or revolutionary? Was Socrates an advocate of free speech as such? Or, was Socrates a problem for Athens because it was his charge, given by the god, to live the life of the philosopher by examining himself and others--in the process inviting, or teaching by his example, his chosen young men to question (hence, a corrupter of the young) the legitimacy of the common opinions that were the glue that held the city together (see 18b,19b,23b,and 24b to see what opinions Socrates was thought to have subverted).

Now the Athenian jurors had at least three choices or alternatives in dealing with Socrates. They could have changed their way of life in order to accord to Socrates' view of the life well-lived, they could silence him, or they simply could have tolerated him. Is toleration of Socrates the best choice Athens could have made and would Plato have agreed? John Stuart Mill, in his On Liberty, assumes that the trial, conviction, and execution of Socrates is an instance of what might happen if complete freedom of speech is not allowed. Socrates is portrayed by Mill, and by Gross, as a defender of an open society in which all are free to think and speak as they wish unrestricted by the city or community. But is this consistent with Socrates' teaching in the Crito-- which Gross claims (how he arrives at this I fail to see) is a dialogue with a "classic formulation of the doctrine of 'civil disobedience'? This is not the message of the laws Plato relates through Socrates in the Crito--which Socrates accepts--for he refuses on the grounds of justice his friends' pleas to escape with no consideration for the laws of Athens. Consider, too--Athens had allowed Socrates to live to 70, which suggests that Athens did possess a certain amount of patience.

Is there evidence in Plato's Apology, giving an account of the trial of Socrates, to support this view? Remember that Socrates claimed to be wiser than all those he has encountered in Athens, because Socrates, unlike the leading citizens of Athens and their claims, at least knew that he knew nothing (21a-22e). So, in his questioning of these individuals and the cherished religious and moral beliefs of Athens, might we infer that Socrates was asking the Athenians to be tolerant of a variety of opinions no matter how startling and new?

Or, was Socrates actually taking an intolerant position himself? By claiming that those who think they are wise are really not and that he himself is wise in knowing that he knows nothing, Socrates is assuming that he knows what it means to know. In other words, in order to recognize and expose ignorance, Socrates must have certainty of his own standards of truth--he presupposes that one can know what wisdom is (17a-b, 22c-e). Socrates, then, never advocates freedom to pursue one's own truth per se. Rather, Socrates argues for the best kind of life--that of the philosopher--who searches, but perhaps never possesses, the truth. And living the best life for humans, sadly, is not possible for the vast majority of us.

For example, is the Socratic way of life a model to be emulated? Plato's dialogues do not tell us to live as Socrates lived. Socrates' way of life is possible because he was possessed of a "daimonic" gift and a charge from the god--do we possess such a gift and charge? Perhaps the dialogues teaching, then, is not live as Socrates lived, but live as Socrates tells us to live. And given Socratic irony and his tailorng of his teaching to the nature of the soul of his interlocutors, this is not as easy to discern as one might suppose--including Gross who neatly packages "Socrate's way" into seven neat and tidy "master keys" allowing us to use our mind to the utmost. There is a reason why Socrates was suspicious of writing (it is equally accessible to all and it does not know to whom to talk to and to whom to be silent because it says the same thing to everyone) that points to the heart of his teaching--it is not democratic; we are not all possessed of souls capable of Socrates' attention and the Platonic dialogues reflect this understanding.

Question(s)

2009-03-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

I do not have any gems of wisdom or thought-provoking questions pertinent to teaching, but I am wondering about the picture of Michael Gross (in full Socratic garb) on the back of the book. He is emerging from the Times Square 42nd Street Station and directly behind him, quite visible, are McDonald's Golden Arches.

I am wondering if he receives any compensation from McDonalds for the picture.

Also, his bio mentions that he has "portrayed Socrates, imparting his (Socrates' I assume) methods and techniques, before more than 100,000 professionals and business people at major national conventions and conferences." I wonder what Gross' rate is for imparting Socrates' "methods and techniques." Evidently he made no appearances at any of the major banking and financing conventions over the past 10 years or so...or no one was listening. Well, even the real Socrates had his Alcibiades. Still, perhaps Mr. Gross might serve Justice by volunteering his services as professional "gadfly" as part of Ponzi-schemer Madoff's sentence: a Socratic fury constantly goading and stinging Madoff, speaking truth to him and constantly questioning him on the most important questions the pursuit of which constitutes a life well-lived.

More later....I have some further questions about Gross' understanding of Socrates.

Questions: 10 Types

2009-03-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

Any questions?

This is something we might ask our students, but that's not really a question, is it? We're soliciting questions from our students, but why don't we spend more time asking them specific questions?

Perhaps we don't ask questions because we're afraid of what our students might say (or not say). It can be awkward asking a specific question to a student. The student might not know "the answer," might take the class on a tangent, or might ask the instructor a question that the instructor isn't prepared for.

But to me, the real value of a class is the questions we ask. Pages 60-61 offer ten types of questions that we can use. Study this list and use it wisely.

The Way(s)

2009-03-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

I like this line: "To truly follow Socrates' Way, we must find our own" (17).

Yeah, that's pretty zen-sounding, isn't it?

But I love the notion of being constantly prompted to think deeply, and not just to "assume" that what we believe on the surface is actually what we beleive.

Elevating the Discussion Beyond "Politics as Usual"

2009-03-03T21:33:00.000-08:00

I am thoroughly enjoying this book!

I have found that students most often have either an indifferent view or a cynical view of American politics or things political. In my discussion forums, then, from the beginning I try to ask questions that highlight the most fundamental issues and questions about the nature of political life. I do so in the hopes of opening students to the essentially philosophical nature of politics and to be open to the importance of politics to how we may best live our lives.

Now, Socrates exemplifies a person who wants to know what is the best way of life for a human being. Such a person will prefer those political arrangements that help or assist him/her in this pursuit. To some extent, does this not represent all of us? Do we not all seek to live the most fulfilling lives that we are able? And, do we not evaluate or judge our politics or political life by how well (or not so well) it helps us in this search? And, as Americans, do we not hold it to be "self-evident" that the end, purpose, or task of any just government is to secure our "pursuit of Happiness?"

Students are not used to approaching politics in such a fashion. Many find it uncomfortable to dialogue in the forums using terms like "just" and "unjust," and considering the possibility that there is any fixed standard by which we are able to evaluate our way of life and our politics beyond personal opinion. I encourage students to be open to the possibility that, through dialogue and reasoning, some standard of the good life for humans and for a political system that allows for living such a life might be arrived at.

I constantly try to encourage my students to consider politics and the way we choose to live our lives from this perspective. In doing so, I struggle with finding a proper balance in the discussion forums between student to student and student-instructor dialogue.

One way I attempt to find this balance is by encouraging each student, through forums, the "news items," and emails, to constantly do their best to put forward their opinion regarding questions on the basis of reason, analysis, and criticism of texts, each other's postings, and especially my postings. I offer examples, too, of good, reasoned dialogue in a discussion forum.

I stress again and again that we are engaging in a journey from opinion towards knowledge of such questions and that my opinions are not "gospel"--that to not question my opinions and assumptions would be to do me an injustice for I too am engaged in the very same process of trying to live a good life in a shared political community.

When students give good reasons for their opinions regarding a question or in questioning a classmate's posting or one of my postings, I really try to compliment them, both in the forum and through email. And I especially compliment them when they question and criticize my postings.

It takes a few weeks, but students do start to respond to my postings...when they dare or take care to offer an opposing view based upon reasoning, contrary evidence, or a different interpretation of a text or argument it is very encouraging!

This is pretty elementary, I guess. But I have found that students do appreciate persistence on my part. They see that I am concerned with fundamental questions--that my constant prodding to view these matters beyond "Politics as Usual" indicates my care and love for the questions, for their opinions on the questions, and for the journey to move beyond opinion towards knowledge of the most important questions.

This is all heady stuff. I offer forums, too, where students may post on lighter questions--a few students have been comfortable enough to post who is their favorite president and why, and to write a POEM about him. I will try to continue to offer opportunities for students to express themselves in a "wacky" or offbeat way on various topics.

I also offer a forum where students may honestly and anonymously post their opinions as to how the course is going, give suggestions and/or likes and dislikes on all course-related matters, or offer suggestions of what they would like to explore in the course. Again, I try to stress as much as possible that I take their opinions seriously because it is a serious undertaking to address political questions.---WWSD?

Whew! I feel as if I am in the process of giving birth!--as if I would truly know!---Midwives? Anyone?

Questions Elevate the Mundane

2009-01-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a good question to keep in mind:

What question could I ask that could elevate this conversation above the mundane? (xix).

This seems especially important for online classes that rely heavily on discussion boards. I know there's a balancing act here. An instructor doesn't want to get too involved in the discussion boards -- students need to have some space to speak for themselves -- but we must know when it's appropriate for us to step in.

And offer the kind of question that no other keeps the discussion moving forward, but does so in such a way that "elevates the mundane."

Ideas Midwife

2009-01-21T13:30:00.001-08:00

In Michael Gelb's introduction to Socrates' Way, he writes: "Socrates refused to be recognized as a teacher.... Instead, he asked to be seen as a 'midwife of ideas'" (xiv).

What a lovely expression that is.

How do you see yourself? Have you ever considered yourself to be an ideas midwife? How does that "role" change the way you view what you do??

Socrates' Way -- Spring 09 Book

2009-01-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings, Booklovers.

Do you still love books? If so, I hope you will join us as we read Socrates' Way: Seven Keys to Using the Mind to the Utmost.

If you're interested in using your mind to the utmost (what fun!), I will be happy to reserve a copy for you; reading will commence in mid-February, but I will start posting my thoughts forthwith.

(Sponsored by the same people that brought you How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci.)

Outliers -- Looking at Why Some People Are Successful

2008-12-08T09:23:00.000-08:00

Gladwell is an absolute pleasure to read. He takes a seemingly simple notion, and then he flips it on its head.

This book has a lot of good stuff for educators to ponder. I don't know that we'll ever have a chance to read it as a book club selection, but if you have the chance, I highly recommend that you read it. I read all 285 pages in one day, and I just didn't want to put it down.

For more info, be sure to check out the author's web site: http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html

Final Thoughts on Teaching with Your Mouth Shut

2008-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about the distinction between thinking and intelligence?

Keep in mind this quote: "We think only when some obstacle arises, preventing the satisfaction of our needs and throwing us into disequilibrium" (151).

My conclusion is this: we need to focus on teaching our students how to think. No matter our subject matter, teaching content missing the point. Yes, students do need to have a basic level of content in their brains, but in the end, they need to know how to use that content. Otherwise, what's the point?

"Refusing" to Teach

2008-10-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

What would happen if you went into the class and didn't stand up in front of the class? What if you just took a seat with the students?

Chapter 7 is a tricky one; I've sometimes assigned students to take lead in Chapter discussions, for example. And, I've sometimes assigned small groups to do class presentations. But those of you that have done those and similiar activities have probably experienced the same sorts of problems and issues that I have.

Is it simply because we didn't give enough time to getting students used to the role? Did we resume our "instructor role" too soon?

I can only imagine how awkward it would be to do what Finkel suggests in this chapter. Then again, I can also imagine that it's crazy enough that it just might work.

Thoughts?

The Canary Problem

2008-10-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

What did you guys think of the Canary Problem (pages 86-on)? Had you heard of it before?

I loved the way that Finkel shows how to build on the example with other scenarios and examples. It would be all too easy just to give the problem, and then immediately offer the solution. Even if you had your students work in small groups for fifteen minutes, just calling them back in and solving the problem would be a real shame. Finkel demonstrates how you can extend the process and make the learning much more meaningful as a result.

What's your discipline? I'm thinking that the Canary Problem, if tweaked and adapted, could be used in a lot of different disciplines. How might you adapt it for your specific discipline?

Teaching Through Writing

2008-10-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

The idea that instructors teach through their own writing (page 70) is a natural for those of us that teach online; but even in face-to-face teaching, our writing serves multiple purposes.

Instead of lecturing to your students, why not give your students the written lecture the class before? That way, your students could have a chance to read it ahead of time, and you could spend the class period discussing the lecture.

One thing Finkel did that I'm not sure I agree with: writing long letters to your students (page 74). Do any of you do this? I'm not convinced that students read long letters. When I comment on students' work, I generally cut myself off after 3 sentences, at most. What do you think? Do students appreciate long letters?

Inquiry: The Instructor's Role

2008-10-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Finkel summarizes the "five main jobs" that instructors interested in inquiry-centered teaching have (page 59). Keep these tasks in mind:

1. Organize the inquiry

2. Develop ways to help students engage with the text (without giving them the answers)

3. Develop students inquiry skills

4. Evaluate students' work

5. Participate in the inquiry process along with the students (i.e. serve as a model)

This is really good stuff, me thinks.

Inquiry-Centered Teaching

2008-10-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4 (pages 51-69) left an impression on me. We talk a lot about engaging the student and putting learning into context. That's what inquiry-centered teaching is all about.

I greatly appreciated Finkel's point (page 53) that learning is motivated by disequilibrium. We need tension to grow, but as teachers, we must make sure that the tension isn't so great that students give up.

What did you think about the author's point that all learning is interdisciplinary? (page 55) How could we bring an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning at RCTC?

Questions Trump Answers

2008-10-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

If you're like me, you believe that the Question is more important than the Answer (page 40). These days, we live in a culture of the standardized test. We have "course objectives" and "learning benchmarks" and we expect everyone to know certain things at certain points -- either by age level, class level, or course level.

But who's asking about students' ability to ask questions, to think? Who, in other words, is asking about students' ability to be creative?

I have the feeling that there's no value placed on creativity any more, but creativity is essential to learning.

Look Here

2008-10-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

John Landretti's "On Waste Lonely Places" (pages 154-159) suggests that the place we're looking for is right where we are. We just have to be willing to look.

The problem, Landretti notes, with National Parks is that we feel a certain reverence for them, but then what gets removed is reverence for our own plot of ground.

Landretti comes off as a wanderer in this piece, so it's not as though he's suggesting that everyone should just remain in place. It's fine to travel around, but pay as much attention to your journey as you do the destination. And, don't come home needing a vacation from your vacation. That may only blind you to the neglected, but important "book nobody reads" (158).

Anyone want to go camping at the nearest Clover Leaf this weekend? Sounds like a lot of fun to me. :)

The Prostitution of Tourism

2008-10-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

Like many of the articles in this book, I thought Alison Hawthorne Deming's "The Edges of the Civilized World" (pages 143-153) was trying to have it both ways. But perhaps Deming acknowledges this best when she says, "Each one of us is at the center of the civilized world and on its edge" (page 150).

The article reminded me of my first real trip outside the United States. In 2001, my wife and I visited the tourist trap of Dunns River Falls in Jamaica. About 200 mainly white tourists held hands with each other and the native guides as we climbed the Falls to the top.

Once at the top of the Falls, the tourists had to walk through a maze of shops in order to get back to the minivan. I was in graduate school, and we didn't have any money for trinkets, but the sellers were aggressive, even to the point of blaming us for not making it possible for their children to have any Christmas presents that year.

When they saw us, they saw rich Americans, and we were rich, comparatively. The whole experience saddened me, though. There are a lot of gated "resorts" for foreigners in places like Jamaica, but I have little interest in going to a country and not seeing the country. Then again, what does it say about a place so desperate for money that it prostitutes out its best locations. Are tourists no better than johns?

Niagara's Lie

2008-10-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Ginger Strand's "Faux Falls" (pages 131-142) looks at the "collateral damage" caused by hydro-electric power.

The article notes that 7% of electricity in the United States comes from hydro, whereas 70% comes from burning fossil fuels. On the surface, hydro doesn't seem to have any nasty byproducts.

Strand's article makes it clear, however, that where there's a cheap source of electricity, pollution will follow -- i.e. through the build up of factories along the river banks.

And something that I hadn't realized before: This is where Love Canal happened.

Can Niagara be blamed for Love Canal? That's a bit of stretch to me; Strand's point, though, is that actions have consequences. Niagara Falls is now a "man-made" tourist trap, and we have the power to literally turn off the falls. Ironically, tourists might be the only thing that "saved" the Falls.

The Knowledge Paradox

2008-10-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of turning the class entirely over to the students (page 35); well, not entirely, of course, but the idea of shutting up and letting students figure things out for themselves... that's powerful.

Students do have the idea that the instructor is the expert. And the instructor should know more than students about the particular discipline, it's our duty to help convince students that the inquiry process is the best way to learn. Knowledge cannot just be given from instructor to students.

Teaching Through The Brothers Karamazov?

2008-10-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Have you read The Brothers Karamazov? If not, go pick it up. It's about 750 pages, and I'm sure you can read it in your spare moments.But seriously, this is a great book (yes, I've read it).

How many of our students would connect to it? Many none, we think. But maybe a lot more than we think, if we "provide structure and activities to help ... students attend carefully to the book" (17). That seems to be a key point.

Do we just assign a book, and expect our students to read it? If that's all we do, then are we really doing our jobs? Don't we need to provide "the way in" to the book for our students? Give them a roadmap and points to ponder as they read?

I Don't Know the Answer

2008-10-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

Does it scare you to admit that you don't know it all?

Would you feel afraid to go into a room full of students, admitting to them that you don't know the answers to the questions you're asking them?

I thought Finkel made an interesting point when he suggested that an instructor might actually benefit from not always knowing the answers (page 15) -- i.e. it lets students open up more and speculate more; it also puts the focus on the looking at the problem, rather than always being focused on the solution.

Chapter 2

2008-10-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

One thing that I like a lot about the book so far is the fact that Finkel is so practical. The part about the parables and students liking to figure things out really made me think. We just finished poetry, and I hope students felt a sense of achievement by figuring it out, but I always think I end up talking too much. This gives me an idea of how to approach it next time. Hmm...

Books That Speak to You vs. Books That Bore You to Sleep

2008-10-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Chapter 2 of Teaching with Your Mouth Shut contains some good nuggets, and I'd love to hear your reaction.

My initial thoughts: Yes, you need to work for knowledge. How do we train our students to want to work for knowledge, though? If they read something that isn't hitting them in the face with its clarity and obviousness, they either get confused and stop reading, or even worse, they claim to be "bored" and stop reading.

I don't think it's that they're really "bored" as much as they're not willing to work for the knowledge. What's the payoff? How do we make them want to care?

Teaching as Shaping (and Listening)

2008-09-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Finkel's point (page 8) that good teachers "shape" the environment is an interesting one; how many teachers have you had that did nothing to really shape the environment of the classroom?

If you know me, you probably have guessed that I have a bias. I believe that good communication is more about listening than speaking. And Finkel does, too (page 9).

How many of us actively listen to our students? How do we demonstrate that we're listening? I had a professor that always came to class with a legal pad. It was a seminar class, and although he sat at the front of the room (actually, the head of the table), he let the class do most of the talking. And when we spoke, he acted like he was learning from us. He took more notes than anyone in the class, and it modeled his belief that what we said mattered.

I will never forget Dr. Guzlowski for that. He's retired now, but you might be interested in hearing one of his poems -- read by Garrison Keiller himself:

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2007/12/28

Morality and Economics

2008-09-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

Is coal really the "the liver of Mother Earth"?

I may be too white to understand that line of thinking, but I'm not too white to agree that we must start infusing some morality into our capitalist system.

Judith Nies' "The Black Mesa Syndrome" (pages 117-128) provides a sickening historical account. Basically, $100 billion dollars in coal is hiding under the ground -- ground controlled by Indians. Nevertheless, what the white man gives, he also takes away (as soon as he finds out its worth something).

Lawyer John Boyden plays the villian in this story, and I have no doubt that he thought he was doing the "right thing" by representing both the interests of the Hopi and Peabody. Of course, he got richly rewarded for doing the right thing, to the tune of at least 2.7 million dollars.

And after all, isn't this a question of "greater good"? Who cares what happens to a few thousand Indians if white capitalists get stinking rich, and if Phoenix and Las Vegas get the energy and water they need?

And one final question: Why are megacities allowed to exist in deserts? How stupid are we to have allowed this to happen?

For more on this story, the following links might be useful:

http://www.blackmesais.org/

www.sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com/

The Global Warming Experience

2008-09-23T12:43:00.001-07:00

One possible problem with Rush Limbaugh is: he talks about things of which he has no direct experience.

Charles Wohlforth's "On Thin Ice" (pages 107-116) goes to the source, the Inupiat. These are the Eskimos of the Barrow, Alaska region, and they are the ones with direct experience as it pertains to global warming.

There's a difference between first-year ice and multi-year ice: only the latter can support a whale carcass. And as the nature of ice continues to change, the fact is, a people's way of life will have to change as well.

People adapt, even Eskimos believe it or not, and it's interesting to read about what some consider to be "true whaling." What the Inupiat have that hopefully will never change is a deep respect for the environment of which they are apart.

Shut Your Mouth -- Opening Reflections

2008-08-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

On page 6, Finkel asks us to stop and reflect. More than that, the author asks us to actually write out our response to the following prompt:

Thinking back over your whole life, what were the two or three most significant learning experiences you ever had? That is, list the moments (or events) in which you discovered something of lasting signifance to your life.

Okay, I've actually stopped reading the book at this point to do this writing exercise, and I hope you will too.

I thought about this over the lunch hour, and here's what I came up with.

1. Perhaps the earliest signifant learning experience that comes to mind is learning how to ride a bicycle. I was about 5 years old, and the road outside my house went down a hill. At the end of the hill were some bushes, and beyond the bushes was a pond. The thought of riding my bike straight into the pond always scared me, but even when I forgot to apply my brakes, the bushes always stopped me.

2. In high school, I took Calculus and ended up getting an F. Instead of blaming my teacher, I decided that when I took math in college the following year, I would take Calculus. Although my program only required me to take Algebra, take Calculus I did, and this time I studied hard and earned an A.

I guess the first lesson has to do with overcoming fear, and the second lesson deals with accepting the challenge to live up to my potential. In both cases, I learned to rely on myself -- not expecting others to be there to save me, and not allowing myself to be the victim.

What about you guys? How did you answer this prompt?

Bret

Radioactive Rochester?

2008-06-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hope Burwell's "Jeremiad for Belarus" (pages 78-90) reminded me about how little I really know about the world.

Chernobyl is in Ukraine; that I knew. But I didn't know that Belarus is the country that has paid the biggest price for the 1986 accident.

I didn't know that the area in Belarus effected by fall-out is equal to 2/3's the size of Iowa.

Belarus is a poor country, and apparently no one in the international community cares about its people. Burwell documented that thousands, if not millions, of people are continuing to be slowly killed by Chernobyl as the world turns a blind eye. These are people that still live in the contaminated zones because they don't have anywhere else to go.

This is a country dying, and no one seems to care.

The only way the author can make us care, it seems, is to suggest that the same thing could happen here, in the United States. If the Duane Arnold facility in Iowa went Chernobyl, for example, the fallout would reach good old Rochester, Minnesota.

Sleep easy tonight. :)

Conservation Refugees

2008-06-19T09:09:00.001-07:00

Mark Dowie's "Conservation Refugees" (65-77) shows what happens when conservationists put their own interests and agendas ahead of people.

Does protecting a place mean that the people should be removed? Or, if not removed, what happens to the people that live in the areas we would like to see protected? Do they become somehow "indentured"? Good questions raised in this article.

I was very surprised to learn that there might be as many as 14 million conservation refugees world-wide. Dowie is careful to explain the difference between the terms "conservation refugee" and "environmental refugee," too. The former is a human-made problem, while the latter is simply has natural causes -- floods, fire, etc.

Overall, I'd have to say that I'm enjoying the articles in the "Refugee" section of the book much more than the "Action" section.

How about you? What articles have you read that you like? That you plan to include in your classes this Fall?

Being Human (in a Good Sense)

2008-06-05T14:48:00.001-07:00

The interview with Van Jones -- "A Licence to Be Human" (page 53-61) -- was my favorite article from the Action section by far.

Jones talks about stepping back from the "us vs. them" duality. Yes, people get passionate about issues, but people also get blinded by anger, which he describes as "a messay fuel" (54).

Solving the world's problems requires looking in as well as looking out. How many people attack George W. Bush for his administration's policies? Well, at least half the country. But how many people take the time to see that Bush is a scapegoat for problems that we all are partially responsible for?

I loved Jones's message that we need "a wiser kind of warrior" (56) and that we're not always David against Goliath -- and that sometimes, we need to figure out a way to secure Goliath's help rather than fight him.

This is a brillant interview, full of insight...

All or Nothing?

2008-05-07T14:56:00.001-07:00

B.K. Loren's "Got Tape" (pages 43-52) is the personal story of one community standing together as one to stop a SuperTarget from destroying undeveloped land.

Question: why does it take a crisis for people to act? Loren notes that during the process, they learned that to keep the people working together, they had to "quit fighting against something, and begin fighting for something" (49). Fine, but why did it take the threat of SuperTarget for them to learn this lesson? Here's some undeveloped land: of course someone is going to want to do something with it. Why not act before that "evil" someone steps forward?

Question: why couldn't a shopping center be a part of a nature setting? Does it have to be one or the other? I've visited a lot of places that have strict zoning standards -- how big the signs are in front of stores, what the building are made out of, etc.

I hate sprawl as much as anyone, and I hate bulldozing down all the trees to put in parking lots, but perhaps there's a third way? After all, people have to shop. Maybe instead of "protecting" 100 acres of undeveloped land, we should "protect" all land and the way that it's developed. Just a thought.

Enemy of My Enemy

2008-05-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

On the surface, unions and environmentalists don't have a lot in common; Laura Paskus's "The Union Makes Them Strong" (pages 32-42) does a nice job showing that blue-collar and green-collar folks actually do have a lot in common -- if only a common enemy.

Is the future of Green in the hands of unions? Perhaps so, because the underlying issue is jobs. Going green will take a lot of money, but with the money will come jobs. That's the key point. And these jobs could be union jobs, which would be a real shot in the arm to unions, which have seen memberships on the decline for decades.

Interesting to note, too, is just how far ahead of the game Europe is. Europe has set environmental goals and standards, and they are seeing real growth in green jobs. America, however, continues to subsidize oil companies in the billions while spending on renewable energy only receives support in the millions.

What will it take to change the direction of America's energy policy? Perhaps it will take Green and Blue working together.

The Death of Hope

2008-04-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Derrick Jensen's "Beyond Hope" (pages 27-31) argues that hope is an impediment to action. The only people willing to act are the people that have gone beyond hope, that have taken responsibility into their own hands, and who have shed the crippling influence of society.

If you look at the definitions of "hope" and "optimism," you find that their meanings are very similiar:

Hope (n)-- "A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment"

Optimism (n) -- "A tendency to expect the best possible outcome or dwell on the most hopeful aspects of a situation"

I strongly disagree with Jensen's basic premise. In reality, he's just a pessimist who sees the world as gasping its last breath, with his mission to bring it back to life.

For all of the Earth's problems, it's not gasping. An exaggeration of the problem helps no one, and neither does looking through a pessimistic lense.

Jensen denies the distinction between "false hope" and "hope," but there is a real difference. The idiom "hope against hope" means "To hope with little reason or justification," but that's not what hope means. And hope doesn't mean that you are giving up the right to act.

In fact, people act from hope, and I'd much rather act from hope than despair. Action and hope are not opposites, and hope does not equal powerlessness.

Even in this political cycle, politicians have mocked Barack Obama's audacity to promote the idea of hope.

Perhaps Jensen was right in one regard. Perhaps he and his supporters really are dead, and that's not the compliment he would have it to be.

Corporate Personhood

2008-04-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey Kaplan's "Consent of the Govern" (pages 14-26) provides a history of how corporations have developed the rights of "personhood" over the last 100+ years. I haven't studied that issue much and don't really have a position on it, other than to note that Kaplan seemingly would like to go back to a time when corporations dissolved every-so-often -- so that they wouldn't have time to amass money and power (15).

The article also promotes the idea that local governments are somehow more "pure" than state or federal governments (or international organizations). Why? Maybe because people tend to care more about their immediate living areas than they do about other states, regions, or countries.

I'm not intentionally trying to find fault with every essay, but here's what I have trouble with in this essay: the idea that a local government can thumb its nose at state or federal law. In other words, some local governments have said that corporations are not "persons" in their districts (20). Again, this sounds kind of dangerous to me. Who else might they claim are not persons? Or what other rights might local governments take away if they had such authority?

Kaplan's article expresses the idea that people should have a real say in governing themselves. Unfortunately, he seemingly fails to realize that state and federal officials are, at least in theory, elected by the people. And any international trade agreements go through a ratification process. In other words, the people do have a voice at all levels. Kaplan would argue that the Corporate "person" has too much power at higher levels of government. That makes me wonder, why are real people so powerful at the lower levels? What would stop Corporations from running local governments? And what stops real people from running state and federal governments?

Human-centered Environmentalism

2008-04-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but should the main concern of Environmentalism really be about what's best for humans? Let me explain:

Peter Sauer's "Reinhabiting Environmentalism" (pages 5-13) seems to pine for the good old days of the 1960s, before the Vietnam War caused everything to derail. Now, Sauer says, "movements" fight against one another, when in reality, they should be working together. I'm sure that makes sense, but I'm still a bit concerned about how human-centered the agenda seems to be. Sure, it's a good thing to be concerned about humans, but what's wrong with setting aside land for conservation, for protecting species, etc.? Does such an approach really limit total "buy in"? Is such an approach really inappropriate or off the mark?

Maybe the most interesting portion of the essay is the doctrine of the "precautionary principle" (12). Boy, I don't know about that one, though. I'm trying not to get too political here, so forgive me in advance, but didn't President Bush utilize his own doctrine of the "precautionary principle"? Acting in advance sure sounds good, but the consequences of following such a principle could be dangerous, couldn't they??

First Impressions

2008-04-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Not much time to write, but I did have a chance to read through the Acknowledgements and Introduction.

Emerson Blake's Acknowledgments details how the articles in the book are organized into six specific sections: 1) Action, 2) Refugees, 3) Boundaries, 4) Reverence, 5) Monsters, and 6) Native. Nothing too controversial here. Blake cites the purpose of the book as providing articles that "point toward a fuller understanding of the world and the possibility of the future" (vii). Make sense to me.

Barry Lopez writes the Introduction, and the language becomes a bit more charged. On page ix, he quickly suggests that we receive a "daily message" that "we don't know" everything. That, I think, is an important acknowledgement to make. On the following pages, though, Lopez makes some pretty definite assertions: 1) business is bad, 2) government is bad, and 3) civic groups are good.

The problem is: he sounds as though he believes business and government have no role in developing solutions to environmental issues. This fails to acknowledge that people run businesses, and people are elected to government offices. These same people may be involved in "social movements" too. Can't businesses and government encourage or lead social movements?

An interesting line: "Civic society has no staff, no address, no nation, no religion, no stake in commerce or policy making" (xi). First, I'm not sure that statement is entirely true, and second, even if it is true, what does it mean? Sounds very organic, but it also echoes of the ultimate goals of Marx. Am I wrong on this?

As you read, feel free to post your own impressions. If you want contributor status to make your own posts to this forum, please let me know.

Bret

Next Year's Common Book -- The Future of Nature

2008-04-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

RCTC has selected next year's Common Book, and that book is: The Future of Nature

http://www.amazon.com/Future-Nature-Writing-Ecology-Magazine/dp/1571313060/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208203510&sr=8-1

Please see me or Katherine Hanson if you need a review copy.

As I read the book, I'll post my thoughts and comments here. And, I hope some of you will want to do so as well. Please contact me if you'd like contributor status to this blog. That will allow you to post your own messages.

Bret

Luck, You?

2008-03-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

How lucky are you?

I'd hate to think there's a logical explanation for everything, but I do buy into the concept that we make our own luck.

The idea that there are different kinds (or levels) of luck makes a lot of sense to me, too. I like how Gross sums it up (page 292): "1) be there, 2) be active, 3) be prepared, 4) be yourself, and 5) be intuitive."

Course Outlines vs. Learning Plans

2008-03-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

"Learning is more efficient if guided by a process structure (e.g. learning plan) than by a content structure (e.g. course outline)." -- Malcolm Knowles (page 229).

First, do you agree?

And second, if you do, then why do we have a system in place to make sure that all classes have approved common course outlines, but no system in place to ensure that all students develop learning plans?

What is the Common Book?

2008-03-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

According to my little poll, I notice that not everyone knows what the Common Book is. Well, here's the answer (courtesy http://www.commonbook.rctc.project.mnscu.edu/):

What is the Common Book?
The Common Book is a book that:

Deals with current and relevant issues or topics and holds a general interest for the students.

Might be read and understood in smaller, discrete sections (i.e., some disciplines or classes might read one section only) so that the book is easily adapted to, or included in, a wide variety of courses without demanding too much course time or reworking of course curriculum.

Can be approached from a variety of points of view by different disciplines thus giving students an opportunity to examine and discuss many aspects of a particular issue.

Readily elicits discussion on an analytical level, yet is able to affect the reader on a personal level as well.

The Common Book Program at Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) promotes critical thinking, reading and writing across the curriculum, exposes RCTC students to diverse cultural materials, opinions, and experiences, and enables students to seek and develop meaningful relationships between themselves, their classes, and their instructors.

In addition, the Common Book Program promotes student-centered learning and programs such as convocations, discussion groups, webpage resources, sharing of original sample work, etc. In the past, the Program has allowed students to meet and interact with common book authors.

Gutenberg Project

2008-03-14T11:24:00.001-07:00

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of the Gutenberg Project; if not, be sure to check out this link:

http://www.promo.net/pg/

The idea is to put books into electronic form. Due to copyright restrictions, most of the books in the collection were published pre 1923.

Rochester Reads -- Next Year's Book Nominees

2008-03-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

For those interested, here are the Rochester Reads 2009 Title Suggestions thus far:

Suggestions from Community:

Last Child In the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. 416 pages, paperback, $14.95. Suggested 9/4/07 by Judie Guhl, 289-3286
From Scientific American
Unstructured outdoor play was standard for me as a hyperactive child growing up in the rural Midwest. I fondly recall digging forts, climbing trees and catching frogs without concern for kidnappers or West Nile virus. According to newspaper columnist and child advocate Richard Louv, such carefree days are gone for America’s youth. Boys and girls now live a "denatured childhood," Louv writes in Last Child in the Woods. He cites multiple causes for why children spend less time outdoors and why they have less access to nature: our growing addiction to electronic media, the relinquishment of green spaces to development, parents’ exaggerated fears of natural and human predators, and the threat of lawsuits and vandalism that has prompted community officials to forbid access to their land. Drawing on personal experience and the perspectives of urban planners, educators, naturalists and psychologists, Louv links children’s alienation from nature to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, stress, depression and anxiety disorders, not to mention childhood obesity. The connections seem tenuous at times, but it is hard not to agree with him based on the acres of anecdotal evidence that he presents. According to Louv, the replacement of open meadows, woods and wetlands by manicured lawns, golf courses and housing developments has led children away from the natural world. What little time they spend outside is on designer playgrounds or fenced yards and is structured, safe and isolating. Such antiseptic spaces provide little opportunity for exploration, imagination or peaceful contemplation. Louv’s idea is not new. Theodore Roosevelt saw a prophylactic dose of nature as a counter to mounting urban malaise in the early 20th century, and others since have expanded on the theme. What Louv adds is a focus on the restorative qualities of nature for children. He recommends that we reacquaint our children and ourselves with nature through hiking, fishing, bird-watching and disorganized, creative play. By doing so, he argues, we may lessen the frequency and severity of emotional and mental ailments and come to recognize the importance of preserving nature. At times Louv seems to conflate physical activity (a game of freeze tag) with nature play (building a tree fort), and it is hard to know which benefits children most. This confusion may be caused by a deficiency in our larger understanding of the role nature plays in a child’s development. At Louv’s prompting, perhaps we will see further inquiry into this matter. In the meantime, parents, educators, therapists and city officials can benefit from taking seriously Louv’s call for a "nature-child reunion."

There Are No Shortcuts by Rafe Esquith. 224 pages, paperback, $13.95. Suggested by Jim Mickelson, 288-4160
From Booklist
Esquith, an award-winning elementary- school teacher, offers a passionate and inspiring look at his 19-year career. Early on, Esquith transferred from a public school in a middle-class neighborhood to a school in a low-income community with few native English speakers. In this frank account, Esquith details both his teaching mistakes and triumphs, and he advises young teachers and parents on how to actualize the enormous potential represented by public schools. In the chapter on reading, Esquith laments the mediocrity that is tolerated and practically encouraged at most schools, which focus more on classroom management and standardized tests than actual teaching. His personal approach is to expect the best of his students, including a strong work ethic. He extends the school day by three hours, teaches on Saturdays, and teaches English by having his students perform Shakespearean plays. With anecdotes that are alternately amusing and disheartening, Esquith details the joys and frustrations of teaching and offers valuable insights to parents and teachers alike. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Freedom for the Thought We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Anthony Lewis, 2008. 221 pages, hardcover, $25.00. Suggested by Frank Hawthorne
From Publishers Weekly
The First Amendment's injunction that Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press seems cut and dried, but its application has had a vexed history, according to this lucid legal history, Lewis's first book in 15 years (after Make No Law and Gideon's Trumpet). Some suppressions of free speech passed constitutional muster in their day: the 1798 Sedition Act criminalized criticism of the president, and the WWI-era Sedition Act sentenced a minister to 15 years in prison for telling his Bible class that a Christian can take no part in the war. Law professor and Pulitzer Prize–winning ex-New York Times columnist Lewis explores other First Amendment legal quagmires, including libel law, privacy issues, the press's shielding of confidential sources, obscenity and hate speech. Not quite a free speech absolutist, he's for punishing speech that urges terrorist violence to an audience... whose members are ready to act. Lewis's story is about the advancement of freedom by the likes of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Louis Brandeis and others whose bold judicial decisions have made the country what it is. The result is an occasionally stirring account of America's evolving idea of liberty.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond. 288 pages, paperback, $13.00. Suggested by Lynette Perry, to be paired with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
From Booklist
Anyone who has ever really savored a piece of candy and appreciates more than its mere sweetness will sympathize with Almond's obsession. Much of the source of this addiction appears to stem from his psychiatrist father, who had a similar fixation. Then, of course, there is that surname, which his Polish immigrant grandfather took mostly as a way to ensure that he'd sort alphabetically to the top. Whatever its origins, Almond's passion for candy, chocolate or otherwise, leads him to inventory the various sweetmeats he has encountered throughout his life. He attempts to visit candy factories to back up his appetite with fact, but he discovers how very secretive candy manufacturers can be. He does achieve a tour of Pittsburgh's Clark bar factory, and there Almond finds out just how far the freshly made product surpasses the candy bar that has been sitting on a grocer's shelf. The decidedly regional nature of American candy production takes Almond to all sorts of destinations where he encounters those tastefully inventive minds who satisfy the country's sweet tooth. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Writing in an Age of Silence by Sara Paretsky, 2007. 138 pages, hardcover, $22.95. Suggested by Kim Edson
From Booklist
Fans of Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski series won't be surprised by her passion for social justice--in each novel, the sleuth tackles a political or social issue in addition to the crime at hand--and they're not likely to blame her for wanting to put the issues front and center. Despite having a popular series as a soapbox, Paretsky has much more to say. Derived from speeches and essays given and published elsewhere (an early version of chapter 5, "Truth, Lies, and Duct Tape," appeared in Booklist as "Writing, Speech, and Silence"), this slim volume covers a lot of ground: early lack of encouragement; participation in the civil-rights movement in Chicago; women's liberation and the origins of V. I. Warshawski; the social relevance of crime fiction; and the forces, from corporate enterprise to government censorship, conspiring to silence meaningful free speech. Written with graceful economy,Writing in an Age of Silence is an urgent cry for dissent and a powerful reminder that liberties taken for granted may someday not be granted at all. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Patron Suggestions from Greg Mortenson visit:

A Prairie Son by Dennis Clausen. 240 pages, paperback, $16.00
“Minn. Story – solid, rural, poignant, relates to many lives. Family farms v. conglomerates. Fullness of our lives vs. the past. Tables full of food from around the world.”
From Kirkus Reviews
The harrowing story of his father's youth on the Minnesota prairie, from novelist Clausen (Ghost Lover, not reviewed). When Clausen's father, Lloyd, died, he left (at his son's request) a rough outline of his life. Clausen pre had mostly been absent during Clausen fils's growing up; he was a cipher, though Dennis did know that Lloyd had had a rotten life as a child. So, using his father's sketch as a starting point, and broadening the story with material gathered from historical societies and newspapers of the time (and his father's few acquaintances), Clausen recreates his father's young manhood. And a sorry story it is. The author tells, in his father's voice, of being adopted by a farm family, not as a cherished member of the clan, but as cheap labor. Throughout the early years, he is ignored (when not being stropped) by his father and routinely tormented and physically abused by his mother. As a young boy, he summarized his life as ``chores, beatings, long hours locked up in the cellar.'' He takes solace in his dogs; feels confusion over the dark car that pulls up to the house when his father is out working in the fields; and is ineffably grateful for the small acts of kindness shown him by neighbors. The family's hard luck is so rudely ever-present, its as though they are the target of some malicious force: harvests go bad, cream is contaminated, the mother's affair is discovered (repeatedly), the hogs get cholera, the bank forecloses. Clausen lightens the tale with evocations of the rural landscape and with the rare sweet charactersuch as the Sanders brothers, who built windmills all day and played their violins at twilight. Sounding an authentic tone, the author steers clear of psychologizing, although his knowing innocence can aggravate. Its almost impossible to finish this chronicle of classic wretchedness without feeling a sudden appreciation for all things decent in ones life. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. 552 pages, paperback, $11.99
“It’s so readable and moving; it lets us see what ‘ordinary’ people did as quiet heroes to subvert the Nazis – I’ve been recommending it to everyone – it’s also charming. It shows how ordinary people stand up to evil – in small and large ways – and also learn to appreciate differences.”
From Kirkus Reviews
When Death tells a story, you pay attention. Liesel Meminger is a young girl growing up outside of Munich in Nazi Germany, and Death tells her story as "an attempt-a flying jump of an attempt-to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it." When her foster father helps her learn to read and she discovers the power of words, Liesel begins stealing books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor's wife's library. As she becomes a better reader, she becomes a writer, writing a book about her life in such a miserable time. Liesel's experiences move Death to say, "I am haunted by humans." How could the human race be "so ugly and so glorious" at the same time? This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it's a work to read slowly and savor. Beautiful and important. (Fiction. 12+)

RART Recommendations:
The Dog Says How by Kevin Kling. 178 pages, hardcover, $22.95
From Library Journal
As a playwright (Fear and Loving in Minneapolis), humorist, and commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Kling is well known for his ability to find comedy in whatever life sends his way, first a birth defect, then a motorcycle accident that has limited his use of both arms. The title piece in this debut collection refers to a fight between Kling's cat and dog that causes his voice-activated computer software to respond by typing "How, how, why, why." Many of these 29 autobiographical tales recount childhood escapades with his father as they flew model airplanes or traveled on family car trips. "Dad's Day" shares the mixed-up phrases a neighbor, Mr. Sloan, creates to dispense wisdom, e.g., "It ain't rocket surgery, for crying outside." With Kling's frequent childhood visits to the emergency room, his father offered this wise instruction as Kling went on wild go-cart rides: "Don't get killed just because you know how." The tales range from a long line of family members who have survived lightning strikes to a third-generation farmer who decides to plant a field of sunflowers because he knows he will never be able to afford a Van Gogh. Recommended for all Minnesota libraries and for literary collections in larger public libraries.

In Search of Mockingbird by Loretta Ellsworth. 192 pages, hardcover, $16.95
Kirkus Reviews
Believing that the tattered copy of To Kill a Mockingbird she carries around is her only connection to her dead mother, bookish Erin is angry when her newly engaged father gives her the woman's teenaged diary as a 16th-birthday present. Reading that her mom also wanted to be a writer and even wrote to Mockingbird author Harper Lee, Erin acts on her long-held wish to meet her literary idol. Set over the course of a few days in 1986, and featuring a strong sense of the American landscape, Erin travels the thousand-plus miles from St. Paul, Minn. to Monroeville, Ala. on a bus. Along the way, she is shepherded by two quirky guardians: Sedushia, a middle-aged exotic dancer, and Epps, a big, protective computer geek. With a first-person narrative that is eloquent and credible, and prose that is restrained and economical, Ellsworth makes Erin's unlikely coming-of-age trip convincing. Designed to look like an old journal, the story's searching-for-mother theme should make it especially appealing to older fans of Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn Dixie (2000) and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Alice Books. An engaging road trip. (Fiction. 10-14)

The Florist’s Daughter by Patricia Hample. 227 pages, hardcover, $24.00
Kirkus Reviews
A dutiful daughter-and superb memoirist-reflects upon the deaths of her parents. Hampl (English/Univ. of Minnesota; Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime, 2006, etc.) has crafted an honest and loving tribute to her parents, who raised her in St. Paul, Minn., where she has remained virtually her entire life. Her father (the eponymous florist) and mother (a librarian) had different cultural histories. He was Czech; she, Irish. They worked hard, went to church, believed in truth, justice and the American way, did nothing the world would deem remarkable. And, Hampl says, "Nothing is harder to grasp than a relentlessly modest life." Her writings about that life highlight difficult truths about both the author and her parents. (It was her mother, she says, who made Hampl realize the coldness of her own heart.) Hampl begins at the hospital bedside of her mother, who lay dying after a stroke. She holds her hand and tries, simultaneously, to take notes. Several times in the ensuing text she returns to this scene-the hand-holding, the death-watch-until no life remains in the room but her own. The author moves back in time, telling us about her father's business (the employees, the customers, the economics of flower growing and selling) and her mother's career (she loved biographies). She adds that both had mixed feelings about her decision to become a poet. Her father, she says, thought "being a poet was all right, though hopeless." Her mother eventually created an archive of Hampl's work-every clipping, every note, every word she wrote. Hampl mentions occasionally her more conservative brother, who became a dentist and moved west, but his story is on the periphery. Death is the principal character, and Hampl shows us powerfully that Death touches not only the dying. A memoir for memoirists to admire-with language that pierces.

Common Book Ideas

2008-03-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

Social Pressures on Creativity

2008-03-05T09:02:00.001-08:00

This one is kind of scary. Does society pressure us to be less creative? (see pages 156-157).

I was quite impressed with Dr. Schank's "maxims":

1. Look for anomalies. Anomalies are where the action is, creatively speaking.

2. Listen. You can't find anomalies if you weren't paying attention to what was going on in the first place.

3. Find data. Before you make a theory, look to the world around you, ask yourself what is happening. The more you know the more you can create.

4. Classify, and invent new classifications. Their real value is the generalization they capture.

5. Make rash generalizations. The idea behind making rash generalizations is not to be right, but to be thinking.

6. Explain. When we learn something, it's because we have invented an explanation for it. We have explained it to ourselves.

7. Refuse to learn the rules. You must pick your spots for rebellion, be sure that you have reason on your side, and be prepared to take the consequences.

8. Reject old explanations. Ask why. [Authorities tell us to simple explanations to complex issues] . . . it is important to learn to distrust these explanations, not because someone is trying to fool you, but because the standard wisdom might be wrong.

9. Let your mind wander. . . . the process of letting your mind go where it wants can be useful if where it wants turns out to be an interesting place to go.... If you don't give your mind a little freedom every now and a again, it may stop wandering.

10. Fail early and fail often. Failure is a good thing. We learn from failure. Take a chance. Have an idea and allow the possibility that it might be a bad idea.

11. Reject all the above maxims. Who says I know what I'm talking about. Can we really enhance our creativity? That's a good question.

Hidden Credentials

2008-02-29T13:03:00.001-08:00

What are the hidden credentials of your students?

I liked the Peter Smith quote (page 147): "Educators and employers tend to ignore the immense amount of learning that almost everyone does outside of school and college. This is often a personal tragedy, and it prevents our society from benefitting from the 'hidden credentials' which Americans could be contrinuting to business and social life. We are blighting lives and hobbling our progress by failing to find ways to discern, harness, and reward these 'hidden credentials.'"

Do you agree? And if so, what do we do about it?

Gary's Thoughts, part 2

2008-02-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

Note: This is Part 2 of Gary's email to the Da Vinci group. Included were two set-design pictures, but i was unable to add them to the blog. If anyone would like to see these pictures, please let me know, and I will be glad to email them to you. -- Bret

***

Part 2—the Da Vinci Project—Gary Schattschneider
Three other ideas that Da Vinci put forth that interested me in connection with theatre design and teaching Fundamentals of Speech were, the " 5 W’s and an H," the "what if…." question to search for solutions to various problems and the practice of developing mental pictures during different parts of the day to hopefully lead you to solving whatever type of problem with which you are dealing. I think these ideas play an important role in everything from solving set design problems, coming up with interesting speech topic ideas and approaches and "visualizing" a successful outcome to the speech and design experience.

I was introduced to the "5 W’s and an H" in high school journalism—as the structure of a basic news story. The "who, what, where, when, why and how" were all to be included in the lead paragraph followed by the information in descending order of importance in paragraph form. There were a couple of reasons for doing this. One was if you didn’t catch the readers’ interest and/or attention to want to continue reading the entire story, at least he/she had the important facts and information re: the story. The reason for having the information in descending order of importance was that once the story in column form reaches the person that does the page layout he/she might want to include the story on a certain page and if it didn’t fit the layout person would start literally start cutting paragraphs from the bottom of the story. The newspaper business being what it is –a race against deadlines—the layout person would not have time to read the story as he/she was trying to fit the story on the page. In fact some news stories have ended up with just a headline (to get the readers interest) and a lead paragraph. But at least the 5’s and an H are in it so the reader got all of the pertinent information. I still compare this lead paragraph approach as very similar to, but not exactly the same as an introduction in a speech in public speaking. I’m assuming that Da Vinci didn’t necessarily have "newspapers" in mind when he came up with this approach, but rather when we are in search of answers to our "cosmic" questions, we make sure that we have all of the information/facts before we draw our conclusions???

* * *

The next area, the "what if…" I think is a really interesting and important area that can help "lift" a speech, a painting or a set design above the mundane, allow the work to soar and certainly lead to new ideas questions and adventures—(i.e. the creative vs. not so creative ideas ??? or concepts that make people sit up and take notice.) This "questioning" can be abstract or very practical in approaching set and costume designs, for instance.

In January, 1969 I was flying back to the University of Idaho where I was teaching at that time. I designed most of the costume for outer space creatures for an upcoming children’s production we were doing during that flight. I completed most of the designs in pencil while flying over the Rocky Mountains (talk about your "Rocky Mountain High")! I knew I wanted the creatures to wear half-masks but needed something beyond glitter that would catch the light and show up under black-light. The 60’s were a period in theatre there was a lot of experimentation with "new" materials both in scenery and in costuming. Designers were using a lot of Plexiglas, foam and various kinds of metals. And I was certainly on the lookout for anything we could afford and would work for the production. After a month in Minnesota and now back in my apartment in Idaho, I needed groceries. As I was shopping (there’s always a show design rattling around in my head—either consciously or sub-consciously) I went down the cleaning supply aisle and BAM !—there was my "what if…" copper colored Brillo scouring pads that were cheap, metallic, would reflect light and could be cut apart to make them larger and attached easily to the masks. I always advise my students—open your mind to new ideas, ask "what if….." and observe with a vengeance!

The next "what if…?" perhaps has a more tangible outcome and can serve to illustrate both the Da Vinci idea as well as the "Production Concept" example that seems to connect with my students and those that aren’t as familiar with working theatre ideas from a set designer and director’s point of view. Below is a set design for "Diary of Anne Frank" presented in the Hill Theatre at RCTC and directed by Ray Mikesh (former director of RCTC Theatre). This play is fairly well known; the pictures and the actual attic and rooms exist in The Netherlands as the "Anne Frank House" which is a museum/ tourist attraction. The set designs that are usually used are smaller than the average set to suggest the claustrophobia and cramped conditions that these people lived in while hiding from the Nazis. Ray had also visited the actual house the summer before we were scheduled to do the production.

When I was still in the "mental concept design" process of coming up with an idea for the set, I was taking a shower one morning and had an "A-HA-what if?" moment—and visualization and an idea for the production—that wasn’t the usual approach. (I do most of my mental visualization, creative problem solving in the shower!!!) In fact, that situation became a standing joke between Ray and myself. In fact I could, at any time expect him to come up to me and say (Schatts…..you need to go home and take a shower to solve this problem"…)

My "what if…" approach was this: I decided that it really wasn’t the attic or building that was "confining" the Frank family and their friends; rather it was the society of the time (the Nazis) that were in essence causing a physical and emotional confinement and the Nazis could at any moment "pull the rug out from under the Jews". So the stage set used the entire stage and then some. If you look closely at the design you will see that the floorboards on the attic run parallel with the rows of audience seats and as they move upstage they gradually change color and become red and supporting a large swastika on a white circular background. Those floorboards acted symbolically as "the rug" which could at any time be pulled upstage toppling anything that was set on top of them—people, furniture etc. The swastika was the ever present threat both above the stage and flags in the orchestra pit. This idea can also be referred to as the "production concept" or the framework against which all things on the stage, acting etc. could be measured. Now you might be asking yourself… would an audience member looking at this set be able to verbalize this? No, probably not—but I hope that once all the elements have played out and the story has been told that on a subconscious or maybe a gut reaction level it has caused a new way of looking at the play/story or perhaps given new insights into it.

[Picture missing -- Please email me if you would like me to email you the set-design pictures -- Bret]

The above set design for "The Tempest" at RCTC directed by Jerry Casper, was derived from a more visual discovery and approach. The scene is on an island where Prospero has been exiled and shipwrecked. My inspiration? I was looking for some other thinks at Hobby Lobby when I came across a decorative mirror (on clearance no less) that resembled a mariners compass. Another A-HA and what if ? moment!!! If you look at the platform design it resembles the mirror/mariner’s compass with three directional points. I added parts of the scavenged ship—a mast on the left, the ship’s ladder type stairs, some portions of a ripped sail etc. The platforms and levels also resembled the arrangement of the Globe theatre stage (inner below, inner above etc.), the theatre and physical stage for which Shakespeare wrote.

Learning Techniques: Before, During, and After

2008-02-22T12:38:00.000-08:00

I liked chapter 6 quite a bit.

Gross discusses two pre-learning techniques: pro-active reading and the vee-heuristic technique.

1. Pro-active reading is probably taught in Reading and Critical Thinking Skills classes, but most of our students do not take such classes. Do we ever mention the idea of pro-active reading to the majority of our students?

The point of the technique is to encourage readers to be "active, self-directed, and creative." And the way to do that is to approach the book with a specific goal in mind.

I know I'm old fashioned. I like to read the entire book, but Gross's point about developing focus questions and then just reading the specific sections of the book that deal with those questions makes a lot of sense.

2. Vee-heuristic helps you focus on what you already know, and then helps you transfer than knowledge into what you're interested in learning: http://telematics.ex.ac.uk/cocoa_demo/content/tools/improved_vee_heuristic.htm

The objective of this technique is the same as above -- take the time to think about what you want to learn from your experiences, your research, your reading. In other words, develop a plan, a focus question, and some key specifics.

From the Mind of Gary

2008-02-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

Gary Schattschneider had some thoughts to share about How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, and he said it would be okay for me to post them :) -- Bret

***

Comments, Musings and Observations on How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by someone who has been referred to as the phantom designer, not very social, that "old guy", a transformer, and compared to everything from a grizzly bear to a teddy bear —take your pick.

First of all, I am extremely grateful to persons in my past—mainly some of my college instructors as well as my design mentor. They have been responsible for introducing me to @85% of the things that are suggested and/or talked about in the book (except juggling and fitness!). Please don’t take my comments as boasting but I was totally blown away by the book when I realized it was a real justification of my beliefs, ideals, and creative goals I have been personally trying to achieve and well as pass them on to my students in ALL of my classes. I hope the following comments clarify some of these points.

Even before I went to college, IBM brought the da Vinci exhibit of models of his inventions, machines etc. to exhibit at the Rochester Art Center. (I’m assuming these are the same that are now housed in the da Vinci museum in Italy that are mentioned in the beginning of the book) I still remember visiting this exhibit a number of times being curious and fascinated by them at the same time.

ABOUT DRAWING
My first Beginning Drawing Text in college was "The Natural Way to Draw" by Kimon Nicolaides which sets out a one year drawing program in detail, day by day. I truly believe that drawing is a matter of observation and what comes out on paper is a result of that observation and brain process. In other words you are making decisions with the brain even before your hand/pencil or charcoal touches the paper. When I hear students say they "can’t even draw a straight line" or they are going to start "sketching" I kind of bristle and correct them immediately. First of all straight lines are boring and can be done easier with a ruler, computer, CAD or whatever. Second, "sketching" implies that you have not really studied and or observed what you are going to try to draw. In my college drawing class we always had to carry a "Sketch Book" (I know ….a bad choice of words) which, in essence, was our visual AND written journal of our life during the time we were in the class before and beyond. Unfortunately the Art Department had the prerogative of keeping any student work they wanted for the "permanent collection"—so I have an entire sketch book filled with drawings of chickens that I did one week-end at my college roommate’s farm somewhere at the St. Cloud State University Art Department. I also used those drawings as a basis for a very large painting of a group of chickens that ended up at my college roommate’s parent’s house. So, I do not know where it ended up either. (da Vinci studied animals and their movement in detail according to the book)

A couple of drawing/painting exercises that da Vinci and Nicolaides and I practice are: 1)Observing your work in a mirror which gives an entirely different perspective on the work. Another suggestion would be to turn the painting upside down or sideways and work on it that way for a couple of days. A number of years ago when the Guthrie Theatre was going to do "Dr. Faustus" the set designer brought in the set model --a very detailed linear outline of a Gothic-like structure that was to be made out of steel tubing. After a few minutes discussion, the director suggested they turn the model upside down. And so they did and so it was produced! ( adapting to change da Vinci?) Who knew????.

I also like to take works in progress and set them around my house. That allows as you go about your usual tasks to "suddenly" come upon the painting or drawing and allows yet another perspective. Certainly the taking time away from the work is a very healthy suggestion as well.
Another drawing exercise that I think backs up the theory that drawing and decisions take place in the brain is to set up a still life and use the opposite hand then you are used to using. Probably 85% of the time you will come up with a better drawing because you have had to observe more carefully what you are doing. (or in da Vinci’s terms ambidexterity?)

When the book talks about developing your tactile senses, some of this can also be achieved with 2 drawing exercises. 1) study what you are going to draw, the describe it with a single line---varying the widths of the line to describe the 3-dimisional quality of the object. One key here is to imagine you are touching the object itself to make the decisions about the quality of line you will use 2) place your pencil on the paper and draw the object or objects without lifting your pencil from the page or looking at your drawing, and again, closely observing the objects you are drawing.

I challenge my students with the statement that if they are willing to put forth the time and effort I can teach them to draw adequately in a 6 month period. Of course they are skeptical and no one has ever taken me up on the offer. One other thing with which I try to raise their curiosity is to ask them "Who was the better draughtsperson ….who could realistically draw a person or place—Pablo Picasso or Norman Rockwell (of course very few even know who Rockwell was) but after describing some of his work most agree that Rockwell was the more realistic artist—when in fact early Picasso drawings are realistically more descriptive and better executed—it’s just that he chose to explore different approaches with his ability---but in every Picasso work there is an underlying structure to all of his work. It’s similar to students saying they have no need to learn grammar when the poet e e cummings didn’t use it. Yet, as I’m sure you are aware, there is a reason the capitalization and punctuation is left out—again an underlying structure.

I consider myself a landscape painter (even at this point in my life it seems a little presumptuous of me to say that and even to put it in print is a little scary) I totally believe with da Vince that if you observe and study nature you will discover many many rewards in all kinds of media as well as in your own life. I think Van Gogh also followed this very closely. An inspiring book about the theory and practice and drawing is Van Gogh’s Letters to Theo which is a collection of letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother about the struggles of trying to capture nature in drawing and paint. In my opinion, it’s almost a drawing course in and of itself.

* * *

An interjection: I liked Sharon’s comment about da Vinci dying in France ("smart man")…..but this was also the country whose military used the model of his horse statute for target practice….???? Hm-m-m-m.

* * *

ABOUT MUSIC
Much to my surprise all of the classical periods of music and examples from them where familiar to me with the exception of the opera Aida. I’ve designed to set for La Boheme three different times and have worked on other productions of the same opera. I am probably most lacking in knowledge and exposure to Jazz, but have worked on theatre productions Cole (musical revue of Cole Porter songs) and Oh Coward! (musical revue of the songs of Noel Coward some of which are also included in his plays such as Private Lives and Hay Fever…..and yes I saw Elvis and The Beatles on Ed Sullivan (and delivered flowers to Ed Sullivan when he was hospitalized at St, Mary’s in 1963 and I was working at a local flower shop!)

I’m not sure I am able to discern the various changes in the various musical compositions that the book talks about but do enjoy listening to classical music. My concern is that I see fewer and fewer young people interested in and or playing classical music and fewer symphony orchestras in our culture…is this the demise of classical music as we know it? I do have a question that maybe one of the group can help me with. I think there is a strong correlation between understanding mathematics and the ability to play a musical instrument. I am very "math" challenged and tried to learn to play a musical instrument to no avail. But I have made up for lack of math skills in other ways. (You can’t design and build stage scenery for 40 years without a "system" of you own). Just last semester when, I was in a temporary office with math people all around me, I posed a question to one of them which was…."If I have a round piece of plywood that I want to put legs on to turn into a table for use on stage, and there is no center on the circle marked, how do I locate the 4 leg positions?" He was very gracious and showed me diagrams and formulas that included pi and figured it out within 1/132 of an inch. I certainly respect his ability even though it made very little sense to me. So I suggested tracing the tabletop on a piece of brown wrapping paper, cut it out and fold it in fourths lay it back down on the plywood and mark the position of the 4 legs. He agreed that was probably easier!!! I presented the same problem to my Stagecraft class and not one person came up with any correct answer. In a broader sense I think this is something we, as instructors, need to remember about different learning styles of out students (and I didn’t pick this up from an education class).

The book also suggests learning another language, and about other cultures. Again I throw this question to Sharon. Do you think it takes a special type of person with a "special" type of ear/hearing (I’m not exactly sure what I mean here) to learn another language, or can anyone do it? I had two years of German in high school with "Doc" Most and it was a real struggle for me; I really couldn’t survive it and finally gave up. I never did get through Emil und Das Detective or Die Weisse Rose. I have the utmost respect for "Doc" Most as a teacher and a person, and one of my nephews had him as an instructor and was really successful, so I’m not blaming the instructor!

End Part One

The Romance of Learning

2008-02-18T20:11:00.000-08:00

Is learning "romantic"? That's a pretty novel idea.

How many students in college classes act as if learning is more like a marriage gone bad after 12 years?

Every class should be an opportunity to connect romance to the subject. It's sad to see students in classes with the sole desire to "pass," not learn.

And, perhaps the classroom isn't the ideal learning environment for all students. That's why we must seize upon ways to connect students to the material through alternative methods.

Schools: "Stand Still, Laddie!"

2008-02-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

Gross' program for lifelong learning is self-focused and self-directed. Of course, one of the reasons for Gross' approach lies in schools failing students. Fear, not paidia (play) informed paideia (education), is too often the outcome for so many students from a traditional schooling.

I am an alumnus of Northern Illinois University, where I did my MA and PhD work (most of it) in Political Science. I have been thinking quite a bit about what motivates students to walk into schools and begin shooting. There are no doubt a myriad of factors. But my mind turned to one factor that surely has an influence: the fear and anxiety that characterizes traditional methods of pedagogy, described by Gross. which so stimulates our fight-flight reptillian brain. Indeed, the fears that Gross lists may add up to, or confirm, another, more dangerous fear which ossifies into an entrenched belief: "I am a worthless person, both inside and outside the classroom."

Such an event as occured at NIU underscores to me the awesome responsibilities we have as educators. I am not suggesting that we, in our "role," might directly prevent such killing from taking place. We are educators, not therapists. What I am suggesting is that we consciously create a fear-free classroom. Students should feel comfortable walking into a classroom and being in the presence of a teacher. Respect does not stem from fear, but admiration. Perhaps the student is simply not interested in the course, yet needs it for credit. One tries, as an educator, to spark interest in the student, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. But, even if not, if the student observes a teacher who loves the material, tries in a variety of ways to relate and facilitate that love to the student, displays fairness and an appreciation for the varying abilities of different students, shows fairness and empathy, and attempts to reach out to the student (perhaps not even academically, just as another human being--asking how other classes are going, etc.), a student will most likely respect such a teacher and such a situation goes far towards freeing the traditional classroom of anxiety and fear for the individual student.

My heart goes out to those at NIU who have lost loved ones or who are recovering from injuries.

A Moment of Clarity

2008-02-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

On page 52, Gross mentions the three zones of learning: The Groan Zone, The Drone Zone, and the Flow Zone. What a neat way to put it.

The idea, of course, is to avoid the Drone and Groan zones, and I think this section of the book does a pretty good job explaining how to do just that. And for faculty, I think this is a key section to keep in mind as we help our students.

The quote by Roger Von Oech stuck out to me, too: "The ancient Greeks knew that learning comes from playing. Their concept for education (paideia) is almost identical to their concept for play (paidia)."

Peak-Learning=Professional Success?

2008-02-14T04:37:00.000-08:00

“Thank God I never was sent to school/To be flogd into following the Style of a Fool”--Wm. Blake

I have just begun Gross's book and, as Bret points out, the six major fears of learning--stemming from various sources in different individuals--are compelling and necessary to consider as a teacher and fellow-learner. It is not even mid-semester and I have heard each of the six fears expressed by my students (fear of not knowing how to learn, learning is boring, difficult, passive, lonely, unrelated to one's real interest, and, in the current state of affairs, institutional learning is ungodly expensive--which intensifies student fear and anger greatly).

At some point in their experience, strong, negative, anxiety-provoking feelings have been associated with learning thus activating and processing memory and emotion in the "reptillian" (fight or flight) portion of the brain. The good news is that the brain is not as "hardwired" as once thought; that feelings, so important in learning (starting the process, continuing the process, and remembering and building upon the process), can be changed thoroughout one's life. As I listen to Pink Floyd's The Wall, I find this encouraging.

No doubt exorcising the "learning fears" bolsters one's confidence which can lead to success. And, in the best of cases, vocation combines with avocation in a kind of "flow" or "zone." Yet, one reservation I do have is with Gross' subtitle: How to Create Your Own Lifelong Education Program for Personal Enligtenment and Professional Success. I may do Gross disservice at this point, but I am leery of the notion of education as a "product" leading to professional or worldly success. Education ('paideia") and "enlightenment," especially of the highest Socratic sort (as Socrates' life attests), is not necessarily a fast-track up the corporate ladder. At this point, the notion of what it is education and what is an educated human being, or whether such a question is relevant, might be considered.

Clearly, Gross is right about this: we learn best that which is suited to us individually, suits our natural talents and their development, and sparks our passions ("eros"). We each travel our own unique journey, a journey that needs be self-directed. And the path and/or direction of that journey may change--very likely given the nature of our global economy.

But what of teachers? Socrates, in Plato's Theaetatus, likens his role as a teacher to that of a midwife. It is a pregnant metaphor (sorry). Students, self-directed, can certainly give birth to knowledge or truth without the midwifery of teachers; teachers often are superfluous. Moreover, teachers, but midwives, cannot impregnate students with knowledge. Many students, in fact, discover "admirable truths" within and bring them forth unaided. Other students will benefit from a midwife, yet do not realize it and as a result truth is aborted at birth or is birthed and brought up badly. Others, says Socrates, have minds that can never "conceive" though he can still find a place for them. Finally, there are those students whose "minds are in labor" and realize the comfort they may receive from the ministrations of someone like Socrates.

For Gross, teachers are a last resort: on tap, but never on top. After all, he says, "it's your learning, not theirs." (49) Fellow educators: what do you think?

(Un)Learning Fear

2008-02-13T11:28:00.001-08:00

Gross hits this idea hard. You simply cannot learn until you remove fear.

Fears are feelings, and feelings are deeply ingrained. The author suggests that we might not even know why we have these feelings, but we must discover the underlying reasons of our fears, or else we'll never be able to learn.

How many of the following fears have you witnessed in your own students:

1. Fear of change

2. Fear of responsibility

3. Fear of forgetting

4. Fear of shame

5. Fear of being ineffective

6. Fear of having too much to learn

These fears are real. Often we hear students say, "I'll be happy just to pass this class." What causes them to "aim low"? One of our primary jobs as teachers, whether we like it or not, is to defuse the fear timebomb. Only then we'll we have what we really want: students ready and eager to learn.

The Emotional Brain

2008-02-12T12:22:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, but I really don't remember anyone ever teaching me this stuff when I was an undergraduate. For example, Gross says "our ability to remember information for future use may depend more on our feelings at the time than we had realized" (page 24). In other words, we tend to remember things better when we have an emtional attachment. That totally makes sense, and certainly explains why people remember where they were at 9-11, when the Challenger blew up, when Reagan was shot, etc.

How many times do we hear our students claim that something is "boring"? Maybe it's math, maybe it's English, or maybe it's education in general. The point is: the bored student cannot learn. Frankly, I know a lot of us have trouble understanding bored students. "How can they think this stuff is boring?" we wonder. And yet we know that they do.

This link might help:

http://www.virtualsalt.com/motivate.htm

The Mind is a Turkish Bazaar

2008-02-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

I liked the image Gross uses of the mind as a Turkish bazaar (page 27). After all, our minds are always taking things in, and just because we are studying psychology, for example, that doesn't mean that we're not making a million other connections.

I'm afraid that we don't always encourage our students to do anything with those connections, though. Sometimes we probably fear that these connections take our students (or our classes) off topic; but if the topic itself is "learning," and if the brain is about making connections, is anything really "off topic"?

Brain Workouts

2008-02-12T12:13:00.001-08:00

The brain is a muscle, but how do we teach our students that they need to do mental workouts? The classroom could be the brain's "gym," but how many of our students are encouraged to do mental workouts before class? And I'm not talking about homework and reading assignments. Students need to stretch their minds right before class. Do we encourage them to do that?

Any thoughts on how we can encourage students to do brain workouts before class?

Modern Learning Techniques: Are We Modern at RCTC?

2008-02-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

Reviewing the chart on page 35, I wonder how well we're doing at following Modern Learning techniques. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to do Interdisciplinary learning? For some reason, "interdisciplinary" tends to be a taboo term at RCTC.

We do much better with "technology as an integral tool," but how are we doing with "community partnerships"?

Below is a thorough and lengthly link explaining how to develop interdisciplinary courses. It would be well-worth the time and trouble to read.

http://www.interdisciplinary.duke.edu/news/resources/Haynes_Handout.pdf

davinci day

2008-02-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

i didn't pursue photography quite as vigorously as i might have had i not been concentrating on my perspective drawing so much - but here are a few!

Da Vinci lives through you

2008-02-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

Hmmm... wonder what this is?? ;p

Who drew this?

2008-02-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

Will the artist that sketched this please step forward and receive your award?

Is this the real reason people came?

2008-02-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Bill, who really did live up to his "host with the most" label. He graciously broke out two bottles of Da Vinci from his secret supply. :)

The Whole Gang (minus the Gang Members who couldn't attend)

2008-02-08T08:09:00.001-08:00

A little bit dark, but this is the only photographic evidence we have of all those that attended.

Missy and Hubby -- Sting Book Club Action Shot

2008-02-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

I cannot emphasize enough how serious people are taking this drawering exercise. Exhibit #2 -- Missy's tongue.

Abby and Hubby -- Sting Book Club Action Shot

2008-02-08T08:00:00.001-08:00

When the colored pencils come out, so do the tongues, eh Norm?

Carol -- Sting Book Club Action Shot

2008-02-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

Look at Carol go. She's taking this activity pretty seriously, me thinks! :)

Art -- Sting Book Club Action Shot

2008-02-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

This is Art. He likes art. :)

Tim -- Sting Book Club Action Shot

2008-02-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

Here's Tim. He likes to do drawerings.

Sting Book Club

2008-02-06T09:36:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

I thought I'd take our discussion off the Group Email and establish a blog for people to post.

Now, I've sent you all an email to give you permission to be co-authors of this blog; that way, you can actually make posts (and not just make comments on posts made by me).

If you have any difficulty figuring out how to blog, let me know. I'll be happy to help.

Bret