Wednesday, November 4, 2009
This isn’t a new video, but it’s new to me, and has been getting a lot of attention in recent years. Sir Ken Robinson, a very entertaining speaker, makes solid points about the nature of the public education system and what needs to change about it. Take a look at “Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity” on TED.com.
Though the video dates from 2006, CNN just published an opinion piece by Robinson about the video’s impact.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
This has been the weirdest term. I wind up saying that every term, but each time it is true. I had good classes this time, and accomplished a lot of stuff that we often don’t get to, and yet there was much I didn’t get to do with several classes. It’s also true, though, that I am so, so burned out. I’m teaching this summer, but I’ve already decided we’re going to do it “old school,” with a minimum of computer usage. Just do it the old-fashioned way. I think maintaining the tech support for the courses I’m teaching is just getting to be too much on top of the teaching.
Plenty of tech stuff to do, still, but it will be in support of what other people are doing. Perhaps this will be the positive version of the old saying concerning the cobbler’s children going barefoot. We’ll see.
In any case, congratulations to the graduates, and to a lesser degree to us all for making it through another one.