Sage on the Stage

Teacher Centered

Teacher Talks – Students Listen

Language of the Teacher

Vocabulary of the Teacher

Instructor Chooses Topics

Teacher Filters Material

Teacher Evaluates Student Work

Classroom is Quiet

Knowledge Limited by Teacher’s Knowledge

Students Work Alone

Classroom is Passive

Knowledge is Passed Down

Students Receive Information

Emphasis on Right Answers

Classroom is Competitive

Learning is Individualistic

Assessment and Teaching are Separate

Testing is Primary Assessment

Information is Gathered

Focus on Completing Content

Lecture

Based on Delivery

Guide on the Side

Focus on the Student and the Teacher

Language of the Student

Vocabulary of the Student

Instructors Model Learning

Students Interact With Students

Students Interact with Instructor

Classroom is Noisy

Classroom is Active

Students Evaluate Their Own Work

Students Critique Each Other

Teachers Monitor Evaluation

Instructor Provides Feedback

Students Choose Topics

Knowledge is Unlimited

Instructors Monitor Material

Students Answer Each Others Questions

Teacher Becomes a Resource

Pairs, Trios and Groups Work Together

TEAM takes Effect (Together Each Achieves More)

Emphasis on Process

Assessment is Inter-twined in the Learning

Differentiated assessment is the Norm

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Information is Synthesized

Focus on Understanding the Content

Real Life Examples and Utilization of Content

Learning Process is Evaluated

Teacher Becomes a Mentor

Based upon Student Engagement

The Truly Renaissance Man

In the movie Renaissance Man, teacher Bill Rago (Danny DeVito), uses the example of

Leon Battista Alberti to demonstrate the renaissance nature of an individual who values learning and education as a means of making the most of oneself. Rago explains to Private Jackson Leroy (Richard T. Jackson) that despite the resume of Alberti including his work as an author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer and general Renaissance humanist polymath, the only reason he remembers him is because Alberti could broad jump over a standing man. Leroy who has been burned by his ties to win at all cost athletics which have left him with very little future comes to understand that is is possible to be a "smart jock".  An oxymoron to Leroy who comes to appreciate that he can encourage his son to embrace education as well as any and all talents he may wish to pursue including athletics.

Leon Battista Alberti who left his mark on Renaissance Society through contributions in:

      Alberti’s treatise De Pictura, was the first truly scientific study of art utilizing mathematical perspective.

      Alberti worked with other artists of the Renaissance to create a handbook for the artist.

      Alberti wrote one of the most  influential works on architecture the De Re Aedificatoria.

      Alberti’s comedy in latin, called Philodoxius, was originally credited to be a genuine work of 'Lepidus Comicus'.

      He is credited with being the designer, of the woodcut  illustrations in the fantasy noverl Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.

      Alberti took a great interest in architecture his work can be connected to, restoration of the papal palace and the Roman aqueducts under Pope Nicholas the V, the church of Sant’ Andreream San Franceso and the façade of the Santa Maria Novella,shrine of the Holy Sepulchre. He is also credited with working on the Palazzo Rucellai and the Villa Medici in Fiesole.

      Alberti was an accomplished cryptographer inventing the first polyalphabetic cipher.  The Alberti cipher led to his being referred to as the “Father of Western Cryptography.

      In his autobiography Alberti notes that he was an accomplished musician, poet, painter, cartographer, astrologer and astornomer.

      According to Alberti he was capable of "standing with his feet together, and springing over a man's head."

The Child is Made of One Hundred

The following poem is by Loris Malaguzzi.

The child

is made of one hundred.

The child has

a hundred languages

a hundred hands

a hundred thoughts

a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred

ways of listening

of marveling of loving

a hundred joys

for singing and understanding

a hundred worlds

to discover

a hundred worlds

to invent

a hundred worlds

to dream.

The child has

a hundred languages

(and a hundred hundred hundred more)

but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture

separate the head from the body.

They tell the child:

to think without hands

to do without head

to listen and not to speak

to understand without joy

to love and to marvel

only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:

to discover the world already there

and of the hundred

they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:

that work and play

reality and fantasy

science and imagination

sky and earth

reason and dream

are things

that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child

that the hundred is not there.

The child says:

No way. The hundred is there.

Imagine if Picasso had listened to an art teacher tell him that he could not put both eyes on the same side of the nose of the grandmother in his protrait. 

And yet how many educators can be found guilty of this very act, as we try to get students to do things "the correct way".

Due to the industrialized fast food pedagogy of today's educational system we are all guilty of streamlining our processes to the "best" method.

But whose "best" method is this? The teacher? The student? The text?

The mind is only limited by the parameters we choose to place upon the learning process.

However, in order to overcome the possibility of chaos, it safer and let's face it much easier to educate the way McDonalds builds Big Macs.

Two All Beef Patties, Special Sauce, Lettuce, Cheese, Pickles, Onions on a Sesame Seed Bun. 

The same in Pasadena, California as it is in Arlington, Virginia or even Mazatlan,  Mexico.

Unfortunately this only serves to standardize everything and essentially as the poem suggests, steal the ninety-nine. 

  

  

Nerd Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Even Scientists Need a Little Love.

Culture Bags

This was a wonderul idea shared by one mof my colleagues. 

We had studentts work together in partners to create Culture Bags for the individuals involved in the discovery of DNA.

We provided students with a lunch bag and the names of the scientists invovled in the "Race for the Double Helix".

Students were told to decorate the exterior of the bag and then fill the bag with items that represented that individual: Who? What? When? Where? Significance? Partners? and How?

Students could find images online, create their own or insert items to represent the individual and their contributions to the Discovery of DNA.

The list of scientists included:

Frederick Griffith

Oswald Avery

Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase

Sir Lawrence Bragg

Erwin Chargaff

Francis Crick

Rosalind Franklin

Linus Pauling

James Watson

Maurice Wilkins.

Students were then asked to present their Culture Bags to the class.  Explaining the significance of their individual scientists and the ways in which they represented that in the bags. 

We provided students with a blank chart for information about the scientists to fill in as these presentations were made.  

It was quite exciting to see how students used their imaginations and creativity to capture the essence of each of these individuals and their contributions. 

The beauty of this type of excercise is the cross curricular aspects that the students were able to see as they realized the historical, political and scientific ramifications of this discovery.  They also became very aware of the collaborative and competitive nature of science.

This type of excercise could be used in any subject and in a wide variety of topics.

Questions I Would Love Students to Answer. (Or, maybe just a rant on my part.)

Questions I would love to have students answer...

Why does your calculator disappear before every math and science class?

Why do you leave your book, pen, pencil, notebook, jacket, lunch bag, in my classroom everyday at the end of class?

Why do you stand in the middle of the hallway, and look at me like I'm crazy when I try to walk down the hall?

Why do you congregate for discussions at the top or bottom of a stairway?

Why must you slam your locker door to get it to closed?

Why do you close the door as you enter the building, without looking back to see if someone else may be trying to get in?

How come you know when the bell rings to the exact second, but can't understand time limits on quizzes, tests or labs?

Who cleans up after you in your own home?

Can I come to your house and dismantle the faucets and gas lines in your kitchen or bathroom?

Why do you drink less than a quarter of your bottle of water before you leave it in my classroom?

Why can't you ask a teacher if they need assistance when they are trying to balance a stack of papers, their computer bag, umbrella, coffee cup, while trying to get their keys out to unlock the classroom door?

Why do you jiggle the handle on a locked door or bang on it instead of walking over to check if the other door is open?

Is the empty water bottle so heavy, that you cannot walk the extra five feet to the recycle bin and must throw it in the trash can?

Do you you not realize that every quiz is difficult if you not have prepared?

Also, every quiz is easy for me, because I wrote it!!!!

Why can't you have your homework prepared to turn in when you arrive at class: with your name on it, stapled and organized?

Why do you tell me as the bell rings all of your excuses for not having your homework instead of emailing the night before?

Can I come and touch, move, take, misplace everything on your desk at your home?

Have you not figured out that the things I repeat several times might be important?

I would love to read your additions to this list of rants...