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February 25, 2007
Sarah at seven months
Eight month photo coming soon!
Posted by Nakia at 08:47 PM | Comments (1)
Sarah at six months
Posted by Nakia at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)
Sarah at 4 and a Half Months
Posted by Nakia at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2007
Research Paper Prompt for EDUC 110
Some folks may have missed this last week, so here are the guidelines for your research paper. It's due March 27th for Section 001, and March 28th for sections 004 and 006.
Posted by Nakia at 09:51 AM | Comments (2)
February 22, 2007
Lenten Promises
Lent started yesterday. I am giving up:
1. Fast Food
2. Television
The fast food thing is easily done. Well, it may be hard to do, but requires little planning on consideration on my part. I've fallen back into eating way too much crap after all but giving fast food up in Charlottesville. By my definition, fast food includes any place that has a drive through.
The TV thing is harder. Not only will it be hard to do, but I have had to build in some caveats. I can't avoid TV alltogether. If I go to a bar or something and the TV's are playing, I am not going to sit with my back to them (which is hard to do, because in most places they are situated to be seen from every angle). This caveat will also let me watch some of the NCAA tournament when it gets rolling. Second, I will still watch DVDs. Movies and shows on DVD are okay. The point of this promise is to stop me from just randomly watching crap because it's on TV.
Note that Sarah has not given up TV, so there will be a lot of me sitting in the bedroom reading -- which is okay by me. I've got two new books ready to go.
We're also trying to go to church every Sunday, contribute regularly to the offering there, and get to the gym at least three times per week. While I have been to the gym twice this week already, we missed Ash Wednesday service because of some last minute complications with a real estate deal Sarah's working on. Not a good start, but we'll get back on track.
Posted by Nakia at 04:21 PM | Comments (8)
Education Review
As both graduate and undergraduate classes move toward writing their papers, I thought I would direct everyone to a website that might be helpful. Education Review is an on-line journal of reviews of edcation texts. A great feature is that it's also searchable, so you can type in the topic you are interested in and see reviews of books on that topic. This site could be useful in generating sources that you could explore further for your paper; the reviews themselves may be helpful in determining which texts are worth pursuing.
Posted by Nakia at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2007
Schedule Error for Section 001 (Tuesday/Thursday)
Although we have moved away from the syllabus in terms of reading schedule, the assignment schedule still holds. There is, however, an error on the schedule that effects a scheduled exam. Spring Break is listed as 3/8 and 3/13, with Exam #2 scheduled for 3/6. As everyone is no doubt aware, Spring Break is really 3/13 and 3/15. So, Exam #2 will be on 3/8.
I'll repeat that and put it in bold: For Section 001 (Tuesday/Thursday, 2:00) Exam #2 will be on March 8th.
We wil still begin Savage Inequalities right after Spring Break, on 3/20.
All other assignment due dates are, for now, unchanged.
Posted by Nakia at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
Philosophy of Education Powerpoint
Here is the powerpoint for the philosophy of education chapter:
Philosophy of Education
We'll discuss this today and on into next week, then we'll talk about John Dewey and the excerpt from Experience and Education next week.
Next week's reading looks like:
Monday/Tuesday: Dewey from the reader
Wednesday/Thursday: Hopefully, we'll get to School Law, so read pages 391-416. This is the part of the School Law chapter up to "Teaching and Ethics".
Posted by Nakia at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
A Vision for SC school reform
You can find a copy of the reform report here.
You want to download the complete 22 page report; we'll discuss it next week.
Posted by Nakia at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)
Steve Jobs and Education
I am an Apple fan. I'd use Macs exclusively, if possible. But I am not so sure Steve Jobs is who we should listen to when it comes to education reform.
Steve addressed a recent school reform conference (I am trying to find out what conference, exactly) and said the biggest issue with education reform was the inability of principals to fire teachers. He says similar things, claiming teacher's unions are at the root of our educational problems and supporting school vouchers, in a Wired article from 1996.
He says some good things -- like technology alone cannot reform education (duh), but I think his comments are a little off base. His central claim is that there is too much bureaucracy in schools and that stifles innovation and drives smart creative people away from education. In that, he sounds a lot like Robert Holland in How to Build a Better Teacher. Like Holland, he claims teacher unions are at the root of the bureaucratic mess that results in poor schools. But are teachers unions really the root of bureauracracy? What about NCLB? What about state curriculum standards and pacing guides? What about a litigous society that necessitates layer after layer of legal and personal protection for school employees?
What about the difficulty in defining what constitutes a "poor teacher", which comes from difficulty in defining benchmarks for learning, which has led to our current reliance on standardized testing? There are many complex issues here and teachers unions are only a small part of the equation, as this commentary in Wired points out.
Edit: The conference was sponsored by the Texas Public Education Reform Foundation. Not really sure what sort of organization they are and what they have done before. Seem to be busniess oriented, so that would make sense why they have Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Ross Perot, and others on the panel.
Posted by Nakia at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007
Furniture fun
Much progress was made on the preparing for BGP front this weekend. Saturday, my colleagues at work threw us a shower. We had a great time, with my brother and dad and their wives coming in from far away. My brother brought my Uncle Joe, which was a nice surprise. We received some essential gear as gifts, including the car seat (we can now actually take BGP home from the hospital), from my very generous coworkers. Joe's gift was a wonderful blanket that he crocheted himself. We and BGP are lucky to have such great friends and family.
We also picked up a new bookcase. That goes in the spare bedroom so we can get all the books out of the study/nursery. Saturday night we found a nice dresser at Ashely furiniture, so now the only piece of furniture we need is a glider/rocker. Things are slowly coming together.
Posted by Nakia at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2007
History Powerpoint and Next Weeks Schedule
Here is the Powerpoint that we'll use to guide our discussion of US educational history:
Next week should look something like this:
2/19 & 2/20: History discussion (pages 284-303)
2/21 & 2/22: Philosophy of education. (Please read pages 324-357)
If anyone has any questions, just send me an email. Have a great weekend!
Posted by Nakia at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2007
Blogging the Bible
I ran across this project to day in Slate. A fairly devout Jew who, although religious, has never sat down and read the Bible all the way through decides he's going to read the whole thing and blog about it.
I think it's a neat project.
Posted by Nakia at 12:55 PM | Comments (10)
February 12, 2007
Great idea in video collaboration (featuring The Shins!)
This article in Wired details how Ths Shins short their newest video -- by allowing fans at their Austin City Limits festival gig to upload footage, then cutting it all together to make the video.
The Shins + Web 2.0 collaboration = cool!
Posted by Nakia at 05:11 PM | Comments (2)
It didn't come with a Scarface poster, but it's still pretty cool
Friday Sarah and I borrowed our friend Jason's Expedition and ventured into Charlotte rush hour to pick up our crib from USABaby. I have decided I don't really like that store; who needs to be snobby about baby stuff? We were able to get a crib and a mattress for a great deal, so I won't complain too much. It's a beautiful cherry color, with simple lines and the sturdiness I wanted. I'l post pics when I get it put together (which won't happen until we get the rest of our crap out of the study).
Friday we also stopped by Kohls and Barnes and Noble in Charlotte. I didn't get any books, but did find a cashmere sweater at Kohls for $25 (it was 80% off). I bought Sarah her Valentine's Day present -- a bathrobe. Not super romantic, I know, but she wanted one (and will need one for the baby) and they were on sale.
Saturday I ran some errands, then Sarah and I went to the Homecoming basketball game. Winthrop remains undefeated in the Big South and keeps angling for a NCAA tournament bid (with a seed higher than 15, hopefully).
Saturday night was spent a home. We had a busy week and needed some veg time, so we watched The Matador. Very good -- Pierce Brosnan, especially.
Sunday was church, then groceries. We picked up a london broil and grilled that for dinner. Watched some of the Grammys then went to bed.
Posted by Nakia at 12:13 PM | Comments (2)
EDUC 110 weekly schedule
I hope everyone had a good weekend and is prepared for the exam. Here's a reminder of our scheudle this week:
Monday and Tuesday: Exam 1
Wednesday and Thursday: History of Education. Read pages 284-303.
Coming soon: Information about the Framework paper. Think about how comfortable you are using the library's databases to find journal articles for research.
Have a great week, everyone!
Posted by Nakia at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2007
January Reading: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Dave Eggers was on my radar for quite some time. I remember when the book came out; I had it in my hands as honeymoon reading but chose Chabon's Kavalier and Clay instead. I picked up occasional copies of The Believer. I would visit McSweeny's webiste and was thrilled by the Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales. Yet I stayed away from the book that, in some ways, kicked off this new genre (is it a genre? a movement? just a bunch of authors who were in their 20's and wrote stuff that seemed all in the same ballpark?). I stayed away for one reason -- everything I had heard about Eggers indicated he was a huge prick.
I hate pretentiousness. I thought Eggers was pretentious. Look at the damn title of the work. Look at all the little attempts to be "clever" -- the drawing of the stapler, the list of symbols used in the book. I didn't need this book. I needed story and seriousness, or at least an honest lack of seriousness, not someone who thinks they are smarter than everyone else.
Dave Eggers may be a prick. He may even be pretentious. But AHWOSG is really, really good.
What makes the book for me is Eggers' obvious concern about, well, being pretentious. Memoirs may be the ultimate expression of cannabalistic narcissim. You eat your life -- your friends, your family, your own experiences -- in order to tell the story of yourself. Everyone you have ever met becomes a character in YOUR story, even though all those people have stories of their own. One thing I liked about AHWOSG is Eggers awareness of this very fact and the way he presents that awareness. Characters in the book -- who are "real people" -- suddenly break character to give voice to Eggers' doubts about his project. At first it's subtle, but once you realize it's no longer Toph talking but Eggers using Toph to voice his own reflexive doubt, it becomes an integral part of the work. Not only does the technique make the reader aware that Eggers has these doubts about his own project, but it makes us aware that Toph, Beth, and everyone else in the book are characters who are made up and controlled by an author, even though they are also actual human beings with stories of their own.
Oh, and all the stuff about throwing the frisbee was really nice, too.
I liked Eggers awareness of the innate ridiculousness of what he's trying to do, but doing it anyway. That's a type of courage that's inspiring to a writer.
January Books Bought: A Heatbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, 100 Bullets Volume 2: Split Second Chance, Batman: The Long Halloween, Sandman Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
January Books Read: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Posted by Nakia at 11:35 AM | Comments (3)
February 07, 2007
Exam Powerpoint
Here is a Powerpoint that gives the exam format and some questions to think about as you prepare.
Posted by Nakia at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2007
Mann Questions (as powerpoint)
Here are the questions we'll use to frame our discussion of the Horace Mann piece.
Posted by Nakia at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)
Taba Powerpoint
Here is the Powerpoint for the Taba article. One of the most important things about Taba is how she frames the conservative vs the reconstructive purposes of education.
Posted by Nakia at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)
Monday on Tuesday
Didn't do a real Monday update, instad opting for a post/rant about our childbirth class. But we also did some other things this past weekend including:
Attended a very fun SuperBowl party on Sunday at our friend Jeannie and Jason's place. Good food (I made my own wings) and good folks. Plus the Colts won.
Sunday was also my birthday, so after church Sarah took me to IHOP then made me a cake. She also gave me a hot pot so I can make tea in my office. I have a great wife.
We also hung new blinds in what will be the nursery. That took a lot longer than necessary because, well, I am not very smart. Let's just leave it at that. (I know. You're saying "This guy can't hang blinds, yet he's having a kid?!" Well, kids don't have hidden secret adjustor slides that aren't on the instructions, okay!)
Friday night Sarah and I met the Brysons at the Lucky Buffet -- a new Asian buffet here in town. The buffet is about 7 miles long and features, well, everything (including pasta and other non-Asian items). It reminded me a little of the buffets in casinoes. We enjoyed the food and the company, but paid for the food for several hours afterward. And I didn't even think we ate that much.
Posted by Nakia at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2007
Sarah at 3 months
A few folks have asked for photos of Sarah and the baby, so what follows are a series that show her over the past few months. I'll have ultrasound pics up soon.
Posted by Nakia at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)
Mann Article
I know some folks are having CD-ROM issues (with the disc that comes with the textbook). I will stress that you need to get the CD or find some way to get the articles, as they are a vital element of your reading and our class discussion. I am posting the Mann article; it's free use so there are no copyright issues. There may be issues with posting the other articles, so I don't know if I'll be able to continue to do this. Thus, it's important that you have access to the CD-ROM Reader
Mann -- The Education of Free Men
Posted by Nakia at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2007
All I need to be a good dad is a powerpoint presentation and a video.
(Warning. Lots of birthing talk to follow which may be disturbing to some younger viewers).
Seriously. Or at least I felt that way after our childbirth class today. Sorta. Okay, I am kidding. Except the class would have been a lot more useful if it would have had a powerpoint and they had shown the video first.
Sarah and I were at The Women's Center at 8:30, where are childbirth class was supposed to last until 1:30. It was taught by a very nice labor and delivery nurse who had apparently been doing this for over 30 years and was from Canada. At least that's the reason she gave for pronouncing "centimeter" something like "sontomater". We wrote our $40.00 check out to her, which I also thought was odd. Was she really even a nurse at the hospital? For all I know, she could have given the security guard at the desk $50 to use the conference room. Of course, we got certificates at the end, so that means everything is totally official.
Here's the deal. I will confess my ignorance and accompanying nervousness at being a parent. I feel good about it. I want it and am ready for my daughter to enter the world (aside from the fact that, if she came tomorrow she wouldn't have a place to sleep yet. Or we don't even have a seat to get her home from the hospital). But I know there are a lot of choices to be made about the labor and delivery process, not to mention afterward. What I need to help me make those choices are a fairly straightforward presentation of the medical facts involved and how the process usually works. What we got instead was some odd mantras -- "If it smells like pee, it's pee." -- a bunch of anecdotes, some useful information, and a hospital commercial.
There was useful information given. I learned stuff. Sarah and I practiced breathing (or she practiced breathing and I practiced counting and tapping her arm). We are going to work on a birth plan. But give me some visual aids! Don't just thow what seem to be important terms and points of decison making (the drugs available instead of an epidural, when we have to decide these things, when we need to call the doctor) between voicing subtle disdain for obstetricians, telling us why your hospital is better than the one in Pineville, and mentioning that you sneak your laboring mothers graham crackers.
Maybe I am hyper-critical because I am an educator, but just a bit more organzation in this presentation would have helped me out immensely. I have friends and family who can give me lots of stories about how their labor and delivery went. What I need from the hospital is . . . wait for it . . . medical facts.
I am also beginning to realize how poiltical this whole process is. It's like you are choosing sides in the childbirth war or something -- breast feeding, car seats, pain managment -- everyone's got a side.
At the end of everything, we watched a video which detailed the labor and delivery process, complete with footage of births. Sarah cringed a little (understandably so -- "That's gotta fit through where?!"), but to me, that was the highlight. Not only did it lay things out in a straightforward manner, but by showing the actual footage of women giving birth it helped me deal with part of my nervousness. It sounds dumb, I know, but I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the sheer physicality of the process. Would I be freaked out, even though it was my child and my wife? Yet I found the birth footage interesting and, in many cases, moving. It's just such an amazing thing. I can't wait for it to happen to us.
Actually, yes, I can wait nine more weeks. That's plenty of time, thank you. At least let me get a car seat and a crib.
Posted by Nakia at 07:37 PM | Comments (4)
February 02, 2007
Show Day Schedule Changes
Because of yesterday's snow day, we will need to change a few things around for the Tuesday/Thursday class. Actually, the only thing that needs changing right now is the exam. I'm going to move it from the 8th to the 13th of February. NOTE THAT THE MONDAY/WEDNESDAY CLASSES WILL STILL HAVE THEIR EXAM ON THE 12TH. So next week will look something like this:
Monday & Tuesday: Finish Eisner; talk about Taba a bit; Mann intro
Wednesday & Thursday: Mann (with hopefully a bit of time for exam review)
Monday the 12th: Exam
Tuesday the 13th: Exam
Hope everyone has a good weekend. Go Colts.
Posted by Nakia at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)
Anlaysis is the heart of the precis
I’ve caught up with all the précis papers and wanted to make a few observations that may help you as you continue to write them. I know that philosophical writing and analysis is a new skill for some of you. It may be frustrating and take some time to acquire. I’m willing to help you with that process. Don’t give up. I know it’s tempting to say “I just don’t get it. I am just not good at this stuff.” For many people, writing seems like an innate talent – you are good or you are not. That’s not the case. It gets better with work and practice, just like the skills you develop in other courses. Besides, you won’t take that defeatist, innate talent attitude from your future students, will you?
What’s missing from many of the papers is analysis. Most people get the gist of the readings pretty well and are doing a good job of stating the main points in a limited space. (Although really consider the economy of your language, especially given the short length of these papers). Then, most papers move into some sort of reflective mode, using statements like “I think” “I believe” and “I had never really thought about this point before, but it seems right to me.” I am glad these articles are thought provoking (I would be embarrassed about my reading choices if not), but there is a missing piece here.
That missing piece is analysis, where you deeply consider the author’s ideas, using a close reading of the text to bring penetrating questions to bare on those ideas. These questions can be ones of clarification (“Dewey seems ambiguous with the term “community”) *, of contradiction (“Dewey claims that schools ought to purify social life on one had, yet expose students to a variety of social stimuli on the other.”), or of extension (“Dewey suggests that schools bring different social groups in contact with one another. It doesn’t seem as if neighborhood schools can do this.”) There are other questions that you can bring as well.
(*Just make sure your clairfication questions aren't do to a quick or sloppy reading).
Notice two features of the examples: 1) They are not really questions; they are statements of criticism that arise from questions. In these précis papers, it would be fine to use the questions as a basis for analysis. You could say “Does Dewey mean we need to do away with the neighborhood school?” It more formal, argumentative papers, however, you should couch your criticism as statements, not as questions.
2) They throw you back into the text. If Dewey seems ambiguous with a vital term, then maybe he explains it better elsewhere (if it’s vital, he should at least try). If he’s contradictory, can any of that contradiction be resolved? Is there anything in the text that helps your extension play out? We use the text to try and answer any questions we have before turning to other texts (and, in the broad sense of the term, our experiences are texts as well). Those experiences are important; they shape how we read texts and the questions we ask of those texts, but we need to give the text a chance to answer those questions before we end the conversation.
There’s an exchange in Pulp Fiction between Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Mrs. Wallace (Uma Thurman). Mrs. Wallace says something to the effect of “Most people don’t really listen in a conversation, they just wait for their turn to talk.” Reading a text means you should be in conversation with it. Careful analysis shows that you are listening.
Or, if you prefer, here’s an equation:
Careful reading + analysis + reaction = Criticism
Posted by Nakia at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)