Tag Archives: educational philosophy

What’s Your Story?

KSI14, , ,

As the first full day of the Klingenstein Summer Institute came to a close last night, I was really struggling with what to write. We did so much. We examined our personal philosophies of education aiming to ensure that what we were ultimately focused on is the learned curriculum more than the taught curriculum and how we can assess that our philosophy is being enacted. In my curriculum breakout group we started a list of many of the things we hear from students that act as roadblocks to English instruction with the hopes that we can unpack these for what is really the problem when a student says “I think we’re reading too much into this”. Continue reading What’s Your Story? →

A Case for Liking Student Work

Thinking Out Loud, , ,

As someone relatively new to blog writing, I struggle to feel that my writing is good enough – important enough. I continue seeking positive feedback, looking at my site’s stats and reading online articles to stay motivated.(Click here for a great example). While I wholly believe in my own professional growth that comes about as a result of reflectively blogging, it is amazing how invigorating it is to receive a comment or a like or a share on something I’ve written. I like what I write, but it’s so nice to feel like at least one other person out there likes it too. Especially when I know and respect that reader. It makes me want to be a better writer – a better educational thinker. And this is an important lesson to keep in mind for teachers out there.

Continue reading A Case for Liking Student Work →

The Classroom as a ‘Moral World’

Thinking Out Loud, , ,

In recently considering how to further value, in my classroom, what David Brooks refers to as eulogy virtues – those virtues developed by our internal moral logic – I returned to Dr. Robert Boorstrom’s article “What Makes Teaching A Moral Activity” (1998). Boorstrom recognizes that teachers will unanimously agree that education is a moral activity, but for different reasons. Some will point to professional ethics, others to character education. Some will point to moral dilemmas that teachers face in their day-to-day teaching, while others see the moral aspect in the question of what aim does education fulfill. Some teachers feel that education is needed to help build a strong sense of morality in order to guide students toward becoming contributing members of society.

Continue reading The Classroom as a ‘Moral World’ →