Beyond School

I’m back from the Apple Distinguished Educator Asia Institute, but that can wait. This is more exciting.

I don’t know Sean, the writer behind Slam Teaching, one whit. I hope that changes soon. His blog has only two posts on it, but it’s refreshingly absent the tools-obsession and buzzwords (though he does teach online, apparently – so it’s not like he couldn’t echo about these if he chose).

Instead, Sean writes about teaching and education from the bone, as something closer to what we might call a “spiritual” practice. But instead of paraphrasing, his “What is Slam Teaching?” sidebar text says it better than I could, so here it is:

• What is Slam Teaching?

  The idea behind Slam Teaching is not unlike the idea behind slam poetry. Teaching, this blog posits, is an extemporaneous, aggressive, lyric, funny thing to do. It’s a way of expressing oneself; it is art, and it is unpredictable. This blog will work (slowly, progressively) toward a better understanding of teaching as this dynamic force – an animated performance rather than a set of skills that react with criteria for learning.

If any of you rubric junkies are cringing out there, I hope that’s a good thing. (Rubrics make me cringe quite frequently, though they often seem a necessary evil.)

Check him out. Pump him up. We need more blogs like his.

1. Must. Read: 21-year-old on Slow Blogging
2. Legacy 2: Reading Despite Teaching (or, How the Hulk Led Me to Hamlet)
3. Please Visit My Second Blog at Change.Org. It’s Up!

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