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Education for Well-Being gets my vote as one of the most important educational sites on the web, period. Bill Farren makes the videos he posts there, writes lucid and relevant discussions of them, and links to supplementary resources for possible classroom use. His written posts are as well-crafted as his videos, drawing on a wide body of literature about environmental and social well-being. I’m a hack in comparison. Unsubscribe to me, if that’s what it takes to get you to subscribe to him. I really think he’s that vital to education and the future.
Bill describes his latest video, “Peak Air: Charge It,” as an “attempt to visually define “unsustainable’.” As visual definitions go (and Bill, you should have added “audio” as well, because your soundtracks always impress), it’s first-rate. See for yourself:
Go to the post itself for the written discussion and supplemental links. It’s a full (informal) lesson plan with a great visual aid, just waiting for you to push “play” to start the learning.
Related: Beyond School Posts about (and by) Bill Farren / Ed4WB
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5 Comments
Clay–Thanks for posting this here. I’ve been following Bill Farren’s feed and saw this video when it went up. There’s room in my RSS for both of you, and there should be in others too. Although I don’t have the following you do, I’ve posted some of his other videos on my blog and in both the Nings in which I actively participate.
I want to draw together what you wrote about teaching writing(Roses), your Grammar on the Titanic post, and the responses Bill got from his students.
We (societal we) have got to stop wasting students’ time. They know it, we know it (I hope) and I what I fear most is what we’re doing to the students who buy into our rinky dink units.
Yes, it’s my job with the young ones to force them to do stuff they may not want to do. SOMETIMES. But I must always respect their individual affinities and get their minds working on the very real problems we all face. A sixth graders’ thoughts on fossil fuel dependence are not irrelevant. They shouldn’t think so and neither should their teachers.
Thanks again.
Sarahs last blog post..Can we play Webkins and call it professional development?
Thanks, Sarah. Literally: right on.
this is hot. we’re pushing video through digital storytelling w/ kids–it’s so important that our teachers be able to model it well. check out an outstanding example here: http://thedeputyhead.com/?p=68
Vincent Baxters last blog post..folklife festival
The great experiment in Project-Based Learning in little Galena, Alaska was the closest I’ve personally came to meaningful education in a school system (of course, they closed us down in a couple of years, because we were actually doing something useful). Students made all their own choices; they studied what they wanted to study and then produced a presentation and paper about the topic. Each presentation was open to the public, and due to the lack of entertain outlets in Galena, we often had several local people watching. I’d love to take the action research process and teach a course with students who desire to study something and solve problems of their choice. Once the see the process of choosing a subject/topic/problem, gathering information, planning a solution, and putting the solution into action, they only need teachers to guide them. And this is the big fear — it is an economic problem. No one wants to lose their job, so few people want to do the real job that needs to be done.
Clay: Just wanted to thank you for continually supporting ed4wb and for your very generous praise. Coming from someone that is continually reflecting about education and what it can be, it means a lot.
Sarah: You said it very well: there should certainly be room in everyone’s RSS reader for Beyond-School. That’s an easy decision. And yes, I have to agree with you again Sarah, kids know when we are wasting their time. Those who are least willing to have their time wasted “fail” or drop out.
Bill Farrens last blog post..Peak Air - Charge It!