Beyond School

As the title says, short and sweet: What are your favorite blogs for 21st century teaching, by subject matter? 

As a classroom teacher myself with a 3/4 teaching load plus unofficial tech coordinator duties for k-12 at my school, I don’t have much time this year to stay abreast of all the great teacher bloggers out there. I think this thread can be useful for others like me, for teachers looking for others in their subject area, and for professional development types looking for models to share in their workshops.

So real simple, again: At a minimum, list the blog name, blog address, teacher name, and content area, and age group they teach (primary, middle, secondary is fine).

I have a project in mind that will use your recommendations to, I hope, move things forward.

And if you’re a teacher yourself, don’t be shy: list yourself

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I haven’t done an open thread in a while - still chewing on that last one on “designing your dream 1:1 school elective”. But here’s a question that’s been nagging me for a while, and that I’ve wanted to put to as many people out there that will weigh in. Because I can’t tell if my case is normal, or the exception.

It has to do with this: of my four years of high school education back in the late ’70s, here is the “knowledge” I remember:

Psychology Class:

“Functional Fixedness” is what I’d now call “inside-the-box thinking.” People with functional fixedness don’t realize, for example, that with a candle, a match, and a fishing hook, you actaully have a “wall-mounting kit.” (Melt the wax on the wall and embed the hook in it. Let it dry and solidify. Voila: hang a picture on the hook.) I never watched the old TV show MacGyver, but whenever I heard about the cool things he could jimmy with the random objects at hand, I always thought: “MacGyver gets functional fixedness.”

Story: A guy knocked on my door once asking for a coathanger. He’d locked his keys in his car. I went out with him to help. The lock peg was one of those chrome deals with no lip or head - nothing for the coat-hanger to grab on to. And the chrome was too smooth to offer traction to the hanger. I pulled the chewing gum out my mouth, fixed it on the hook of the hanger, and sure enough, it grabbed that chrome peg and pulled it up, unlocking the car door, in a second flat. Thank you, MacGyver. And thank you, high school psychology class.

Oh. I remember genotype and phenotype, too. And phrenology. And something about Freud. And Maslow’s Hierarchy.

English Class:

I remember writing an essay on the Iliad based on my reading of the Classics Illustrated Comics version. And getting an A. I remember “Et tu, Brutus?“ I remember writing some lurid report on the serial killer, Son of Sam. (It was fun trying to get the horror of being his victim in the opening paragraphs. That I remember that is noteworthy. This was 1977.)

Social Studies:

I remember absolutely nothing from high school social studies. I didn’t fall in love with history until far into college.

Math:

I remember finding geometry fun and easy. I remember failing Algebra because I skipped too much school.

Science:

I remember nothing from high school science. And I’m trying to right now. Something about cells, mitochondria, metastasis, cancer. Something about kingdoms and phyla and other taxonomic categories.

Art:

I remember making a block print. I remember having a painful crush on cheerleader Cheryl Newman, who always sat with me, but whom I was too shy to pursue. But I digress.

Physical Education and Health:

I remember absolutely nothing. Oh wait: four food groups. And I am what I eat.

I’m really trying here.

Other Disciplines:

If I took any other classes, I’m darned if I remember them at all.

Valuable Life-Skills I Learned in High School:

Don’t hate me. I can’t think of one. Other than “Fight bullies early, or suffer them for years.” And “Friendship is pretty important. It gets you through the high school years.”

So my question for this open thread: What value did high school have for you? What knowledge do you a) remember at all from all those hours of studying and testing? and b) find useful today? Expand if you like.

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