Random Musings

Flickr has become somewhat of an obsession. I chat with, share photos with, and revel in, the works of photographers from all over the world, some who know my real name, some who know me only as techmuse, and some who don’t know me at all, but I feel I’ve come to know them through the wonderful images they share. One such person was catmadogma. Her macro view of the world inspired and challenged me (as it will continue to do). She had an eye for light and shadow in the natural world. She loved to play with rain and reflections. Looking at any new photo she posted was always a highlight of my day. I even went out and purchased a 180mm lens in hopes that I would someday be able to see and share the world as she does.
Today, as I once again clicked on “contacts” to see what my flickr friends were sharing, I was overwhelmed when I saw “in Memoriam” posted on her site.

Thank you, Cat, for all that you have brought the world. I hope your family looks at your photos through the pain and knows that you truly made an impact in the world. Thank you for always bringing joy and light on even the gloomiest of days. You and your view of the world will be missed.

I had the opportunity several months ago to watch Sir Ken Robinson’s keynote at the TED conference (actually multiple times) and am currently reading, a little at a time, his book.  The points of his talk and the book  are extremely powerful—-how much of the creativity that we claim we need to maintain leadership in the upcoming century is being educated out of our children? I watch them walk down the halls in tight straight rows and wonder how much time we spend on things like that.  I look at an internet scavenger hunt a teacher created and watch the bored students get it done as fast as possible (or not at all)  because all it does it ask them to fill in the blanks……how long will it take to make truly substantive change in the day to day routines of everyday teaching?

Almost every teacher has some (and many a lot!) of dynamic, interactive lesson plans–how long will it take before that becomes the norm and not the exception?

I recently sat in an all day training on a new system for testing students (a la’ AYP-type things–think multiple choice questions).  The system is designed to allow teacher to create questions tied to Standards at the most granular level, test the students and then get results back based on mastery of very specific objectives…..sound like a good idea–right.  The concept of giving teachers a very thorough understanding of what their student know (or don’t know) to make instruction better–who can argue with that?

As I watched, however, as every question had to be tied down to 1 (one!) very specific indicator, I began to wonder how we find out whether our kids can think across topics, curriculum areas, and the world.   If the most emphasized way we look at what they do is with questions on tiny little things–why do they ever have a need, in the educational system, to look at connections?
I began to think about forests and trees–but then realized that anology doesn’t go far enough.  This system isn’t designed to test trees–but rather only to check on twigs and leaves.  If all you ever are asked to produce are twigs and leaves, how can you possible see and understand the intricate forest ecosystem?  If all you have are twigs and leaves–you have a pile to jump in–but not much else.
A lot of homage gets paid to “but this is only 1 piece” but soooo much emphasis is on this one piece that I can’t but think that teachers see it as the most important.

(sigh)