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  • A 21st C. Approach to Teaching the Legislative Process - and Activism
    Robert commented on the article | over 2 years ago
    A 21st C. Approach to Teaching the Legislative Process - and Activism

    Yes, I know you're joshing.  But I'm not joshing when I say that I don't fetishize (or assign any particular powers to) textbooks.  They're merely delivery mechanisms.  It's the stuff in them that's valuable.  Indeed, your terrific plan assumes a great deal of background knowledge about the structure and function of government that every elementary school kid should get. 

    But not necessarily in a textbook.  Indeed, want to have some fun?  Let's get a grant to create the Wikipedia of textbooks. 

  • What "The Wire" Teaches Us About Education
    Robert commented on the article | almost 3 years ago
    What "The Wire" Teaches Us About Education

    See, I knew there was a reason I like you, Clay.  I'm also a recent convert to The Wire, having just recently wrapped up Season 4. The only adjective I can apply is Dickensian.  It's extraordinarily layered and textured, with nary a false note.  If Dickens were alive today, I suspect he'd be writing this show or one very like it. 

    David Simon gets it indeed. 

  • Google Earth Adds 3-D Tour of Ancient Rome
    Robert commented on the article | almost 3 years ago
    Google Earth Adds 3-D Tour of Ancient Rome

    I think this is #$%@! amazing.  That's what I think.  I know you think I'm axiomatically anti-21st Century Skills, but I'm not.  (If I fall -- or get pushed -- under a bus today, my one claim to fame would be that I wrote what may have been the first book about the Internet for kids back in the early 1990s).  My objection is that the promoters of 21CS tend to see "content" as the handmaiden of technology, instead of the other way around.  My rule of thumb is that the technology has to deepen student understanding; there's too much gee-whizardry at loose that merely sees academic content as fungible.  In other words, the real object of the project is a blog, a powerpoint, etc. and the history or literature merely provides "stuff." 

    This is different.  It really *does* deepen understanding. It's a true and meaningful value-add that enables students to visualize Ancient Rome in a way that even walking the ruins might not.  It's easy to conjure in the minds eyes a vision of Rome in black and white.  This immediately and vividly lets you see the city as a lively and vibrant place.   Really impressive. 

    I'm looking forward to sharing this with CK teachers.  Thanks for pointing it out. 

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