Mind over Mind-over-body

In this article, "I'm not really running, I'm not really running," published in the New York Times, Gina Kolata writes "No matter how high you jump, how fast you run or swim, how powerfully you row, you can do better. But sometimes your mind gets in the way." My rhetoric class took a look at this today in class.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/health/nutrition/06Best.html?em&ex=1197435600&en=2dad7bfa34bfa04a&ei=5070

Also, for the students who wrote about teen drinking, and unhealthy choices, here's an article that shows why it's such a confusing and complicated issue, especially for teens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/09RTEEN.html?em&ex=1197435600&en=3e50e0cff26142c7&ei=5070

Need a book to read?

Here's the New York Times' list of the ten best books of 2007:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/books/review/10-best-2007.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin

Need 90 more? Here's the NYT's list of 100 notable books. Get reading!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/notable-books-2007.html

Freedom of speech

We've chatted in class about some recent freedom of spech issues. Mostly we've considered whether it was right for the university to allow Iran's president to speak, or about Iran's president's right to speak. Here's Stanley Fish's interesting argument about the appropriateness of the University President's introductory remarks:

http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/the-administrative-imperative-always-lower-the-stakes/index.html?hp

Fish's theme of the separation of a teacher's role -- between her academic duties and her rights of free speech as an American citizen -- has been a regular feature of his NYT blog. It's a teacher's role to teach thatthere is a controversy, and the history of that controversy, but not to comment on the controversy. Critics will say that "saying nothing" is filled with meaning, is similar to tacitly agreeing with the "evil side." Fish doesn't claim that the teacher shouldn't talk about of the schol buildings, just that she shouldn't use the classroom as a political forum.

A history of the "always academize" theme on Fish's blog can be found here:

http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/academicize/

More in the world of writing...

Here are two more articles that I thought you'd find interesting. You might read these while applying your make-up or gelling your hair for Homecoming. May these articles provide ideas for future papers, or just food for thought.

1. Your favorite bands from England might not be coming to America soon... or ever. Find out why here in an article by John Jurgenen, who writes about music for the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118980966247828081.html

2. Seen more fat kids lately? It is caused by Taco Bell or Halo? (or something else?) This article (originally published) in Forbes reports about a new study by the American Journal of Preventitive Medicine. http://www.districtadministration.com/newssummary.aspx?news=yes&postid=48354

Happy dancing!

In the World of Writing...

Young scholars:

Here are links to two articles from today’s Tribune that are interesting in their own right, but also might be helpful with paper topics.

The first one is about the Deerfield parents who have been sentenced to jail for having drinking parties. I think that the response by the high school student (in the middle of the article) is good food for thought. My opinion on her thought is mixed.

The second is about some contradictions in the U.S. about “freedom of speech.” The last line is excellent, and makes you proud to be part of the U.S., even though it might be flawed.

Feel free to comment, or send links to articles that you’re finding of particular interest.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-deerfield_27sep27,0,823191.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0927parkersep27,0,1077543.column

Be careful this weekend. I want to see every one of you safe and sound on Monday morning.

Sentence of the Day Using the Word "Counterdiscourse"

From Pauline Lipman's High Stakes Education (2004):

In the context of organized mass protests again racial segregation, school overcrowding, inequitable resources, school violence, and high dropout rates in Chicago from the 1960s through the 1980s:

In the present, when the status quo has become a new regime of truth, the
history of these social movements for school reform provides an important
counterdiscourse about schooling and social justice and about democratic
participation and activism in redefining social policy.

New Writing Course

One of my English teacher colleagues told me that she's interested in creating a new "remedial" writing course for seniors at our school. She's right in saying that there's a need for a senior writing course to build on the skills developed in the junior remedial course.

But our current junior and senior writing courses do not currently have clear curricula, nor is there vertical alignment between the existing junior and senior writing courses. The debate: add the class now because there is a significant immediate need, or wait until there is clear scope and sequence in place. The potential issue with immediate creation: the new class's curriculum will be set up in the best way that the teachers involved can do it (but without a clear sense of its place in a comprehensive plan for scope and sequence) and will begin calcifying, and will have to be partially or completely redone soon, when the scope and sequence is established.

Robert Hauser, in a recent paper criticizing high stakes testing, articulates a vision of what GOOD testing would be:

It is possible to imagine an educational system in which test-based
promotion standards are combined with effective diagnosis and remediation of
learning problems, yet past experience suggests that American school systems may
not have either the will or the means to enact such fair and effective
practices. Such a system would include well-designed and carefully
aligned curricular standards, performance standards, and assessments.
Teachers would be well trained to meet high standards in their classrooms, and
students would have ample notice of what they are expected to know and be able to
do.

Hauser's point is that this doesn't happen often -- if ever -- in the U.S., so we should be leery of high stakes tests. But he articulates clearly the utopia of a skills-based standards system. I think that if you were creating a class from scratch, you’d better be able to create "such a system" (in which teachers know their goals, kids have clear models, and the assessments build sequentially to help kids develop the specific skills) if you had those things in mind to begin with.