Check out my new reviews!

I joined Good Reads a couple days ago. I seems that you can review books and copy the review to your blog. This is such a great feature! Just copy/paste the html code into your blog editor and Voilà! Your review is posted, complete with a jpg of the cover! This is lots of fun and I will be using it regularly to post about books I have read. Enjoy!

No, he's outside, looking in...

Since my husband has moved to Houston, I have been having a recurring experience. He seems to have been affected by it, too, because, as he says, he feels like he is watching himself within his life from above-- like there's a disconnect between his personal consciousness and reality. It is happening to me as well.

I feel as though I am a visitor in the human zoo lately. I see strangers and find myself analyzing their behavior much as an anthropologist would. It's a weird feeling, and I can only attribute it to our situation-- married but not living together. I don't know what else it would be. I feel so disconnected from reality at times. It's uncomfortable and disconcerting to be sure. I wonder in a casual, detached way why, for instance, that particular person bought those particular shoes? Or, what caused them to come here, now? Or who they are buying things for? It's just weird, and I don't like it. I'll check in with more of this strange situation soon.

Up the..?

Education is a process, not a product. The word "educate" is a verb, an action word, not a state of being, not a noun. I hate to tell people that I am an educator. Why? Because of all the poor choices and squabbling that goes on over our heads, as though we are the youngest child of a poor marriage. Instead of honoring the time I have spent with young people, the wisdom I have to share, and the important information that would help drive the success of the school's goals, no one has asked me lately (and I have lots of insights!) about what is best for kids. I have taught in alternative and regular education, and have been in the classroom as well as the library. There is a lot I could contribute, but my insights are not valued.

I have been disenchanted with k-12 education for a while now. I keep thinking that I will find a "better way" somewhere, and so far, in every place I have worked, the school has been a cult of personality. It seems to me, however, that the focus on "what the principal wants" is outdated. These thoughts were prompted by Eisner's essay, "What does it mean to say a school is doing well." There are ideas here that I am total agreement with. Eisner has said that there are essentially two curricula in schools. The first is the explicit curriculum, those "state-mandated" standards of which we hear so much. Eisner is also aware of a second, less structured curriculum that he calls the "implicit curriculum." It's easy to call this the school climate, but it is more than that. It's what gets taught in spite of the standards and tests. It's the way the school is kept,whether there are enough seats on the bus, and even whether there are enough buses! It's deciding to run those buses on gasoline, rather than diesel, because it's healthier for more of the population. It's the ability of teachers to communicate with students outside of class (whether on Twitter or Facebook, or at the local coffeeshop or skatepark, or some other social network) to discuss with them ideas that interest them and current events about which they have questions. It's the fact that the place gets cleaned on a regular basis. It's the support that teachers get when they need it. These form the implicit curriculum. This is the area in which most schools fail. Why? They forget that everything we do in schools matters. Students are constantly taking their cues from their surroundings. In cognitive load theory, in which all the inputs of learning are taken into account, there's even a name for it: extrinsic load. This is the part of the teaching and learning system where students' attention is blocked by something other than instruction and learning. It's the stinky smell in the hallway. It's the menacing presence of an administrator. It takes away from the task of learning and teaching, and it happens way too much in k12 education.

Creating a life

Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd is an amazing read. This book, set in 1981 Ireland, tells the story of Fergus McCann and his family at the point at which he is studying for his A-levels to see whether he will be allowed to go to study in England. His uncle and he are packing up peat for black-market sale when suddenly the bog reveals a body. Scared and startled, Fergus tells his uncle to get help so that the body can be salvaged. Is it a murder? Is it a payback for political gain? More is revealed about the time and circumstances of this individual's death, and the story incorporates many details of the so-called Troubles in the political atmosphere of 1980's Ireland. Fergus is a young man torn between worlds and ideologies, and at the same time a kid, fresh and full of enthusiasm for life.

The story pointed up the fact that we are the product of our choices. We create the situations and circumstances in which we find the space (or not) to be able to deal with life as it happens to find us. This book is appropriate for ages 15 up. I recommend Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd.

Petty's advice

Never thought I would find myself living in my college buddy's basement. Seriously. This is embarrassing. I moved here in July 28 and promptly hit the airport to go to Houston. Then a close friend and I ended up in the upper peninsula for a few days. Finally I stopped running and landed in Milford. What a ride!

As basements go, it's not a bad place. There's a walkout with its own patio and chimenea. I get reception on my phone down there. There's wireless Internet so I can do my normal thing I do. Since I can't live at home, this is a good second.

Living apart-- the loneliness of the long-distance runner. It's been since March that my husband has been living and working in Houston without me. I'm here in Michigan, waiting to find out if I have been accepted to the Phd program at Wayne State University. I am excited about this program that I have been involved with since 2007, but all the same it's hard to be here when he's there... I am hoping my experience will help me be a better listener and friend to folks who have to endure this situation. I never planned for this development. Life is a trip. What I am finding, though, is that one's decision about the situation has lots more to do with the acceptance of it than the actual situation itself. In other words, my perception of the situation, good or bad, is directly related to how hard (or easy) it is to deal with.

My ability to say, "okay, I am really missing my man right now, and I could cry because I want him here or to be there, but if I give in to those thoughts and actions, I will miss the fact that I am in a great place with people who love me, and we are actually having a good time right now!" I am learning to put it away. I tell myself I can be sad later, because right now is not convenient. I've rolled away from being an escapee, a refugee, a flight case, to living in the moment and relishing it all. I obviously haven't got it down cold-- after all, I am no Bodhisattva. But I don't have to live (or feel) like a refugee. Excellent advice.

Home

Home. What a fraught word! Where's home for you? I didn't think that I would feel so ambivalent about selling my home and moving away. First, there's the issue of the geography. I live in an amazing part of the world, where about 5% of the world's 3% of drinkable water flows past on a daily basis. It's the largest fresh water delta in the world. Somehow no one has discovered it. So, not only is it beautiful here, it's not crowded, either! We are also close to Canada, so it's not far to get out of the country, for better or worse.

Next, there's the sheer amount of time that we have lived here! We raised our three wonderful kids here. It was an awesome experience. We've been here 20 years. Hard to believe. What else is amazing about that is that many of our neighbors are here as well, so the people who have been here with us have been here for a really long, stable time in our lives. Even though we changed jobs, lost jobs, lost children and parents, these folks have been part of the pageant and part of our lives for a long enough period of time for them to be important parts of our lives.

Third is the fact that I thought I would be doing this with my husband-- moving, choosing a new house, figuring out logistics, calculating times to work, and related challenges, as well as deciding which furniture moves and which stays. This is not part of this move. My husband is already out of the picture. He is in Houston, grieving.

It was an incredible process for us. It's not over yet. I have chosen to stay here in Michigan while my husband runs point for us. I tell everyone that I am living in my college buddy's basement-- because I am. He's been amazing and supportive, but still, it's weird to be making these types of choices at this point in my life.

Schools

It has come to my attention that I may lose my job next year. I currently teach high schoolers and their teachers how to do research that gets results. I think that's a pretty good, relevant, and important job to do, to get our young people and their mentors ready to better understand the world around them and to be able to share information ethically and efficiently.

Why do you think it is that schools everywhere are jettisoning these people on their staffs who help everyone figure things out? Well, here's a thought: school districts aren't forced to do the right thing. Simple as that. Instead of focusing on what's right for kids, what's good for kids, and what works for kids, they do what makes them comfortable. It made me realize the power of people banding together to say, "no. What you are doing is not right, and we won't participate until you DO do it right." We all know that there is so much information people have to wade through that they need guides to do it efficiently. We know this. Yet, for only financial reasons, school districts have decided that they "can't afford" the luxury of having their students understand how to search, use, and share information. This business model might work in industry. The last time I checked, kids weren't widgets. For whatever the reasons they tell themselves, school districts can get away with cutting their media specialists because "the state doesn't require it." Maybe the state didn't require it because they never thought this would be in question! It's like saying that we don't need laws on the books, because people will always do the right thing. Right. We see every day how well that works. What is interesting in all of this is that, in a right-to-work state like Texas, schools are hiring librarians. It makes me wonder if this position, which should be the most apolitical of all, is being used to "bust" the unions. Schools need librarians. Simple.Media specialist positions are vital to the health of the schools. Michigan and other states need to step up and force schools to do the right thing and support their students' learning.

ID and canned veggies

There's a can of peas in my cupboard, with the requisite photo of a luscious pea plant on the front of the can. Near the photo is a caveat: "product shown before processing." Umm, yeah. Unless you are a kid who has never seen a pea plant and expects to see those tendrils of pea plant, as well as the pod, in that can! Or a person who has never eaten peas. Or a new cook who is following a recipe and has no idea what to expect. Or a newcomer to the US and have never seen peas before... You get the idea.
Instructional design takes these types of interesting situations into account. As instructional designers, we look at not only the gap in performance, but the knowledge gap as well. The idea is that we can help people do better, understand more, and help subject matter experts "break it down" so that novices can follow them and benefit from the SME's expertise.
Motivation to learn, cognitive load, the creation of schemata, and linking of new information to what the person already knows are all (or should be!) part of instructional design. I keep thinking of what Abraham Maslow has said: "when you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail" or something to that effect. I feel strongly though, that instructional design and the habits that one acquires when thinking about learning problems and instructional challenges from an instructional design perspective make communication of all types more effective. Even the message on a can of peas.