Most recent public comments by Dr. Stephanie Loomis https://nowcomment.com/users/14712 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348402 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348402 It's really not until 16 or so that people can really think abstractly enough to self-identify (and that's on the young side). I do think 30 is an arbitrary number, because most thinking people continue to develop their whole lives. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348164 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348164 Madeleine L'Engle asks, "Can one be a Christian artist and not know it?" Her own answer immediately follows: When I am working, I move into an area of faith which is beyond the conscious control of my intellect....The challenge is to let my intellect work for the creative act, not against it." (L'Engle, *Walking on Water*, 1972) The same is true of connected learning, relevant education, and/or practical knowledge. What we know or produce is affected by who we are and what we believe, if we will only get out of the way. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348149 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348149 The arts are critical for a well rounded education, but they require much more flexibility. In the arts, 2+2 may not equal 4. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348148 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348148 As an artist, algebra never really made sense in its purely textbook form. I think I may use it when I'm calculation how much paint I need for a certain project. But as a student, I didn't have that practical understanding. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348147 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348147 Connected learning makes the trees of the forest both individuals and part of a system. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348146 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348146 Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348145 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348145 Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348144 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348144 Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348143 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348143 Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348142 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348142 Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348141 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348141 I've been railing against standardized tests for several years; this is the primary failing. I hadn't heard the term "inert ideas" before, but it is a perfect summation of what happens when the only measure of learning is assessed by multiple choice. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348140 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35845?scroll_to=348140 I'd say more, but I was taught to be polite. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347755 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347755 I diagrammed sentences in 7th grade and I liked it because it was a puzzle and because Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote one out in one of the Little House books. I find little practical value in it except to help students locate subject and verb for tense agreement, active verbs, and pronoun use. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347754 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347754 Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347753 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347753 And I get into hot water because I don't have stand-alone vocabulary and test preparation. Sorry (not sorry), but I prefer LIFE preparation. And my students generally do very well come standardized test days. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347752 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347752 Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347751 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347751 I concur. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347676 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347676 Reminds me of the famous (infamous?)2006 speech by Sir Ken Robinson abut how schools kill creativity. Multiple intelligences aside, a system devised on an assembly line model won't work in the 21st century. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347675 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347675 Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347674 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347674 If it's not relevant, it should be retired. There are enough universal truths in the classical canon to incorporate into a modern discussion (I mean, Romeo and Juliet? Every teen on the plant can identify with the star crossed lovers. Ode on a Grecian Urn? Not so much--except for a few.) Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347673 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347673 I think because my undergrad is in journalism the concept of integration comes naturally to me. I've never been a fan of teaching "dead white guys" without a real reason to. I tell students and parents every year that if I can't make it relevant, I won't teach it.Eventually when I am teaching teachers, I will create "mini mes" to do the same! Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347627 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347627 This is important--and fully integrates ALL subjects, STEM to STEAM. The arts afford students the opportunity to express the lessons of life while at the same time they apply practical knowledge in particular circumstances. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347626 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347626 I find it interesting that the activities and problems cited here are typical STEM related with no mention of the humanities and the arts. Does the author mean to suggest that the study of Shakespeare or Mozart or Degas has no relevance in an integrated life? Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347625 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347625 I disagree that conservative politics have been the bane of education. There are good people on both sides of the aisle and there are those at the beck and call of money from both unions and business. There have been as many issues when progressives were in power as when conservatives were. NCLB was a conservative idea; RTTT was progressive. Both are abysmal. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347624 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347624 The growth in home schooling (and cooperatives) may be a response to this kind of top down imposition. Homeschoolers very often choose integration, blending science with literature and mathematics is real world scenarios that encourage critical thinking from early elementary years. The separation of subjects in many cases is blurred to non-existence. As a result, today's home schooled students often do better in college than their traditionally educated peers. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347623 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347623 This has been my argument against standardized education all along. Yes, there must be a baseline upon with to measure how well students collect facts, but the current preoccupation with testing from pre-K through 12th grade means little time in the teacher's day for integrating knowledge with understanding and application beyond the classroom. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347622 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347622 That's funny, but too often true. Dialogue in the classroom must lead to action of some kind. Wed, 15 Apr 2020 21:17:57 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347621 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347621 The publishing and testing companies would hate that, as would the politicians, but vocation and intention SHOULD be the focus of secondary education. And for some students, that vocational training should involve apprenticeships instead of college. Tue, 18 Oct 2022 14:18:34 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347620 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347620 Math, Science, Home Ec (?) Sun, 16 Jul 2023 16:47:50 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347607 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347607 If educators don't prepare students for life beyond the classroom, we do those students a grave disservice. It is no coincidence that the prevalence of standardized testing mirrors employer complaints about a workforce of unmotivated millenials whose sense of entitlement leads to frustration by both employer and employee. While is is the responsibility of parents to instill a work ethic and other moral characteristics, educators, acting in loco parentis, are also charged with helping students develop a sense of self, social responsibility, and civic duty. Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:19:35 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347606 https://nowcomment.com/documents/35744?scroll_to=347606 It's a shame speakers at conferences have to state what every teacher already knows: pedagogy and practice don't always align. Sun, 16 Jul 2023 16:47:50 -0400