Dear WinkWorld Readers,
Here we are again, but this one is for the teachers in my class. I love it when their dialogue turns to concepts, which are not on the planned syllabus. I love it when they go beyond. No where on the syllabus did I mention Vygotsky and his notion of the zone of proximal development (ZPD), but they do ask about it.
Dear WinkWorld Readers, remember this one is for the teachers in my class. Join us if you like.
Class, in the past 3 weeks, we have focused on the BIG IDEAS of teaching and learning. We have talked about transmission, generative, and transformative perspectives, but we have learned that there are many, many ways of teaching and learning. At this point, we are moving towards you being able to tell your own story of your pedagogical practices. This is all a part of our planned syllabus.
History Helps: 3 Perspectives on Teaching and Learning
http://www.joanwink.com/store/critical-pedagogy-3rd-edition/critical-pedagogy-3rd-edition-history-helps/
However, you keep generating bigger ideas, which are not on the syllabus.
For example, the whole notion of equality and equity keeps creeping into your dialogue. Here is an imagine, which seems to periodically move across social media. This might help you understand a bit.
In addition, we keep thinking about how the perspectives on teaching and learning ebb and flow across the decades.
Timelines of the Big Ideas from A Vision of Vygotsky
Vygotsky is not on our planned syllabus, but you keep mentioning his ideas, specifically regarding mentoring and the zone of proximal development. So, who was he, and how did I meet him? (No, of course, I didn’t really meet him, but I did run into his legacy.)
Teachers, for me, your most interesting dialogue occurred when I posted the following quote from Margaret Wheatley. Thank you for your reflective teaching and learning.
They were eager to create a model or framework into which they could slot information. I was intent on letting information do its thing. They wanted to get organized at the start; I wanted them to move into confusion. I urged them to create more information than they could possibly handle. I guaranteed them that at some point the information would self-organize in them, crystallizing into interesting forms and ideas. ~Margaret Wheatley (1992, p. 150)
Finally, the best question of the week came from Jill, who asked: What is literacy? Class, you can enjoy your colleagues’ sharing on D2L.
A
Donalyn Miller generously shares her thoughts and a great overview of the research (if you must have it). Or, just grab a book and see what happens.
Thank you, Book Whisperer!
I’ve Got Research. Yes, I Do. I’ve Got Research. How About You?
Dear WinkWorld Readers, remember this is for my class. No required reading for you. “Please, please, please do not throw me into ‘dat briar patch.'”
To the teachers in our class.
Many of you have been teaching for 1 to 10 years, and you sometimes have the idea that the past decade is all we know about teaching and learning. Therefore, we are focusing on the BIG IDEAS of teaching and learning, and how do those ideas ebb and flow through the decades? How do those ideas influence classrooms every single day? We have asked ourselves ‘Why do we do what we do?’ (Wink, J., & Putney, L., 2002, p. 1).
First, we looked at this image, as the ideas (unexamined long-held assumptions, in some cases) turn into reality. We talked about how our ideas can morph into a sort of philosophy or theory (even in DC) and how this can then morph into a policy (NCLB, RttT, or ESSA), which will then become programs requiring specific types of curricula and influence our practice (methods) in our own classroom.
Paulo Freire always reminded us to focus on our practice.
PHILOSOPHY > POLICY > PROGRAMS > PRACTICE
As Vygotsky (1986, p. 41) taught us: “Deliberate avoidance of philosophy is itself a philosophy.”
Here is a new image of a timeline (A Vision of Vygotsky, 2001, p. 5), which you might want to grab.
Here is a new image of telling the story from only 2 points of view, but it might help some of you understand the big ideas of teaching and learning
2 perspectives on schooling gestault an image
Here is the story from 3 points of view.
And, when you go on for more learning, you will soon discover that you can easily tell the story from 4 and 5 and many more points of view.
[H]e who considers facts, inevitably considers them in light of one theory or another (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 55).
We read from multiple sources (hardcopy and digital), and we tried to understand teaching and learning from different perspectives (2 points of view; or 3 points of view). We talked about how there are many, many different perspectives.
“The schools ain’t what they used to be and probably never were”. ~Will Rogers.
100 Years in A 1000 Words 2.2016
Teachers, you have read and watched many sources for the last couple of weeks. Tonight in our Collaborate class, you will be asked to tell (articulate) the story of the big ideas of teaching and learning from different perspectives and different sources. As you tell (articulate) the stories in class tonight, you will be negotiating your own understanding. Talk is text…
“Conversion is the laboratory and workshop of the student”. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thank you to Ruthie for leading class tonight, as I will be with friends from high school graduation (1962). I am ready.
Dear WinkWorld Readers,
I know that many of you are aware of this, but I wanted to share, in case anyone had missed it.
I very much appreciate the permission from Carmine Gallo & his BrightSight Group to share with you. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.
The question is: Why stories?
And, the answer is found in…
The Storyteller’s Secret, to be published Feb. 2016.
Dear WinkWorld Readers, remember this is for my class, and you do not have to read it…
Class, in what follows is a summary of what we will focus on for the next week. Actually, we will refer back to these ideas for the entire semester.
Happy Reading.
100 Years in A 1000 Words 1.2016
Dear WinkWorld Readers,
This post is specifically for teachers, who just want to have a little fun with words today in class.
FUN WITH WORDS
A bunch of kids
A patch of menders
A herd of horses
A pack of dogs
A gaggle of geese
A clutch of chickens
A school of fish
A charm of goldfish
A covey of parrots
A stitch of quilter
A litter of cubs
A ruffle of lacemakers
A gang of elk
A colony of ants
A pod of butterflies
A swarm of eels
A knot of toads
A rhumba of rattlesnakes (However, we never say that when we see one.)
A worship of writers
An equivocation of politicians
A consort of corgis
A congress of baboons
A stitch of lace
A murder of crows
A rash of dermatologists
A multitude of mushrooms
A friendship of women (Ok, it’s true: I made up that one.)
A pile of cats.
.
(Can’t make up that one.)
Thank you, Rose from SD; Betty from AZ; and Dwight from NB for sharing a few of these with us. I know you can find these on the web, but it really is more fun to discover them in the context of reading or conversation with others.
Remember the two young boys from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who suddenly found themselves living with new families in a new country with a new language, new customs, new food…and, no friends?
3 Months Later The Teacher Wrote on Facebook.
In October I started one of the scariest challenges of my teaching career; I had two young boys from the Congo start with no English! Today, only 3 months later they each presented to their class a project we had been working on about their life before coming to America. Many nights I leave work tired, exhausted, and sometimes even frustrated; but then I have days like today that remind me how incredibly lucky I am to work with such amazing students. And it’s all worth it!!
WinkWorld Readers: Your Test Question.
Where in the world in the Congo? Grab a piece of paper and draw Africa. Now, draw where the DRC is located.
THANK YOU to this teacher and this school community!
Dear WinkWorld Readers, please remember that this post is specifically for the teachers in my class at Black Hills State University (BHSU).
Looking Backward 5 minutes
This video is specifically for those in the English as a New Language (ENL) endorsement program. If you watch this, it will help you hook your previous learning with the new learning coming in this class.
Why do we do what we do?
This semester, we will begin with a discussion of how our national philosophy determines policy in the states and districts; the policy determines programs, which determine practice. We will use the following image to guide our discussion.
The following video clips are the heart and soul of our foundations course, Spring 2016. My thanks to technical support from California State University, Stanislaus and Black Hills State University.
Pedagogy Timeline, 15 minutes,
Three Perspectives on Teaching/Learning, 7 minutes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWH0VLPYeAc
Skinner V. Vygotsky by Christopher Redd & Jeremiah Scalla (students in Mallorca)
Spiral of Literacy, 10 minutes,
Krashen’s 5 Hypotheses, 11 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Joan+Wink
Principles of Bilingual Education, 11 minutes
Bilingual Basics Part One, 50 seconds
Bilingual Basics Part Two,, 1 minute, 10 seconds
Dear WinkWorld Readership,
I have wanted to refer to my blog, as irreverent and irregular, but that is already taken: Alfie Kohn beat me to those two great descriptors. WinkWorld tends to be whatever is lying around my desktop or floating around in my head.
However, you will notice a change soon, in that I am also going to post information for my class. This is not required reading for you, WinkWorld Readers; it is simply meant to make information more accessible in multiple ways for the teachers in my class.
“Please, please, please don’t fall into the briar patch,” comes to mind. . .
I will also continue to post the normal WinkWorld, which I hope carries a bit of grit and grace.
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