CURMUDGUCATION: The L Word

CURMUDGUCATION: The L Word:

The L Word

We talk about teaching as an act of pedagogy or inquiry or coaching or guidance. We talk about data and programs and techniques and the words of experts to the point that we can, at times, sound like mechanics talking about how to work on cars. And there are plenty of people who want to talk about teaching as if it's a science, a series of data-driven stimuli designed to elicit a certain response and build certain competencies, as if our students are lab rats.

But we should also talk about teaching as an act of love.

Yes, it's difficult, mostly because "love" is a word that tries to encompass many words, many ideas, many emotions, many impulses.

But the intentional action of meeting our students where they are, seeing them as they are, hearing them as they speak, helping them drive toward what they would become-- that's love. To engage with students as human beings while trying to focus on who they are, what they want, what they need, to shut up and listen, to open eyes and really see, to build a classroom around what they need and not what we want, to teach them and not just cover material by throwing it at them-- if that's not a form of love, what is it?

Yes, it's awkward to say so, both because of the sense that our words could be misconstrued and because, really, it feels a little like bragging. That's why I admire walking man Jesse Turner and his unapologetic act of love. And it's one reason I admire Jose Vilson and what he says in this short video. I've now watched it multiple times and you should, too:

ICYMI: Top Eduposts of the Week (7/19)

Once again, it's your Sunday reading digest, a not-all-inclusive listing of recommendations from the week.

Mercedes Schneider 

As the ESEA rewrites and votes and amendments have been flying thick and fast, Schneider has been following and explaining the action swiftly and thoroughly. So this isn't a link to a particular post-- just work your way back through the week to get a clearer sense of what Congress is up to with education legislation. 

We Definitely Don't Need a National Education Plan

Rick Hess dismantles the argument for a national education policy. He may be a reformster, but he's no dummy.

The Common Core and Democratic Education

Johann Neem takes a long, thoughtful look at Common Core in general and David Coleman's writing about reading in particular. It's a good clear look at why, exactly, Common Core is a bad, hollow idea.

Six Education Policies a 2016 Presidential Candidate Must Embrace


Lots of folks are writing pieces of this nature, but Cynthia Liu has produced one of the best. Clear, concise and thought-provoking.


K & Preschool Teachers: Last Stand in War on Childhood?

Peter Gray continues his series in Psychology Today looking at those who teach the youngest students and the battle to keep pre-school and kindergarten from turning into developmentally inappropriate menaces to childhood.


Technology Fails Plagiarism, Citation Tests

Paul Thomas takes a look at the use of technology to catch college writers at plagiarism. Except when it doesn't. Or when it catches a false positive.

A Reanalysis of the Effects of Teacher Replacement Using Value-Added Modeling


Want yet another reference to bring up when debunking VAM to someone. Here's a research study that shows, once again, that VAM is neither valid nor reliable.