So here’s the thing. This appeared on my Facebook feed today. A Grade 6 Washington D.C. teacher assigned her class a compare and contrast assignment and there has been major back lash because she was using a Scholastic (No Ratings Yet)
Author Archives: Karen Young
Kingston CoderDojo and Connected Courses
So I’ve been offline for a while for various reasons, the main one being I am of that age when parents need more care and support and this has been a support summer, from that perspective. Thank goodness my parents’ health is now good and they have moved onto the next stage of their lives without too many problems.…
#TVSZ 4.0
Education and Autism
It’s World Autism Awareness Day.
Oral vs Written
I have finally watched the week four video. One last thought before I move to week five on the idea of “Is books making us stupid?” I write for many reasons. To keep records, to list what needs to be done for the day, to communicate with others, to work out my thoughts, for the sheer joy of a cleverly turned phrase.…
Books is Making Me Stupid
Confession time: I still haven’t watched the video for topic #4. Instead I made a video on, you guessed it, “Books is Making Me Stupid.” The title seemed appropriate.
Since the question/statement has been rattling around in my brain all week I started to write some thoughts down (walking the dog is my time for clarifying thoughts!)…
I am uncomfortable….
with this week’s topic! “Is books making us stupid?” Now I haven’t even watched Dave’s video and I haven’t read anyone’s post because in my mind I am thinking “Uh, no?!” and “Fix the grammar!” So I know Dave is being deliberately provocative to try and make me challenge some long held assumptions about literacy and reading, books and the idea of fixed knowledge.…
Uncertain, Uncertainty and I don’t know!
I sometimes wonder why I bother to write my thoughts down as there are so many thoughtful responses and replies to the “uncertainty” question Dave Cormier posted this week in #rhizo14. Often I write to clarify my own thoughts on my path to figuring out the “I don’t know, but I hope to find out/understand.”…
Enforced Independence/Learned Helplessness
So this week in Rhizo#14 (Rhizomatic Learning) we’ve been asked to discuss Enforced Independence or what happens when we give people the opportunity to make educational choices in what they choose to learn, how they approach tasks and complete/not complete the given task.…
‘The underbelly of education according to Karen’
I learn best when I work with others. I talk my way to learning. I need the discourse to help me refine my ideas and to open up new avenues of thought and connections. My entire learning history is based on fusing my thoughts with the thoughts of others.…