so now I can blog from my phone … will I blog more? or will typing with my thumbs be yet another excuse to not write? sigh…
iphone blogging
Reply
Monthly Archives: July 2008
Rock 101
I’m a big fan of the Paul Green School of Rock. Paul Green has received a lot of publicity via School of Rock and the somewhat more accurate documentary, Rock School. But no one has really talked about the serious pedagogy underlying the “manifesto” that Green prints on every program and flyer he sends out. The premise is simple: present kids with a tough challenge that they’ll want to achieve. In the SOR example, it’s to learn to play (mostly by ear) instruments in order to reproduce well-known rock music. The students rehearse, both in private lessons and in group practice sessions. Then they put on a show. All the “bands” are fluid, so kids have to learn to play with a lot of other musicians of varying age and ability – no matter what they’re assigned. The music ranges from simple (Kiss, Ramones) to complex (Queen, Led Zeppelin).
I can personally attest for all that it’s done for my kid. She states frequently that she’d rather be at rock school than “regular school” (gulp). But who could blame her? When you’re 13, learning to sing Sweet Emotion and play bass on Welcome to the Jungle can really seem much more relevant than learning algebra.
But when I think of all the serious learning that goes on, I encourage her rockin’ more than discourage it. With meaningful goals (learn the music) attached to an authentic outcome (perform in a show), kids are engaged, solve problems, tackle challenges – all that we want for them in a learning situation. Now how to apply that to “regular” school … ?
Summer Reading
The best thing about summer is having more time to read (why is that, really? I don’t have much more time than during the school year. Must be psychological). In keeping with so many other blogs, here are recently read books as well as a list of those sitting on the nightstand (in reality and virtually) …
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. I am not really a zombie fan, but I couldn’t resist the format of this book – it’s a future-history told as “first person” accounts during the aftermath of a global zombie war. At first I thought that reading interview after interview would get tedious, but the story was highly engaging. Great example of a non-traditional fiction format. This was also the first book I read using Kindle – makes traveling so much easier!
The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t by Robert Sutton. An interesting book, more academic than I would have expected (rather well-researched). It’s an appealing argument, but I guess I would prefer that a desire to work with civility and courtesy would be just so much common sense – guess that’s simply not the case.
World Without End by Ken Follett. Thankfully, read on my Kindle because the sheer weight of this tome is ridiculous. Pillars of the Earth was one of my all-time favorite books – I’ve read its 900+ pages several times (last time while staying in Winchester, England – totally cool!). I was thrilled to read the sequel, but it quickly became “Book Without End” – rather a formulaic reproduction of Pillars and quite a disappointment.
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky. Ever since I heard Clay Shirky’s brilliant analogy of industrial revolution vis-à-vis web 2.0 technology, I’ve been a huge fan. This book did not disappoint. Truly visionary, well written, and many applications to education. I’ll probably re-read this book very soon.
Next on my reading list …
How Soccer Explains the World: An (unlikely) Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer … after being in Germany for the Euro Cup, I am definitely more interested. And since I’ll soon be UK bound … guess I’d better be up on the football (and not the American sort).
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris … just love David Sedaris. He needs to write more books … or just come to my house to tell stories. Can’t get enough.
The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids by Madeline Levine … because I’m probably somewhat guilty of this too – what happened to wanting to raise strong, independent, and critically thinking kids?
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch … started it. Put it down. Started it again. Very difficult to read with some detachment …
Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson … Bryson is such a fabulous writer and provides such great perspective. Can’t wait to read his take on the bard …
The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil … this came so highly recommended by a friend … I’m ready to be freaked out because I know a little about Kurzweil and his cybernetic art …
The Egyptologist: A Novel by Arthur Phillips … because I’m still reeling from seeing the pyramids at Giza and Abu Simbel.
And my kid is reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide for the first time … how cool is that?!
Wordle
Just back from Germany and trying to plow through my overloaded Google Reader … found this gem: wordle. I’ve written about tag clouds before, but this is just such a great visualization tool. Here’s a quick wordle from my del.icio.us tags. Definitely shows where your priorities are (why is “free” so prominent?!).
