Rhetoric and Poetry

Out of our quarrels with others we make rhetoric. Out of our quarrels with ourselves we make poetry.
--William Butler Yeats

Leda and the Swan

A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower[19]
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

William Butler Yeats

Until next time...

Which box? Changing ethos?

Another couple of posts...

Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 6:04pm
I think we have a great thing going with our topic. It is going to be great; we just have
to get it all together. Remember Dr. A said she does not want a term paper. I think she
just really wants us to think outside the box (which we are because not many teachers,
to my knowledge, use virtual labs) and do something, using technology, to improve
student achievement. I definitely think that is what we have! I know personally as a
teacher, I am finding some great stuff out there that I plan to use in my classroom that I
never would have done if it had not been for Dr. A making me think outside the box. I
have always been a lecture and sometimes a hands on teacher, but now I am going to
use a lot more hands on because after reading Pink's book I see how different this
generation is due to the technology that is at their fingertips. We have to change our
teaching strategies from lecture to discovery learning if we are going to reach this
generation and generations to come!


Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 6:42pm
I agree, we do have to make changes, but a change in "ethos" will have to take place for
people to really "see" what Pink is talking about. It is a total shift from the 19th century
models of education that serve to "mass-produce" good little American capitalists...learn,
make money, buy stuff, be a success...all that "good stuff." All ideas about objectives,
uni-directional instruction, and quantitative-comparative assessment come from some very
old and deeply ingrained ideas. Pink is right, but to change 100 plus years of
Progressive aftershock requires something more than we are giving it. Technology can
be a way just to "freshen-up" the same tired, boring, ineffective modes of
teaching/learning. What difference does it make if I see my teacher do it/hear her say it
or if I see it on the computer/read it from the computer if I am never asked to think
deeply? To make connections between ideas? To solve real world problems? To think
of others, to communicate and personalize the experience of others? To do something
that is good for society, for someone other than myself? I think the question we should
ask ourselves is not how we can use technology to improve teaching, but how can we
use teaching to improve technology or any area of our lives?

Until next time...

Will it? Does it? Can it? Should it?

Our chemistry teacher has been working on PBWiki and posting on WebCT. Here is one of our dialogues...
_______________________

Date: Thursday, February 21, 2008 8:24pm
I saw your links, they look good. I also went through the DNA Gel lab. It was cool. How
do you plan on backing it with EdPsych? I'm interested to see what your thought process
is here. Thanks.

Date: Monday, February 25, 2008 7:24pm
I am working on the ed. psych. stuff now. I just wanted to find some good labs and put
them up first. Now I am researching, and I am findind a lot of material that backs the
virtual labs. I found a few things in the woolfolk text, but more on the internet. How is
yours coming along. Have you found much info. to support our virtual lab ideas and the
whole right brain thinking topic?

Date: Monday, February 25, 2008 9:45pm
I have stopped working. I have become frustrated. I still don't know if we have defined
what right-brained means for us as a group, some people have suggested "visual
learner," so I am still confused. I have read tons of information and have posted a lot of
stuff to the wiki, but I am sort of stalled because I don't know how we are defining our
supporting information. I work opposite of you. I have to know the "language" that we
are going to use before I find content that will fit that definition. If that makes sense...

Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:58pm
The technology of our project is "virtual labs". We have to find information that backs up
our proposition that virtual labs will help students learn better, faster, etc...! We know it
will help them because it will keep them interested (due to using technology, computers)
and it will help them learn it quicker because it is hands on (discovery learning) and they
get to play with it and see pictures (which is how a right-brained thinker learns). Does
that make sense? We just have to get all our info together and put in an organized
manner onto our wiki. She said she doesn't want a term paper; so we don't have
to "write" a lot of stuff we just have to find an operating virtual lab and back it up with ed.
psych. There is a lot of ed. psych out there backing technology in the classroom and how
pitures help students remember info. better than words alone. Look at page 271 in our
text. It talks about mnematics (I don't have my book with me and I don't know if I
spelled that right or not, but I do remember the page number for some reason).
Anyway, it talks about how students learn better from a few words and pictures. Tell me
what you are thinking.

Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 6:23pm
I am fine with visual learning if that's what definition everyone wants for "right-brained,"
but it means alot more than that...if we choose "visual learner," we should just throw out
any mention of Pink's text...I just need to know the definition before I can know that
my "virtual lab" meets the standards of that definition. I don't want to waste any more
time.
_____________________________

My frustration is showing, and I hope I don't make anyone mad, but people assume too much about the change that computers can make to their classroom. Used innapropriately they are just like a textbook with moving pictures.

Until next time...