Eco-Friendly Flooring

Sorry, this post has been moved to my new blog — check it out here:

http://handymansdream.blogspot.com/2009/05/eco-friendly-flooring-options.html

What’s next?

B and I have lived a very good life thus far. There is not much either of us could complain about. Since getting married five years ago, we’ve had many great experiences. We’ve both been fortunate enough to complete undergraduate degrees in Education. I taught here, in three diverse communities, and was a school administrator. Then we lived overseas, where we learned more about other cultures, each other, and ourselves. We visited many countries that people never get to see, and met people who have become lifelong friends. We returned, reconnected with family, both found meaningful work, bought a house, and I’m doing a Masters degree. All that said, for five years, it’s been about us. We’re very aware of this, and have decided to do something about it.

When I started this blog, I titled it teachingchris in an effort to focus my writing on sharing stories about things I teach, and, more often, things I am taught. Well, I suspect that the learning has just begun for this cowboy:

I love Math

I recently got into a verbal battle with our local city counselor over some misleading data he supplied in his constituency newsletter. I called him on the fact that his numbers were incomplete, and he wasn’t all that impressed with me. However, I think it is so important that people critically view the charts/graphs/data presented to them. Along that vein, I present this piece of glorious math work:

http://www.venganza.org/piratesarecool4.gif

Cathedral Ceilings and Rotten Plywood

This post has been moved to my new blog — check out http://handymansdream.blogspot.com/2008/07/insulating-cathedral-ceiling.html to read about our (mis)adventures!

You want a longer school year? For real?

There has been some vigorous debate at The Faculty Room about lengthening the school year in order to meet the ever rising standards demanded by standardized testing and universities. Some people are in favour of lengthening the year – others share a different point of view. Before I comment, here’s a little story I want to share:

When I was a young boy, the only thing I wanted to do was pitch in the major leagues. If I had been put into a classroom where I spent mornings learning about pitching technique, spent afternoons throwing a ball 1-on-1 with a coach, and did this every day, there is a chance that I would have become a major league baseball pitcher. However, I am only 5′10″ and on a good day hit 155lbs – not exactly the frame of a pitcher. So, most likely, regardless of how much I practiced (and I did practice a lot – though not to the extreme described enough) I wouldn’t have achieved my goal. If I spent all day, every day, most of the year, practicing baseball, I wouldn’t have acquired the skills that I did – I wouldn’t have been a farmer, working the land like my father and grandfather, I wouldn’t have discovered my love for improvisational theatre, helping found a local theatre company that continues on, 11 years later, I wouldn’t have become active in the labour movement, and I wouldn’t have known how much I love working with people – I wouldn’t have become a teacher.

If we lengthen the school year, there’s a chance our students will experience more success. But for our students who experience little success with traditional schooling, doing more of the same thing and expecting a different result is tantamount to torture. For everyone.

So, instead of asking if the school year should be longer, we should ask two questions: What are the standardized assessments really measuring? and Instead of doing more of what we’re doing and expecting a different result, why aren’t we doing something different?

Like project-based learning.