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Season 1, Episode 9: The Utopian we’ve all forgotten about
Not many people outside of education scholars have heard of John Amos Comenius, but school as we know it today owes a great deal to this 17th century utopian thinker whose ideas, even today, might seem radically progressive.
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As health experts and city governments advise us all to minimize social contact to slow the spread of COVID-19, I want to encourage everyone to do what they can to help support your neighbors who are most at-risk (elderly, immunocompromised, etc) — join, or form, a support organization to help those folks get groceries and other supplies, to help folks find child care, financial support, etc. Keep yourself informed with accurate, reliable information: The CDC’s covid-19 page and the WHO’s covid-19 page are great resources here.
And please don’t hoard toilet paper.
Ed Infinitum is doing its small part to help the bored housebound of the nation and the world by publishing the rest of our season now, over these next few days, to give you more stuff to listen to when you’ve got nowhere else to go. Enjoy!
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Season 1, Episode 8: The penguin vs. the red tailed hawk
Some schools just can’t break out of traditional “factory” models no matter how hard they try, while others attempt to re-shape schooling by scrapping everything traditional, jettisoning even valuable practices. Is there a middle path? (this podcast is adapted from an article of mine that was published in Edweek last year)
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Season 1, Episode 7: Why tracking has to go, and what could take its place
Grouping students by “ability level” remains the dominant practice in US schools despite over 30 years of research attesting to its negative effects on all students. In this episode we explore the question of why this practice persists, and what alternate practices could, or should, take its place.
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Season 1, Episode 6: Should schools assess students, or grade them?
American public education is at a crossroads where we need to decide, is it more important to measure student learning, or to rank it? We may not always be able to do both.
Next episode will post on Sunday, March 15th
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Season 1, Episode 5: Group work that doesn’t stink
Did you hate group projects in school? The ability to do cooperative work is vital in almost every job — so why is it so often such a disaster when teachers try and have their students engage in it? In this episode, we examine how successful cooperative learning can happen in, and beyond, the classroom.
Next episode will post on Sunday, March 1st
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Do you want to learn, or do you want to score well on the test?
Learning is a more complex endeavor than just memorizing and reciting facts, yet our schools still privilege that sort of process. Let’s explore why, as well as how it could – and needs to – look different.
Next episode will post Sunday February 16th
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Didn’t we solve this problem? Why American schools are still segregated by race.
As we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his dream that “former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood,” we need to pause and take a long, hard and honest look at the current state of racial segregation in American schools. School segregation is now at its most extreme since the 1960s, and growing more pronounced each year. Didn’t Brown vs. the Board of Education settle this issue in 1954? This podcast will detail the very real, legal, de jure (as opposed to “de facto,” as it is often erroneously taught) reasons why MLK’s dream has not yet been realized in American schools, as well as some ideas for changing that for the better.
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Viva la outcomes based revolution…maybe?
An enormous and unprecedented change reshaped American public education in 2001, and schools have been trying to navigate this new landscape ever since. This episode chronicles what changed, why, and what the consequences have been, both good and ill, from the so-called “outcomes based revolution.”
Next episode will post Sunday February 2nd
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Why is school so boring for so many students?
What do educators mean when they talk about “student engagement,” and why does there seem to be distressingly little of it in school classrooms across the nation? When about 50% of America’s students report being disengaged at least some of the day, and about 20% report being disengaged the whole day long, how can we address that problem? I have some ideas.
Next episode will post Monday Jan 20th