Sunday, August 03, 2014

Sunday Salon: What I Read Online July 27-August 3

Nearly a year ago, I happened upon Elisabeth Ellington's blog, The Dirigible Plum, and it quickly became one of my favorite blogs to follow. I have especially enjoyed Ellington's Sunday Salon series, and I've contemplated modeling my own online reading after what I've learned from enjoying Ellington's curated content. Today, when another member of my PLN tweeted a link to Ellington's most recent Sunday Salon post, I decided to ask for permission to model posts about my online reading following the same Sunday Salon format.  So, here goes...

What's apparent to me is that I will never log every single link of my online reading because there's way too much I read online in a given week; however, I do aim to gather a selection of my online reading that repersents my wide variety of interests and blogging topics.


Thinking intentionally about education

In her Wahington Post article, Five U.S. Innovations that helped Finland schools improve but that American's now ignore, Valerie Strauss writes about many of the foundational ideas that got me started in my teaching career (e.g., the philosophy of John Dewey, cooperative learning, and multiple intelligences). She argues that while these ideas originated in America, our country in many ways has let these ideas fall by the wayside as we continue a test prep focused approach to schooling.  Makes me shudder, actually, to think of the truth in her article. However, I must contend that these ideas have never left my way of thinking and approaching school, and I know other people who persist with these important non-test prep ways of education.

Homework that Motivates  by Scott Carr provides an important reminder about student choice and autonomy in tasks and homework assignments.

I regularly read Kentucky Commissioner, Dr. Terry Holliday's blog posts, but this one about partnerships is worth mentioning because it references my current place of employment at The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky.

Since I have a dream of one day helping start a teacher powered school, I enjoyed this blog post titled We Started a School by Diana Laufenberg about working with Chris Lehman to open a new school in historic Philadelphia. 

Books and reading

The Creative Art of Selling a Book by Its Cover fed my artistic and literary interests when I learned about how Peter Mendelsund taught himself to be a graphic designer and began designing book jackets.

Christopher McCurry and Holly Wooten use graphic novels in their classroom, and I learned more about how they do it when I read an article about their participation earlier this summer at the Let's Talk Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.

For a taste of futuristic fiction I enjoyed part I of The Candle Burned by Mike Gelprin. This story about a future where people read no more is a startling thought to consider.

Travel, recreation, and learning

 I follow closely Lillie Marshall's blog Around the World L.  This week, I re-read her posts about Martha's Vineyard because of a conversation with my boss about the island and time she spends there.

At Steam Powered Classroom, I enjoyed reading about how the Ridenhour family takes their summer learning on the road.

Hike Back to School: 10 Lessons from the Trail by Sarah Brown Wessling was a perfect mix of recreation and musing on teaching.