archive links

Here is a list of all my posts on this blog, arranged by topic.

Some blogging services do this automatically. At the moment I have to do it by hand.

Social Studies

United States

• League of the Five Nations (aka Iroquois Confederacy or League of the Haudenosaunee)—links to various materials, including a summary of the European invasion as it may have been seen from eastern North America.
• Collections of key documents in US history--Declaration of Independence, Colonial Charters, and more modern stuff too
• Great Railroad War - 1877, Pittsburgh
  
• Draft riots- 1863, NYC (& response to "Gangs of New York" film)
  

World

• Lebanon - some history & other links, for help understanding the current crisis (Feb-March 2005)
  
• Nepal - again, links etc. for help in understanding the current crisis (Feb-March 2005)
  

Skills

• Thinking skills: inductive & deductive reasoning; logical fallacies

Ideas for teaching

• How writing good (measurable) objectives makes it easy to create assignments and assessments (Wong & Wong)
• How to structure cooperative learning to promote higher-order thinking skills and raise the achievement of ALL students (summary of Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1994 - see also under "summaries, responses & reviews" for more detailed links)
• How to integrate presentation and discussion of current events?
• How to clarify the point of homework assignments?
  
• List of procedures needed for a smooth-running classroom
  
• making "the life of the mind" more accessible to students (Swiger reviews Graff)
  
• helping students understand the point of what they are doing, using a"toolbox" essential skills
  

Why does school suck so much?

Reflections:

• my early reactions to observing in an enormous high school
  
• grading: my first rush job
  
• What precisely are the problems of adolescence? - reading response (Steinberg & Eccles)

Racism

Research:

• Why are African-Americans disproportionately placed in "special ed"? - my first attempt to synthesize my reading and research
  
• Wisconsin's abysmal graduation rate
  
• [wrong] student tasered at local high school
  
• know your enemy: white supremacist "history"
  
• Teaching Tolerance - a great organization, with many valuable teaching resourcs--for FREE!

Reflections:

• Racism & White Privilege - reflections on McIntosh, Ferguson, Spring
  
• Unthinking teacher 1 - "I'm gonna give you a rope!"
  
• racism & discipline - self-analysis
  
• Blackness in pictures: representation of "poverty" and "neediness" in school support efforts
  

Inclusion

Research:

• Bibliography of research that supports inclusion
  
• Notes from a lecture on the history of education for people with disabilities
  
• table comparing "mainstreaming" with "inclusion" as pedagogical approaches

Reflections:

• Teaching English Language Learners - lengthy synthesis of my research and reflection
  

Schoolwork - reflections:

• my first encounter with inclusion
  
• thoughts after a history lecture
  
• playing devil's advocate
  
• is inclusion meant to be 100% of the time with 100% of peers?
  

General musings on teaching

• Making it too easy, also known as "effective teaching"
  
• Survival skills
  
• What have I learned from my second student teaching experience? - part 1
  
• Teaching & Buddhism 1 - Maitri
  
• Teaching & Buddhism 2 - letting go of trying to control everything and know everything!
  
• Psychological problems in the classroom: Rescuing
  
• "discipline" is not the opposite of "respect"

Summaries, reviews & responses

(Note: Most of these are also cross-listed under the relevant topic)

• Underground History of American Education, Chapter Seven, by John Taylor Gatto:
  · < Excerpts > · < Response > · < More recent response > ·
  
• Summary of Cooperative Learning in the Classroom, by Johnson, Johnson & Holubec (1994):
  · < Introduction > · < Overview > ·
• Summary of The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher, by Wong & Wong (2004):
  · < writing clear & measurable objectives > ·
• Response to "Gangs of New York" film (& some on Draft Riots of 1863 (NYC))
  
• Swiger reviews Graff on making "the life of the mind" more accessible to students (in Radical Teacher #71) - summary & response
  

Schoolwork - reflective responses to readings:

• McIntosh, Ferguson, Spring - Racism & White Privilege
• Steinberg & Eccles - What are the "problems of adolescence"?