Just Teach Them To Solve For X
I think this post was written to express the importance of learning instead of memorizing, which is one of my pet peeves. The main idea of John Spencer's post was that life and learning are supposed to be complicated. But, by being able to discern the complicated things, that is how students learn to learn. This post was really on a subject that I deal with on a daily basis.
Sketchy Portraits
John Spencer feels like he has been touched by his eighth grade class. This post is about how he understands that his students are in the middle of an ever changing emotional battle. They want to be treated as adults, however, at the same time they cling to childhood. He can understand how his students are feeling, and that is truly a gift. I believe the point of this post is that there are other teachers in the world who only see things in black and white, while 8th graders are stuck in varying shades of gray. It is good he is able to see this, understand it, and work with the students.
He Likes Class Just For The Pencils
Tom Johnson told a story of a conference he had with a student, his parents, and other teachers. He talked about how teachers played the blame and shame game with the kid. Then, he interrupted the game by saying the student was always good for him. He got into a debate with the teacher over the student's behavior. The unknown teacher said the student was only good in class because John had computers in his classroom. Whether this story may or may not be true is irrelevant. The fact is teachers who do not establish a relationship with their students cannot expect the student to respect them as the authority.
The Medium Shapes The Learning.
I honestly did not get what was being said in this post. I know he was talking about adding new technologies to the classroom can sometimes not be a good thing. I think he was saying that there can be effects from wielding new tools to fit a specific purpose that people fail to see.
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