Sarah D, Sarah Z, Jay S, Paul B, Jim L, Jack
reflections on parent/teacher conferences--
- why do we do them the way we do them?
- why don't we require students to attend?
- "while it's not required, we encourage you to attend conferences with your student."
- what about running through the schedule again later in the year--opportunities to check in with the whole group of parents again
- and then individual meetings after
- skype parent/teacher conferences?
- have appointments for conferences
if we really DO get wireless, could we get rid of some of our computer labs?
deadlines
- as a part of character development, not as a part of curriculum
- if there isn't a late grade, so it's not about the grade, the reasons to get the work in on time are more genuine
- only genuine in the context of having a genuine and real concern for what you're doing.
- wouldn't have forced leverage to make students do stuff--the teaching/content itself would need to be the engaging motivator.
- grades are about compliance, not engagement
- engagement is difficult to measure, but you do know it when you see it
- a big part of education IS compliance--we train people to be compliant
- how much DOES our world really want free thinkers?
- what we want to do and what we're told to do is not what we actually do?
- tension between need for compliance and need for freedom
- can manage this by thinking about curriculum as a scaffold that requires students to make choices to fill it out
- some maybe don't work as hard because you take out the carrot and stick
- but they lose out on things that really matter
- schooling: starts with a compliance act. You MUST go to school.
- who's talking in the classroom? who has the most air time?
