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Game On!
Making peace with and space for video gaming as part of the future The dark room is aglow with wall-sized projection screens. Eight computer monitors display the game Fortnite. Boys ranging in ages from 13-18 position themselves for battle— Battle Royale to be exact. Fixated on the screens before them, the countdown begins. Over the next 90 minutes, they will compete against one another for the $120 prize money at stake. Only the faint whispers of a few spectators and the rapid clicks of computer mice are heard. Every so often an eliminated player lets out a moan or sighs. Some stop to stretch or get a drink of water…
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Weapons of Mass Instruction (Highlights)
“Weapons of Mass Instruction is probably his best yet. Gatto’s storytelling skill shines as he relates tales of real people who fled the school system and succeeded in spite of the popular wisdom that insists on diplomas, degrees, and credentials. If you are just beginning to suspect there may be a problem with schooling (as opposed to educating as Gatto would say), then you’ll not likely find a better exposé of the problem than Weapons of Mass Instruction.” Cathy Duffy Reviews Next up in the GATTO series is a focus on his book, Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling. The book is both a…
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Games Make Learning Fun!
We love to play games. Gaming has been a go-to activity since my kids were very young. Board games, card games, made-up games, video games, outdoor games, you name it, we have played it. Not only are games a great way to bond as a family, but they are also rich in learning opportunities. When I worked with children in the classroom, time and time again games were shown to be a conduit for teaching new skills in a fun and engaging way. As a tutor, I almost always found a way to turn the skills I was being paid to teach into a game-like activity. When there is intrigue,…
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The John Taylor Gatto series
This is a continuation of highlighting the work of John Taylor Gatto, former New York Teacher of the Year. You can find his resignation letter on my Instagram or Facebook page. It is the post entitled, “I quit, I think”. Gatto was a vocal critic of public schooling in America after spending almost 30 years inside classrooms. For some, his words will be a welcomed explanation to something you have known all along or felt in your gut but just couldn’t quite put into words. For others, his words will be uncomfortable. Particularly if you are a current teacher, currently have children enrolled in public schools, or believe public school…
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We Were Already Homeschooling. This Quarantine is Not What Real Homeschooling Looks Like.
We homeschool. However, the word “homeschooling” is a misnomer.We do not spend all of our time at home doing school work. Our choice to skip school was not taken in favor of simply replicating school at home by dividing life and learning into subjects, inflexible time blocks, and bells. We chose to homeschool. It was not forced onto us. More specifically, we chose self-directed education because we wanted to expand the definition of education to include everything a person does and experiences. I wanted my kids to understand learning as something you do every, single day. And I wanted to move learning outside of classrooms, walls, rigid schedules, and state-mandated…
