In 1985, Neil Postman wrote a book titled Amusing Ourselves to Death, which used a well-known idea from Marshall McLuhan’s media theories, “the medium is the message,” to critique television. The central idea was that TV affected us more through its form than its content. True to the Hiedeggerian roots of McLuhan’s work, Postman expounded […]
State representative Rick Staples, with the TN commissioner of education, Penny Schwinn, held an “informal town hall meeting” at the Knoxville Arboretum and Botanical Garden at the end of August (8/28/19). I went because it was called a town hall meeting, but the only people there seemed to be other politicians, the Knox County Board […]
I’ve been listening to Ed Abbey’s Desert Solitaire. Hearing his descriptions of the desert remind me of the not insignificant amount of time I’ve spent in southeast Utah: Moab, Castle Valley, Arches, Glen Canyon. The best dream I ever had was set in the desert. I was flying around the rust and orange colored sandstone […]
David Hall, a family counselor who specializes in narrative therapy, spoke at Carson-Newman Friday, Feb. 15. He works with youths and spoke on many topics, but the technology-saturated water that youth are swimming in was a major focus throughout the 6-hour interactive presentation. He highlighted some of the simple everyday differences the generations have lived: […]
“The President was exactly right tonight to remind the nation of his call to expand education freedom,” DeVos said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with Congress on ways to give students opportunities to pursue the education that engages their curiosity, unlocks their creativity and empowers them to reach their fullest […]
Not to feed anti-government paranoia or anything, but the panopticon is in full symbolic effect in most public school classrooms and schools. Here I write specifically of one area of surveillance: testing. It was a quote from Foucault related to “examinations” in an article lead authored by Michelle Fine that opened me up to the […]
I’ve been looking at old slides from when I spent 7 months in South America, mainly Chile, Peru, and Argentina. I’ve noticed things like how much higher quality slide film images are compared to iPhone pictures and also how much less grey hair I had. I’ve been considering the level of risk I was comfortable […]
In movies and books we can hear the archetype of the zen master giving a student cryptic advice: be one with the (whatever), grasshopper; aim by not aiming; you are trying too hard to achieve the goal. One example of this archetype is present in a book called Zen in the Art of Archery. Written […]
Any teacher that has a shred of respect for ambiguity is likely with me when I say I hate rubrics. For starters, they’re graphically unappealing. Grids crammed unevenly with words that are a waste of time to write because what is described in the glory, peak of expectation column is just slightly more careful or […]
We need all the help we can get these days with our critical thinking. Propaganda is everywhere. Over-thinking has its problems, I know. Analysis paralysis is a thing, I feel it. Like every day. But on all kinds of levels I think that the opposite problem is more common these days with the 24-hour infotainment […]
