Week #2 Assignment (due Oct 13)

First, a friendly reminder that we have no face to face class this week, therefore you have a heavier blog assignment than you will normally have. (As a further friendly reminder, I imagine it taking you at least 6 hours to complete these tasks--counting it as a substitution for no face to face class time, and your weekly homework. If it's taking you way less time, then you've not spent as much time on it as you need to).

Here are the activities for this week's blog.  Please remember to post each assignment as a separate blog, with the headings I provide. This will cut down a LOT on confusion...Also, PLEASE break your writing down into paragraphs within each post--makes it waaaaaay more readable. :-)

1. Title: How Cultures Educate
I've asked you to read a chapter out of Howard Gardner's book The Disciplined Mind: Beyond Facts and Standardized Tests, the k-12 Education That Every Child Deserves. The chapter you're reading is called: How Cultures Educate.  I would like you to consider, after reading the chapter (at least twice!), the following:
How DO cultures educate?...What DO educational leaders need to know? Given Gardner's discussion of culture, consider...IS education political? Or is it cultural? Or?...What? Perhaps you'll want to find reliable definitions of "political" and "cultural" and include those in your blog...finally, what did you learn from reading this chapter that you didn't already know?...(Personally, I like bulleted lists)

2. Title: What's the Point of School?
First, please view this video. It is an excellent compliment to the Gardner reading, and to the research you did on life long learning for week #1. It will also be a good background for the coming week's reading (The banking concept of education). It's long,  29 minutes, but I think it's worth your time. I want you to jot notes while you're watching the video and then post on your blog your reactions, thoughts, questions regarding the video. We'll discuss those in class.  Bonus point...why does he ask the question about children having water to drink?...what does drinking water have to do with learning? :-)

3. Title: Philosophies of Education
We're going to do something different here.You will self-direct this section. I want you to find out for yourself what the major philosophies of education are. (Note: go beyond (way beyond) wikipedia). Prepare an overview in your blog--giving links to where you found the information (or reference citations).  Provide brief descriptions of each of the philosophies. Also, do a search in youtube (or other source) specifically on "philosophies of education" and choose several (3) you determine to be reliable. View them carefully. Share the links to the videos with us in your blog. Describe what you learned in each video. Additionally: As a part of this assignment I want you to be sure to visit one anothers' blogs in order to learn what others found out...

As always, let me know right away if you have questions.

After you've created your blog...Here's your Week #1 Blog Assignment (due on Oct 6)

For  your first assignment, please consider and respond to the following questions as separate posts:
(Note: Do this in a brief, essay-like, blog-style fashion. Be sure your writing is crisp (to the point), break it up into paragraphs and check that it’s free of spelling errors. (You need only share what you’re comfortable sharing in this public domain). Remember, each title is a new post...

Title: An educated citizen
How were you educated? Where were you educated? Private/public schools? What values does your family place on education? Is it important, not important, and what's the proof of that...How far do you intend to go with your education? Anything else you’d like to share in this post?

Title: Stories from my educated youth

What have been some of your educational experiences? Tell us a couple of stories from your own educational experiences. What do you remember about school? What were your favorite school memories? What do you remember about what you learned when you weren't in formal school (e.g. summertime)...

Title: Life long learning
In your opinion (please do some researech on this) what is your definition of what it means to be a lifelong learner? Give examples of life long learning in everyday life...Site your sources (beyond your own opinion). :-)

Before our next class, please go into each person's blog and see what they've found out...make some comments...

Welcome to Class!!

In preparation for this semester's class,, please complete the following tasks:
1. Create a blog here, at blogspot.com
2. Decide on appearance-I prefer it not be dark background with light printing-hard to read!
3. Name your blog (your name)’s Education in Modern Society Class (just like mine is titled).
4. Be sure you activate your account (if necessary)
5. In "settings", archive your work weekly - this will allow us to access your weekly posts more easily
6. Email me and the members of the class the link to your blog so we can become a "follower"
7. You should have this completed by Wed. Oct 5th.
8. Questions? Don't wait til the last minute! email me at kriordan@d.umn.edu


Thank you!!