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Susan Ohanian's Discussions
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Started May. 15, 2009
Why beseech Duncan.
6 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Leo J. Fahey Feb. 18, 2009.
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Sarah,
As a longtime educator, your question makes me smile with great joy. Welcome to the fray.
Take a look at www.StopNationalStandards.org, where teachers and parents are trying to figure out ways to influence policy. You can tell from the title…
I have an article in the May Language Arts: "On Assessment, Accountability, and Other Things that Go Bump in the Night." Here are a few pull-out quotes.
Data without conscience will be the
ruin of our collective soul.
What good are the statistics
i…
Susan,
Lynn threw down the challenge for me to faciliate action planning and I accepted. I started a forum, a general discusion, to see if there are any takers to help put something together. We shall see if this Alliance is just a high caliber cof…
Comment Wall (9 comments)
- At 2:24pm on May 19, 2009,
Craig A. Cunningham said…
- i hear you're coming to National-Louis soon? looking forward!
- At 9:40am on March 19, 2009,
Jeffrey L. Peyton said…
- Susan, hope your shoulder is healing. I wonder if you left the EHG forum. Would not be surprised. I don't have much direct contact with Reformers, so I am trying admittedly to get you to take a focused look at my project. No real inventions have ever emerged to tackle the problems of education. This is one. It relates realistically to the power of media and technology and to the history of civil rights. It works. And that is why I think it is important for someone with your background in education and reform to step out of the hurricane into what is conceivably an eye of the storm.
My best,
Jeff
- At 11:31am on February 16, 2009,
Jeffrey L. Peyton said…
- A Unified Theory of Information for Education (posted on 3rd Party Web Site)
- At 11:29am on February 16, 2009,
Jeffrey L. Peyton said…
- Thought you should have these. Enjoy at your leisure, if the spirit moves you.
Jeff
Origins http://www.puppetools.com/!fileviewer.php?fid=140
Paper describing the foundational experiences that led me to pursue my explorations into puppet media and play
Brief History http://www.puppetools.com/!fileviewer.php?fid=156
The OECD presentations are Flash movies accessible off my web site: Links take you to the correct page.
The links are halfway down the page under "Jeff Peyton's two papers"
Theory of Puppet Play: http://www.puppetools.com/!page.php?cid=4347#overview
Applications: http://www.puppetools.com/!page.php?cid=4347#overview
*Read Me Document for Downloading:* http://www.puppetools.com/readme.html
Factors of Evolution Revealed in Hand Puppet Behavior http://www.puppetools.com/!fileviewer.php?wid=1729
OECD Position Paper: http://puppetools.com/OECD_Position_Paper.pdf
A Unified Theory of Information for Education (posted on 3rd Party Web Site)
- At 10:46am on February 16, 2009,
Jeffrey L. Peyton said…
- Susan, I'm delighted to see that you live right near my nephew and his wife who has a yoga studio in Charlotte. Anyway------
Johnny Depp, as playwright J.M. Barry in the movie, Finding Neverland, conspires to plant children in the theater on the opening night of his play, Peter Pan.
Barry knows that the ‘Belief System of the young,’ free and unadulterated, represents a dimension of truth that adults, by nature, dismiss as silly and superfluous. Our Adult Belief Systems are monolithic walls that keep out new ways of seeing and behaving. In contrast, a childlike mind throws a switch—and zap!—on comes the light of imagination. In a sense, kids are always beaming messages that adult minds are set not to receive or take seriously. My work demonstrates what happens when adults, working in the inner space of the classroom, pick up and act on their signal.
Leo wants brick and mortar for organizing and advancing reform. I think even reformers are so deep inside the box that they would have to turn into Houdinis to escape. I’m a dreamer and a builder. I’ve built a vehicle for change that is based on the powerful response of children and adults to play. It’s an invention combining brain science, web communication, transference of play energy into viral language—a classic Trojan horse ploy that works on a small scale, and which awaits only a bold large scale leap of faith. I am emulating Barry’s strategy : there is stealth (the planting) and principle (the power of children) to breach the adult cultural wall.
My system is turnkey, based on years of work with teachers and kids, and has the scientific track record to back it up. Yes, it’s just a seed of a project, but a seed nonetheless. I don’t anything like this has ever been built or attempted in the annals of education.
Leo’s way is also classic: the way of plodding adults trying to overcome their own failed vision. The thinking that got into this fix in the first place—indeed into the Big Fix America finds itself today.
It is this invention that someone close to the DOE is looking at right now. Do I have any illusions? Very few. But if Qualcomm and the Cell Phone industry can advance the use of Smart Phones and the MacArthur Foundation can advance computer gaming in classrooms, then I consider it a miracle that my project is getting any consideration in high places.
I don’t know if you’ve even looked at some of my posts in EHG, but I’d pit my invention, element for element, against any embedded corporate tools or programs because while all support or reinforce the old culture, my concept neutralizes and reforms it according to a singular scientific principle.
Unless something on the order of what I’ve invented can somehow take hold and grow, our system of education, a product of the learning culture, will continue to harden like depleted soil. Change cannot grow in a vacuum or by demand. It must be set in motion and happen and flower. What I’ve built can deliver this kind of change.
I would appreciate it if you’d take a look. If you see something fresh and innovative and can do little more with it than be impressed, so be it. But I would like to have one of the most respected voices in reform know that such a concept exists. I can send you a portfolio if you are interested in knowing more.
Jeff Peyton
- At 11:15am on December 16, 2008,
Jennifer Parker said… - Here's the link to my Arne Duncan post, Susan.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/16/81510/577/681/673600
I just posted it.
- At 8:17pm on December 15, 2008,
Jennifer Parker said…
- Susan,
Thanks for picking up my diary from dKos. (I'm jenbie44). I was a little disappointed by how little traffic it got, so I'm thrilled it's on your site. I'm drafting a post about Arne Duncan now for the site.
- At 4:16pm on December 9, 2008,
philipkovacs said… - Hi Susan. It's 4:25 your time, and I can see you are online. I want to get a letter out re: Doug immediately. Can you post this call in your newsletter?
- At 4:57pm on December 7, 2008,
philipkovacs said…
- Thank you Susan. This will help us eliminate email clutter. You can turn off message alerts in the settings tab. That tab is in your upper right hand corner.
Susan Ohanian's Blog
What Duncan's selection means
I just posted an item about Duncan's selection on my website.
For starters, think about the fact that the Business Roundtable calls Duncan's selection a "sweet choice."
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_outrages.html?id=3576
For starters, think about the fact that the Business Roundtable calls Duncan's selection a "sweet choice."
http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_outrages.html?id=3576
Posted on December 16, 2008 at 10:27am — 7 Comments
Word is spreading
Good News. Sam Smith of Progressive Review send this out to his Undernews e-mail list.Sam is a longtime, savvy reporter on the D. C. scene. I am his number one fan. He's been putting quite a few sane things about education on his website.
EDUCATING FOR GREATNESS, NOT GRADES
From a group of educators
In 1983 a National Commission on Excellence in Education issued a "Nation At Risk Report" and set in motion a series of government-imposed reforms, all based on a false goal, student achievement i… Continue
EDUCATING FOR GREATNESS, NOT GRADES
From a group of educators
In 1983 a National Commission on Excellence in Education issued a "Nation At Risk Report" and set in motion a series of government-imposed reforms, all based on a false goal, student achievement i… Continue
Posted on December 11, 2008 at 8:15pm — 2 Comments
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