from clay to mosaics
Posted by Walter Ono on Thursday, March 12, 2015
My opa emailed this fascinating video to me and I had to share.
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A colleague who's been teaching for many years found this video the other day and thought it was the best thing she'd ever encountered for teaching thesis-writing. It would likely be useful for anyone teaching English Language Arts from grade 9-12. Check it out!
Last Friday I had planned a fairly tame 10-minute devotional time (share a way God showed up or encouraged you over Spring Break) for my Spanish 7 class, but when I arrived for setup, a few boys were gathered around a Bible looking at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God" (NASB). One of the boys concluded from the passage that gay people don't go to heaven, while others argued that Jesus paid for all of our sins so that they can. Seeing an opportunity to discuss these very important issues, I asked the boys if they wanted to invite the larger class to talk about it during devotional time and they said yes, so we did.
We've now spent 3 devotional times of students sharing stories, asking questions of each other and of me, responding to one another, and recalling Scripture. I've had students slip me notes or questions in secret and am wondering whether I should set up a question box to take more anonymous questions and comments. Without fail, there are a few hands still up at the end of our 10 minutes when I have to remind them that we need to move on to Spanish class. We've skimmed the surface of many issues and their connections, including salvation, sin, attraction, mental health, consent to affection, love, repentance, friendship, nature and nurture, religion, and orientation. The kids' opinions, knowledge, and experiences range widely, which makes for very rich discussion. I try bring in my knowledge and experience where relevant to clear up some misconceptions or to offer a differing standpoint for the kids to consider. I've spent more time reviewing the things I've read and heard to determine what to share and how to guide the kids through tricky but important concepts and issues without confusing or overwhelming them. This is especially interesting as our board is meeting next week to discuss how they're going to go about handling the new bill on student-initiated GSAs. I'm not sure where any of the staff at the school stand on these issues, nor their comfort in discussing them with kids (recall that many staff are also parents of the students). I just pre-ordered a copy of Nick Sousanis' comics dissertation, Unflattening. I didn't even know this book existed until: 1. I decided to write an influential prof of mine with whom I hadn't spoken in 7 years. 2. We met for a visit and I mentioned how Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Making Comics (which I read last summer) opened my eyes to the world in a new way, and prompted me to consider implications for my personal work as a writer/artist, as well as for teaching. 3. She alerted me to Sousanis' upcoming talk at the U of C, which I regrettably have to miss. For those who are interested, it's 9 April @ 9:30am in Soc Sci 1114. The fact that the book is highly praised by McCloud, and that Sousanis' background is in education, pretty much guarantees that this will be an epic read for me. So pumped! For any modern languages teachers out there (or any teachers looking to use an online study tool for their classes), Quizlet is an excellent tool. It:
If you click this link, you'll get a 20% discount on a teacher account: https://quizlet.com/upgrade?referrer=Carly_Friesen. I upgraded to a teacher account to use the tool for ongoing assessment of my students and to eliminate ads. Basic (free) features:
The perks of a teacher account: |
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