Hi Bev, Thanks for your post. Well said! I have a hard time reading posts about all the minutae of "standards, objectives, benchmarks" etc precisely because it ain't that easy to spell out learning. Whenever I get pushed into this kind of thinking I go back to my kids and remember that learning doesn't look, smell, and feel the same as what's in those "precious" documents we all carry around and that some of us are done in by. And, to respond your wondering (hypothetical question, in this case) about why Ellin Keene may have written her book: I think that part of her reason in writing her book was to clear it up for herself, to unmuddy the waters of her own thinking that was probably getting translated in less than intended ways in classrooms, to deepen her understanding, to teach herself as much as to teach us. Elisa
Elisa Waingort Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual Dalhousie Elementary Calgary, Canada The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. —Helen Keller Visit my blog, A Teacher's Ruminations, and post a message. http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/ In my opinion, this is a PERFECT example of what's wrong with some current educational movements, especially the extre,e standards, objective, and RTI movements right now. We used to have scholars such as Jerry Harste who simply refused to "make easy" what is actually hard and trying to pin things down with ease distorted what was actually being said and what could be said. I've always liked his phrase "mucking around" when I think of inquiry. Also related to this line of thinking is the "uncertainty principle". Our profession has become (through forces not always within our control) adept at Naming Things. We want to come to an easy answer quickly and "come to consensus." We are becoming intolerant of messy thinking, reflection, and things that just take time. I wish we could have a little dose of Piaget right now. If only he could come back, look and listen, and try to pin things down without destroying them, I'd love to see it. I don't think he'd be proud of us. Even though assimilate and accommodate do name thinking, it's not narrowed. For evidence of that, see how difficult it is for people to do other than recite a definition. It's so hard to help college students understand these terms and many never do. Even the ones that do seem to need high-level review if they are away from thinking about them a bit. Not everything can be skewered and mounted in a "butterfly" collection of terms such as author's purpose and theme. Thank God, I say. And this is precisely why I read this list. I have others to help me understand without "compliance." Most people who post on this list have become tolerant of the lack of easy and SIMPLE answers and are willing to struggle with a meaning invented and used by them. (even though I suppose there really isn't anything new under the sun.) Now, I have to happily unmuddy the waters a bit.--or muddy them, depending on your point of view, I guess. What was Ellin Keene's purpose for writing To Understand? If we can articulate that, we are a long ways along the road of understanding understanding. And I'm sure there are some who have put the book aside because it is neither easy nor quick to comprehend and apply. What it is, is a brilliant articulation of putting theory into practice in the complicated, messy, challenging, and thrilling real world. Her "multiple choices items" on tests don't have A-D. They go much farther than that. Or possibly her multiple choice answers are A, B, C, D (all of the above), or E (some of the above, but we're still figuring out which), or F(not all of the above, but it will take more work to figure out which). And what happens to the teachers who are okay with, and challenged by, discussions to help each other develop deep understanding -- when they're forced to "teach" some programs, many of which remind me of Catechism questions and answers, or the chanting of the beautiful, ancient rituals in some churches (which at least helps us . Memorizing that E=MC squared doesn't get us much further toward understanding. I really do wish Piaget were here. My limited understanding of him would say that we in American education today have been forced to articulate thinking in such a narrow way that it's been rendered nearly useless. But, you know, I'm not blaming us. It's been done to us. Maybe. Ellin wouldn't have struggled to understand understanding ("Ya'all say that, but you never say what that means...") if she had given up on us all. She believes we can do it. And believe me, I do know firsthand what it can cost us as teachers. But if we don't do it, think what it costs our students. Hmmmm. Extended thinking to follow. Bev P.
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