JUNE 2008 |
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Overview of the June issue (3:01 min) Listen/Download MP3 (2.76 MB)
Teachers Need to Share Their Ideas, by Steve Gardiner (7:47 min)
In this audio article from the June 2008 issue of the Phi Delta Kappan magazine, author Steve Gardiner urges teachers to accept their professional responsibility to share their ideas for improving education with their peers. Listen/Download MP3 (7.13 MB)
The Inherent Interdependence of Teachers?, by Ilana Seidel Horn (25:11 min)
In this audio article from the June 2008 issue of the Phi Delta Kappan magazine, author Ilana Seidel Horn explores one aspect of the profession of teaching. Listen/Download MP3 (23 MB)
Excellence: The Emperor's New Clothes, by Matthew S. Vos (18:44 min)
In this audio article from the June 2008 issue of the Phi Delta Kappan magazine, author Matthew S. Vos explores whether we know what we mean by "excellence" and asks whether we've considered its darker side. Listen/Download MP3 (17.1 MB) |
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MAY 2008 |
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Overview of the May issue (3:01 min) Listen/Download MP3 (2.76 MB)
Rethinking the Science Fair, by John Craven and Tracy Hogan (7:47 min)
How much did a student learn about science in the process of creating the poster she is standing beside at the science fair? Probably not as much as we like to pretend, say Mr. Craven and Ms. Hogan. Listen/Download MP3 (7.13 MB)
Have You Googled Your Teacher Lately?
Teachers’ Use of Social Networking Sites, by Heather L. Carter, Teresa S. Foulger, and Ann Dutton Ewbank (25:11 min)
Common sense doesn’t necessarily prevail when teachers plunge into the world of social networking sites. Disastrous consequences can ensue, and the authors urge educators to consider the potential outcomes before they post. Listen/Download MP3 (23 MB)
Conduct Unbecoming, by Howard Parkhurst (18:44 min)
An aggressively immature student teacher severely tested the patience of his university supervisor and his cooperating teacher. Why didn’t they simply boot him out? Because Mr. Parkhurst realized that the student’s departure would have been a great loss to the profession whose norms he was flouting. Listen/Download MP3 (17.1 MB) |
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APRIL 2008 |
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Overview of the April issue (2:25 min) Listen/Download MP3 (2.22 MB)
A Nation at Risk and No Child Left Behind: Déjà Vu for
Administrators?, by John W. Hunt (32:28 min)
From the perspective of an administrative career that was bookended by A Nation at Risk and No Child Left Behind, Mr. Hunt assesses the impact of three successive reform movements on the roles of building- and district-level administrators. Listen/Download MP3 (29.7 MB)
In Praise of Reinventing the Wheel, by Laura Thomas (10:12 min)
If schools want programs that work for them, Ms. Thomas argues, it often makes sense to start from scratch instead of copying someone else’s program. Listen/Download MP3 (9.33 MB)
Is Homework Working?, by Lisa Mangione (10:56 min)
Homework should be independent practice for the student, Ms. Mangione asserts. It should not be graded, and it should not require the parents’ help to complete. Listen/Download MP3 (10.0 MB) |
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MARCH 2008 |
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Overview of the March issue (3:10 min) Listen/Download MP3 (2.91 MB)
Technology Education: A Contemporary Perspective,
by Len S. Litowitz and Scott A. Warner (16:04 min)
While the authors agree with much in the June 2007 article by James Howlett and Brad Huff, they want to emphasize that “industrial arts” has been largely replaced by “technology education,” a much broader
curriculum aimed at all students in all grades.
Listen/Download MP3 (14.7 MB)
Industrial Arts: Call It What You Want, the Need Still Exists,
by James Howlett (16:11)
Teaching “technological literacy” at the expense of hands-on skills training is wrong for the students, wrong for the economy, and wrong for the nation, Mr. Howlett argues. Listen/Download MP3 (14.7 MB)
Everyday Pedagogy: Lessons from Basketball, Track, and Dominoes, by Na'ilah Suad Nasir (23:24 min)
A bright, confident high school basketball star becomes embarrassed and withdrawn when asked to solve a math problem. What would it take, Ms. Nasir wonders, for him and others to flourish as successfully in a classroom setting as they do in their out-of-school learning contexts?
Listen/Download MP3 (21.4 MB) |
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FEBRUARY 2008
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Overview of the February issue (3:14 min) Listen/Download MP3 (2.97 MB)
Cultivating Leadership for Tomorrow’s Schools of Education,
by Matt Hartley and Tom Kecskemethy (38:00 min)
What does it take to convince an education professor with leadership potential to seriously consider becoming a dean? Mr. Hartley and Mr. Kecskemethy highlight what was learned at a conference where deans and mid-career faculty members discussed ways to tap and prepare future leaders. Listen/Download MP3 (34.7 MB)
Literacy Lessons on Location, by Mary F. Borba (11:51 min)
Ms. Borba uses real public school classrooms to teach prospective educators that no commercial reading program can accomplish what a skilled teacher can. Listen/Download MP3 (10.8 MB)
TECHNOLOGY
New Software, Disposable Software, and Second Life,
by Royal Van Horn (13:56 min) Listen/Download MP3 (12.7 MB) |
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JANUARY 2008 |
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Overview of the January issue (3:37 min) Listen/Download MP3 (3.31 MB)
Examining the Incentives in Educational Research, by Dominic J. Brewer, Dan D. Goldhaber (17:16 min)
Why isn’t there more educational research that is actually useful to policy makers? Mr. Brewer and Mr. Goldhaber find the answer in a surprising place: economics. Listen/Download MP3 (15.8 MB)
Flying (Partially) Blind: School Leaders’ Use of Research in Decision Making, by Lance D. Fusarelli (17:35 min)
There is a common perception that educational leaders ignore research when they make decisions about school improvement. But, Mr. Fusarelli suggests, when the research is relevant to practitioners’ needs and when school leaders foster a culture of data literacy, the picture changes.
Listen/Download MP3 (16.1 MB)
IN CANADA
How Much Diversity in Our Schools?, by Ben Levin (12:46 min) Listen/Download MP3 (11.6 MB)
Shakespeare’s Improbable Journey to Inner Mongolia, by Richard Isenberg (14:46 min)
Mr. Isenberg’s journey to Inner Mongolia, where he helps university students mount a production of a Shakespeare play, leads him to reflect on an earlier, perhaps even more improbable journey. With the guidance and encouragement of a caring teacher, he went from being a student with learning problems to becoming a teacher himself.
Listen/Download MP3 (13.5 MB) |
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DECEMBER 2007
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Overview of the December issue (4:00 min) Listen/Download MP3 (3.67 MB)
The Return of Civic Education, by Donovan R. Walling (22:43 min)
NCLB is only the latest nail in the coffin of civic education, whose demise began in the 1960s. However, Mr. Walling reports, organizations such as the Center for Civic Education are beginning to achieve success in their efforts to revive the subject. Listen/Download MP3 (20.8 MB)
Point of View: Learning as a Subversive Activity, by J. Amos Hatch (9:03 min)
Mr. Hatch has a message for those who care about education: we’re going to learn in spite of the system. Listen/Download MP3 (8.29 MB)
Thoughts on Teaching: Twisted NCLB or Twisting NCLB?, by Bobby Ann Starnes (13:32 min) Listen/Download MP3 (12.3 MB) |
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NOVEMBER 2007 |
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Overview of the November issue (3:18 min) Listen/Download MP3 (3.03 MB)
From the Mouths of Middle-Schoolers: Important Changes for High School and College, by William J. Bushaw (22:45 min)
What can we learn from middle-schoolers about reforming our high schools and colleges? More than you might guess, according to Mr. Bushaw. Listen/Download MP3 (20.8 MB)
Revolution from the Faculty Lounge: The Emergence of Teacher-Led Schools and Cooperatives, by Joe Williams (37:10 min)
In a movement that is spreading throughout the country, teachers are forming cooperatives and contracting to run schools. With this professional empowerment, Mr. Williams shows, comes the flexibility to make instructional decisions that are responsive to students’ changing needs.
Listen/Download MP3 (34 MB)
TECHNOLOGY
Van Horn’s Rules, by Royal Van Horn (11:54 min)
Listen/Download MP3 (10.9 MB) |
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OCTOBER 2007 |
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Overview of the October issue (3:28 min) Listen/Download MP3 (3.18 MB)
The 17th Bracey Report on the Condition of Public Education
The First Time ‘Everything Changed’, by Gerald W. Bracey (28:54 min)
Mr. Bracey looks back at an event in the Fifties that seemed to change everything for the U.S. as a whole and for U.S. education in particular. Working his way forward to the present day, he makes it clear that the time when everything changed also marked the point at which things started staying the same. Listen/Download MP3 (26.4 MB)
Learning from the World: Achieving More by Doing Less, by Lawrence Baines (15:49 min)
Countries that score higher in international comparisons than does the U.S. also require less time in school, assign less homework, and use less high-tech gadgetry. Mr. Baines argues that maybe it is time we learned from them. Listen/Download MP3 (14.4 MB)
Bridges, Tunnels, and School Reform: It’s the System, Stupid, by Thomas F. Kelly (9:47 min)
What could the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey teach school leaders about reform? Exactly what they need to know to succeed, Mr. Kelly suggests. Listen/Download MP3 (8.96 MB) |
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SEPTEMBER 2007
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Overview of the September issue (3:02 min) Listen/Download MP3 (2.79 MB)
Homework Inoculation and the Limits of Research, by Bruce Jackson
(27:08 min)
Educational research is unlikely to uncover the truth about homework, Mr. Jackson argues. He suggests that, depending on its nature, homework in the elementary grades can have either positive or perversely negative effects on school performance. Listen/Download MP3 (24.8 MB)
Vonnegut Warned Us, by Clare Fugate (8:48 min)
Ms. Fugate finds a disturbing resonance between a Kurt Vonnegut science fiction story and certain recent developments in U.S. education policy. Listen/Download MP3 (8.07 MB)
IN CANADA
Schools, Poverty, and the Achievement Gap, by Ben Levin (12:45 min)
Listen/Download MP3 (11.6 MB) |
