Alien Pedagogy

Chris Lehmann offers a good review of the benefits and problems with pre-service teacher training here. I liked the post because it was rational and considered. It offered personal anecdotes, which a blog should do. It was more than just a list of links — in contained insight.

It made me realize that I’m seeing far too much stale blogging in my PLN feeds lately.

Where’s the Teacher offers a good point on American education here.

Of course, even if the state gave a clear-cut statement of purpose to education, 1/3 of the educators would riot.

Dr. McLeod posts this “Shift Happens” influenced video asking how we should teach students to master low level content. It’s a relevant question, but I’d prefer to be forwarded to some sort of research before I enter into an unproductive line of speculation.

In a recent PD session, Dennis Sale reported that the research (mostly Marzano’s) shows that students are unable to interact and manipulate information at a high level until they’ve memorized the content that goes with it. In other words, a thinking curriculum is more effective when higher-order thinking is taught alongside rote learning.

What research do should we refer to in order to balance our classroom teaching?