Comments on: Teachable Moment(s)

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:33:46 +0000

I really enjoyed reading about your experiences at The Adrenaline Forrest. I also enjoyed the video that was on youtube. As I was reading I couldn’t help but recall my college experience when I took a course that was required for my major in health and physical education. The course title was adventure based education. West Chester University who offers a program which I believe is second to none in PE came up with the course about 10 years ago and they have added things each year. You start off the semester with team building activity and eventually move into the high ropes course which is the final exam. I learned more about myself and my classmates during that semester than any other course or class I have ever been a part of. I am sure you experienced a lot of the same feelings whether good or bad, proud or scared that I experienced. The sense of accomplishment after something like that can only be done first hand; I don’t think there are any words that can describe it. I plan to look more into The Adrenaline Forrest and I hope some day I have the opportunity to do something like this again.

By: Jeff Cerar

Jeff Cerar — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:16:13 +0000

I just started a mock stock market project for my senior class. Might have been a rough time to give $20,000 to a kid (good thing it’s not real money). The students witnessed first hand the risk that is involved with the stock market as every student’s portfolio was crushed. We then looked into why the stock market has been so mercurial and what to do in the future. Should we buy more, or get out? It began a debate and even 17 year olds had some intelligent things to say.

By: Janice Smith

Janice Smith — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:08:16 +0000

My frustration is that to teach these things we’re required to ‘throw out the curriculum’. Why aren’t they in our curriculums to begin with? Maybe if they were we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in.

By: Lerrin Currie

Lerrin Currie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:48:52 +0000

I would say that all of the topics that have been suggested through this blog would be good to discuss with all students, however, I think they should be discussed at the right time. Just as the original post stated, the teacher had his students reflect on what was happening on September 11th, and found that as they continued watching the news, it may have been a bad idea. So by saying that there is a time and place for all of these things to be discussed, I think that most are worthy topics, and all should know about them before they come into contact with them, because if they don’t they are going to run into troubles later on.

Sorry I did not mention another topic for thought, but I thought I would reflect on everything that was being said.

By: Resources on the US Economic Crisis « Edumacation

Resources on the US Economic Crisis « Edumacation — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:48:37 +0000

[...] Edumacation Experiments in Teaching, Learning, and Technology « Top 5 Lessons I’ve Learned About Blogging Resources on the US Economic Crisis October 8, 2008 Since my 9th grade English classes are researching the economy (trying to come up with a plan for spending that $700 Billion we have to spend on rescuing banks), I thought I’d share some of the great resources I’ve found on this topic so far. Maybe it can help somebody else, like the readers over at Weblogg-ed. [...]

By: Blogging on the Bay | History in the Making–Use Current Events to Teach

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:49:28 +0000

[...] from Teachable Moment(s) by Will Richardson “In the midst of all of this angst and uncertainty that we’re dealing with, there are a host of teachable moments that would serve to make all of our kids better, more able, more functional citizens.” Teachable Moment(s) by Will Richardson [...]

By: Susanne Nobles

Susanne Nobles — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:22:52 +0000

I am reworking much of my year anyway due to my choice to integrate essential questions, so maybe I am in a more fortunate place because I am creating as the opportunities open up. I have added an editorial assignment at the end of my utopias study with my students where they get to write their opinion of their world. They will then have the chance to be chosen for publication by our local paper’s teen section. We have been looking at our world through the lens of Huxley and Voltaire, and I know they are doing great stuff in their government classes right now (see this blog for one class’s work: http://www.citizenblash.blogspot.com/) with the current crises and election, so I hope to encourage an interdisciplinary approach here.

By: Erik

Erik — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:43:14 +0000

Discussing House elections is a great idea, but why stop there? Elections occur throughout the US every year on a state and local level. I have a feeling that the majority of young Americans feel that their responsibility to be politically active only rolls around every four years. What are schools teaching about local government? Many teachable moments are just down the street at the local town hall, not just on Pennsylvania Ave.

By: Teaching Current Events in English « Edumacation

Teaching Current Events in English « Edumacation — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:10:20 +0000

[...] of Philosophy Teaching Current Events in English October 2, 2008 Inspired by Weblogg-ed’s recent post, I decided to postpone my next unit and spend some time working with students to do some research [...]

By: thehurt

thehurt — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:12:44 +0000

Thanks for posting this – definitely an inspiration. I had a bit of a hole in my 9th Grade English curriculum because our district didn’t order the book we were going to teach. Rather than pulling out a trusty old book that we taught last year (gag), I decided to put together a short unit on the economic situation. I’m still planning it out, but we’ll be starting next week on some research (partly using your topics as a guide), writing summaries and sharing research, and putting together informed opinion pieces in the form of letters to congressmen (or presidential candidates – not sure which, yet). I’m really excited about this. Thanks for providing the spark!

By: Throw It Out « Amy’s Weblog

Throw It Out « Amy’s Weblog — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:24:33 +0000

[...] October 2, 2008, 5:24 pm Filed under: Uncategorized This blog is by Will Richardson and is titled Teachable Moment(s). I thought this blog was interesting because he talks about his personnel experience of throwing [...]

By: Craig Nansen

Craig Nansen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:07:27 +0000

First a quick quote that I have used when presenting to teachers – “It’s too bad that the people who really know how to run this country are too busy teaching.”

Teachable moments – I remember how upset I was when my daughter (in 5th grade at the time) came home in January, 1990 with homework about earthquakes. That was what they were studying then, cause that was where it came in the science book.

But this was the school year when San Francisco had a major earthquake in October of 1989, and it happened right before the start of the ’89 World Series, live on TV. The news media was filled with information about that earthquake and earthquakes in general – live TV coverage, newspapers,and magazines. No WWW at that time

Talk about a teachable moment!

And this teacher chose to ignore it, even though he had been teaching about earthquakes for 20+ years, cause that wasn’t when it came up in his textbook.

Let’s applaud the teachers that do change their lessons to take advantage of the teachable moments and encourage others to do the same. But realize not all teachers are willing to do so.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:12:54 +0000

Another former SS teacher here.

Another point to discuss/debate is the role to which the Federal government should intervene in this crisis. It has become quite clear that this is not a partisan issue as both sides of the aisle have voted both ways.

It also is a great opportunity to have a discussion on leadership, what is is, how it works, who has is and who doesn’t. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, it is a great opportunity to watch and study the process, especially in an election year. What would be really interesting would be to discuss the ramifications on House elections, not just the Presidential election.

By: Chad

Chad — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:03:04 +0000

As a SS teacher of middle school students, I provide lots of opportunity for open forum. We use current events to teach journalism skills as well as enticing discussion (my hope is to turn some of these archaic handwritten current events into blogs!!! But in my classroom, there is little conversation that is off limits. Certainly I teach the curriculum, but at times like this, we can have great conversations about the world we live in and STILL tie it in. One of the problems with history classrooms, is that we are so used to doing things linearly, but so what if we teach a little electoral college now, even though the map says we aren’t supposed to get there until January.

A quick story. I encouraged my students to watch the debate on Friday evening be prepared to come into class on Monday and discuss what they noticed about the debate itself. Almost 90% of my students were more concerned with Jim Lehrer’s attempts to get the candidates to talk to each other, than they were with the substance of the debate. While I thought we would get into some of the substance, in several of my classes we began discussions about the types of questions we ask and body language and to remember those things when we debate later in the year. Teaching is messy (just like using technology) but that’s what makes it fun!

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:04:52 +0000

In addition to “The political process (or lack thereof) of the two Houses of Congress” I think actual lessons on the importance of working together toward a common goal do much for students. Not that any kids I know would use the Republicans and Democrats in Congress as an excuse for not wanting to work with “her” again… I guess I’m just more frustrated than ever about the talk of “reaching across the aisle” followed by actions that show the opposite.

I am in the fortunate position of teaching in a parochial school where I am actually encouraged to use teachable moments when appropriate and NOT teach to the test… and our kids actually score better than area public school kids on those tests.