do no harm:


idit dobb-weinstein: "teaching is action and thinking at once. What I try to guard against most when I teach is not speaking as if my answer were conclusive, so as to avoid (to the extent possible) any kind of dogmatic appropriation. It is understandable why students might wish to imitate their teachers, but there are different modes of imitation. I try very hard to avoid the mimetic appropriation that is immediate, passive, and occludes thinking. One other reason is that if I made clear what my views were, and my views appeared as if they were final, it would preclude the possibility of first, students challenging me and second, learning from my students. The relation between the student and teacher is, to me, a dynamic relationship . . . Teaching and learning is a movement that occurs between. In other words, we are at once both agent and patient, both teacher and learner. If we are not very careful, we can do a great deal of harm. And that, too, I have learned from my teachers, Maimonides especially.

I believe my task is to provoke students to think and to engage them in genuine dialogue and questioning. To paraphrase a rabbinic saying, 'I have learned from my teachers, and I have learned from my peers, but I have learned most from my students.' And that is a continuous process of learning."

Friday, 4 June 2010

ESLR: complete conformity and silence

educator dan diamond explains the expected student learning outcome (ESLR):


"This is great...I think the eslrs are we are commited to producing students who will conform and not speak out about issues that are inhuman Consume but not question."
a source will reveal a scoop on confrontational speech class involving a veteran.  he wants to wait for final grades.  he said it got physical and was very unprofessional.  he seemed dismayed.
another source has the story on a political science uprising and firing. eckford helped depose the reigning . . . well . . . more details later . . .
anthropology exam was super awesome!!!! and i was not kicked out! yo!
nice try LACC!!!!!  and i loved my essay part on globalization!!!  it was so fun!!!!!
getting calls from the spiritual capricorn life coach telling me my LSAT is more important than Family Law.  but actually . . . 
i told him "you're amazing" when what i really meant was buzz off!  no sweat!  making it to the room will be half the battle, and not falling asleep during the boring thing!  sharpening my pencils and figuring out what to eat will be my main worry!!!!!  plus it will be so fun to be in the room with a bunch of nervous nerds who want to go to law school!
law is far more interesting than some stupid syllogisms and logic tests.  the LSAT is a measure of LSAT test-taking ability.  the prep books look so boring . . . now if i can defeat the law of probability and get below 25% wrong, i would take that as a mark of pride.   but with probability on my side, and a nice cram, and a good attitude, and some protein in my brain, boring!!!!!!!!! i hate to say it but i always aced stupid tests.  and with so many brilliant dyslexic friends, or friends who call themselves deprecatingly ADD, etc, just sitting still will be a major accomplishment, and that i can read the boring thing, and guessing my way through the mental obstacles.  the princeton review prep style is really the best.  they show you how it is a lot about elimination of bad choices, looking for trick words, working probability, and not getting hung up on problem questions.
so anyway wish me luck on monday.
and if you have a funny story about anything at LACC, i may just keep this blog going forever.
my friend vikram singh was truly aghast at my tales of che guevera and stalinist censorship tactics (via a kind-hearted but misguided eckford).  but vikram really got the main point:  that at least this was worth a dialogue.
if the classes were so truly entirely abysmal, i wouldn't be writing.  it is because there is quality, that i feel inclined to engage, and ask for more.  and because i love los angelenos so much, and think they deserve a good free school.
a petition circulated in defense of  my teacher asserting his commitment to gender equality.  now we're talking.  proactive steps to ensure that this school does not go up in flames!!!!!  that history is tinted with the future.
and the future is very committed to equality.
and end to the linguistics of aggression which stratify and ghettoize women, homosexuals, latinos, etc.
its so nice we will all be one family!!!!  and we can be free of racism and sexism in the classroom.  and even the most progressive of us can look inside and ask 
am i being fair?
is it kind?
are we working for a better future?
am i contributing to endemic oppression?
how can we do more to repair inequity?
how can teachers better respect the needs of students?
i read that one in every six american woman has tried bulimia.  and if even eating disorders could be spoken with respectfully.  and persons from any walk of life.  transgendered  and christian . . . bisexual . . . or . . . veteran . . . islamic . .. latin . . . free to experience a
HATE-FREE ZONE
at LACC forever.
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