Monthly Archives: December 2012
An Interview with Alan November
On Friday, December 7, I was interviewed by Alan November, one of the great minds in innovating education. I was honored and humbled by the experience. I talked to him about how I spent the first five days of class with my students.
My idea of using these first five days to give students better research and organization skills so that they can own their learning came directly from an idea that Alan shared with several teachers at a conference back in April.
I was very impressed with how students responded to it. Have a listen to the interview and feel free to comment. While Alan and his mission are truly great, during the interview he always turned it around and made me feel like I was the one who was doing great things.
Thank you also to Brian Mull, who reassured me before and during the process, and for editing the interview to make me sound much more intelligent that I really am.
If you ever get the chance to see Alan, do it. And don’t be shy about taking chances for the sake of your students.
Here’s the link: http://novemberlearning.com/implementing-the-first-5-days-an-interview-with-ian-vanderschee/
Rational Expressions – Math and Basketball
Sometimes I write comics about things that have already happened. However, this time, the comic was written first.
Kyler had his very first basketball game later that same day, but when he realized that his team was losing, he stormed off the court crying, and we couldn’t get him to play for the rest of the game.
Other parents were supportive and said that it happens to everyone, and we’ve since talked to Kyler, so hopefully it will go better at the next game.
The lesson for me is this: Be careful what you write, because sometimes life imitates mathematically-driven amateur pseudo-art.
blue shirt khaki pants 