Carl Sagan is bright light in human history, and one of my greatest inspirations. In his wonderful exploration of pseudoscience + our defense against it in The Demon Haunted World, Sagan outlines what he calls our Baloney Detection Kit as a means of guarding ourselves and each other from daily cunning and deceit.
Read MoreLife is a journey—we're at the helm.
The more we collaborate, support, challenge and reinforce, the stronger we all become.
We are all gathered together as crew on an adventure here in this classroom, a cohort of Earthlings exploring the Uni(Multi?!)verse on Spaceship Earth and in the Spaceships of Imagination.
To guide us in our journeys?
Our map.
Read More"A still more glorious dawn awaits—not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise—a morning filled with 400 billion suns."
Read MoreEventually I'd like to see all of my dream units outlined and detailed—from the annual overview, to the unit/week/day overview, to the individual lesson plans—all outlined here and exercising multiple intelligences, scaffolding, PBL, Bloom's Taxonomy, real-world application and the Magic of Reality.
For now—I'm bridging the gaps with placeholders.
"I would teach how science works as much as I would teach what science knows...I would find ways to reward curiosity. In the end, it is the curious that change the world."
Read MoreWhat is your philosophy and experience re: teaching ethics, social awareness, values and social skills, articulation, persuasion and decision?
Read MoreOur classrooms are wide and varied as our ship of the imagination scours the great High Seas of Reality*—but our home base is a special lair—our Learning Lair—where we exercise and hone our superpowers, a sacred and magical place, a sanctuary of curiosity and wonderstanding.
Key Elements in a Learning Lair...
Read MoreAll Superheroes have it, and it can't be given—it must be earned. We can help each other earn, exercise + reinforce it by generously, curiously, courageously + consciously spotting, supporting + holding each other + ourselves accountable.
Shame and humiliation shut down our learning centers and distract us with defensiveness.
And we don't have time for distraction.
We have before us an incredible mission—*We* are the superheroes. The entire Future lay at our mercy, dependent upon our discipline.
It will require courage, tenacity, generosity, curiosity and attention to detail. We will fall and we will rise and we will battle to help bolster and lift all Life around us. Again and again and again. For as long as we can keep ourselves afloat amidst the apparently infinite uni/multiverse...maybe even multiverse?!
And practice starts now.
Read MoreWords Build Reality. Thoughts become words become action become habit become Future.
...
Together we navigate the unknown—together we crew the Ships of the Imagination on the Great High Seas of Reality.
Read MoreI want to ignite intellects and souls, young and old, today and Tomorrow with the tools and powers and magic of the Story of Reality.
I want to spark the #CuriosityContagion in our Superheroes—to spread curiosity skipping and sparkling about, individual to classroom, classroom to community, today to tomorrow, here and beyond.
I want to build a stronger and more sustainable #FoundationOfTheFuture, enriched with sparkling curiosity and reinforced with the solid rebar of wonderstanding—because there is no more valuable imperative than that foundation.
I want to fight hard for education from the micro to the macro—I want to ignite our collective curiosity and put it to work solving real world problems so that our youth are prepared for today and Tomorrow, so that the spark *might* flicker on, defiantly against the darkness.
I want to help train Superheroes. I want to ignite Stars.
I want to Light up the night.
Read MoreWe understand the importance of communication, the sharing of ideas, experiences and curiosities, the intellectual coffee houses of the Enlightenment—and we practice these daily between ourselves, each other and our collective crew in our Field Notes, Learning Logs and C3.
We document and archive our journeys so that other future adventurers *might* benefit from our adventures and experiences.
And we also understand the importance of reaching beyond our own immediate circle and extending our reach out into our community, to send letters of our adventures to our families back home.
And we do this in the form of publishing—a real world practice through real-world, professional tools. Crew members get to see their work in the wild and observe it from a distance and in the public realm. As a part of this public service/practice, crew members will also cite their resources to empower future readers to dig deeper and see for themselves.
Read MoreWhy does a horn make music?
Why, oh why, oh why?
Because the horn-blower blows it.
Goodbye goodbye goodbye
Inspiration from teachers, from storytelling to lesson planning, in between and beyond.
Nothing is writ—all is evolving. These units, these blogs—this whole project is a perpetual Work in Progress, honing toward complete units for sharing, discussing and forever improving.
Please shout if you have any ideas or questions!
#ShineOn.
(in case you're wondering—bolded items are generally future links!)
Learning Lair Scientists Mathematicians Communicators Lesson Plans Whole Journal
Tips, ideas or fellow #BrainBattalions? Please, reach out!
