Hundreds Of West High Students Hold Sit-In

Posted this on Facebook this morning. What do you think about this? Is this effective? How much voice should students have when restructuring curriculum? What happens if the school board goes forward with this proposal?

Whose Curriculum is This Anyway?

"There is no better formula for alienation and burn-out than loss of control of one's labor."- Michael Apple in Official Knowledge

So, I've been thinking a lot recently about what gets taught in the classroom and why it's taught lately. And, since there's really no such thing as a "neutral curriculum" some questions to consider:

• What counts as good teaching in your school? or Who gets recognized as a good teacher and by whom?
• Who decides what content is taught in your classroom?
• Do you design day to day lessons or does someone else?
• Why do you have the textbook(s) you do?
  
• Whose voices are included? Whose are excluded?
• Who is deciding if you're doing a good job and how did they come by this authority?

Let's hear about these some of your thoughts in the comments!

Conversation

I have spent a majority of my professional life as a high school English educator. This was the routine for quite some time. Overworked. Overtired. Overwhelmed.

For a variety of reasons, I decided to pursue my Ph.D at UW - Madison in Curriculum and Instruction emphasizing in Multicultural Education.

One of the issues that I've always had with "Institutions of Higher Learning" is the propensity for the hypereducated to become lost in theory and lose sight of what the day-to-day grind is like. This is something that while, perhaps understandable, is not useful.

And of what use is knowledge if there is no practical application?

So, now I'm both a professional educator and a professional learner. I'm in between as so many teachers are. Being a teacher is a Both/And experience. Both teacher and student. Educator and Parent. And so on. It's often a difficult thing to navigate. Hence the name: Borderlands.

So, in an effort to help make sense of and balance theory and pragmatism, I thought I would create a "Third Space" like a digital "Cheers!" for educators to kick around ideas and discuss what's important to them and what they see. Both as students and as teachers.

Many of my friends are teachers. I'm meeting more and more folks who are crazy smart and full of fantastic ideas. I hope that this can become a place where we can share, commiserate, and create, but it's dependent on conversation.

I don't want to have a space where I rant. I don't have the time, nor do I have the energy. I want to put ideas out there and hear from real teachers who are interested in bettering their craft. So I'll do my best to bring what I'm hearing, reading and learning to the floor and let folks discuss it.

While there's never an easy answer and never time enough, it's good to know you're not alone.

MBD