Is anybody out there...?

Ah, the wonder of it. I can now do what I am most use to and have a dialgoue with myself. The freedom! The power! The total irresponsibility of it all!

So, has EMHS moved? Are we heading in a "good" direction? My Advocacy focused a great deal on the social aspect of the school, when discussing vision. Some felt that we already have the academics in place. Is this true?

Helllooooo....

Ah, the wonder of the movement that just sort of..... What was I saying? The phenomenom would be an Inquiry Project worthy of the adjective "epic".

Advocacy

During my four years at EMHS, I have heard many things about Advocacy. Many students believe it to be a waste of time, while others use it to do homework. There are still other groups of students, and teachers, that use Advocacy in different ways, such as games, or school projects. The first EMHS blood drive was done through an Advocacy class, and Student Government uses this time. I know Advocacies that have used this time to work on other community service projects, or even help tutor or be tutored.

There are apparently many different views about this part of our school. I listened to one of the people who helped write the original charter talk about the Vision of Advocacy. I won't elaborate on it, for fear of misrepresenting the ideas, but I wonder if our Advocacy time is truly accomplishing this vision.

There are numerous questions to be addressed about this time period-What is truly the best method for informing students and staff of important announcements? What is the real purpose of Advocacy, and are students/teachers aware of this? Finally, what do you believe Advocacy ought to be, and whose responsibility is this?

What do you think can be improved at EMHS?

The EMHS Charter outlines the school's purposes and goals in challenging terms, outlining a strong vision for the development of our school. BUT is what is envisioned in the Charter the current reality at EMHS? If so, GREAT! If not, what areas would you like to see the EMHS community work together to improve?



You can find the EMHS Charter Renewal on the school's website http://www.eastmountainhigh.net/ under the Governing Council tab.

Inquiry

Allow this thread to continue any discussions of Inquiry Projects.

EMHS Student Ideas/Thoughts

Lunch time musings

1) A network for the school that allows a freer flow of documents. (How to utilize/monitor)
2) Inquiry Projects: why has it deviated so far? Teacher's complain that students do not want to do it, but maybe teachers are not presenting it well. Can "original" intent be regained? What about math and science? Students meet with all teachers to discuss.

What is Inquiry? (Can find some information in EMHS Charter on EMHS website. Do a web search on Inquiry learning.) Do you have to have a conclusion? Why does discussion not count in the presentation.

Project: Eliminate paper? Is a paper necessary for a "good" presentation? Shouldn't students have more freedom in the presentation - less rubric-ess?

Open up the audience minds about subject; wouldn't a seminar be a good method. Research only "goes so far". Should the presentation require audience participation? It would help audience invest in the topic.

Whole Inquiry days?

Guidelines are necessary and students should be able to take it and run with it. At present, guidelines are too limited?

How can students be inspired to do inquiry? Spread an attitude.

Is the dislike of inquiry perpetuated by upper-classmen? There has not been a lot of change in four years. There is no way to get 100% buy-in. Shouldn't students realize what they are getting into by coming to EMHS?

Not all students wanted to come here - they were forced.

It would be helpful for advocates to go over what EMHS is all about. Share the goals and methods of conrnerstones.

Where was the inspiration lost? Students need the freedom to find something they are truly passionate about. What are the implications of a student (or students) who wait until the last minute? Maybe one of the biggest problems is that students cannot pick questions.

(By the way, I only acted as a "transcriber" and did my best, as an adult and teacher, not to misrpresent the thoughts of the students.)

EMHS

I want to create different strands of conversation that will intermingle at times and, at other times, go their own ways. This particular strand is about EMHS specifically. I realize that there is some danger in opening up a strand of this nature. If people succumb to negativity and feel the need to lash out, then I hope that others will not react in kind.

Something I would like to examine is "how is EMHS an exemplary CHARTER (i.e alternative) school?" We obviously have a fine school, but is it because we are truly pushing the envelope or is it because we do common practices well?

I am not commenting on the value of either approach. I am inquiring into the subject. I feel that value judgements need to be put aside for now and description of perception will help keep things civil.

Links for discussion (from John)

I just wanted to add these links to the blog so that they're part of our blogosphere.

Or perhaps I just wanted an excuse to say 'blogosphere.'

From John's email:

I wish to start the investigation by asking, “What is Education?” I am including some links to some readings or pasting some readings, in the hope that we can use the readings as a catalyst. We can then use various topics as paths and writings as guides to explore the terrain.



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/mlk/king/words/education.html

http://www.christianparents.com/edpurpos.htm

http://www.nmcpr.state.nm.us/nmac/parts/title06/06.030.0002.htm (Education as a checklist?)

http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/mission/mission.html

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctequaled0423.artapr23,0,6491684.story?track=rss

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070909023810AAbVgLd

Assessment

Use this thread to comment on educational assessment tools. How can we evaluate learning? Are standardized tests effective?

On "What is Education?"

In response to John's first post. Stringfellow Barr's essay(?) on dialogue has some very valid ideas in terms of starting a discussion about education here at EMHS. Before I launch off on a tangent, I should probably provide some background information. I don't do well with lots of text. (That's why I chose Science as opposed to Language Arts!) That said, I had a very difficult time digesting the entire meaning of Barr's writing. I may not have "gotten it," as we often say.

One question that John posed was, "What is education?" I can come up with a rote definition off the top of my head, but it does no justice in describing the process that we educators are "trained" (or have learned) to execute. It brings up a million other questions: How do we know if a student is adequately educated? Is education really any different than learning? Are any of US sufficiently educated?

Before I continue with my thoughts, though, I'll say this: I'm VERY glad that you all agreed to participate in an online forum. I hope that this can open up some channels of communication that need opening--and if "hiding" behind our computer screens facilitates this, then I'm all for it.

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Educational Dialogue

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