UVM Blogs

Wil Richardson is one of my favorite bloggers.  He’s a 2o year veteran teacher who now oversees instructional technology and communications at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, NJ.  He’s my favorite visionary these days on all things learning. In this reflection , he draws attention to the NYTimes magazine article this past…[Read more]

David and Roger Johnson, one a counselor educator, one a special educator, set out in the early 1970s to define and refine the successful practice called cooperative learning .  Embraced by special educators, cooperative learning as a task structure became a major tool to achieve the integration of students receiving special education services…[Read more]

Expectations States Theory Berger, Joseph, Bernard P. Cohen, and Morris Zelditch. 1972. Cohen, E., 1994 (p.34) 1. Status Characteristics “They’re Everywhere!” 2. Task Appears 3. Activation of Expectations Resulting in Status Order Effects SS=SA+SP 4. Behavior Results Unequal Talking and Working Together Unequal Opportunities To Learn Structures…[Read more]

A Primer To Expectation States Theory Senior Seminar C. Rathbone 3/10/08 In normal, everyday, regular life, we judge the world around us by they way we’ve been taught to judge the world around us. Every one of us has a normative reference group in our head. This is a group whose behavior and actions in all [...]

John Dewey These are a series of quotes I’ve collected from three of Dewey’s works, two very well known, one more obscure. Collectively, they capture an essence of what this man’s thinking was all about. (d&e) Democracy and Education, 1925 (e&e) Experience and Education, 1928 (sit) Schools of Tomorrow, 1915 *1. Social control of individuals rests…[Read more]

Our internship supervisors have been meeting to create a more rational explanation for Unit Plan expectations. Of course our schema for the abstractions of essential questions, big ideas, topics, themes, disciplines, assessments, grade level equivalents, etc. (ad nauseum?) crashed together in a delightfully challenging mix. Here’s one big picture…[Read more]

Sent to me my an old friend. You gotta hear it to believe it! The video was made in 1986 at a New Orleans nightclub. Included in the group are Rod Stewart, Rod Wood from the Stones, and Phil Shaffer, producer. Have fun. If you don’t start groovin’ with this, I would definitely recommend motion [...]

November’s Teaching Tolerance newsletter is powerful with respect to working with kids whose families can’t “get ahead.” After seeing on the news the other night that 93+% of children attending public school in Louisiana are under federal poverty guidelines, this article takes on special significance. Why don’t we get angrier about the state of…[Read more]

Dewey’s way of placing human activity at the center of his theorizing has always been inspirational to me. I assembled a list of quotes that I sometimes have students read when we visit his memorial at UVM. They continue to ring so true. Here they are, in honor of his birthday, October 20, 1859. Burlington, [...]

Students Thinking I felt crummy about the sharing I’d done at the faculty workshop. Asked to present my work with Podcasting, I told my interested colleagues that I was a “sometimes user” of the technology. Why sometimes? Well, I needed to be convinced that the work that went into creating a podcast was worth the effort. [...]

I’ve been asked to share my humble attempts at Podcasting during a session at the Center for Teaching and Learning, Univ. of Vermont. Here’s my outline for the event. Sharing Podcasting C. Rathbone CTL 8-07-42 1. not a Podcaster…can see its benefits…haven’t gotten there yet not really sure how to manage the complexity of it realize this is [...]

Hip-hop shows how deeply the last thirty years of American history have been affected by the politics of abandonment. These inner cities where hip-hop took root were abandoned by government, business, and frankly, the white middle class. What comes out of that is this intense mass longing to create history, to paraphrase Don Delillo, a deep [...]

Alex Chirelstein died suddenly last week. This was a person whose presence was felt even though his physical being was miles away. An avuncular, embracing, rat-a-tat-tat speaker of a man, I will miss him…we all will miss him…deeply. His synthesis project for a class was brilliant. He rendered a collage of Vygotsky’s life that brought…[Read more]

This was just a wonderful entry that shows in a few strokes, the possibilities of fully integrated technology in the classroom setting. It’s another link from Wil Richardson’s wonderful WebBlogg-ed. I’m thinking about integration where the teacher’s ideas about what should be learned and how that “should” should be learned come first. Technology…[Read more]

A few years ago I had the honor/pleasure of attending a summer seminar on hiphop culture and its pedagogical connections at NYU. That seminar was the first time UVM had participated in the Faculty Resource Network. It was an eyeopening if not eye popping experience for me. We dug simultaneously into the real live roots of [...]

Opening Remarks Alicia Shanks Don McLean, a pop culture poet to at least one of the generations gathered in this room today, writes… A long, long time ago… I can still remember How that music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance That I could make those people dance [...]

The George Lukas Educational Foundation holds rich resources for any educator wanting to explore the kinds of learning opportunities that keep children/youth coming back for more. This film is one of my favorites. My emotions are absolutely captured every time I watch it, in class or otherwise. This story of teaching and learning at Ascend…[Read more]

I’ve recently had the opportunity to collaborate with some of my Senior students during their most intense teaching internships and I have a new understanding of the importance of relationship building. I’ve be able to spend time with them, watching and commenting on the goings on in their professional field site. The site is quite unique. [...]

Well this was fun. Give it a try – get your own visual DNA…for the moment, anyway! http://imagini.net/aboutimagini.html

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I teach an entry level course to mostly first year students called Learning and the Learner. It is a course for students anticipating full entry into the eled program at my university. The goals of the course are to get them thinking more as learners than as teachers, to help them begin to think systematically [...]

Our subgroup has worked intermittently but inspirationally on a plan for an RLC since the initial ideas of entry 10/23/06. Here’s the latest plan, a bit more shaped and focused. Pawprints 1. Theme Making sustained positive differences in the lives of Burlington children and families through our Pawprints, intentional actions of civic…[Read more]

TidBITS#861/08-Jan-07 Younger Than Thou: Instant Messaging   by Dan Pourhadi < pourhadi@gmail.com> “Hi, Danny dear…” Hey, Grandma! “What are you doing there?” Oh, nothing, Grandma. Just talking to my friends online. “Hi, Danny’s friend! I’m his grandmother!” No, no, Grandma. I’m instant messaging them. We’re not on the phone. “Oh, you’re…[Read more]

Pumped up about the possibility of an interdisciplinary RLC that brings undergraduates together across campus who have a social interest in schools and kids. Pumped up about the possibility of a RLC that comes together out of a common agreement between UVM and the Burlington schools. Pumped up about the possibility of UVM students learning [...]

Adult Perspective: All of a sudden she’s drawing representational figures. Cianya’s Perspective: I’ve finally got the control of how to make these lines go where I want them to. This is Zappa, my doggy. I’ve even got those dark eyes exactly where I want them! (Cianya is just four years old. This picture was drawn [...]

Marco Torres is the film maker that Martha Nichols wrote to me about. He is a brilliant teacher in LA and was hired by Apple to do a series of films with kids on schools where technology (iLife06) is change the way of learning life. The films are brilliant and brought multiple lumps to my throat. [...]

This is going to be a bit of a roundabout. In this short essay, I make the point that computer mediated learning is “cool” learning. By “cool” I mean “devoid of felt connection.” I establish a research basis for this conclusion and end with a warning about cookies and baskets. Along the way, I celebrate [...]

Assessment Issues from the shared space. Human Issues: What I’m seeing is more variety now among the six, relative to being able to use the site beyond simple things: Simple – being able to click and drag, placing the cursor efficiently and successfully, loading the right browser, smoothly getting the url entered, signing in, moving [...]

I have the incredible opportunity to be teaching a class of six students right now. Six. I’ve never taught a class of six students. And having just come out of an intense EdPsych Seminar with 18 students, I wanted to try something a little different. I’ve been reading Will Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful [...]

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This transition class is always a tough one. We switch from one book to another, we start a new focus on strategies – CL through the eyes of CI. And to top it off, we may have been the only class in session at UVM. (Actually, there were a few more.) I wanted to show [...]

I thought today was a really useful class. I hope my perception was correct. The activity came to me while I was reading Meier last night. “Teachers need frequent and easy give and take with professionals from allied fields – that is one mark of a true professional. They need opportunities to speak and write publicly [...]

G1: showing how the rotation will work. G2: Jan Marie’s travels. G2: Where’s Denali? G3: Strukturtopia. I never knew ATIs could be this much fun! G4: This is how we responded to Kristen. You bet your life! And the magic duck comes down… . Strukturtopia up close and personal. Instructions Strukturtopia style – FD and [...]

This is the page from Berliner’s own website that provides links to articles he has personally authored of his choosing. The articles he’s chosen span his career and begin with an (incomplete) summary her wrote of the California Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study.

Berliner’s Topics The general failure to take the abstract and partial understandings of educational psychology and make them re-comprehensible to practical people is an unfortunate, unpleasant, and, I believe, a continuing part of our history . Bruner …identified storytelling as one of two fundamentally different modes of human thought,…[Read more]

The Ascend School is one of several small schools that make up the East Oakland (CA) small schools initiative. The school serves a population of children who were failed by the traditional system. This video is one of many contained in the Edutopia website that document educational practices that work for children and youth who have experienced [...]

Monday, June 26, 2006 Meeting: Greetings and Introductions Orientation to Seminar Class Schedule Responsibilities Assignments: Overall and Daily Class Organization Using the Technology – WebCT Discussions CR: Tensions History Synthesis: Work: Assignments for Tuesday: Meier: pp. 3-36. Read handout: The 100 Year History of Educational Psychology…[Read more]

Needs Improvement Good         Excellent Criteria Ed. Psych. Areas (1) areas of ed. psych. ignored generalized one or two areas mentioned specific areas mentioned three or more Area of Interest (2) one or no criteria met two criteria met accurate some behavioral specificity three…[Read more]

Needs Improvement Good         Excellent Course Requirements Studenting misses more than one class, no contact with instructor demeaning group behavior, dominating tendancies unprepared for discussion misses one class, no instructor contact contributes to group discussion supportive group behavior misses…[Read more]

Studenting 20% 1. Come to class each day. If you know you aren’t going to be able to attend, please let me know at least 24hrs. before hand. 2. Do the readings. Do the reflections. Take manageable chunks and do them well. “Do” = read, think, connect, share, understand. Use specific references to texts. 3. Know [...]

June 26th – July 7th, 2006 800am-100pm 426 Waterman Instructor: Charles Rathbone, Ph.D. Office Phone: 656-4578 Department Phone: 656-3356 (Karen Orr) webCT: https://www.uvm.edu/webct/ E-mail: charles.rathbone@uvm.edu Blog: http://crathbon.blog.uvm.edu/edpsychsummer06 Sydney scopp@uvm.edu Ellen eparisea@uvm.edu Kristen kristen.courcelle@uvm.edu…[Read more]

My Seniors are getting ready to implement a complicated Complex Instruction cooperative learning rotation in their classrooms. Part of our preparation was to focus their panic in a KWL we did in class last week. I offer this podcast as one way of responding to their questions. It’s corny, but perhaps informative. These are most [...]

I’ve been reading a fascinating book recently called Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts by Will RIchardson , a California secondary educator. More than any other source of inspiration, this book, with all its inherent resources – site listings, wiki listings, etc. has really got me thinking about my teaching. Never satisfied, I look for new ways to involve the [...]

First Sledding Adventure

Originally uploaded by cbone60.

What is more beautiful than a crisp winter’s day, blue sky, and a new adventure in life? TOTALLY AWESOME.

This diagram is portion of a piece I do with students on learning as an interactive process. The point I try to make is that student outcomes like achievement, capability, motivational level, and performance (the red arrow coming from a red circle that represents a student at the center of often contending forces in a school) [...]

I want to use this entry to (1) name my criteria for what constitutes excellence in teacher education programs; and, (2) I want to use this entry to collect research evidence that the criteria I mention define excellence. For purposes of this entry, I am defining excellence in this way. “Excellence” means that program assessments [...]

What I’ve provided is to provide a summary of our ongoing conversation on Expertise. My goal is to try to put a wapper around this topic by answering the question, “Why is it important for first year students to know about the Continuum of Pedagogical Expertise?” Hope this is helpful.

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I was thinking the other day about memory and what it meant to re-member. It’s a little like the day I took the word en-courage apart and its meaning suddenly changed from a word that had a multitude of warm and fuzzy attributes to a word that signified courage. When a teacher encourages children to [...]