Culture against Anarchy?

Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Minute on Indian Education" (1835)

"It is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population."

~ ~ ~

"Let me remind you of Macaulay. He remains to me one of the greatest of all writers and masters, although I think him utterly base, contemptible and odious for certain reasons which you know" - Lord Acton


Herbert Paul (ed.), Letters of Lord Acton to Mary Gladstone (George Allen, 1904), p. 210.

Culture, not Anarchy

American English 'Likely to Prevail': Lee Kuan Yew
Leow Si Wan - Straits Times Indonesia | September 07, 2011
(Retrieved September 7, 2011, from http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/american-english-likely-to-prevail-lee-kuan-yew/463863)


The American version of English will probably prevail over other forms in Singapore and teachers may have to eventually accept this as inevitable, former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew said on Tuesday.

The growing dominance of the American media would mean that Singapore's population would increasingly be hearing the American version of English, he said.

Speaking at the official opening of the English Language Institute of Singapore (Elis), he said that he, too, had been consciously switching between British and American English on the computer, and that he saw himself moving towards American English in a nod to the US being "a dominant force."

Teachers might thus do well to accept this trend, and teach their students to recognize - and even speak - American English, he said.

Accent aside, students will thus use the kind of English understood by the rest of the English-speaking world, he said.

Educators and MPs at the event agreed that it was important to teach students here to differentiate between the different forms of English.

Elizabeth Pang, the program director for literacy development in the Education Ministry, said it was pragmatic of Lee to accept that American English had become dominant.

"If you look at English that is in use in society, you have to embrace different standard varieties of English.

"It's not a sea change. It's an evolution," she said, noting that students are now not penalized for using American English, so long as they are consistent.

Elis' program director Ang-Tay May Yin said: "If we allow our students to learn different varieties of English, it will be to their advantage."

Tampines GRC MP Irene Ng said she believed many teachers and writers, having an attachment to British English, would likely continue using it, until 'we're quite convinced that the way to go forward is American English".

The chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, Lim Biow Chuan, said it was still critical to develop students' ability to communicate their ideas.

"10 internet technologies that educators should be informed about"

Am cutting and pasting from a useful web article for our quick-reference convenience.

Original source:

Walsh, K. (April 19, 2009). 10 internet technologies that educators should be informed about. Retrieved September 2, 2011, from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2009/04/10-internet-technologies-that-educators-should-be-informed-about/

1. Video and Podcasting - One of the most widely adopted internet technologies for use in instructional settings is video streaming. Between YouTube, TeacherTube, EduTube, and many other video hosting sites, there are an abundance of lectures, how-to videos, and supporting materials available in the form of web based video. Podcasting has also been used to provide similar offerings of audio materials through popular sites like iTunes. [Click here to learn more about video hosting for education, or hereto learn more about podcasting for education.]

2. Presentation Tools - This category is vast and rich. There are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of tools on the Internet that can be used to create and share presentations, from simple Powerpoint slide players like Slideshare to multimedia timeline tools like Vuvox and OneTrueMedia. These tools can be used to support classroom teaching or distance learning, or for student reports and presentations.

Have you considered outsourcing your call center?

3. Collaboration & Brainstorming Tools - This is another wide ranging category, including thought-organizing tools like mindmap and bubbl.us, and collaborative tools like web based interactive whiteboards and Google Documents. Additionally, some of the other tools in this list, such as wikis and virtual worlds, also serve as collaboration tools.

4. Blogs & Blogging – Bloggers and many other regular Internet users are well aware of blogs and blogging, but there are many other professionals who really are not frequenters of the “blogosphere”. In addition to a basic familiarity with this technology, educators should be aware of sites likeBlogger and WordPress, where users can quickly and easily create their own blogs for free.

5. Wikis – The use of Wikis in educational settings is growing every day. Sites like Wetpaint and others allow users to create free wiki web sites and are a great way to get started with using wikis for educational applications.[Click here to learn more about the use of Wikis in education].

6. Social Networking – All educators should have a basic understanding of sites like Facebook and MySpace and how they are used. This doesn’t mean they need accounts on these sites (and many educators would recommend against using these sites to communicate with their students), but they should understand what they are and how they are being used. Educators should also be aware of the professional social networking site LinkedIn.

7. IM – A large percentage of students use IM regularly, via Aim, IM aggregator site Meebo (Meebo allows users to combine messaging from Aim, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook, and other sites), or other tools. It behooves educators to be aware of this, and I have even come across various articles about using IM within the classroom setting (such as this one from Educause).

8. Twitter – This listing is really focused on technologies, not specificapplications, but this application is currently just too popular to ignore. You should at least understand what it is and the fundamentals of how it is used.[Click here for some insight into how Twitter can be used in education.]

9. Virtual Worlds – This technology has received a lot of press, with SecondLife being the clear leader thus far in this application area. In my experience, the use of SecondLife has been somewhat constrained by high bandwidth and processing power requirements, but this also means that there is still considerable room for increased adoption of the application as systems continue to become more powerful and higher speed bandwidth more prevalant. Active Worlds is one of a number of competitive technologies, and provides a “universe” dedicated to education that has been popular with educators.

10. RSS Feeds - RSS allows users to create their own “push” data streams (that is, define data flows you want coming to you automatically, rather than having to go and “pull” the information with a Google search or other browsing effort). RSS feeds enable you to take advantage of streams of published content that will be sitting in your In Box, or in an RSS reader, when you want them. There are RSS feeds available for many topics and many web sites. 

Open Roads: Reading Singapore Theatre - A Blog Resource

http://www.readingsingaporetheatre.blogspot.com/

Hey everyone - below is a self-explanatory account of a quandary that one of your classmates is in right now. What advice would you give her/him? And what kinds of questions related to pedagogy, research, and the politics of teacher-student relations does this case raise for you? Feel free to post on this blog! **** Dear Warren, Just need some advice from you. My current school, XXSS like my methods in teaching and how I teach, my classroom management and so on. My CTs also are supportive and like my lessons and the way I conduct my activities. I have been getting a "proficient" from my CTs and some "acceptable" for some sections. However, my supervisor ... stated that I was mediocre at best and need moderation for a pass. She emailed my SCM and my CTs stating her point. Thus, my SCM and CT sat in for my lesson and told me it was a good lesson as I held a debate session for the students, and they were thoroughly engaged in the lesson. I did the same thing when the supervisor came in previously. She felt that the class had low energy, my classroom management skills were totally zero and I needed a lot of help from my CTs which was untrue. My SCM and CTs has disagreed with her and has stated that a moderation for a pass is not necessary and she thinks otherwise. For her observation with me, she told me (and the other girl she is supervising) that she put '+' on the APT form only in the 4 last boxes under classroom management. She also told us that she did not need to put "+" for the other sections and that it did not need to tally with the "Acceptable" which she ticked for every box except Classroom management which she marked as "Good". In her recent email to us however, she has stated otherwise and used it against us, stating that she did not find any "+" for our classes. Her email below: "Hi Please note that I’m likely to visit next week if not the week after – some times we do have meetings that do run over time unfortunately. Please ensure that you do have practicum file with you including all APT forms to date. Anything less will be deemed to be less than professional. And if I turn up and class is not on, that will be deemed to be unprofessional too. As it was the lack of notification about Sports Day was unprofessional to say the least and I have kindly overlooked that in ATP form but will not do so in summative form in there is any further lapse. And I did tell you both VERY CLEARLY that this is the first time in all my years of practicum supervision (since the 1970s) where I did not mark any + in any competencies and I am not sure why this message is NOT clear to you as school has told me that you both think you are doing well. PLEASE STUDY your ATP forms – is there any + for any competencies other than in professional attitude? I did spend time to explain processes and competencies. And I did also say that I did not mark any ‘–‘ when I really should as I am trying to ENCOURAGE you but certainly did not indicate that you are fine – did you see anything other than acceptable and acceptable can be borderline? In effect, I did say that I have concerns and that you should work closely with CTs – and I do remember what you said…which I won’t repeat. And I did spend time going over classroom management, CL (if you need to refer to anything simple, I have written a book on that with others published by Corwin) and other stuff. Please note in all schools, CTs usually ask trainees if s/he can sit in – for this 2nd visit, please advise CTs that I prefer that s/he doesn’t. In all my years, most CTs don’t and when they want to, I have always said yes. But in this instance, I prefer that s/he does not. In some instances, I have had CT and others sitting in with me for various reasons and we have always come to the same conclusion. Since I am making a surprise visit which is encouraged, it is best that I see you myself. And please note that for the two of you, I may do a 3rd visit or more as is encouraged if we have concerns. That is something I’ll advise you if and when it is necessary. Kindly acknowledge receipt of this email so that you are clear about expectations. And kindly, reflect on your own practice and how you could improve – as you know, if you have concerns, you can always email me.  I do help students as necessary – like I met some of my M Ed students today till 8 pm as they were kind enough to wait for me and in effect told me to drive carefully and not rushed over – and they are top students, MOE scholars, who just wanted clarity in their final assignment. XXX" I would appreciate and advice on this matter as this woman is trying to ruin my career in teaching. She has never been a teacher before, as per what she informed us and is condescending in her emails towards us (her supervisees) and my CTs and SCM. I really do wonder what I can do in this case. Apologies for loading this on to you. Just that i really need some advice on how to deal with this person. Regards, YYYY

Discussion vs Lecture 1

Our theories of teaching demand principles of both exposition and discussion. If you look at most of the pedagogies emerging from the seminal research on student concept learning, you will find that some form of dialogue, exchange, conversation, or alternating argument – some kind of social manifestation of the understanding – is central. Therein lies the enormous pedagogical complexity that derives from this work. That complexity is the reason why, even though we know discussion is necessary, the dominant form of pedagogy is the lecture. Lecture is relatively simple, and it reduces much of the technical and economic complexities of teaching. (Shulman, 2000, pp. 132-133)

Another reason for its difficulty is that teachers typically face not a one-on-one clinical interaction, but responsibility for 30 or 35 or 40 students. What pedagogy do you as a teacher use in a classroom when you want this inside-out, outside-in process to happen and there is only one of you and so many of them? That is why group-based strategies like the varieties of cooperative learning, reciprocal teaching, learning communities, and other types of collaborative groups have become very important in this current round of school reform efforts. They are not just a fad. We are trying to determine how, in a classroom of 35, to create an environment where more than five children per hour have the experience of bringing the inside outside. Then, with the help of others, they are able to wrestle with it; they do it for one another. They need not depend on waiting for the teacher’s intervention alone. (Shulman, 2000, pp. 133-134)

This type of teaching is difficult because of its incredible complexity, which is apparent if you compare the lecture, one source of transmitting information to a large, physically passive group, with a classroom, in which students do not have the same prior theories but are trying to wrestle concurrently with complex ideas. How does a teacher manage to create that kind of situation—to hear, to monitor, to know when to intervene and when not? We sometimes hear students communicating actively, but unfortunately exchanging misconceptions. (Shulman, 2000, p. 134)

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