Joshua Block

Humanities Teacher at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. Passionately believes that education is a tool to help people understand and transform their individual and collective realities.

Rethinking Learning

When I graduated from college it was shocking to realize how little I knew. I was not equipped to handle most everyday problems. My math classes had filled me with knowledge but I wasn’t able to apply it to calculate the size of stair stringers that I was trying to build. My bike and car […]Read Post ›

CES Fall Forum Presentation, 2012

This is the slideshow for the presentation that I gave along with Larissa Pahomov and students Anissa Ahmed and Terrance Oliveri-Williams at the Coalition of Essential Schools Fall Forum. The students made the slides and did a wonderful job presenting. Our main goal was to help people to think of 21st Century Schools as places […]Read Post ›

Mirror on the Wall: Public Art and the Face(s) of Youth | Edutopia

This is the blog post Melanie Manuel and I wrote for Edutopia about our public art project from last year. Mirror on the Wall: Public Art and the Face(s) of Youth | Edutopia.

Pushing Against Our Edges

(This is cross-posted at Cooperative Catalyst.) For a long time I was afraid to teach about the environment. As a high school student my most powerful learning experiences had come from creating a campaign for sustainability within my school district. As a high school teacher I had, amazingly, taught for ten years without teaching a unit […]Read Post ›

Why I Teach (in Philadelphia)

(This is cross-posted at Cooperative Catalyst.) One of my most poignant school memories is from fourth grade. I was in Mr. Gross’s class. We were spread out in the field behind the school, with journals and pencils in hand. I was lying on my stomach, propped up on my elbows. My eyes were focused on […]Read Post ›