One of the only positive side effects of the manufactured crisis facing Philadelphia public schools is that it provides an excellent opportunity for students to think deeply about Democracy and Education. In my 12th grade American Government class we started off the year by challenging narrow ideas and simplistic definitions of democracy. Students had an […]Read Post ›
The other day, as part of our colonialism unit in World History, I asked my students to write about which they believe is more powerful, violence or non-violence. My intention was to start us all thinking about strategies for social change before we read Gandhi’s essay “My Faith in Nonviolence.” This was followed up over […]Read Post ›
(Cross posted at Cooperative Catalyst) The other day, during a rare window of open time, I found myself transfixed by the interview that Krista Tippet did with Seth Godin. When Tippet introduced Godin’s thinking by saying, ”We are invited and stretched in whatever we do to be artists — to create in ways that matter to other people,” […]Read Post ›
The other day a teacher friend who is in a new classroom setting wrote me and asked about a lesson that I teach using Langston Hughes’ poem “Theme for English B.” This multi-layered poem challenges students and provides an interesting framework for an intro writing assignment. Here is the lesson that I shared with her: First […]Read Post ›
This week my students are working on their Language Autobiographies (here are some past examples). The assignment (inspired by Marsha Pincus years ago,) requires them to use personal experience, written in the form of scenes of memory (thanks Jessi), to develop larger ideas about language in their lives or language in the world. It’s a […]Read Post ›
Mr J Block 