In some instances, but not in every instance, I will present questions or queries to guide your blogs.

The form of a given weblog entry is limited only by available technology and can include, separately or in any combination, textual, audio, photographic or videographic information. 

(There will be a workshop to help you create and begin producing your blog).

Blog entries are due following course events and prior to the next scheduled class meeting.

Check out each other’s blogs! Everyone appreciates comments on their blog!

 It's always harder to follow the directions but here they are:  How to make a blog private (You might want to make a new blog or you could actually write in a notebook or, as Virginia Wolf preferred, on scraps of paper left in strategic places where you will find them).

1. go to blogger.com and sign in; 2. from the four controls to the right of your blog's name, select the third control, "more options."  It is a radial button (inverted triangle); 3. a long list of options appears when you click on the radial button. From this list, select the last item: "settings;" 4. scroll to the bottom of the page to "Blog Readers;" 5. click on "edit;" 6. select the setting you prefer "no readers;" 7. save your changes.

BlogPost4  Reading For Bliss or maybe just Dissonance? or Is there another way to make sense of your everyday experience in school? 

Due February 16 / Session 4

Based on the work of Roland Barthes' The pleasure of the Text, there is a pleasure that corresponds to the readerly text, which does not challenge the reader's position as a subject. Conversely, the writerly text provides bliss, which explodes literary codes and allows the reader to break out of his or her subject position.

I invite you to read the Arnot and Anyon chapters in Ideology, Curriculum, and the New Sociology of Education. My expectation is that the chapters will develop explanations about schooling in general and the curriculum in particular that might be inconsistent with the conventional assumptions and understandings that inform "business as usual" at your school.  As they are crafted in the text, these ideas might "invite" you, as a reader and as an educator, to try on a different way of thinking. Identify several of these moments,  (that provide this bliss) describe in writing (not in a word) your embodied reading experience (feelings) in that moment (anger-- relief--disbelief-- discomfort--betrayal--etc.) and continue to explore instances from your experiences in school that form as examples.  (about 500 words outside the box)

Readings:

1. Arnot, Madeleine  (2006) Chapter 1: Retrieving the Ideological Past: Critical Sociology, Gender Theory and the School Curriculum. In: Weise, L., McCarthy, C. and Dimitriadis, G. (Eds.) Ideology, Curriculum, and the New Sociology of Education. New York : Routledge. pp. 17-36.
2. Anyon, Jean (2006) Chapter 2 Social Class, School Knowledge, and the Hidden Curriculum: Re-theorizing Reproduction.  In: Weise, L., McCarthy, C. and Dimitriadis, G. (Eds.) Ideology, Curriculum, and the New Sociology of Education. New York : Routledge. pp. 37-45.

WebPost3

Readings:

1. Grumet, M. (1990). Retrospective: Autobiography and the analysis of Educational Experience. Cambridge Journal of Education, 20(3), 321-325.
2. Pinar, W. (2012) Chapter two, section one:  To Run The Course: Currere. What Is Curriculum Theory. New York : Routledge. pp. 43-49.
3. Weise, L., McCarthy, C. and Dimitriadis, G. (2006) Introduction. Ideology, Curriculum, and the New Sociology of Education. New York : Routledge. pp. 1-13

The narrative work produced for class on 26 January was inspiring for me. With frequency I heard stories that were familiar because I had read them in your blogs before class! This is important critical work where lived experience and curriculum theory merge. Well done!

Please read Grumet (1990) and the Pinar excerpt both at your earliest convenience. Reflect with these readings about yourself as an educator and writer.  Grumet (1990) will help you figure out when to write and how frequently. They will both help you explore your style and voice. 

The new sociology introduction celebrates the contribution of Mike Apple to the field of curriculum studies. It begins an exploration to challenge our foundational assumptions about our work in schools. As you read, reflect and comment (in writing) on what you have written to date including your responses to Grumet and Pinar.

WebLog 2

Based on your reading: 

1. Apple, M. W. (2011). Grading Obama's Education Policy. Progressive, 75(2), 24-26.
2. Pinar, W. (2012) Chapter One:  School Deform. What Is Curriculum Theory. New York : Routledge. pp. 15-42.

I invite you to write a first person narrative response to both Michael Apple and Bill Pinar.  Perhaps this response will take the form of a letter? Or, maybe, it will take the form of an Op-Ed (every pun intended).  However you choose to write, I encourage you to write in the first person, to tell a story or two about your lived experiences in school as a teacher and/or as a student, and to make references (more than one) to both Apple and Pinar.

(about 500 thoughtful  words)

WebLog 1: CLASS SURVEY
Personal information
1. Name, hometown, primary email.
2. What name do you prefer to be called?
3. Grade level and subject(s) that you are teaching / want to teach. (For graduate students: undergraduate and graduate degree(s), education license(s), current employment: grade level, subject(s) if applicable, district).
4. What are you into; what makes you special? Share a few “unique” aspects about yourself that would help our classroom community get to know you a bit better.

Learning Style and more:
5. Being as specific as you can, what must be in place for you to feel comfortable taking intellectual and creative risks in a classroom?

6. I am interested in your perception of yourself as a student. Please describe it. Consider such criteria as a) active oral class participation; b) responsible, timely class preparation (of readings, projects, etc.); c) honest, candid self-assessment; d) awareness of your own preferred learning styles/approaches; e) first thing that you do when you cannot or do not understand something; f)other dimensions you believe to be relevant and informative.

7. Is there anything I should know about you, your learning style, or life situation that may be relevant to your successful performance in this course? (Please decide what to share with the class and what to share in confidence with me).

Education Past and Present

8. Share a formative memory from your experiences as a student.

9. Please discuss what are, for you, the some significant issues or concerns facing the field of education right now.

10. Let’s imagine, humbly, that this course is definitely going to be the most meaningful and relevant course you’ve ever experienced. EVER. Drawing on your past experience in classrooms, and thinking uniquely, specifically and BIG, describe what we need to (1) DO (activities/projects), (2) STUDY (content topics and compelling issues/questions), (3) BE (interacting with each other) and (4) AVOID (in the previous three categories) in order for your visionary views of an ideal course to be mostly realized.

About Dr. Shutkin:
11. Write down a question or two you would like to ask me about myself or the class.