Me: Ooooh! What are you today?
Maggie: A MOM!
(That’s right. I model awesome sword wielding mom behavior for my children!)
Review: The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education
The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education by Diana E. Hess
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a refreshing and valuable addition to current educational research—a must-read for 6-12 social studies and history teachers. The authors tackle important questions that all competent social studies teachers consider regularly: How do you select issues to open up for student discussion? Are some issues too “hot” or too divisive to be fruitfully discussed by students? How should a teacher balance the need to maintain a safe space for all students with the educational goal of fostering authentic political conversations about relevant controversies? Should a teacher ever share their own beliefs, or is that tantamount to proselytizing?
To answer these questions, the authors conducted years of empirical research at a wide range of schools around the country. Along the way they describe three case studies in detail, each of which is a fascinating look at how different teachers and departments grapple with these issues. The case studies alone are worth the price of the book, but the real gems here are in the final chapters where the authors analyze the data and attempt to answer the questions posed above. These chapters stand as a perfect example of how to use relevant theory and research to guide classroom practice.
Make no mistake: this is not a book aimed at a popular audience. It is written primarily for education schools rather than regular classroom teachers. With that said, however, I found plenty here of immediate, practical value. (I primarily teach 8th grade social studies.) The research cited in the book focuses on grades 9-12, but the issues raised are certainly relevant in middle school and possibly even in the younger grades.
Little Free Libraries
Recently, I walked with the kids to some of our neighborhood Little Free Libraries. While walking, we started talking about whether we would someday put one in front of our house, even though there is one directly across the street from us.
I suggested that I might make one that was all for science fiction stories, and I would decorate it with space ships and alien planets. Griffin and Maggie loved this idea, and quickly came up with their own versions.
Griffin’s would be all about science and would have pictures of microscopes and tiny (microscopic?) creatures on it. He asked a few questions about the difference between science and science fiction, but once he understood the distinction, he was firmly committed to real science.
Maggie, of course, shouted, “FROZEN!” When I asked her how it should be decorated, she looked at me like I was hopelessly ignorant, and said, “ELSA!” followed by a whooshing sound which I took to be the sound of Elsa’s ice magic.
Badass Wife
Sarah went went to her dawn workout outdoors this morning, despite our latest wave of arctic air. The weatherbug reading below was shortly after her workout, as the air started warming up.
Naturally, afterwards, I got a text saying, “You should go skiing! It’s beautiful out!”
Mightless
<struggling to help Maggie get her long underwear and pants on at the same time over her already sock-ed feet>
Me: Push with all your might, Maggie!
Maggie: I don’t have any might left!
#wintertruths
Skiing
I finally have a pair of cross-country skis. One step closer to being a real Minnesotan. (Ice fishing next year?) We went out as a family on Tuesday, after our first real snow, and then I went again on Thursday morning on my own. It’s a short, easy trail at Highland golf course, but I’m an unsteady amateur, so it’s exactly what I need.
Beginners at work.
Skiers in action.
Maggie actually has some skis from a garage sale, but can’t make it on a real trail yet.
Arrived shortly after sunrise.
Like that spray tan? (Actually, just wind and exertion on a very cold morning.)
This day…
Maggie is a verbal kid, talking pretty much all the time. She’s generally an effective communicator, conveying her points successfully, even if she doesn’t ultimately get what she wants. (So many foiled plans, resulting in extravagant drama.)
One quirk of language with her recently is that she has trouble with words relating to the past and future, especially today, yesterday, and tomorrow. She knows what they mean, and can use them in sentences, but she seems bothered by their fluidity: tomorrow becomes today becomes yesterday. To get around this, she’s taken to a using the phrase “this day” to indicate today. Then she adds events with before or after until she clarifies what she means.
Here’s an example that we just heard in the car—she’s excited about her grandparents’ visit tomorrow:
“Mama, this day, after we sleep and wake up, is it grandma and grandpa day?”
No reason to share this other than that Sarah and I think it is unbearably cute, and we know it will fade away in time and we’ll never quite remember how she worded it.
Update: I’ve since been listening to Maggie using this construction and noticed that she also has an alternative to the word yesterday: “last day.” She might say, for example, “Daddy, last day, did you go to school?”
Molasses Spice Cookies
Sarah had these cookies at a recent ECFE meeting. In Sarah’s words, they were “conversation stopping amazing — the perfect cookie, crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and bursting with flavor.”
½ cup granulated sugar (set aside)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup light or dark molasses (dark gives a stronger flavor)
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread ½ cup of the sugar into a shallow dish for rolling. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, pepper, and salt together.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds. Beat in the molasses until incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds (the dough will be soft).
- Working with 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, roll the dough until balls with wet hands, then roll in the sugar to coat. Lay the balls on the prepared baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating each baking sheet halfway through baking. (The cookies will look raw between the cracks and seem underdone.)
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Makes about 34 cookies.
Originally from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book,p. 162. (Adjusted slightly based on our experience.)
Golden Eagles
Golden Eagles are the premium in-game currency in the video game, War Thunder, that I’ve been playing this fall with David, Ed, Tyler Rust, Ross, and occasional other California friends. The game is free to play, but Golden Eagles cost real dollars. They allow you to purchase special upgrade and other “premium” content that you don’t get if you’re taking the budget route.
I talk about the game from time to time in class meetings with my 8th graders, usually to make some point about perseverance, learning from failure, or to illustrate design thinking concepts like iteration and prototyping. Video game analogies are always popular, especially with a particular segment of students who are not otherwise prone to paying too much attention at these sorts of gatherings.
All of this background to understand this student holiday card. It included a Barnes and Noble gift card with the following scrawled note:
“Sorry but I don’t think Barnes and Noble sells Golden Eagles…”
Superhero
“Daddy, when I look in the mirror, I really do look like a superhero.” — Maggie