Expert says, "Learning is in the doing"

Bret found this article (click on title of this post to access the article) by Samuel Western in the September 11 Casper Star Tribune. Apparently Kurt Fisher, the Charles Bigelow professor of education at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, spoke to members of the Wyoming Board of Education the other day and had this (among other things) to say:

Brains cannot be directly filled with world knowledge. It's not just a matter of storage information. It's through action, through doing things. The standard view in brain-based education is that the brain learns to read. No. A child with a brain learns to read.

Shocking! (ha ha.) It will be interesting to see what the esteemed Wyoming BOE does with this information.

Keeping your bookclub happy with Nancy Pearl

Along with Allison (one of the three founding members of our bookclub, the Bluestockings, which we founded in December 1999) I attended the Teton County Library's Bookclub event with Booklust author Nancy Pearl.

She shared some tips for running a successful bookclub, including the following DON'Ts:

1. Select a story-driven book
   
2. Opt to have meetings without a leader
   
3. Go around the circle and ask for each person to speak in order
   
4. Begin with the question, "Well...what did everyone think of the book?"

Instead, DO:

1. Select a character-driven story (i.e. books in which the main character has to make a choice, books that have ambiguous endings)
   
2. Have a discussion leader at each meeting (she recommends rotating this position) who helps move the discussion along, and makes sure that no one person dominates the discussion, and encourages folks who have not said anything to speak up (i.e. look for body language that says "I have something to say" -- leaning forward, mouth possibly open, even if no words are yet coming out). The discussion leader can say to the quiet person, "It looks like you have something to add to the conversation..."
   
3. A true discussion should be a give and take, which does not necessarily happen in an orderly fashion!
   
4. A better way to start a meeting is with the question, "Why do you think the author chose to do X instead of Y?" or "What's the significance of the title?"
   

She also recommends that everyone come to the meeting with one question they want to ask about the book.

On the topic of choosing books, she had several suggestions. First, she mentioned that books on best seller lists commonly are "story-driven" books that are fun to read, but not necessarily good for discussion. One attendee recommended BookSense which is a website for independent book sellers. Our club has also found good reviews at Chinaberry.

Second, she recommends that clubs pick a minimum of 6 months of reading (instead of picking a new book each month). This allows clubs to read "topically" (i.e. for 3 months your topic could be Iran, and you could read Persepolis (a graphic novel), then House of Sand and Fog (fiction), then Persian Mirrors (nonfiction) and find connections between books/authors.

She suggested having one meeting solely for choosing the upcoming 6-12 books. Everyone brings books they think would be good for discussion (she thinks someone should have read the book to make sure it's good for discussion). Instead of having a straight "vote" on books, she offered the following method: give each bookclub member 50 beans (or pennies) and when all of the books have been presented, club members get to vote with their 50 beans. If there's a book someone really wants to read, they can put more beans on it, weighting their vote.

Some books (and opening questions for discussion) Nancy recommended are:

1. Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose
   
2. Ann Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
3. Toni Morrison's Beloved
4. Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods (what happened to his wife?)
   
5. Anne Ursu's The Disapparation of James
6. Julie Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine
7. Jennifer Finney Boylan's She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders
8. Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex
9. M. T. Anderson's Feed
10. Ward Just's A Dangerous Friend
11. Willa Cather's My Antonia
12. Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter (why did the author choose to tell the story from the point of view of four people?)
13. Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying (what's the lesson and who learned it?)

To see a list of what the Bluestocking have been reading since 1999, go here.

Stuffed animals, a Wyoming date, frost!

Sabine and Vivian use stuffed animals to get warm Sunday morning.


It's true...we went on a real Wyoming date (a fancy-schmancy party we were invited to) which involved real Wyoming formal footwear (see below). Teri came over with younger daughter Cole and babysat...so we actually got to have real conversations with each other and friends we saw at the party. What a treat!


I got my boots at a yard sale about 12 years ago, can't remember the origin of Bret's boots.


September 10, frost on the windshield this morning. Not sure I'm ready for winter!

New recipes added

Check out the link on the lower right hand side of the page...the weather's getting cooler here, and I've been trying out some new recipes, and bringing out some old favorites. Bon appetit!

Holistic Moms Network

Kristin and I have our phone interview tomorrow morning at 11 to start a Holistic Moms Network group in Jackson. Wish us luck!

The first day of (no) school

A special thanks to the support of all of our family and friends (especially Kristin, Allison and Nancy here in Jackson) who tell us that we're not crazy for wanting to spend more time with our kids.

For those of you wanting more info on homeschooling, here is a link to answers John Holt gave regarding common objections to homeschooling. Jan Hunt, creator of the Natural Child Project spoke at the LIFE is Good conference, and her book The Natural Child was one of the early influences on our parenting style.

An incomplete list of what Sabine, Vivian and I did today:
Read the Ladybug and Click magazines that arrived in the mail
Cut out the leaf matching game that was in Ladybug
Created a princess story book
Read a Find the Insect book
Went to the bank, Second Helpings and Forget me not -- got suckers, a battery operated pottery wheel (need to get batteries for it), a toy horse (Sabine), a Pooh stuffed animal (Vivian), and an electric ice cream maker (Carolyn), all for under $10
Sabine and Vivian helped me make meatloaf, then used the leftover parsley to make a special dessert (hmmmm...think I'll stick with the ice cream maker)
Sabine read the book Tickle Tickle by Helen Oxenbury to Vivian (multiple times)

All in all a great first day of no school.

Blogging without obligation

I was feeling guilty about my recent lack of posts...and came across this on Mary Gold's blog.