You’ll note I stress “at 3.45″ to justify any lameness in the poem. I did write it in the two hours preceding the performance. Later, the Chinese History teacher-lover in me reflected that this comfort with writing-on-demand is very close to China’s traditional attitude toward poetry. Any educated Chinese wrote poetry, I gather, as frequently and nonchalantly as we tweet or post on Facebook today. One Song Dynasty poet produced over 10,000 poems, while the Qing emperor Qianlong has, I believe, several hundred poems, if not thousands, to his credit. (All Chinese emperors and politicians wrote poetry. You weren’t educated if you didn’t, and nor were you civilized.) That’s so worth thinking about.

Anyway, sharpen your knives and watch the performance below. Warts and all, I enjoyed the slam. I got to deliver a message I’ve wanted to send students for ages.

3 Comments

• At April 22, 2012, MoSoLoCo wrote:

  Great video. I got the real meaning of sacrifice from your post. Thanks

• At May 10, 2012, Betty Steven wrote:

  well... no doubt this thing is very necessary in every kind of financial format which is very helpful to stable the business ups and downs..!!

  <a href="http://www.ogc.com.pk/type/air-conditioner" Air Conditioner

• At May 11, 2012, Mitesh wrote:

  really nice written really interesting

  Mitesh

Using Archive.org for Podcast Files

This is so worth sharing. Those of you geeky long enough to have been burned when once-free hosting services went premium-only (e.g., Ning), belly-up, or whatever, don’t need me to tell you that a free host committed to remaining free — and well-funded enough to honor that commitment — is hugely important. Otherwise, hours, weeks, months, and years of building content can go up in smoke.

So Archive.org seems to be a very fine solution — especially for audio (vids can go on Youtube, Vimeo, Blip, whatever, but audio-only seems strangely less welcome on most sites). Its “about” page lays our that it’s a non-profit with very strong institutional support and a mission to be around forever, so I don’t fear getting burned again.

Lecturing Alone

As I mentioned last post, I prefer to lecture alone by simply recording voice memos on my iPhone when the spirit moves: distracted students don’t distract me, and don’t distract students who want to listen. Students can also listen when the spirit moves them. It’s win-win. So I made a channel on Archive.org, the iPhone Analects, and uploaded all my voice memos to them. They have a nifty batch upload function that makes the job fast and easy. **Warning: Don’t use iTunes’ AAC format, because Archive.org won’t convert them for play in the Audio Player. Using .mp3 worked for me, and iTunes will convert AAC to mp3 with a click. Search help or the menu options and it’s easy to figure out.**

Voice memos can also be a way to differentiate and extend for those who want to go further or deeper. I don’t assign most of what I record; I simply invite those who like the stuff we’re learning to listen to a sincere adult think aloud about the stuff because he likes it too — and doesn’t speak like a textbook, encyclo- or wiki-pedia, but instead like a person with questions, hypotheses, insights, curiosities, emotions, jokes, and wonder about it all. As one student put it in my class, “you’re further down the path than we are, and seem more to be learning with us than teaching us what you’ve finished learning.” That’s a paraphrase, but a faithful one. That kid nailed it. (And I thank the Big Lump* for giving me the best three Chinese history classes this semester that I’ve ever had. We do teach each other by discussing this stuff together. I do see new things they show me that turn on light bulbs left and right. It’s worth the early grave because the extra work makes the present so much finer. See this class blog post for links to some wonderful student blog reflections on our three hours reading original Taoist texts. And note that this writing is done at home, while in class we read together without computers, and discuss it without computers. They use the computers at home to blog about the f2f in class. And the quality of writing this semester is way more insightful than in the past. It’s their only homework. We do all reading in class together. I’m italicizing because dammit, I love this, and so do they. We’re working less and learning more, and more enjoyably at that.)

Embedding the History of China Podcast Player, with Full Playlist First:

–the tricky part: you have to add playlist code to the basic embed code. Archive.org’s audio tips page explains how.

Embedding the Podcast Player with Single Tracks:

“Sentimental Confucius”:

Not perfect — it doesn’t include the file name, for example — but they seem to be working on improving it (and again, see the audio tips page to see how to change the code for single tracks).

Closing Shots

I’m now encouraging students who feel like they’re stronger talkers than writers to make their own Archive.org accounts and embed their own talks on their class blogs. So far, only one has taken me up on it — a great, smart kid who I love listening to in class, and who does seem to shine more brightly in speech than in script.

And for the social kids who would rather discuss than write or talk solo, I’m looking into Oovoo as a free Skype alternative that records video conferences cross-platform. Our school is 1:1, but doesn’t (yet, I pray daily) mandate a single machine, so this Mac and PC-compatible free download is a Big Lump-send.*

—
*What’s this “Big Lump”? It’s Ivanhoe’s and Van Norden’s translation of what Zhuangzi calls the Tao, from which all the myriad things — life, the universe, and everything (including us) — emerges, and to which it all reverts. I love the creative freedom of this translation, and how it has fun with Zhuangzi’s ideas by matching them with similarly fun English wordplay.

2 Comments

• At February 23, 2012, David Wees wrote:

  So I have a question; how critical are the podcasts you produce for your students for their understanding and success in your course? I listening to the first one and it was fascinating. What kind of feedback have you gotten from your students? I'm going to share this post with a colleague of mine, who I think has some similarities in how he teaches to you, and may find this technique interesting.

• At February 23, 2012, cburell wrote:

   Hi David,

  Glad you agree Confucianism's background and "Tao" is "fascinating." It's heaven to be paid to specialize in this :)

  As I say in the post, most of these audio files are voluntary, extensions for those thirsty enough to care. I just started last week, and did assign the Confucianism as Dance one, but didn't follow up with anything. And nobody mentioned it. But they're at a quiet and relatively non-communicative age, so that's no surprise (I almost never hear from the students themselves that they like my classes; I always hear it from other students or parents telling me so-and-so says they love it. The podcasts could be the same thing).

  I'll poll them in an anonymous Google form soon to see how many have listened to any, and other questions. I'll share what I learn.

  Would love to hear more about this possible fellow traveler you mention.

  Best,

  Clay

1 Comments

• At February 23, 2012, Archive.org for Free Podcast and Video Hosting and Embedding, cont’d | Beyond School wrote:

  [...] Post navigation ← Previous [...]

Asia Times Online goes there — put on your pearls and prepare to clutch them, edtech evangelists! — in How America made its children crazy:

At a showcase classroom in Arizona’s most wired school district, Matt Richtel reported,

“A seventh-grade English teacher roams among 31 students sitting at their desks or in clumps on the floor. They’re studying Shakespeare’s As You Like It – but not in any traditional way. In this technology-centric classroom, students are bent over laptops, some blogging or building Facebook pages from the perspective of Shakespeare’s characters. One student compiles a song list from the Internet, picking a tune by the rapper Kanye West to express the emotions of Shakespeare’s lovelorn Silvius.”

Somehow, I don’t think that’s what Shakespeare meant by “as you like it.” Web access in this case is simply a pretext to help seventh-graders to reduce Shakespeare to their own level, rather than allow Shakespeare to lift children up to his.

I’m not close to claiming that computers have no educational value, and should be used when the tools are justified. But I’m “closer than right here” to saying that slow, calm, and  focused reading, writing, and talking together has a value that I’m appreciating more and more. The web seems more and more a ghetto for young minds*, but one you can dispel with the closing of a lid.

–
*Even when used for producing work in well-monitored activities, laptops are still an ADHD wonderland instead of a reflective space, as the article above argues.

2 Comments

• At February 10, 2012, Dean Shareski wrote:

  This to me, is the start of a great post. Lots of unfinished but important ideas here. 

• At February 12, 2012, Cristina Milos wrote:

  As a "geeky" teacher I found myself in the same situation quite soon after using technology with students. Less tech and more dialogue, thinking and face-to-face interaction. Invaluable and so much more powerful. 

Anyway, all that aside, a bit of serendipity and synchronicity (no woo-woo vibes intended) just now. Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish quotes Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie who, in an essay published in Guernica called “The Storytellers of Empire,” makes a somehow related point about the one-eyed perspective of American novelists in relation to the non-American world:

Your soldiers will come to our lands, but your novelists won’t. The unmanned drone hovering over Pakistan, controlled by someone in Langley, is an apt metaphor for America’s imaginative engagement with my nation. … Where is the American writer who looks on his or her country with two eyes, one shaped by the experience of living here, the other filled with the sad knowledge of what this country looks like when it’s not at home. Where is the American writer who can tell you about the places your nation invades or manipulates, brings you into those stories and lets you draw breath with its characters? (Read the rest)

6 Comments

• At February 7, 2012, AMA wrote:

  Better opportunities for catching up on sleep!

• At February 8, 2012, cburell wrote:

  Tee hee. :)

• At February 9, 2012, Victoria wrote:

  But lots of people do skip church!

  Plus, if you decide you don't agree with the doctrine or environment of the church you've been attending, you have every opportunity to 1.) find another one more in keeping with your own style, or 2.) drop out of religion (organized or all) entirely.

• At February 20, 2012, Anthony Becker wrote:

   You don't go to hell if you skip school.

• At February 23, 2012, Tim Goree wrote:

  For the most part, school STILL isn't connecting learning to something that matters to the learners.

• At March 8, 2012, cburell wrote:

   Don't know if you're kidding, but this Pew poll shows a majority of US Christians in 2008 think that non-Christians can get to heaven via different religions. Surprising (but the percentage is trending downward by -11% since 2002).

It’s interesting to compare this Indian-American guy’s perspective with that of Anglo-American Louie CK — a clearly smart (and NSFW) guy who somehow seemed not to learn about world history in his American education. Watch, and notice how narrow his definition of “the world” is when he imagines time-traveling as a white man:

If he’d gotten out of his time capsule anywhere but Europe (or America), odds are he would have been not deferred to, but laughed at. One reason the Portuguese and Spanish were so violent to other cultures during the Age of Exploration was that the people they encountered found them strikingly unimpressive. Da Gama and others complained in their reports that the goods they brought to impress foreign kings were laughed at for their low quality, as were the religious ideas with which they offered to “save” or otherwise improve their hosts. Indians, Muslims, and Chinese had advanced economies, smooth and respectful international trade relations, reasonably tolerant religious relations, and highly literate cultures. For most of their history, “white men” didn’t.

It’s funny how a guy as smart as Louis CK can’t know that the world laughed at white people until only a few centuries ago, when the industrialization of weapons made that laughter less easy to risk. His view of the world only seems to include Americans — black and white ones — and vague Romans who gave America Jesus.

Again, I love Louis CK’s work and imagination. He’s intelligent as all hell. And that’s sort of the point: intelligent people can still be stunted through a poor or provincial education system.

Imagine how much richer Louis CK’s work would be if he’d been taught about the rest of the planet.

7 Comments

• At February 7, 2012, Simon wrote:

  I’m wondering whether the people in the

  audience are there to be educated or entertained. Its great to be given the

  opportunity to instil some education among the humour but I’m not sure it would

  have gone quite so well with this narrative kicking off the 47th

  second:

  “He’s how great it is to be a white guy…

  I can get in a time machine and go to any

  time…

  Except for the Age

  of Exploration where the Portuguese and Spanish were too violent…

  And obviously the time when Indians,

  Muslims, and Chinese had advanced economies, smooth and respectful

  international trade relations, reasonably tolerant religious relations, and

  highly literate cultures which would make me feel stupid as a “white men”…

  Oh and obviously, I’d have to be

  careful where in the world I ended up too cos there are places and times in

  history where theyfolk would have been most unpleasant to us white folk but

  other than that …

  ..it would be f@$king awesome when I

  got there…”

  Even if you read this with Louis CK’s

  voice in your head I fear its not really setting the joke up particularly well.

  But then that’s just my opinion.

• At February 7, 2012, cburell wrote:

  The Indian guy sort of proves that comedians -- that excludes both of us, right? -- who craft jokes for a living can make history funny.

  If Louis goes into the professor mode as in your example, of course it's not going to work. But if he imagines himself as Da Gama offering an Indian prince some lame-ass wool when the dude is used to Chinese silks, he'd surely be able to take that places as easily as he takes the history he _does_ know.

  Ditto missionaries: the idea of missionaries expecting their ideas to make sense -- "So the creator of the universe made himself a man by getting a virgin pregnant, see, so he could be born...."

  "--Wait a minute. If he created the universe, why didn't he just create his human form. Why all the trouble making a virgin pregnant?"

  --or--

  "And then he made the humans kill him so that his blood would save me, you, and everybody who believed it because it was such a huge sacrifice to die like that. Then he came back to life and rose back up to be with himself in heaven."

  "--[Your comic imagination's response here.]

  --I mean, come on: the comic potential for these cross-cultural conversations is endless. And again, the Indian guy makes the point to some degree.

• At February 7, 2012, edith wrote:

  Louis C.K. is Mexican, a white mexican. That is why he comments on race with that tongue in cheek way of his.

• At February 8, 2012, John Golden wrote:

  Louis is not doing history, he's doing comedy. Furthermore, comedy with a point. It's totally beside the point to argue historical inaccuracy. If there's a point, it's that the audience buys into the premise, which talks about their  education. I think, year 2 - you are a barbarian, hated on sight in many parts of the world. Most people's sense of history is very localized in time.

• At February 8, 2012, Anonymous wrote:

  Hi John,

  I don't get the "I think, year 2 - you are a barbarian" phrase, so I can't comment. As for the rest, the Indian guy is doing comedy too, but his history is less localized - granted, probably because of his ethnic background. As for "most people's sense of history being localize," it's a question of degree as to how far beyond the local that sense encompasses. I can only speak from experience of 5 years in Germany, 6 in China, 3 in Korea, and 3 now in Singapore (and close friendships with Iranians and S. Africans) to make this claim, but in general my talks about history in these countries show a pretty marked contrast in non-local knowledge, compared to Americans in my homeland.

  Is this a roundabout way of saying Americans show a stunted grasp of world history, and of arguing it's a lack that education can fill? You bet.

  But like I say, as a comedian, Louis CK is first-rate. He was just a case to make a point.

• At February 9, 2012, American Novelists Too? | Beyond School wrote:

  [...] want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!I got a couple of critical responses to my use of Louis CK as an example of Americans’ having limited knowledge of the world and its history. In retrospect, I should [...]

• At February 10, 2012, Anonymous wrote:

  Hi Edith,

  You piqued my interest so I went to Wikipedia and found:

  "C.K.'s stage name is derived from an approximate English pronunciation of his Hungarian surname, Szekely (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈseːkɛj]). C.K. was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Mary Louise (née Davis), a software engineer, and Luis Szekely, an economist.[2][8] C.K.'s paternal grandfather, a Hungarian Jew, emigrated to Mexico, where he met C.K.'s paternal grandmother, who was a Catholic Mexican of Spanish and Mexican Indian ancestry.[9] C.K.'s father was born in Mexico and C.K.'s mother is an American of Irish Catholic ancestry. The two met at Harvard University while his father was trying to finish his degree during a summer-school program.[1] Although C.K. was born in D.C., he lived in Mexico City until the age of seven.[2] His first language is Spanish, and he still retains Mexican citizenship.[10]"Assuming WP is right, it definitely adds a wrinkle. Packing for a trip to China so no time to say more.