By John Spencer
This was my first time reading anything on a Kindle. Mind you, I don't actually have a Kindle, but I do have a Cloud Reader- basically the same thing. I didn't like it much. I noticed numerous spelling and grammar errors, and there are no page numbers. The reader gives you a percent and number out of 3 thousand and something, but if you go back and forth, the passage you were searching for may be found on a different number. Therefore, any direct quotations from the book cannot be cited correctly, only given by the chapter. Also, I like to note and write on my books. This book, without a doubt would have been covered in thoughts, reactions, doodles, ideas, and whatever else stood out to me. It makes the book easier to read a second time and take home points, well, easier to take out and take home.
Although this project was due 11/20-27, I thought it would be better to actually finish the book (which I did today, 11/28) and turn submit it a day late than complete the analysis yesterday and search for the information on Google.
In the fourteenth chapter, Mr. Spencer gives bulleted points of the main ideas included in the book, mainly what can and should be improved in the current educational system. However, I believe that the points not only cheapen the book, but demonstrate what Mr. Spencer is trying to avoid throughout his stories- a systematic, bottled up, boxed up, bulleted, hamburger helper, "favorites CD," factory, mechanized, assembly line steps to creating a more authentic way to educate students. Authenticity essentially sums up Mr. Spencer's goal for the entire book, along with his approach to education. Sages and Lunatics is a compilation of Mr. Spencer's, a junior high history teacher in Arizona, memories and thoughts throughout his first few years of teaching. The emphasis Mr. Spencer places on relationships with students and other teachers is apparent throughout the book. He gets the majority of the inspiration found in the book from certain students, colleagues: "Brad the Philosopher," "St. John," "Quinn the Business Bohemian," and "Javier the Hippie;" Jesus, and Socrates.
Brad the Philosopher claims in chapter 9 that "Jesus told stories that were exciting and violent and Socrates asked questions that were offensive and off-beat." Mr. Spencer's main approach is metaphors, the same as the public debates and parables told by these past revolutionaries. The title is debunked between the first and third chapters of the book. Mr. Spencer's despair stems from his philosophy rooted in the factory-education metaphor. A factory is uniform, standardized, based on memorization, formulas, and data, a process. It is like the Titanic- a scientific process, isolated from the community, and only focused on the outcome. However, to turn this system around it takes a multi-faceted teacher. A teacher who is both a sage and a lunatic.
The sage is a Ghandi who listens, is rational, and peacefully reforms the system from the inside through relationships. However, Mr. Spencer also points out that it is the pure sages that end up conforming to the system. On the other hand, one cannot be a pure radical for obvious, psychological, surface reasons. The lunatic is the bull horn man, shouting on the street about hell and damnation, God's anger and how no one will ever be good enough, about the need for forgiveness and change. He is "A person who society views as insane, because insanity has become the cultural norm." He is the only hope to see change in the factory, even if it is small, even if it only affects a few people. He takes the road less travelled and it makes all the difference, although it cannot be seen or measured, for students, faculty, parents, and the community alike. A 100% Mr. Spencer Sage would not let his students focus on deep questions, service projects, murals, and documentaries, but a 100% Mr. Spencer Lunatic would not have the reason to still focus on state and test standards- building concrete knowledge to advance in school.
Other meaningful notes and thoughts gathered from Sages and Lunatics:
Ch 1
Spencer's Main Goal: to look beyond facts, steps, and formulas to find what makes educating "successful," engaging, lasting, and authentic.
Ch 2
Silverscreen teachers= fireworks (bright, attention getting, temporary)
Meaningful teachers= campfire ("silent warmth and creating a place where we could share our story together;" "genuinely impacts a small number of people for a longer period of time")
Brad the Philosopher:
-to Americans, our jobs define who we are. why is it not the opposite? focus on teaching as a vocation, not a career
- Professor / Professional: those who
Goal of education:" to learn an identity"
St. John: A Special Education teacher. Be like him. Learn not to just hear, but to listen. Not to look, but to see.
Quinn the Business Bohemian: the guitar hero way vs. the authentic way of making music; the fallacy you are doing the real thing
Ch 3
Javier the Hippie- my favorite "character:"
-"they create a model and then they try to fit others into it rather than letting it grow organically. And they do it because they are scared of what might happen if something different fails. It's pride, but it's also good intentions. That's what makes it so hard. Some of the nicest people are involved in ruining education and they don't even know it."
Ch 5
Assertion that gaining students' trust is more important than any reward system
Ch 6
What do you want to
Goal of education: to get a better job
> assumes we live in a progressive society that is always improving
-to make one more ethical
> many of al-Qaeda, Nazi Party, Bolshevik Revolutionaries and the Apartheid in S. Africa all had higher education
> many of the greatest revolutions were led by the poor and uneducated
-to lead to a larger world view and help with the acquisition of wisdom
-to become educado
-"to gain wisdom in order to love people well"
Ch 7
Our history and any other textbooks are safe- racially, politically, etc. They all favor the white people, the "heroes"
Ch 9
Did "educate" come from educere: to draw out ("to tap into a person's intrinsic motivation")
or educare: to nurture, provide, and train
or both.
Ch 10
Mr. Spencer listens to Sufjan Stevens! He wants to teach by Sufjan's living philosophy and its manifestation in his music!!
Ch 11
How did text, IM, email, and skype become verbs?
Teachers using technology for the class's entertainment. SO TRUE
Technology is not a tool. A tool denotes physical work, effort, and hands-on problem solving
*Humans shape technology, but it also shapes us*
Utmost, is a loss of community.
In a technology based class, the teacher becomes the facilitator, not an educator.
"We have to go on vacations to see nature." How sad.
Ch 13
comparing students to record- not able to skip over the bad songs, but also not able to repeat the good ones.
- No "favorites CDs"
or American Idol Contestants vying for even the smallest ounce of attention
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