Episodes
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Daniel's Proposal
In this episode, we take a slightly different approach to the issues associated with education. We're going to spend some time focusing on our own proposals for educational change rather than discussing what others have done and/or proposed. In this episode, Daniel talks about re-imagining the…
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Patrick's Proposal
In this episode, we take a slightly different approach to the issues associated with education. We're going to spend some time focusing on our own proposals for educational change rather than discussing what others have done and/or proposed. In this episode, Patrick talks about an educational…
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Simon's Proposal
In this episode, we take a slightly different approach to the issues associated with education. We're going to spend some time focusing on our own proposals for educational change rather than discussing what others have done and/or proposed. In this episode, Simon talks about his philosophy of...
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Is Homeschooling the Answer?
In this episode, the kids at the back of the class take a look at the arguments for homeschooling, and explore whether it is the answer to all of education's problems.
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Grading Parents! No, Really...They Want To Grade Parents.
In this show, the kids at the back of the class discuss the idea of having teachers grading parents on how prepared their child(ren) is/are for school each day. It won't take long to find out how the kids in the back of the class feel about that one.
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Practical Wisdom
In this episode, the kids at the back of the class are joined by an often-referenced person to discuss Barry Schwartz TED Talk, titled "Using Our Practical Wisdom". Simon was in the field, so Mark Salata joined us, and brought the topic.
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The Thiel Conundrum
In this show, the kids at the back of the class discuss the Thiel Foundation's Fellowship program that gives $100,000 to each of 20 recipients under the age of 20. The program is designed to reward "stopping out of school" and furthering innovative science and technical ideas.
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CAREing Schools
In this episode, the kids at the back of the class discuss, some in a very grumpy way, an article about CARE, a school initiative to bring values learning to students.
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Education with SOLE
In this show, the kids at the back of the class discuss Sugata Mitra's TED talk about Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLE). For the most part, we just gush about the whole idea, but we do it in a confrontational manner.
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The Pandora Classroom
In this episode, the boys at the back of the class discuss the feasibility of classes set up like the Pandora music service in order to differentiate and individualize instruction.
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Can Schools Change The World
This show has the kids at the back of the class discussing the relationship between schools and their communities and asking if schools can solve the problems of the world.
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Technology as an Educational Distraction
In this episode, the kids at the back of the class discuss the role that technology should play in education and how that technology may actually be acting as a distraction for students.
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Women Make the World Go 'Round
This show focuses on research showing that the presence of women in groups is a predictor of how successful the outcomes of that group will be. In essence, the more women, the more successful the group. The kids at the back of the class tackle this issue, head on, and with gusto...
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What Motivates Us
This show has the kids at the back of the class discussing the RSA Animate youtube clip entitled: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, and looking for what this video's message means for education.
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Building a Better Teacher?
This show has the three kids at the back of the class discussing how to build a better teacher.
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TBOTC Tackles NCLB
This episode sees us take on the practices associated with education in the age of NCLB.
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The EduChatRoulette
This show focuses on the possible uses of ChatRoulette technology in educational professional development...assuming the numerous issues with it could be worked out.
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The Success Factory
In this episode, we discuss whether the Thomas Jefferson High School in Northern Virginia (called the "Best High School in America") is actually a model of good education.
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The Bookless Library
This show revolves around the concept of a library without any books. This is a process that a school outside of Boston is undertaking, where the concept is to replace all of the books in a traditional library with electronic means of data collection (e.g. Kindles).
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Oppenheimer's Call
This show, after a short discussion of which topic to cover, leads into a discussion of what types of educational settings can spark a student's desire to learn
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The Rubber Room
This show discusses the topic of the Rubber Room - used in New York City as a temporary (or permanent, depending on your view) solution to poor teachers who cannot be fired without an arbitration hearing.
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The Purpose of School Episode
This episode discusses the nature of learning and the purpose of school. The discussion focuses on a Seth Godin blog post about whether education should be scarce or abundant, free or expensive, and about schooling or learning.
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Time to Think
This episode focuses on the need for building time into the system that would allow teachers and students to think. This includes a discussion of what kinds of specific programs could be implemented to allow this time.
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The Inuit School
This show centers on the teaching of culture and how that can change the focus of education away from traditional models and towards more practical applications of knowledge.
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The Teacher as a Comedian Episode
This is the inaugural episode of the Back of the Class, a series of musing on education from the kids at the back of the class. In this episode, we discuss whether it's appropriate to train teachers on the skills that are necessary for becoming a comedian.