Thursday, November 12, 2009
Another Video Post
Another list of videos has been shared with me and I would like to pass this list on. This list can be viewed at: http://www.thegreatideas.org/mortimer_adler_videos/index.html
More Video Information
I was informed this afternoon by Mr. Weismann that:
"These Paideia videos are our best sellers:
THE GREAT IDEAS: A Seminar Approach To Teaching And Learning
Produced by Dr. Patricia Weiss, President of The Paideia Group, the University of North Carolina, and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The purpose of these programs is to teach anyone how to conduct Socratic seminars. In these programs, Dr. Adler conducts seminars with 20 high school students on the readings below. After each discussion there is a question and answer session between Dr. Adler the student's teachers.
(Five DVDs) $100.00 for the set.
1) THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - (60 min.)
2) APOLOGY - Plato - (60 min.)
3) ANTIGONE - Sophocles - (60 min.)
4) THE PRINCE - Machiavelli - (90 min.)
5) Aristotle's POLITICS & Rousseau's THE SOCIAL CONTRACT- (60 min.)"
Produced by Dr. Patricia Weiss, President of The Paideia Group, the University of North Carolina, and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The purpose of these programs is to teach anyone how to conduct Socratic seminars. In these programs, Dr. Adler conducts seminars with 20 high school students on the readings below. After each discussion there is a question and answer session between Dr. Adler the student's teachers.
(Five DVDs) $100.00 for the set.
1) THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - (60 min.)
2) APOLOGY - Plato - (60 min.)
3) ANTIGONE - Sophocles - (60 min.)
4) THE PRINCE - Machiavelli - (90 min.)
5) Aristotle's POLITICS & Rousseau's THE SOCIAL CONTRACT- (60 min.)"
-- Max
Video of Dr. Adler and Charles Van Doren
This video comes out of a "collection," from which I found on a link that was sent to me by Max Weismann. It is from a collection of thirteen, fourteen-minute videos about the book entitled, How to Read a Book. The videos were produced by Encyclopedia Britannica, however after their production they were lost for 3 years! The cost of the thirteen set collection is very affordable, at a donation price of $24.95, plus $5.00 shipping and handling. If anyone were to be interested the titles of each of the thirteen videos is as follows:
For more information about the collection, you can visit the website:
- To read or not to read.
- How to keep awake while reading.
- Coming to terms with the author.
- What's the proposition and why?
- The questions to ask a book.
- Talking back to the author.
- Sorting out the books.
- How to read stories.
- What makes a story good.
- How to read a poem.
- Activating poetry and plays.
- How to read two books at a time.
- The pyramid of books.
Max Weismann's Contributions
I would like to begin by thanking Mr. Weismann for his contributions to my blog. Mr. Weismann contacted me, via a "comment" made on Oct. 31, 2009. In return, I found Mr. Weismann's e-mail address and he and I exchanged several e-mails on November 12, 2009. He is a very nice and helpful man, who provided me with several links to videos, which I will include to my blog after I make this post. However, I just wanted to pay tribute to his contributions by adding information about Mr. Weismann, found on the website:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/max-weismann/9/97a/557
About Max Weismann
Max Weismann is an American philosopher and a long time friend and colleague of Mortimer Adler, with whom he co-founded the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas in Chicago. He is director and president of the Center and has dedicated his time and talents to promoting the philosophical and pedagogical ideas of Dr. Adler. He also compiled, edited and published, How To Think About the Great Ideas: From the Great Books of Western Civilization--a 600 page tome of never published work from Adler’s television series, The Great Ideas. Weismann serves as chairman of the Great Books Academy [over 3,000 students] and is professor of philosophy at Rushmore University.
Prior to his career in philosophy and education with Dr. Adler, Mr. Weismann was a consultant in the field of architecture, construction management and exhibit design and fabrication. He worked on famous projects like the Century 21, New York and EXPO 67 world’s fairs, with such notables as Buckminster Fuller, Mies van der Rohe, Louis I. Kahn, Paul Rudolph, Marcel Breur, Edward Durell Stone, Minoru Yamasaki, Harry Weese, Moshe Safdie, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Alexander Calder, and Edward L. Barnes. Mr. Weismann oversaw the development and construction of Chicago’s famous Botanic Garden.
Mr. Weismann also invented a revolutionary color imaging system, that was used worldwide in the fields of color proofing and printing, graphic design, television and advertising.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/max-weismann/9/97a/557
About Max Weismann
Max Weismann is an American philosopher and a long time friend and colleague of Mortimer Adler, with whom he co-founded the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas in Chicago. He is director and president of the Center and has dedicated his time and talents to promoting the philosophical and pedagogical ideas of Dr. Adler. He also compiled, edited and published, How To Think About the Great Ideas: From the Great Books of Western Civilization--a 600 page tome of never published work from Adler’s television series, The Great Ideas. Weismann serves as chairman of the Great Books Academy [over 3,000 students] and is professor of philosophy at Rushmore University.
Prior to his career in philosophy and education with Dr. Adler, Mr. Weismann was a consultant in the field of architecture, construction management and exhibit design and fabrication. He worked on famous projects like the Century 21, New York and EXPO 67 world’s fairs, with such notables as Buckminster Fuller, Mies van der Rohe, Louis I. Kahn, Paul Rudolph, Marcel Breur, Edward Durell Stone, Minoru Yamasaki, Harry Weese, Moshe Safdie, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Alexander Calder, and Edward L. Barnes. Mr. Weismann oversaw the development and construction of Chicago’s famous Botanic Garden.
Mr. Weismann also invented a revolutionary color imaging system, that was used worldwide in the fields of color proofing and printing, graphic design, television and advertising.
The Paideia Program-Part III - Ch. 16- A Note on Grading & the Paradox of Present Practice
Well, Dr. Adler definitely chose a "touchy" subject to end this book. By touchy, I mean that their are so many different opinions that exist when it comes to grading in the school systems. There are different opinions from teachers that teach in classrooms next to each other in the same school building. However, they are forced to grade the same way. Why? "Because that's the way it's always been done in the past..."
Grades are a very important part of our educational system, however, the bottom line question is this: "Do they really matter?" In this author's opinion, the answer is a quick, fast, and LOUD, NO!!! If it were up to me, I would do away with a grading system. The best contract that I have ever seen for a grading system is that used by Professor Ralph Brockett. This is one, in which the students (at the beginning of the semester) fill out a "Learning Contract." In this learning contract, the students are given a list of "activities" that are "relative" to the course for the semester. "Relative" is the key word in this statement, nothing unexpected, nothing to spend extra time on, which will be of no use to your future education or employment. In other words, everything that you do in his courses for the semester, will be of value! There are other "requirements" that he has listed, i.e. "readings," "activities," etc. However, from DAY ONE, his students know what is expected of them in order to do well in his courses, to learn.
The reason that I mention Dr. Brockett's courses (are not to gain points on this assignment) are because the "learning" is central to everything in the course, when he is grading. This is similar to what Adler describes in Chapter Sixteen. There are so many phrases that I could have pulled out of this chapter that I find key to the proper way a facilitator of learning should, well, facilitate; however, I have selected only a few. These statements are as listed:
Grades are a very important part of our educational system, however, the bottom line question is this: "Do they really matter?" In this author's opinion, the answer is a quick, fast, and LOUD, NO!!! If it were up to me, I would do away with a grading system. The best contract that I have ever seen for a grading system is that used by Professor Ralph Brockett. This is one, in which the students (at the beginning of the semester) fill out a "Learning Contract." In this learning contract, the students are given a list of "activities" that are "relative" to the course for the semester. "Relative" is the key word in this statement, nothing unexpected, nothing to spend extra time on, which will be of no use to your future education or employment. In other words, everything that you do in his courses for the semester, will be of value! There are other "requirements" that he has listed, i.e. "readings," "activities," etc. However, from DAY ONE, his students know what is expected of them in order to do well in his courses, to learn.
The reason that I mention Dr. Brockett's courses (are not to gain points on this assignment) are because the "learning" is central to everything in the course, when he is grading. This is similar to what Adler describes in Chapter Sixteen. There are so many phrases that I could have pulled out of this chapter that I find key to the proper way a facilitator of learning should, well, facilitate; however, I have selected only a few. These statements are as listed:
- "The first kind of learning (acquisition of information and knowledge), aided by didactic teaching with teachers talking occupies more than 75 percent of classroom time in elementary and secondary schools, and in our colleges as well. The second kind of learning (development of skills) is aided by coaching, which has dwindled to a bare minimum in most of our schools and colleges. The third kind (increase of understanding) is aided by Socratic questioning. This is almost totally absent from most of our schools and colleges; when present, its presence, is peripheral and slight" (Adler, 1984)(p.180).
- The paradox in the situation lies in the fact that the first kind of learning is the least durable of all three. The information and knowledge acquired in order to pass tests and examinations is highly transient and evanescent... Skills developed, being habits, not verbal memories, are much more durable than verbally memorized information or knowledge. Yet in our score-keeping we place less emphasis on our measurement of these accomplishments. It is well known that habits are durable only on condition that they are continually exercised. Not exercised at all, they atrophy. Exercised infrequently, they weaken. That is why language skills are the most durable in all students. Mathematical skills are durable only for those whose professions or occupations require them to use these skills regularly.
- We come finally to increased understanding. Of all three kinds of learning, this is the most durable. More than that, it is also unconditionally durable. Unlike verbal memories, something understood does not need to be exercised in order to be retained. This, then is the kind of learning that lasts for a lifetime and is of the greatest importance in the use of our minds and the conduct of our lives. Yet in our educational score-keeping we hardly measure it at all" (Adler, 1984)(p.181-182).
The Paideia Program-Part III - Ch. 15- How to Recognize a Paideia School
I found myself agreeing / disagreeing 50/50 with the beliefs of this chapter. Allow me to explain myself further. I do not agree with the Paideia school's beliefs on the elective offerings. In the Paideia school setup, Dr. Adler explains, "A Paideia school would offer no electives except the choice of a second language. It would not offer any particularized job training of the kind now called 'vocational education'" (Adler, 1984)(p.177). I do agree with the belief that a second language should be taken by all students. However, to completely take out the vocational track is taking away the only thing that some students are ever going to do with their lives.
The main thing that I agreed with Dr. Adler on, and I strongly agree with his writings, in this chapter are the ideas of the changes made to the "three kinds of teaching." Classrooms in lower education today are in terrible condition. More times than not the children are not spoken "to," they are spoken "at." Meaning that the teacher is not having this "discussion" that Adler is so adamant about having in a classroom. He, and the rest of "The Group" believe this is one of the most important part of successful classroom teaching and learning.
The main thing that I agreed with Dr. Adler on, and I strongly agree with his writings, in this chapter are the ideas of the changes made to the "three kinds of teaching." Classrooms in lower education today are in terrible condition. More times than not the children are not spoken "to," they are spoken "at." Meaning that the teacher is not having this "discussion" that Adler is so adamant about having in a classroom. He, and the rest of "The Group" believe this is one of the most important part of successful classroom teaching and learning.
Their proposal for change is, "In addition, the three kinds of teaching and learning would be found to reverse the present proportions. Now, about 80% to 85% of classroom time from K through 12 is occupied by didactic instruction, the teachers talking uninterruptedly, the students silent and listening passively. Less than 20% of classroom time is devoted to active interchanges between teachers and students, either in coaching sessions or in seminars and discussions. A Paideia school requires a sharp reversal. Active interchanges between teachers and students would occupy 60% to 70% of classroom time, and unrelieved didactic teaching would be kept to 30% to 40%.
But, the most important criterion, first and last, is that a Paideia school provides all its students with equal education opportunity, equal in quality as in quantity, having one track for all, the same objectives for all, by means of a course of study that is the same for all" (Adler, 1984)(p.177-178)
These are how the majority of college courses are now being taught, so why not start preparing the children from the time they begin school? If they are taught this way for thirteen years, then they will have a tremendous advantage when they (those who choose to go) begin college.
The Paideia Program-Part III - Ch. 14- How a Paideia School Should Be Structured
The first thing to remember when structuring a Paideia School, is, that like any public school, no two schools will be alike. However, Dr. Adler points out, any existing school has the capacity to adopt the "Paideia curriculum."
In order to do so, there are steps that must be taken towards "restructuring" a school system. Dr. Adler describes these, "The school principal and a group of key teachers must (1) understand the Paideia Proposal, (2) recognize it for the radical idea it is, and (3) be committed to a series of changes that will probably run a decade or more. All three are prerequisites" (Adler, 1984)(p.168).
Next, Dr. Adler writes about the schedules of the Paideia School systems. They are unlike the typical five, identical days, with uniform class periods, that exist in most "modern school systems." Instead, "The school schedule must be made flexible enough to suit the character of each subject being studied, the mode of instruction, and the differences in learning ability on the parts of its students" (Adler, 1984)(p.170). Also, "regular teachers" and teaching styles will not be the only method in existence. "Coaching and seminars, which serve different educational purposes, call for different scheduling and different grouping" (Adler, 1984)(p.170).
Because of this reason, budgets being tight (similar to regular school systems), in a Paideia school system, "... teachers and other staff members in the school must play multiple roles. They must organize in teams that take advantage of their differing talents" (Adler, 1984)(p.171). For this reason, teaching and learning can become impersonal in a Paideia school system. The teacher cannot spend his/her time getting to know every student well.
"Coaching" skills are required with class groupings. With these, one or two students will work with a tutor, and at most six or eight with a coach. "Seminar" teaching is used in larger classroom sizes (25 students or more).
Concerning the Paideia Program's curriculum, it is written that: "The Paideia Program aims at a degree of mastery in all subjects and skills that is proportionate to the capacity of each individual student. A Paideia school will be therefore less ambitious about comprehensive coverage and more ambitious about every student's active engagement in learning" (Adler, 1984)(p.173). This, to me, sounds like what the concept of "teaching," in general, is supposed to be about.
Two statements stood out to me, concerning "Training the Staff." These two statements are: (1) "Program requires intensive continuous training of the staff, especially in the period of transition" (Adler, 1984)(p.175).
- This statement stood out because if the staff were to "fall behind" during the transition period, and then, whenever the school year began still be behind, I would like to know what the program's plans would be to "catch them up." Nothing was mentioned of any actions to do so in the book.
(2) "One of the reasons for phasing in the Paideia Program over a number of years is to make sure that adequate planning and training smooth the way for each change" (Adler, 1984)(p.175).
- The reason this statement stood out is because the "number of years..." part of the statement. I know that the "estimation" has been given previously in the book, however, what if the school system does not meet expectations? Again, these are things that are not discussed in this book, that I would have liked to seen answers to, for examples.
In order to do so, there are steps that must be taken towards "restructuring" a school system. Dr. Adler describes these, "The school principal and a group of key teachers must (1) understand the Paideia Proposal, (2) recognize it for the radical idea it is, and (3) be committed to a series of changes that will probably run a decade or more. All three are prerequisites" (Adler, 1984)(p.168).
Next, Dr. Adler writes about the schedules of the Paideia School systems. They are unlike the typical five, identical days, with uniform class periods, that exist in most "modern school systems." Instead, "The school schedule must be made flexible enough to suit the character of each subject being studied, the mode of instruction, and the differences in learning ability on the parts of its students" (Adler, 1984)(p.170). Also, "regular teachers" and teaching styles will not be the only method in existence. "Coaching and seminars, which serve different educational purposes, call for different scheduling and different grouping" (Adler, 1984)(p.170).
Because of this reason, budgets being tight (similar to regular school systems), in a Paideia school system, "... teachers and other staff members in the school must play multiple roles. They must organize in teams that take advantage of their differing talents" (Adler, 1984)(p.171). For this reason, teaching and learning can become impersonal in a Paideia school system. The teacher cannot spend his/her time getting to know every student well.
"Coaching" skills are required with class groupings. With these, one or two students will work with a tutor, and at most six or eight with a coach. "Seminar" teaching is used in larger classroom sizes (25 students or more).
Concerning the Paideia Program's curriculum, it is written that: "The Paideia Program aims at a degree of mastery in all subjects and skills that is proportionate to the capacity of each individual student. A Paideia school will be therefore less ambitious about comprehensive coverage and more ambitious about every student's active engagement in learning" (Adler, 1984)(p.173). This, to me, sounds like what the concept of "teaching," in general, is supposed to be about.
Two statements stood out to me, concerning "Training the Staff." These two statements are: (1) "Program requires intensive continuous training of the staff, especially in the period of transition" (Adler, 1984)(p.175).
- This statement stood out because if the staff were to "fall behind" during the transition period, and then, whenever the school year began still be behind, I would like to know what the program's plans would be to "catch them up." Nothing was mentioned of any actions to do so in the book.
(2) "One of the reasons for phasing in the Paideia Program over a number of years is to make sure that adequate planning and training smooth the way for each change" (Adler, 1984)(p.175).
- The reason this statement stood out is because the "number of years..." part of the statement. I know that the "estimation" has been given previously in the book, however, what if the school system does not meet expectations? Again, these are things that are not discussed in this book, that I would have liked to seen answers to, for examples.
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