21 posts from April 2008

Dr. Socrates: Application for Promotion

LETTER of INTENT: By request, the letter enclosed begins with a specific request for promotion to the position of Full Faculty, accompanied by an outline of major justifications for receiving promotion and how each of the requirements for promotion will be documented.

SEE HERE

CURRICULUM VITAE: This document provides a condensed summary of my educational and academic background.

SEE HERE

DEAN’S LETTER: Enclosed is a letter of support from Dr. Pythagoras discussing my teaching, service, professional development and achievement, collegiality and contribution in shared governance, and Contribution to knowledge of a field or teaching profession.

SEE HERE
 

EVIDENCE OF TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS: These documents provide a statistical and anecdotal picture of my teaching effectiveness over the course of my teaching career.

Student evaluations for all courses taught during the past eight years;

Student Evaluation Data (Career)

Student Evaluation Data (Last Semester)

Anthology of Student Comments (Career)

Anthology of Student Comments (Last Semester)

Course syllabi for all courses taught during the past three years;

Rhetoric

Epistemology

Politics

Ethics

Law

Self evaluation that includes teaching philosophy, professional goals, description of teaching styles and instructional methodologies and pedagogical rationales;

Self Evaluation

Evidence of professional growth as a teacher, which includes competency and currency in the discipline and in pedagogy (teaching or discipline related conferences, workshops, presentations, panel discussions, development of innovative teaching techniques, etc);

Dialogs

Symposia

Lyceum presentations

Identification of new courses developed and taught since last promotion; All of the above course that I teach were personally developed but I will include links to Global Module “courses” that I have developed below:

Concepts of ‘The Good”

Gender and Civic Engagement

The Philosophy of Physician Assisted Suicide

Other evaluations and letters of support from Program Director, faculty colleagues or from members of the broader College community that are relevant to the promotion process;

Letter from Dr. Heroditus

Letter from Dr. Aeschylus

Peer observations (for at least the most recent period and preferably for several periods) that reflect teaching effectiveness;

Dr. Plato

Dr. Aristotle

Dr. Xenophon

Evidence of mentoring of students (letters from current or former colleagues);

Sophocles

Euripides

Alexander

Honors or awards received related to teaching.

Athenian “Gadfly” Award

SERVICE TO THE COLLEGE: Here you will find evidences of my contributions to the college above and beyond my work as an educator.

A chronological summary of involvement in committee and task force service, including standing and ad hoc committees of the College, Faculty Senate, Division and program;

SEE HERE

A statement of personal contributions and leadership in these committee service activities that demonstrates more than simple membership / attendance;

SEE HERE

A letter of support from current Program Director that endorses internal service contributions;

Letter from Dr. Pericles

Evidence of active participation in Faculty Senate and Senate Committees;

Letter from Dr. Sappho, chair of the Faculty Promotion and Sabbatical Committee

Evidence of service as a faculty adviser to a student organization;

SEE HERE

Evidence of participation in College public events such as Family Weekends, student recruiting, freshman orientation, honors events, alumni events, etc;

SEE HERE

Evidence of any other type of service activity in which applicant contributed to the betterment of the College;

Global Module Presentation

Core Competency in Critical Thinking Committee

Online instructor Training Sessions

High School Academy Certification Committee

LMS Exploratory Committee

* Letters of support are welcome from other constituents that can corroborate service contributions (such as former Deans, former Program Directors, committee chairs or members, external clients, etc) along with any other pieces of supporting evidence.

Letter from Oedipus: CPS hiring interviews

EVIDENCE OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT: In the documents below, the reader may find evidence of my professional growth as a Philosophy teacher.

Official transcripts from all graduate institutions attended:

Athens University

University of Alexandria

A chronological summary of participation in conferences, workshops, classes, etc;

Summary of conferences, workshops, and classes, SEE HERE

A statement that shows the relevance, connections and outcomes of these activities to teaching at Champlain College;

SEE HERE

Evidence of membership / leadership roles in professional associations related to applicant’s discipline or teaching;

Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Member (455 B.C.E. – 412 B.C.E)

International Plato Society, Chair (440 B.C.E. – 401 B.C.E)

International Center for Greek Philosophy and Culture: Treasurer (444 B.C.E. – 415 B.C.E)

Evidence of any community service or volunteer work relevant to field of teaching;

Fundraiser for Parthenon Inc.

Dale Carnegie Public Speaking instructor

A list of awards and honors relating to teaching or service.

Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship

EVIDENCE OF COLLEGIALITY AND PARTICIPATION IN SHARED GOVERNANCE: In this section you will find

Letter from Dr. Aspasia

Letter from Dr. Philo

Letter from Dr. Diogenes

EVIDENCE OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD OR TO THE TEACHING PROFESSION: Below, I have provided links to a number of evidences of my contributions to the field of History and the teaching profession.

Successful research endeavors and published works, such as abstracts, articles, books, chapters, monographs, poems, scholarly papers, reviews, conference proceedings, citations, editorial appointments, etc;

Unpublished works, such as internal college reports, speeches, conference presentations, media interviews, electronic teaching material;

See Recent Global Module discussions

Creative works such as plays, art exhibits, musical compositions, performances, films, computer codes, simulations, etc;

Receipt of grants or external funding;

Participation in professional / scholarly activities, conferences, sessions, panels, accreditation site visits, etc.

CONCLUDING REMARKS: The process of assembling the above materials has been educative in and of itself has been most beneficial, "the unexamined life" not being worth living and all, etc. etc.

Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)

William Shakespeare

The boys and I were studying Othello today (Act I) and noting that everyone in the story trusts Iago who is the least trustworthy character in the play ... and how everyone at the beginning suspects Othello of being a savage barbarian warlock when in fact he is about the only character in the play with integrity and moral gravitas. "Why does everyone trust Iago?" was the question of the day. The most interesting case is that of Rodrigo. Iago TELLS hims straight out that he [Iago}  is capable of being a consummate two faced liar and yet Rodrigo never suspects that Iago might be the same two faced liar with HIM. What is interesting is that periodically Iago will turn to the crowd and address THEM and for whatever reason, one suspects that, like Iago, the audience simply believes Iago even though they are watching Iago lie to everyone else.

Iago says of Othello:

"The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by the nose
As asses are."

A few months ago, I was invited to present an introduction to the College's Global Module initiative at the FOSTERING GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION Conference at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT. The workshops from the conference are available at the SIT Conference Website.  

The Presentation that N.C., L.H. and I did can be found HERE.

Naturally, there are things I wish I had said and had not said. For example, I refer to Jordan as an "Arab-Muslim country" a few times though I know as a matter of course that there are many Christians and non-Muslims and even non-Arabs in Jordan. Still, I think the video gives a snapshot of the sort of work I am doing in this global module initiative. It remains to be seen if I will get to continue.

Question for Comment: What part of the world would you like to link up with to discuss something? What would you like to discuss?

Among the numerous papers I got to hear and discuss at the 2008 ASMEA Conference in Washington were the following:

The Tribal Foundations of Middle Eastern Islamic Culture: By Philip Salzman:

Essentially, Salzman argues that Islamic  tribal Politics are based on security and on collective security arrangements.  It is essential to know who is on your group or NOT in your group. Thus patrimonial  lineage. The tribal system can be calibrated to threat. Balanced opposition. Families are aligned and can be organized at the level to meet the challenge. Honor is essential to make sure that no one betrays the group.

 

Outsiders are seen as fair game for predation. High obligation to the tribe, clan, family means low obligation to those outside … even the State.

War and Peace: Negotiating Meaning in Islam By Dr. Robert Barnage Jr.

Huntington's argument is that Islam has a self-perception of predetermined superiority and present inferiority and that this creates instability. There are those who insist that Islam is categorically a religion of peace. Others that it is categorically a religion of w ar. Al-Zawahari puts non-fighting Muslims outside the fold of Islam. How is this possible? Should one take a strict constructionalists position?   Is Islam what it was at the beginning? Barnage mentions the Report on Islamophobia that may be worth looking into? http://europa.meccahosting.com/~a0002ba3/Islamophobia-report.htm

This paper was conceived by someone who wanted to study the military campaigns of Muhammad and the Koranic Conept of War. Essentially, the study of Malik's book, published in 1979, is a study of what the presenter argues is a classic text in islamic "threat docrtrine". he says The Quranic Concept of War is a central text in the cannon of jihad studies.  It is mandatory reading in the Pakistani army.  "It is like Clausewitz for Muslims."

See Meyer's article HERE.

Malik writes:

“In war our main objective is the opponent’s heart or soul, our main weapon of offence against this objective is the strength of our own souls, and to launch such an attack, we have to keep terror away from our own hearts… Terror struck into the hearts of the enemies is not only a means, it is the end itself. Once a condition of terror into the opponent’s heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved. It is the point where the means and the end meet and merge. Terror is not a means of imposing decision on the enemy; it is the decision we wish to impose on him.” (p. 59)

"It (terror) can be instilled only if the opponent's faith is destroyed...To instill terror into the hearts of the enemy, it is essential, in the ultimate analysis, to dislocate his Faith" (p.60)

SEE HERE for article.

Legal Terrorism in the Name of Islamic justice: the Case of Iran by mark Jones and Hamid Kusha

These presenters argued that iran justifies internal terrorism on religious grounds. To expedite the appearance of the hidden Imam, the iranian state gives its leaders the power to create an Islamicly "perfect state" . Thus, the state has power to apply force to the populace to elicit behavior calculated to bring about the "millenium". Islamic "justice" is thus of a religious nature. The Constitution is a religious document. Articles 2, 4, and 5 in the Iranian Constitution are crucial and would probably exist in an Iraqi Constitution under Iranian Shiite influence.

Reading Tehran in Washington: The Problems of Defining the fundamentalist Regime in Iran by Dr. Ofira Selitar

Dr. Selitar talks about the complexities of Irans power structure ... a structure that she says not even holders of power in iran totally understand. "Weber says legitimacy is based on three different things. One is sentimental. Another is based on exchange. We get something for what we give and if we don’t, we revolt. The third thing is the perception of threat." 

"We never know who is in charge totally." Dr. Selitar said.  Many powerholders can continue to buy their power in Iran. In iran there is an army and there are revolutionary guards and within them are th eAl Quds and then there is an internal police and there is the social police, making women abide by the law. One never knows who is in control.

Economic Justice in the Middle East by Dr. Patrick Clawson

Dr. Clawson outlines the statistical data that suggests that Middle Eastern economies have stagnated. He argues that political issues prevail in the Middle East over economics. "Economics is for donkeys" the Ayatollah Khomeini once said. The goal of achieving economic justice - Nassarism - socialism, etc has not served middle Eastern economies in a global market. Many Israelis and Palestinians COULD benefit from collaboration for example but don't because they do not want to see their political opponents profiting in any way.

Martian Child

David: What are you doing?
Dennis: Learning.
David: What are you learning?
Denis: "how to be a human in part of a family"
David:  I think thats what we're all doing.

-----

David: Why did they send you here? You know, the Martians?
Dennis: To join a family and to learn human beingness.

-----

David: Sometimes we forget that children have just arrived on the earth. They are a little like aliens, coming into beings as bundles of energy and pure potential, here on some exploratory mission and they are just trying to learn what it means to be human. For some reason Dennis and I reached out into the universe and found each other, Never really know how or why. And discovered that I can love an alien and he can love a creature. And thats weird enough for both of us.

Definitely one of my new favorite John Cusak movies. Any of you with children that may not exactly fit into a "one-size-fits-nobody" system will enjoy it I suspect. Cusak does a good job of portraying what it is like to look for that balance between letting your kid be a bit weird and working to "de-weirdify" the world they live in. "Dennis needs special attention that we are not equipped to offer here" the school principle says. I suppose it doesn't help that Dennis wears a battery and duct tape anti-gravity belt to keep from floating away.

The question is how do our children interact with us. how do we need them? How do they need us?

Question for Comment: Carl Jung once said that "nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent." I wonder what he meant by that? Do we teach our children how to be human or do they teach us?

The Kite Runner

Tonight's movie was THE KITE RUNNER, a universal tale in an Afghan beard. I would love to watch a movie like this and maybe the movie ATONEMENT, a movie with a similar theme of a person seeking redemption for a previous ethical lapse.

Kite Runner was Champlain's Community Book Program selection a few years ago and it was a pleasure to revisit it in in visual form. Obviously, a few things were left out but this may well have been made up for as a result of the visual experience of Kabul.

Signs

I am back from Washington D.C. and I would like to say that despite all its charms, it can't compete with where I presently live. There are simply too many rules per square foot in Washington, and I may be saying the same of all cities. In order to accommodate the numbers per square mile that cities must accommodate, they must regulate them with so many directives per square mile. For every traffic sign here in Vermont where I live, there will be thirty in Washington. In one block of driving in Washington, I will be issued  thirty different "fatwas" that I must find in the maze of signery and background noise and disobey at my peril.

I may have to drive for a mile without being allowed to turn left. I may not be allowed to turn right, either on red or not. I will be told that I may only park in an open parking place on certain days or after certain hours or only if I am a certain kind of vehicle or handicapped in a certain way. If I am a bus, I can turn left but not if I am a person who desperately needs to. I will be told that I must merge right or must merge left, or that I may not merge right or merge left. I will be sent over bridges into adjoining states against my will. In some cases, signs will tell me that I cannot stop to figure out where I am. Other signs will tell me that I can only go one way on a four lane street or that I must or must not exit a highway to get to a place I may or may not want to go.

I find myself leaving Washington with "obedience fatigue". I drove the hour from the New York border to my home in Vermont with fewer than a dozen or two commands to deal with. In Washington, I felt like sheep in the flock of some mad Ayatolla. I understand the need for regulation when in the company of that many people. That many cars. But it gave me insight into Congress. The place where they live must condition them to the life of regulatory feudalism that they seem so hell-bent to impose on the country.

What I find particularly fascinating is how the U.S. Department of Agriculture building takes up the space of a large Vermont farm, seems to have no landscaping, and, though it presides over the nation's food supply, cannot seem to provide a place on the Mall in Washington for the making and selling of "real food". The Wikipedia site for the Department of Agriculture states:

"Today, many of the programs concerned with the distribution of food and nutrition to people of America and providing nourishment as well as nutrition education to those in need are run and operated under the USDA Food and Nutrition Service."

And yet, if you have ever been to the Mall in Washington that sits in front of the Bastille-like Department of agriculture buildings, and tried to find something decent to eat anywhere on the grounds stretching from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capital Building, you will find yourself in a "food desert" full of nothing but $4.00 hot dogs, Styrofoam pretzels, and $3.50 bottled water. Why I ask you, in a nation with the food selections and ethnic cuisine of the world at our fingertips, is there seemingly nothing but a McDonald's within two miles of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration?

That said, the museums were much enjoyed and I thank the city of Washington D.C. for housing them so marvelously. Never since the days of Rome has so much to see been assembled in one place and made free to the public. I simply make this modest suggestion to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture: A Museum that is to food what the national art gallery is to art. The Washington Mall needs a food court. At least as much as it needs another sign.   

Question for Comment: What did you miss about where you were from the last time you went away?

Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Cover Image May Vary)

Rob Bell

Notes from Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

Rob Bell distills things. This is my attempt to distill his message one layer of clarity beyond his already clear book. Rob is a Christian agnostic. That is, he believes as a matter of doctrine that we do not know enough  to say what we should believe.

“When Moses asks God for his name, God replies, ‘I am”. . . .

Perhaps this is God's way of saying, “if your goal is to figure me out and totally understand me, it's not going to happen.  Even my name is more than you can comprehend.” P. 24

“Ancient rabbis had all sorts of things to say about this passage, but one of the most fascinating things they picked up on is the part about God's back.  They argued that in the original Hebrew language, the word back should be understood as a euphemism for ‘where I just was’.  That's the closest you're going to get.” P. 25

“One of the great theologians of our time, Sean Penn, put it this way: ‘when everything gets answered, it's fake.  The mystery is the truth.’” P. 33

I like the image of knowing only who God was and of a God who learns. It is like chasing light. We can only “see” what was because the light is too fast for us to catch. The movement that would calcify, bottle, and sequester God into canning jars, using the rubber gloves of self-righteousness and the Hazmat suits of seminary degrees, Rob refers to as “brickianity”.

A second thing that Rob believes is that humans have a responsibility to the creativity within them not to leave all the creating up to God. In short, I think he thinks that's God would be mortified by the metaphor of ‘guarding the faith’.

“Notice what Jesus says in the book of Matthew: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’

What he is doing here is significant.  He's giving his followers the authority to make new interpretations of the Bible.  He is giving them permission to say, hey we think we missed it before on that first, and we've recently come to the conclusion that this is it actually means.’ . . . in Jesus as a world, it was assumed that you had as much to learn from the discussion of the text as you did for the text itself.  One person could never get too far into twisted interpretation because the others were right there giving her insight and perspective she didn't have on her own.” P. 52

In short, there is permission, as a faith community, to decide what we will allow and what we will not allow as long as loving our neighbor is what we're trying to do.

Thirdly, Rob Bell believes that truth is not confined in our book though it appears to be his favorite place to look.

“So Paul quotes one of the Cretan prophets and then affirms that this guy was right in what he said. ‘This testimony is true.’ What the Prophet said was true, so Paul quotes them.  For Paul, anybody is capable of speaking truth.  Anybody, from any perspective, from any religion, from anywhere.”

“Some people to actually believe that God is absent from a place until they get there.  The problem with this idea is that if God is not there before you get there, and there is no ‘there’ in the first place.”

Fourthly, Rob believes in the transcendental notion that we cannot follow God and live life by someone else’s pattern at the same time.

“And then he said, in what has become a pivotal moment in my journey, your job is the relentless pursuit of who God has made you to be.  And anything else you do is sin and you need to repent of it.” P. 114

One is reminded of Emerson’s words in Self-Reliance

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost . . .

Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.”

The difference between Emerson and Rob Bell would simply be that Rob Bell believes that thinking should be done in communities of thinkers.

Lastly, Rob Bell believes that we should not be at work getting people into heaven so they won’t go to hell. We should rather be on earth bringing heaven to our neighborhoods so that no one here lives in hell.

“For Jesus the question wasn't, how do I get into heaven?  But how do I bring heaven here? . . . As a Christian, I want to do what I can to resist hell coming to earth.  Poverty, injustice, suffering -- they are all hell's owners, and as Christians we oppose them with all our energies.  Jesus told us to.  ” p. 147

These are pieces of a comprehensive vision that seems to be resonating with thousands of people, though being opposed by singularities from the old school.

From all appearances, he “smokes what he sells and sells only when he smokes”.

My friend Tom, who sent me this book, and who has always believed in me, would have it to be a burning bush. I'm pondering it. And considering forwarding it to my brother Aaron.

I am reminded of something that the boys and I were discussing today in our conversation about Picture of Dorian Gray. It was about the power of a personality.

“She has not merely a consummate art-instinct in her, but she has personality also; and you have often told me that it is personalities, not principles, that move the age."

Question for Comment: Does Rob Bell, pastor of the fastest growing church movement in America, move people with the force of his logic or with the force of his personality? Or is there some other power, either of mass psychology, culture, or supernatural divinity at work here? Clearly, he has compassion which I have never claimed to possess.

The following was posted by a student in one of my classes today. It occurred to me that maybe I should start a separate blog for some of my favorite student posts.

Q:

Have you ever had experiences with people holding what Steele calls “a grievance identity”? Details? Would you consider Steele’s criticism of grievance politics to be callous?  How does the learning you have done this semester impact your answer to that question?

A:

For those that didn't get a chance to read "The New Segregation" the author, Steele, uses  the term “grievance identity" to represent his observation that minorities today are forced  into roles in society that are defined by who they identify as the enemy.  For instance the  author, a black man, claims that being a black man with a strong cultural identity requires  that he hold a grievance against white men, support its alienation, and uphold his groups  sovereignty.  His conclusion is that this is about power not justice and that it a result of identity forming out of anger against oppression.  

I have had many experiences with people holding what I would call "a grievance identity."   Its always easy to remember your first encounter with something that strikes you as different, outside your comfort zone, or beyond your previous experiences.  My military career provided the environment for many of these experiences.  As a white kid (17)  coming from a small rural town in Norther Vermont with no black or hispanic population I  had almost no multi-cultural exposure before arriving at Basic Military Training.  It just so happened that I was also the only white kid in my training flight.  Everyone else was either black or hispanic. Lets just say that it was clear that I did not exactly fit in.  I received two death threats within the first 12 hrs.  One because I asked a big black kid  (Seth) where he was from and what his father did for work and one because I laughed  when my bunk mate fell off the top bunk. Let's just say that I didn't sleep well for several nights. It was made very clear by almost everyone that I was not welcome, based purely on what my skin color represented. They called me "pillow", and somehow you just know when a name is derogatory and when it is endearing. Those who did try to talk to me or where caught talking to me those first few weeks where reprimanded by others not to talk  to "pillows".  There was a clear rift in the group.  Urban black and Urban hispanic.  I was not welcome in either and represented for most of them their oppression.  But, it was one of those life changing experiences.  I had never before experienced such a degree of  dislike, disrespect, and general ill will by a group of people, and all for no justifiable  reason other than I was white and represented a world that these young black and  hispanic men where angry with.  They begrudged me my humanity in affirming their identity.  Their groups where bound on the common grievance they had against what I represented.  My reaction to this actually surprised me.  Rather than becoming angry at them I became embarrassed of what I represented in this new group dynamic.  Luckily there wasn't much time for thinking about this and at the end of the day little energy left  for words. We survived each other because we barely survived the days training. What made us different eventually became overshadowed by what we had in common (our military experience) and a new group identity formed out of our shared experiences.   Seth still calls me "pillows", but its derogatory connotation has long sense been replaced by a history of mutual respect and support.  A year ago I talked with Seth and he told me that I was the first white guy he ever asked for help and the first white guy that ever actually helped him.  In the 12 years since the day he asked me for help that thought had never crossed my mind.  I'm glad Seth doesn't allow his anger to define his identity any more, and I'm glad I don't feel embarrassed when made the subject of other people racially focused anger. 

I personally don't think that Steele’s criticism of grievance politics is callous.  I think he presents a revealing and respectful perspective on modern American politics.  Yesterday, on NPR I heard a report about some public schools in America that chose to become gender segregated.  The idea is that girls and boys learn differently.  But, everyone they interviewed who supported this approach sounded angry about their daughter being frightened to ask question because boys where in the class or sons who where embarrassed to participate in class because they are worried about what the girls are thinking about them in class.  It sounds like grievance politics to me.  They interviewed an old lady who criticized this by stating that men and women are different enough as it is, and that schooling them differently isn't going to teach them how to get along, which is what they need to know.  I think thats a respectable statement, and it follows along with one of the things I learned this semester.  Diversity is important.  The more people with different backgrounds, culture, race, experiences the more value arises out of working together.  This class has been a good example of that.  We struggled with our differences amongst ourselves and with the Jordan students, but the end result was something that is arguably better than what we had before. 

- Ethan

Question for Comment: How do you create a safe place for diversity in your life?

Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-up Comedy

Franklyn Ajaye

Today's read was a birthday present for my now 15 year old son. I thought it interesting because stand-up comedy is essentially like teaching. To be good at it, you have to find your personal voice. 

One has to decide how they will see the world differently, preferably better, or at least more insightful or interestingly than others. A comedian says "The world is funny, even crazy, if you look at it from a certain angle that most people never look at it from."  Comedians can challenge tradition or they can challenge the challengers of tradition. They can say to us all, "You are not looking at the world from the best angle and that is why you all act so silly."

Ultimately, we are the jokes in a good stand-up comedy act.

"The Four Levels of Comedy: Make your friends laugh, Make strangers laugh, Get paid to make strangers laugh, and Make people talk like you because it's so much fun." Jerry Seinfeld 

When Jerry Seinfeld says that the government is basically "parents for adults" he is looking at something we look at every day but looking at it differently. And fundamentally, when we look at something differently, we change. It is one of the reasons why I think I need to learn more from comedians and apply what I learn to my teaching. What is my point of view on it all? What is my attitude towards it all? What can I say that would cause a student to say "How did I get to be X years old and ignorant of the fact that all of this could be looked at from that angle?"

Question for Comment: Do you think good teachers have to be "funny"? Or do they simply have to have different ways of seeing to share with us?