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"No ideas but in things"


22 February 12 08:07 PM
"No ideas but in things." --William Carlos Williams Stuff comes from stuff. That's a big deal. Everything you touch came from something else. If we ever truly taught science as knowledge, instead of as a means to magical goals, we'd get this. If we ever Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 9 Comments    
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Intelligent curriculum?


29 August 11 10:08 PM
When anyone suggests that we not teach evolution in school, he is suggesting that we not teach biology, and in a broader sense, science. So let's be more frank about the discussion--do we teach science, or something else pretending to be science (which Read More...
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Letting go


06 July 11 08:15 PM
I'm letting go this year. I'm going to trust the collection of young humans sitting in my class, brains honed by countless generations before them, each and every child with a lineage going back as far as the first protobionts that globbed together in Read More...
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On matters of faith


05 May 11 07:23 PM
Morning storm clouds. The light bit at edges, accentuating the few colors that poked through the gray dawn gloom. A brisk wind swirled from the northwest, a breeze out of Chocolat . A cherry tree dumped its blossoms like a snow squall, surrounding me Read More...
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An afternoon on the dredge spoils


30 April 11 04:10 PM
It's silly season--a pope getting beatified, royalty getting married. We need costumes for these, lots of costumes. And music! And, oh, isn't it all so grand! And under the Delaware Bay stir the ancient longings of ancient critters, crawling up from the Read More...
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Science snob


30 October 10 05:44 PM
This one's for me. N o need to read it, nothing to see. Move along, move along.... Everywhere plants Flourish among graves, Sinking their roots In all the dynasties Of the dead. Seamus Heaney , from "A Herbal" I believe, truly believe, that if you pay Read More...
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Melomel, cosmos, and teaching biology


16 October 10 05:21 PM
Yes, I know, same old same old...I write for Leslie. When I walk, I walk with Leslie. When I eat, I eat with Leslie. When I sleep, I sleep with Leslie. When I share melomel, I share it with Leslie. This morning I watched a couple of bees trying to suck Read More...
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A dandelion's life


13 August 10 09:08 PM
Here's a question I would love to pose to my sophomores: Is the spark of human life more valuable than a dandelion's? I am not asking which organism is more valuable, more productive, more useful, or more sacred.... though you might be surprised at how Read More...
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Courage, NJ biology teachers!


05 August 10 08:12 PM
I saw Willa Spicer, the Deputy Commissioner of the N. J. Department of Education, at an AP conference Tuesday. She made the opening remarks, with platitudes on the courage of teachers. It doesn't take a whole lot of courage to not be laid off, so I was Read More...
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Know your place


06 July 10 05:39 PM
I once knew an educated lady, banded by Phi Beta Kappa, who told me that she had never heard or seen the geese that twice a year proclaim the revolving seasons to her well-insulated roof. Is education possibly a process of trading awareness for things Read More...
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6th Great Extinction? (Don't scare the kids....)


04 July 10 08:27 PM
What do you teach a young adolescent? How much of the truth do you dare bare? We are in the midst of the Sixth Great Extinction. Technology got us here, and I have my doubts it will get us out. I have faith in life--creatures live in the deepest depths Read More...
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Our horseshoe crab trip


22 May 10 08:47 AM
What did you imagine lies in wait anyway at the end of a world whose sub-substance is glaim, gleet, birdlime, slime, mucus, muck? from Why regret? Galway Kinnell Yesterday we took over 160 high school students to Sandy Hook to see horseshoe crabs. A few Read More...
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Androcles and the green crab


08 May 10 08:13 PM
My son and I went to Sandy Hook today to scout for our multi-class horseshoe crab trip scheduled later this month. We solved the more pressing issues (a Park Ranger will open the latrines, we'll bring the toilet paper), then meandered around the park. Read More...
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