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Showing posts from May, 2016

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How Did I Do? The 2015-16 School Year in Review

Posted by James Dittes on May 27, 2016

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Re-Teaching Gatsby: toward a more text-based approach

Posted by James Dittes on May 03, 2016

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Aesthetic Education: The Teacher's Response to Genius

[This post is a draft of a five-minute talk I will give at the Arts Integration Institute, hosted by the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Education Department, 15 July 2016.]

This quote by Eric Booth captures the essence of Aesthetic Education. Aesthetic is an adjective that means "concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty," and 'exploring masterworks' is the closest that any person can get to humanity's most beautiful expressions. Just this week, we have been moved by the transformation captured in Eric Kaiel's dance, "No Man is an Island," the heart-tugging lyricism of Theatergroup Kwatta's, "Love that Dog," and the world-shrinking fusion of Tiempo Libre's "Minuet in G (Guaguanco)."

In these masterworks our senses have been blasted by the virtuosity of these artists, and our minds have been inspired to share one full, aesthetic experience with students in the coming year.

But Booth's quote isn't …

Why Did Microsoft include games with Windows OS? A Teaching Moment

Solitaire has always been a part of my experience as a user of Windows. But I've never stopped to wonder why it has been included in every Windows machine I have owned.
Here are some possible explanations: Did Microsoft want to balance the time saved by using technology with time that we could waste with solitaire or Freecell or Minesweeper?Did they want to show how smart I am? (I mean, I'm really good at Freecell. I win half my games.)Did they want students to be able to show teachers 'I'm bored' or 'I'm not working on your assignment' without needing to raise their hands and actually say so?Did Bill Gates have so much money that he decided to give away games free?
Turns out there are specific reasons these games are on our computers--and all of them have to do with teaching.
As reported in Mental Floss last year, Microsoft had specific reasons for the games it released with Windows 3.1 in 1992 (my junior year in college when, incidentally, I was using …

Teaching, flavored by Tiempo Libre and Arts Integration

The conductor of my church's choir waved a song to a stop last night.

"Someone is tapping a rhythm on the wood," he growled. "Stop it."

I looked around at the other members. They were seated on the carpeted platform. Innocent.

I looked down at my own feet and saw naked plywood. It was me!

That's when I realized the full impact of the Tiempo Libre concert I had attended with my students that morning. The group's smooth mix of Cuban rhythms, Salsa dances and musical virtuosity was still tip-tapping within me and working its way outside.

I hadn't been taught--I had been infected!

Take it from a teacher whose mantra is "learning out loud." That's quite an impressive feat of teaching.

The concert kicked off with a rhythm symphony. Lead singer, Xavier Mili tapped out a clave rhythm on a Güiro. He was soon joined by three conga drum players, each engaging the beat with a complex rhythm. A final touch came with rhythm from a drum set. So much was g…

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About James

James Dittes teaches English, German and creative writing at Station Camp High School in Gallatin, TN. He is a national fellow with America Achieves Fellowship for Teachers & Principals and a 2014-15 fellow with Teachers for Global Classrooms.

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James A Dittes