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Poem: “Ox Cart Man,” by Donald Hall
Statement of the Whole: Amazing to think about, but Backporch Education Podcast is now beginning its fourth Season! Jason and Steve take a few minutes to lean back and think about where we have been, where we might go from here. Join in the dreaming.
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Poem: “Work without Hope” by Samuel T. Coleridge
Statement of the Whole: Moving from the image of a car engine spread out on the back lawn to the inner workings of the inquisitive mind, Jason and Steve discuss how analysis and synthesis are both necessary to every lesson. Pulling an idea apart and putting it back together keep learning from its dangerous extremes. Listen as the Backporch breaks it down and puts it all back together again.
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Poem: “The Hippopotamus” by T.S. Eliot
Statement of the Whole: When we began a while back to separate our lives into various spheres, especially as we moved education in the schools away from any form of religion, a new set of questions were birthed. What role does the American church play in the education of the modern child? Is it possible to teach children in a manner free of any religious instruction? If it is, is this good? Join in this long and important conversation with us.
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Poem: “Sonnets from the Portuguese, #23” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Statement of the Whole: Would a teacher’s life be better or worse if Administrators disappeared from the Earth? So begins a lively repartee between Jason and Steve, both of whom currently divide time at their respective schools between teaching and administrative duties. Why do we need such people? How are their duties best attended to? If an administrator holds a faculty meeting in the woods, will teachers still have to come? Join us for these and many more compelling questions.
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Poem: “The Third Day” by Edith Lovejoy Pearce
Statement of the Whole: Recently an Italian artist sold an “immaterial sculpture” for about $18,000 and the Backporch dudes let the fun begin. Join them in a far-ranging discussion about this moment in art and education history. Did he sell nothing or a “vacuum”? Is this legit? What did the buyer get? The questions just keep coming, a perhaps the beginnings of some answers as well. Pull up a chair and have fun with us.
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Yet Another Farming Metaphor
Poem: from “The Church Porch” by George Herbert
When thou dost purpose aught, within thy power, Be sure to do it, though it be but small: Constancy knits the bones, and makes us stour / When wanton pleasures beckon us to thrall. Who breaks his own bond, forfeiteth himself: What nature made a ship, he makes a shelf.
Statement of the Whole: In agriculture, every farmer knows you need margins: spaces between your fields. The carefully planted crop needs some wildness, some weeds, some room about it to flourish. So goes the classroom as well. In this episode, Jason and Steve walk out into the fields to see what can be learned about the margins of the classroom. Put your boots on and come with us.
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Poem: “The Master Speed,” by Robert Frost
Statement of the Whole: Every teacher knows that moment when one or many students demonstrate that the lesson was not learned, or misunderstood, or missed. What do we do when this happens? What are the common causes for such? What are strategies for our teaching that will help us in these murky waters? Jason and Steve discuss such things in this episode.
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Poem: “Ode to My Goldfish” by Ogden Nash
“Oh, wet pet.”
Statement of the Whole: It is often through analogy and metaphor that we can see relationships between humans most clearly. The relationship between a tutor and his pupil is a hard thing to describe, but a wonderful thing to behold. In Mel Gibson’s directorial debut, The Man Without a Face (1993), Jason and Steve find much to discuss about the teacher/student relationship. Watch the movie; join the conversation.
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“Thoughts About the Covid Gap”
Poem: “On Nature,“ by Parmenides
Statement of the Whole: Given the current concerns about what happens when disease or some other factor shuts down education in the land, the Backporch boys go on safari throughout history to look at what happened in past instances of such. How does the purpose of education affect the practice of schooling? What have other groups done during times of pandemic? Join in the education.
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Poem: “To ____” by Edgar Allen Poe
Statement of the Whole: How does what you read affect how you write? Is it good or bad writing to see something of other writers show up in your writing? How does this question affect the teaching of the writing art? The Backporch boys take on a listener’s question and wind up meandering all through a number of sub-questions regarding the reading life, the writing life, and how the two are intertwined. Learn, laugh, and listen in as they consider this question.