December 06, 2007

IMPEACHMENT TOOLKIT; EMPATHY

Dear Mr. President

Wed Dec 05, 2007 at 09:00:34 PM PST

Yes, that is the title of a song by Pink. And this diary will consist only of the Youtube Video embedded below. It was the final AP Government & Politics project last year of a tenth grade student at the high school at which I teach. She and her mother gave me permission to use her name, Karen Lackey. She had just turned 16 when she created this by searching the internet for the images and editing. Students like this make teaching such a joy. So watch. And Peace.

Permalink | 38 comments

I am hoping you enjoy the video (32+ / 0-)

if you don't count the content contained in the video. I had shared the video with a number of people, one of whom, herself an elected public official in Virginia, urged me to put it up on Youtube. I do not post to Youtube, but got the permission of the student and her mother to have it posted. Karen is rightly proud of the work she has done, and everyone with whom I have ever shared this has been blown away by it.

There are multiple videos of the song up on Youtube, including of Pink herself performing with two screens showing moving images behind her. I personally think the use of still photos is more effective, almost as Ken Burns has done in his documentaries.

To me this student demonstrated a clear understanding of what we had studied. How can this kind of depth of understanding be measured by the kinds of blunt instruments we currently use for assessment, with bubbling in multiple choice answer, that I do not know or understand.

I taught Karen for one year. While she did not often volunteer in class her written work demonstrated a depth of understanding, but not as powerfully as does this video.

I often say I learn more from my students than they do from me. Karen's project was outstanding, but it was one of perhaps a dozen out of my 148 students last year who did final projects that showed both skill and and depth of understanding.

And this may be the first time in the history of this site that the tip jar is several times the length of the diary to which it appended.

I do hope you enjoyed the video, and will offer your reactions/responses in the comments thread. I would not be averse to seeing this get more visibility, either by recommending the diary and/or by passing on the link for the video itself.

Peace.

Those who can, do. Those who can do more, TEACH! If impeachment is off the table, so is democracy



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