What didn’t you know last week?

Arachne at her loom, after an admirer said her working was as beautiful as her work, “It is the same thing.”  Beautiful notion; one that will frame my teaching this year. (Hobbes21/Keith)

Didn’t know that only 30% of seersucker fabric in a garment actually touches the skin or that it was invented in New Orleans. (Puck/Puckermom/Laura)

Rousseau isn’t as completely strange as I thought he was. He sees the same problem as Hobbes, i.e. collective decision making and rejects the artificial notion of representation. It’s genuine participation or it’s slavery. Well, that’s still a little strange from this American perspective! (Stepwinder/Shellee)

What are you reading?

The first quarterly edition of the 2010 edition of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography was devoted to Dolly Madison and her efforts to publish her husband’s notes from the Constitutional Convention. “A Constant Attention: Dolly Madison and the Publication of the Papers of James Madison, 1836-1837” by Holly C. Shulam, deals with Dolly, and her efforts, either directly or through various family connections or friends to secure publication. The more interesting, and perhaps more controversial article, “Securing a legacy: The Publication of James Madison’s Notes from the Constitutional Convention” by David. W. Houpt deals more with the efforts of Dolly and her agent Nicholas Trist to secure Congressional publication of the manuscript. Reading like a “whose who’ of Jacksonian America, Houpt recounts the debate and vote in the Senate that led to Senate approval of publication. Houpt asserts that John C. Calhoun, SC, still smarting from Madison’s public denunciation of nullification, voted nay out of spite. Calhoun, Houpt suggests, believed he was the intellectual heir to Madison’s legacy. Jefferson, maybe, but Madison? Check it out here. (Brenda)

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (sequel to A Long Way from Chicago).  Grandma Dowdel is a terrific character; this is great kids’ lit.
The really super-cool Geography Coloring Book by Wynn Kapit.  I dig the little arrows to indicate river direction: very helpful to students, even though they understand that rivers flow downhill. (Hobbes21/Keith)

Reading “Everything’s an Argument” (Puck/Puckermom/Laura)

Based on Heidi’s recommendation and my new found love of soccer, I am reading How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer. His subtitle is “an (unlikely) theory of globalization,” but I think it is less about globalization and more about regionalism and the way in which soccer explains cultures around the world. I just finished the chapter on Barca – the team from Barcelona. His discussion of Catalan identity felt a lot like our recent discussions at Montpelier about American citizenship – that citizenship is about comitting to a set of ideas – it’s about how you see and understand a place and a people. I recommend it, particularly for any new soccer lovers out there. (conteach/Shayne)

I attempted to read Res Publica: An International Framework for Education in Democracy in tandem with this year’s National Academy reading. My progress has stalled considerably now that we’re in our second week. But, I’m still interested in reading this presentation of the fundamentals as though it’s a completely strange. I guess I had a theme this week! This one has been provoked by our international participants this year–from South Africa and China. (Stepwinder/Shellee)

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You can make this a conversation by sharing your thoughts as a reply in the comments section on this post or any of the others. If you’d like to join us as a regular contributor, drop that note in the comments and we’ll let you know how to get started.

Sharing ideas powered those offline communities as much as it fuels discussions here. We hope you’ll find a way to share your ideas in the next 100 posts. Tech guru Chris Brogan recently contemplated how sharing matters online. He organized his ideas around two propositions… sharing moves information more effectively and adds value to the larger tapestry. A guru from another era suggested freedom itself requires us to exercise our minds so they venture abroad and contemplate what lies beyond. Whether you take your cues from the world of tech or the dream of Scipio, here are some of our top posts for thinking richly, broadly and creatively.

• Hobbes21 carried colored boxes into the classroom with My Serial of Boxes (Part 1), (Part 2) and (Part 3). We also tried our best to share Kevin’s presentation on constitutional thinking and teaching from the 2008 National Academy.

• After the 2008 NEH Institute at Montpelier, Larry saw Federalist thinking in poetry, On Theory, Poetry and the American Constitution.

• Contemplate what it might mean to organize your school with a constitutional understanding through Shayne’s post, A School Based on Constitutional Citizenship. Stepwinder and Hobbes21 contemplated the model for A Federalist Education with guidance from Einstein’s biography.

• Politicolor was talking about Rube Goldberg machines before an OK-Go video challenged all the cool kids to make their own. It was a question about the American People and an Incredible Machine.

• When Laura left the NEH Institute at Montpelier, she realized she was surrounded by Federalist Moments while Larry wanted to provoke More Serious Questions about Constitutional Thinking.

• And lastly, because it’s all a question of an engaged citizenry, Katie Reen shared A Letter to My Students Past, Present and Future while Hexxus007 shared his thoughts on current modes of political discourse with Civic “Bad Boys” and “Astro-turf.“

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You can make this a conversation by sharing your thoughts as a reply in the comments section on this post or any of the others. If you’d like to join us as a regular contributor, drop that note in the comments and we’ll let you know how to get started.

What didn’t you know last week?

The Servile State by Hilaire Belloc, and Everything’s an Argument by Andrea Lunsford, et al. (Laura/Puck/Puckermom)

Noah Pickus adds his work to the effort at Montpelier with a lecture titled “Constitutional Citizenship” and I always leave that institute determined to read his book. Well, I finally made it happen this round and I highly recommend True Faith and Allegiance by Noah Pickus. I have a more detailed post planned for the next couple of weeks looking at the five models of citizenship he discusses. (Shellee/Stepwinder)

A few of us are still working on Ralph Ketcham’s biography of James Madison. A thorough but incredibly well-written book that skillfully answers questions about both the political history and political theory of Madison. (Heidi)

Using the oil spill to discuss the modern presidency as one of perception (or illusion), Obama, the Oil Spill and the Chaos Perception in the NY Times. (Shellee/Stepwinder)

It’s the end of the Supreme Court’s term and decisions are being handed down almost everyday. Scotusblog is a great place to learn what’s been decided and to read commentary about the implications of the decisions. Today I am reading about the texting privacy case City of Ontario v. Quon. (Shayne/Conteach)

I just finished Grace Tiffany’s The Turquoise Ring.  It’s her retelling of  The Merchant of Venice from the perspective of five women in Shiloh (Shylock)’s life.  My fiance brought it back from a conference of medieval historians and it’s a fascinating peek into the lives of Jews, Moors, and Christians in Venice, Amsterdam, and England in the 1500s.  Dr. Tiffany is a Shakespeare scholar who lives in Michigan and who spoke at the conference. (Dianne)

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You can make this a conversation by leaving your thoughts on any of the ideas shared here as a reply in the comments section. If you’d like to join us as a regular contributor to the Wavelength, drop that note in the comments and you’ll hear from me before we post next week’s collection.

What didn’t you know last week?

Great in-depth reporting by NPR and ProPublica about Traumatic Brain Injury from Afghanistan and Iraq and the lack of care available to vets. (Shayne/Conteach)

The North Korean government devalued the currency last November to save the state-run economy while devastating families who had managed to save money. I didn’t know this impoverished economy also forced the country to abandon a full school day. Students go to school for as much of the morning as they can stand. A former teacher says many of her students were too hungry to study. This New York Times article provides haunting details of daily life in North Korea. (Shellee/Stepwinder)

Dear Abby was a supporter of Gay Rights.  Not that she was marching in Pride Parades but she was always supportive in her columns in the 70′s and 80′s and received quite a bit of hate mail as a result. (K-Rod/Kerryn)

The President is proposing a potential reconstruction of nature and society… WOAH. Definitely something I didn’t know last week. But how can he legislatively do something at this level? Maybe only in theory… Could Obama Really move the Mississippi to Save the Wetlands?. (Heidi) **That’s a crazy interesting site too. They just picked up a Twitter follower while I was checking the link.**

How many places there are to stub a toe or bump your head on a WWII submarine, or how cool parents can be when you stay up all night with them on a field trip. (Keith/Hobbes21)

The word “plutoed” was selected by the American Dialect Society as the word of the year in 2006.  In that statement I learned a couple of things:

1. The word “plutoed” (meaning–To demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to Pluto when it lost planet status),
2. There is an American Dialect Society.

On a side note, less than 5% of the world’s astronomers voted on that issue. (K2/Bookworm20/Keith)

What are you reading?

Actually mostly listening, but… NPR’s Planet Money podcast. It was great at reporting on the financial crisis and it continues to provide very clear economics reporting. (Shayne/Conteach)

I’m trying to make a commitment to “longform journalism” to diversify my reading on the web, and I have every intention of reading “Your Brain on Computers: Hooked on Technology, and Paying a Mental Price.” The author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” in The Atlantic has published a book on the topic so a number of newspapers and magazines are talking about this. I know they’re all talking about it but I can’t tell you what they’re saying because I haven’t made the time to read the whole article! (Shellee/Stepwinder)

Making Gay History by Eric Marcus . Great book.  Easy read, told through personal stories and accounts of what was happening from the folks that made it happen. (K-Rod/Kerryn)

Reading the required stuff for MontP. James Madison IS a “Champion of Liberty and Justice! From that list, Ralph Ketcham has written an incredible biography of James Madison. (Heidi)

Student writing portfolios, Ketcham’s Madison biography (Keith/Hobbes21)

“Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future”
This book looks at the disconnect between the scientific community and mainstream American society. The oil spill, oil drilling, and energy policy are perfect examples of how important scientific understanding are for policy decisions and yet how little attention is often given to the subject of science in our society. (K2/Bookworm20/Keith)

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You can make this a conversation by leaving your thoughts on any of the ideas shared here as a reply in the comments section. If you’d like to join us as a regular contributor to the Wavelength, drop that note in the comments and you’ll hear from me before we post next week’s collection.

In all the branches of knowledge and in every kind of craft the end in view is some good. In the most sovereign of these, the capacity for [leadership in] political matters, the end in view is the greatest good and the good which is most to be pursued. The good in the sphere of politics is justice; and justice consists in what tends to promote the common interest” (112).

The course of the National Academy then pursued a series of questions for the sake of political knowledge.

From Aristotle, How do you know?

From Cicero, How do you see?

From Hobbes, How do you make?

From Deuteronomy, how do you judge?

And here’s a big question for National Academy alumni… how are you using these questions or these texts to promote an inquiry of political knowledge in your classroom?

A Federal Teacher shared his Path to Description with us in February. He provoked his students  to better examine what they know by describing what something is as well as what it is not. It took a year after the Academy but Hobbes21 unpacked the National Academy’s boxes to share them with his students. The Constitution became a protagonist in the story of We the People as Hobbes21 wove together the We the People text and his National Academy notes. His three part series, My Serial of Boxes, chronicles his concerns as he plunged into the depths of political philosophy in his Montessori classroom and the brilliant achievements of his students as they worked together to make order of this brave new world. You’ll want to check out the fantastic photos in the final post too!

Politicolor is a place to share your success and talk through your concerns. The healthcare debate still struggles to emerge from a summer of what believe was politics at its worst. As teachers and National Academy alumni we have the ability to share the story of politics at its best… how people organize themselves to achieve the good life.

If you have topics you’d like to discuss here… drop a line in the comments. We can also get you set up to write a post of your own.

Kallan, an Academy participant this year writing as Federal Teacher, made a pledge to give Politicolor 20 minutes a month and asked alumni to do the same. A couple of preceptors have stepped into the forum too. Melani, writing as logos, offers “What if who we are is not who we should be” as a snapshot of her presentation at this year’s Academy. Todd, aka hexxus007, looks at another dimension of who we are with some “great unit six stuff.” See his post “Civic Bad Boys…”

The work of one of this year’s panels is on the front page too. Stacy contributed her thoughts on their proposed design for Constitutional Currency and Linda joined the conversation in the comments of that post. It really is that easy… use the comments and join the conversation. Stacy followed Kallan’s lead and pledged 20 minutes a month while Kevin is leading the challenge board for the preceptors. He promised to write one post a quarter. Will you make a pledge to be here too?

Don’t worry about what to write. Read, leave a comment or two and contemplate a post of your own. Step into the forum.

The People on the $20 Bill

Here are Stacy’s thoughts on their work…

“I would say that we tried to represent the primacy of the people by making them a central part of each bill.  The picture of people on the Mall, the “faceless” people as the foundation of the building.  We were very focused on the visual and symbolic representation of the people.  The interactive idea of the bill was in keeping with the times.  We actually had a discussion about paper bills becoming obsolete and that people normally pay using plastic.  (I haven’t written a check in five years–Germans don’t do that.)  So we did discuss the relevancy of the bills in those terms.  Like Christina said, people look at the quarters because there is a reason to.  They’re new and have something to represent each state on them.  We figured that since people are excited about seeing themselves (and like to see famous people–just take a stroll down Hollywood Blvd to validate that idea) combining regular people with historical figures, celebrities, and then possibly current citizens–via the web–would be interactive… The Internet is not going away–might as well maximize it.”

Flip side of $20 bill

The interactive idea included in this scheme allows citizens to submit their own photo via the web. The image of people on the mall in Washington would then include celebrities as well as a selection of the photos submitted online via a proposed website, article1section8.gov. The team imagined this might create as much interest in the new currency as there has been in the new quarters issued in recent years. Other topics of debate for this group included how to represent Federalist and Antifederalist paradigms, how to incorporate the Preamble of the Constitution and how to best include the three branches of government. While Stacy decided to leave these topics to her colleagues to discuss with us as they have time, she pointed to a question for further consideration… what problems might emerge from this scheme?

Michael Bierut, a designer writing for The Atlantic, suggested the design of U.S. currency is something we should all consider. Noting that the first dollar bill issued in 1862 was an “exuberant affair, designed to resemble a formal certificate,” Bierut suggests the back of the current dollar bill looks like “a cake that has been decorated within an inch of its life.” While Beirut had principles of good design in mind rather

The $10 Bill

than constitutional principles, some of the ideas submitted for the Dollar ReDe$sign Project suggest there is an opportunity to communicate more about who we are through our currency.

The By Design blog on the NY Times capitalized on these efforts and proposed the road to economic recovery might lie in economic redesign–not just our currency but all that paperwork for your new mortgage and the explanation of benefits from your healthcare provider. Allison Arieff wants us to consider, “good design can make the nonsensical beautiful. But more importantly, it can make what seems to be nonsense… clear.”

If there is an opportunity to make certain principles more clear through the design of our currency, what do you think should be there?

Flip Side of $10 Bill

The scholars of the 2009 National Academy

The “dance party” finally pulled the plug at nearly 1:00 the next morning. Others had already said their goodbyes in order to pack the last of their things or to sleep before an early morning departure. The National Academy had reach its final destination.

The last day’s presentations included two Creedal Affirmations, Constitutional Currency, Light and Dark and a Colorized Constitution. What would Cicero think of his words providing the backdrop for a new U.S. currency? Texts like the Declaration of the U.S. and the Constitution once seemed complete in black and white but now resonate with the theories of Hobbes, Locke, the Federalists and Antifederalists. I hope each presentation team will consider sharing some piece of their work here so I can come back and add links to this post.

Will’s final remarks Friday began with “What Can Brown Do For You?,” a reference to last year’s conversation seeking to discover six words for the National Academy.  Several of this year’s participants used that mode for the re-writing project too! When assessing what the boxes might look like in 3D, Will pointed to Hobbes21′s posts about his “Serial of Boxes” where students lent their talents to the model presented at the National Academy. While it is a relief to have finished the three weeks at Occidental, the secret to the Academy’s success lurks in stories like these and the community that continues to work together to make those stories possible.

“Trending topics” at the conclusion of this year’s Academy included concerns about what to do next, the difficulties of deliberation, the essential nature of constitutional thinking and vows to continue the conversation. Politicolor is here to help!

This is a place to…

Share your favorite stories….

Contemplate what it all means…

Consider a new approach to education…

Celebrate success in the classroom…

Or simply chat about world events.

Adding your voice to the conversation can be as easy as leaving a comment. Federal Teacher, a participant this year, has vowed to give at least 20 minutes to reading and responding to posts each month. This is a forum that begs you to write too. KFox, a National Academy Preceptor, has pledged to write one new post each quarter and I’m going to try to match him. We posted his work about Constitutional Teaching last year and Melani posted her thoughts on nomos after her presentation last week. We all have a start. We just need to work together to keep the momentum.

If we each make a pledge to meet in this virtual space on a schedule that fits our life in the real world, we can continue the conversations and work together to teach constitutional citizenship.

Three weeks ago I wrote an article about a sunset and the foundation of  a community at the National Academy. Tonight I realize I write about the physical end of a community, but the beginning of a much bigger mission.

Over the last three weeks we have tried to measure ourselves as coming from one or more political theories, am I a Hobbesian or a Federalist?  Do I speak as an Anti Federalist or a Cicerorian? But now I realize that we are not one or the other, or even a little of both, we are  something much more fundamental and even more important.  WE ARE AMERICANS!! We are truly one people placed together from some many different dynamics. We are neither rich nor poor, we are neither white or black, we are neither Democrats nor Republicans. We are neither student or teacher.

A wise woman beyond her years told me tonight, we all value a citizen that deliberates, but NONE of us truly do that.

We are all too focused on what the next word out of our mouth will be. None of us truly listen.  Will speaks of a world that matches the word, while I would like to pose my own world one where we use both of our ears to listen. To truly understand what is being said. And not just disagree for disagreements sake, but understand.  Imagine the progress that could be made then.  Imagine the world where all citizens not only know how to use the constitution to construct the world they see, but where each citizen is respected for the world they wish to construct.  Not a world of liberty and security, but a world of mutual understanding, a world of true growth.

I vow tonight to not only say I listen, but to truly listen. To value my fellow citizen of the world.  To not only worry about my own personal story, but to truly worry about how we can change our story. How can we make WE THE PEOPLE truly come true.

I know this may be the ranting of a man who hasn’t slept in three weeks. But I hope not I hope this is the ranting of  a man who has been changed for the better.  But the only way I can change and continue to change is for interactions like this to keep occurring. Though we cant meet at Occidental ,we can still meet at our own pace at this site.   Imagine the ideas that could be generated if we used this site for twenty minutes every month. Let us turn this site into a world making venture.  So tonight as I go to bed, I will ask all of you to listen to me as yo would want to be listened to, and I will do my best to listen to you that way as well. Let us deliberate not as opposition but as one people trying to preserve but radical change the world, just as James Madison and Founding Fathers did in 1787.

Thank you

Federal Teacher