Chad Sansing

The Curve

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ June 11, 2013 ⋅ 5 Comments

1 Back in the day, the cops used to monitor us from their server that intercepted our texts from the cell phone towers built around our schools, so we’d buy burners with cash, write lists of numbers (always eventually eaten later by a kid named Sally, short for Salamanca), send a single text to all … Continue reading →

The license

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ May 22, 2013 ⋅ 13 Comments

1 “Damn it.” The same level. Four hours. No way out. No other accessible saves. Nothing to do but fight the impossible boss battle over and over again. Mike gestured and the cheat menu popped up to overlay the screen. A new sword. New armor. Boots of the unfathomed initiate. Buffs. Debuffs. Permaboosts. Spells, allies, … Continue reading →

Nothing but this

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ March 27, 2013 ⋅ 5 Comments

[This post originally appeared at Classroots.org.] In the first part of his new book Present Shock, media theorist Douglas Rushkoff explains how we have come to a “now-ist” “presentism” resulting in “narrative collapse.” If I understand him correctly, Rushkoff argues that new media, social change, and technologies make traditional story-telling untenable. While we are accustomed … Continue reading →

Beyond “The Teaching Crisis”

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ March 20, 2013 ⋅ 3 Comments

[This post originally appeared on Classroots.org.] Despite school, some of the kids and adults inside it are able to hack classroom- and school-sized nodes into relevancy. I think subverting the status quo in public schools is – at some scale – an overt political act. While some subversive teachers keep low profiles, their students know … Continue reading →

Teacher remixed: 5 ways to change our profession

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ March 13, 2013 ⋅ Leave a comment

[Author’s note: originally posted on Classroots.org.] I am keenly missing the #dml2013 fellowship this week. While I’m not quite writing Ignite talks that will never be heard (or drawing sad-face slides), sniffle, I am thinking a lot about how public school teachers, in particular, can make it safe for kids to participate meaningfully in their … Continue reading →

People, problems, and wonder

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ February 26, 2013 ⋅ 13 Comments

This past month, I’ve enjoyed a number of remarkable and wondrous things. I saw Jeff Mangum play live. To quote William Miller: “Incendiary.” No division between his voice, his arm, his guitar, his audience. Heart-warming. Life-changing for someone who discovered Neutral Milk Hotel in 2003 and never imagined seeing Jeff Mangum at all. Hopeful and … Continue reading →

#dlday 2013: a year into democratizing composition

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ February 6, 2013 ⋅ Leave a comment

For me, digital learning day (#dlday) offers the opportunity to assess myself against my students’ unique and idiosyncratic potentials. Given the scope of learning available to us – digitally, materially, in between, and back and forth – am I really helping all of my kids find themselves in their learning? Am I scaffolding authentic work? … Continue reading →

Build or be bought

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ February 4, 2013 ⋅ 1 Comment

In this “old” SXSW clip, media theorist Douglas Rushkoff exhorts us to “program or be programmed.” As part of his talk, Rushkoff describes what I think of as “stations of the code” – the roles a person assumes in moving from consuming programs to creating them. As a “passive adherer,” Rushkoff explains, you participate in … Continue reading →

The classroom should be the place where the train stopped in the woods

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ January 25, 2013 ⋅ 6 Comments

I love traveling by train. I love not having to drive. I love being able to sit and look or sleep or work uninterrupted for hours at a time. A couple times a year is just right. I took the train from Charlottesville to Philly yesterday for EduCon 2.5. As much as I wanted to … Continue reading →

Chad Sansing comes clean about positive test scores

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ January 20, 2013 ⋅ 4 Comments

Interviewer: Did you ever use worksheets to enhance your students’ test performance? Chad Sansing: Yes. I: Was one of those worksheets a word search? CS: Yes. I: Did you ever teach to the test or use released items to enhance your students’ test performance? CS: Yes. I: Did you ever use any other paperwork, such … Continue reading →

#openschools: the Swartz dilemma

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ January 15, 2013 ⋅ 15 Comments

You run a tech-infused classroom. Kids do all sorts of work on the computer from reading fluency practice to released test items to word processing to new- and multi-media projects in response to class texts. You’ve scrounged up a bunch of unsupported computers from past replacement cycles in your building, and your tech person has … Continue reading →

The Evaluation: schooling at the end of teaching, unions, & care

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ January 12, 2013 ⋅ 6 Comments

Nearly sixth months ago, I posted “The Evaluation,” a near-future science fiction short story imagining public school teaching as day-labor inside a techno-bureaucratic panopticon. Since then, I’ve tried to hold myself accountable for posting about the work that my kids and I do together, which I love and in which I believe. I want to … Continue reading →

On “building readiness” to see learning

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ January 2, 2013 ⋅ 1 Comment

My travel in November derailed some of our work to make a skateboard wheel RPM counter; while that project is idling, some of its participants have gotten deeper into using our MaKey MaKey boards for other projects. I’ve posted about one of those projects on Democratizing Composition (#demcomp), a kind of companion blog to the … Continue reading →

The room of two boxes

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ December 20, 2012 ⋅ 2 Comments

In my heart, there is a room of two boxes. Both are old and ancient. They were built before me; they will last after I die. The room is as big as the world. I can look out across it and be calmed by the sea. I can stare up from it and be struck … Continue reading →

#ncte12: when they came for us, they came with standards

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ November 17, 2012 ⋅ 5 Comments

There’s really no better way to silence us teachers (apart from the crippling, self-imposed professional norm of not admitting to our students and parents that have an opinion on anything) than to give us thousands of standards. When a teacher is busy delivering content and designing lessons to appease political appointees, there is precious little … Continue reading →