We had a long, long talk in the hammock last night. Kitten has always told me about how much she hated the girls’ private school she attended for preschool, elementary, and middle school. I always took it as the typical “I hate school” refrain from kids. But I see it goes much deeper. She talked…

Let me just add a little bit about the home visits we are doing to our first and second grade students and their families. Only two families have given me permission to write about specifics. We have to observe strict confidentiality. But the general pattern is, Guy and Bernie meet with a parents and I…

By Lolita Goldstein-Thomas Disclosure: This paper was written toward partial credit for a course at Empire State University. I am the primary author but I was assisted by my wife, Heidi Goldstein-Thomas, and two other colleagues who prefer not to be credited. I worked very closely with “u/Andinio” (AKA “Andy”) who also prefers not to…

Movement 4, Embodying: Krall points out that in the comprehending phase, issues arise that need to be confronted: “We may be transformed; we may also be consumed. Even with transformation we may temporarily lose our grounding. Our being may be dominated by what we have learned. After excursions into other works, students may lose faith…

Can World-Building Impact the Educational Ideosphere? This post covers the first three of Krall’s  five “movements.” The final two are discussed in the next post. This study focuses on the work of Florence Krall who delineates a model of five “movements”: venturing, remembering, comprehending, embodying, and restoring. According to Krall, retelling a story in these…

Can World-Building Impact the Educational Ideosphere? Authoethnographical Studies In qualitative research, there is a long history of intermingling personal lives and research. For example, Zumwalt’s partially (1984) autobiographical study compares the induction of new teachers into their profession to her own experience as a new mother. Both shared, she finds, the shock of glamorized ideals…

Rationale: Can World-Building Impact the Educational Ideosphere? About five years ago, several friends opened a Reddit community called “r/SgiwhistleblowersMITA” to help respond to wild accusations about the SGI Buddhist movement made by some fierce critics on Reddit. About a year later one of the friends started building a “World” on this platform to contextualize his…

Introduction We are a band of two co-directors, four consultants (three high school-aged and one, mother), and a scholar-in-residence, the indomitable Andy (u/Andinio) to whom we are deeply indebted for his insights, time, and patience. We are about ready to start editing and posting our “Vision Book” to guide the development of the Longhouse School which…