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Practically Idealistic blog
 
The title for this blog originated with use of the term “practical idealist” in this 1996 opinion piece, which asked: “To what kind of work should a practical idealist aspire?” A century and a half earlier, Emerson, in his 1841 essay Circles, wrote: “There are degrees in idealism.  We learn first to play with it academically. . . .  Then we see in the heyday of youth and poetry that it may be true, that it is true in gleams and fragments.  Then, its countenance waxes stern and grand, and we see that it must be true.  It now shows itself ethical and practical.”  John Dewey and Mahatma Gandhi embraced practical idealism in the 20th century, as did UN Secretary General U Thant.  Al Gore invoked it in a 1998 speech. In the context of this blog, the term is meant to convey idealism tempered but not overwhelmed by realism: a search for the ideal on a path guided by common sense.
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Sunday, September 29, 2013

New Curricular Resources, by Teachers for Teachers

Volumes of curriculum units that New Haven public school teachers developed as 2013 Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute Fellows – in four seminars led by Yale faculty members in the sciences and the humanities – are online.

Also available are units that teachers, from New Haven and other communities around the country, developed while participating as National Fellows in six seminars led by other Yale faculty members.  These units are at the Yale National Initiative website.

8:52 am edt 

Sunday, September 22, 2013

“Latino Americans”

With Hispanic Heritage Month underway from September 15 through October 15, PBS is airing a documentary series on Latino Americans.

Gwen Ifill interviewed Ray Suarez, her colleague and author of a book that accompanies the series.

Among the historians consulted for the series was Stephen Pitti of Yale, mentioned in an August 2013 (August 10) post below.

Through the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, Steve Pitti led New Haven and national seminars on “Latino Cultures and Communities” in 2006 and 2007, with Fellows developing curriculum units on such topics as “Civil Rights Struggles in the Latino Community.”

12:57 am edt 

Sunday, September 8, 2013

International Literacy Day 2:42 pm edt 

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Shanker Blog, Travis Bristol

Travis Bristol, whose work was mentioned in a June 2013 (June 29) post here, was a guest author this week at the blog of the Albert Shanker Institute.  The subject: "Calling Black Men to the Blackboard."

8:47 am edt 


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