OK so I took the plunge today and cut the first section of the laminate. I decided to start with the hatch as I can work indoors (it’s a bit cold out at the mo and I don’t want to risk the resin not setting) and it can be done without having to reach over my head.

As for the rest of the interior the plan is to start on the roof and work down to avoid resin drips hitting completed work. Best of all Sarah has now had a glimpse of how the interior is going to look. 

The laminate laid on the inside surface of the hatch.

First section cut after laying the paper template down and cutting with the dremal.

The experience in the rear cabin has really paid off today as I used the same tools and technique to cut out the rotten section then create paper templates and finally cut the replacments from 3mm marine ply. All done in less than 30 mins.

Voilà, ça y est, le salon Esperluette est fini… est c’était bien.
Deux jours sur le pont, de 10h00 à 19h00, sous pression constante pour éviter de dire des âneries (ma spécialité) ou de les dire trop fort… et pourtant on en redemande.

Pourquoi ? Parce que…
… il y avait du monde, du beau monde, du monde gentil, qui s’intéressait à ce qu’écrivaient les auteurs, même si ce n’était pas sa tasse de thé (« Moi j’aime pas la science-fiction »),
… il y avait Catherine Dufour, qui est gentille comme pas permis et qui dit des trucs super au lieu de se contenter d’en écrire (je cite de mémoire : « Hum… je réfléchis. »)
… il y avait Fabrice Colin, que j’ai peut-être un peu gavé par ma comparaison des stations de ski françaises et italiennes, mais c’est comme ça, groupie complex, on dit n’importe quoi au lieu de rien, et André-François Ruaud, que j’ai peut-être un peu gonflé aussi en lui demandant quel genre de texte il voulait pour sa revue Fiction,
… il y avait Delphine et Sylvain, qui avaient fait le voyage depuis Lyon à (presque) trois et que j’ai dû gonfler un peu aussi mais ils ont été assez gentils pour ne pas le montrer,
… il y avait Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès, tellement ému quand je lui ai dit merci pour son livre Là où les tigres sont chez eux (lisez-le, c’est beau, et puis prêtez-le)
… il y avait Eddy Harris, tellement grand, sage, ouvert, magnifique !
… il y avait Cathy, qui dessine des fées comme une fée (facile !) et qui, et que… non, Manu, je n’y ai pas touché !
… il y avait le chef papou (en pagne, plumes, os dans le nez et tout) avec qui j’ai déjeuné et papoté en pidgin et qui a dû partir en courant sinon il pissait là, par terre,
… il y avait tous ces gens qui ont pris le risque de s’offrir Djeeb le Chanceur jusqu’à ce qu’il n’y en ait plus, et tous les autres à qui je n’ai pu que le raconter (ben oui, y en avait plus, rupture),
… il y avait tous ces gens qui ont pris le risque de s’offrir Aria des Brumes, même sachant que la suite ne sortirait pas, enfin, pas tout de suite,
… il y avait Chloé et Isabelle, dont les sourires m’ont touché tout droit, là où ça fait chaud, parce qu’elles aiment ce que j’écris (Oh merci vous !)
… il y avait tous ces organisateurs si extraordinairement sympas, Thierry Caquais en tête, que j’en suis à me demander si Esperluette n’est pas le salon le plus agréable où je me sois rendu.

Voilà. Un bon week-end. Merci les gens. À bientôt j’espère.

Le joli petit signe qui sert de titre à ce billet s’appelle une esperluette, caractère typographique qui signifie “et“. Sur votre clavier, vous le trouvez souvent en haut à gauche.
Esperluette
C’est un nom assez bien trouvé pour un salon littéraire qui, comme beaucoup, fait le maximum pour rapprocher les lecteurs & les auteurs. L’avantage de celui-ci, c’est qu’il se tient près de chez moi. Mais je lui trouve un autre atout cette année : Catherine Dufour, Fabrice Colin & Jérôme Noirez font partie des auteurs invités. Rien que pour eux, ça justifie le voyage, d’où que vous veniez.
Le thème sera Envie d’Ailleurs. Autant dire que cette triplette de chouettes bons auteurs comptent parmi les meilleurs guides pour tous les ailleurs dont vous pourriez avoir envie.

Alors notez, s’il vous plaît : Salon Esperluette, à Cluses, en Haute-Savoie, entre Genève & Chamonix, pour vous situer un peu, du vendredi 20 au dimanche 22 novembre.

L’ambiance est excellente, les interventions de haute qualité, les libraires prévenants, les activités pour enfants très bien fichues & il y a même un bar. Parking gratuit.

Ah… j’y serai aussi, pour papoter et éventuellement signer quelques livres.

Envie d'ailleurs...

El astillero francés ha apostado por la innovación en el que se ha convertido en su buque insignia, el Dufour 525 Grand’Large, un crucero diseñado para los amantes del mar que no deseen renunciar al confort y el espacio en largas travesías.

La silueta del 525 es una invitación a disfrutar de la vida a bordo: cubierta despejada a proa y popa, un espacio destinado para los baños de sol cuando estemos navegando tranquilamente o fondeados en alguna cala; a ello contribuye toda la maniobra escamoteada bajo el tejadillo y los amplios pasos laterales hacia proa. Gobernar este crucero desde el doble puesto de mando es sencillo gracias a la estudiada disposición de los winches y de todo el conjunto de la maniobra.

La estrella de esta cubierta es la gran bañera, presidida por la doble rueda y sus respectivas bitácoras ligeramente desplazadas a las bandas, creando un espacio protegido y cerrado por la cubierta de popa, un magnífico solarium ligeramente elevado formado por el garaje, que puede albergar fácilmente una embarcación auxiliar. Cabe destacar el botalón retráctil que el astillero ofrece de serie, aumentando considerablemente la superficie vélica y por consiguiente, las ya de por si excelentes prestaciones de este crucero.

Interiores como en casa

Hasta el último detalle de los amplios interiores de este gran crucero, todo a bordo del Dufour 525 respira comodidad.

Dufour ofrece hasta 8 posibles distribuciones interiores -con 3 o 4 cabinas dobles, 2, 3 o 4 aseos y camarote de marinería independiente. Todo ello convierte al 525 en un crucero que tanto puede adecuarse a un programa familiar como destinarse para chárter.

El Dufour 525 Grand´Large, por sus líneas elegantes y su ejemplar comportamiento marinero, se ha convertido en el buque insignia del astillero francés, ofreciendo a los cada día más exigentes armadores, lo que siempre han buscado en un crucero de alta gama.

Conversation #1

The first book we will read and begin discussing is “Professional Learning

Communities at Work” by Robert DuFour and Robert Eaker.

Read the Introduction and Chapters 1-3.  As you read consider the following guiding questions and be prepared to post a response as well as comment on the responses of others.

• What struck you about these chapters ?
• How does this reading relate to your current work/role at school?

By John Adsit
Editor, Curriculum & Instruction

[Note: This article is a response to Steve Eskow's 22 Oct. 2009 comment on John's "Teacher Skills Critical for Success in Online Classes." Steve Eskow: "When I was a college faculty person, I didn’t resist change, I fancied myself a change agent. I did, however, resist change suggested by others, particularly other change agents who looked at my course materials, sighed, and proceeded to suggest changes." -js]

Steve, what you say is, in my experience, pretty universally true, and it is the ultimate dilemma in staff development. In my reply, I am going to include something from Bonnie’s last post as well.

I was involved with staff development for a number of years. It was my job to do exactly what you said you would not stand for—telling teachers how to do their work differently.

At first I labored under the direction of leaders who used perhaps the most misguided staff development policy of all time. Under the theory of models like the Annenberg Institute’s, the appointed educational leaders of the schools (principals and superintendents) tried to slip into the background and let teachers lead the change process. The idea was that if it appeared to come from within, change would be accepted by others. The opposite turned out to be true, and Annenberg’s own research showed that. Teachers who tried to act as change leaders were universally rejected by their peers, and they either folded their tents and retreated to the periphery of the school, transferred to another school, or dropped out of teaching altogether. I remember all too well the pain inflicted on me by those who openly bristled at my suggestions.

This was made even worse by a process we were required to follow in these attempts, a process that seemed absurd to me and which I fought unsuccessfully. We were supposed to smooth ruffled feathers from the start by telling them they were already doing a great job, but these new techniques, which would require them to change their ways so very much, would make them even better. I thought this would guarantee that they would not listen to us—if I am already doing a great job, why should I change? The National Staff Development Council later showed that I was absolutely right. Effective staff development will only work, it learned, if the people receiving the training could experience the cognitive dissonance that comes from realizing that what they are doing now is not working well.

Annenberg’s study showed that those bristling teachers were the primary reason (along with a complementary factor to be discussed later) for the failure of school reforms. In fact, one or two of those bristlers on a staff was enough to derail a reform embraced by nearly the entire rest of the staff. Bob Marzano, then of the Mid Continent Regional Educational Laboratory (MCREL) said in a conference I attended that he could not think of a worse way to implement reform, or a better way to destroy a dedicated teacher.

The Effective Schools research of people like Lazotte pointed toward a solution, one that is mentioned by Bonnie in her last post. The principal (or equivalent) must lead the reform effort. This principal must not impose a vision of reform on the population, but must instead use effective leadership skills (such as those described by DuFour, Fullan, and others) to bring the faculty to a shared vision in which all believe. The bristling resisters had to be dealt with effectively and eliminated from the staff, either by artful persuasion or by removal. I myself participated in a study of schools that were more effective than would be predicted by their the inherent characteristics of the student populations and saw that this was true in every school we analyzed. Believe it or not, every faculty member we interviewed knew by heart and believed in passionately the school’s mission statement, and it was a real mission statement, not the kind of meaningless cant we normally see.

Annenberg’s research showed the same thing. In 100% of the successful schools they surveyed, teachers reported that the primary (by far) reason for success was the way the educational leader was able to deal with teacher dissent and bring the faculty together. In 100% of the failed reform efforts, teachers reported that the primary reason (by far) for the failure was the way the educational leader was unable to deal with dissent and bring the faculty together.

So, a reformer such as myself has little chance of bringing reform to schools that lack such leadership, which is the vast majority.

Given that background, Steve, how do you suggest that change come to teachers who cling to outmoded ideas and bristle when told to do differently?

Steve Eskow, 23 Oct. 2009, 7:05 am:
A powerful and moving post, John.

All I have to contribute now are some early and unformed thoughts as answers to the question with which you ended your message.

First: I think I would try to rid myself of the vocabulary of teacher resistance, e.g. “teachers who cling to outmoded ideas.” All of us–including people like you and me who cling to constructivism and who would insist it’s not outmoded–are bristlers and resisters when our favorite recipes are challenged, as you document so well.

Based on your account, perhaps we as consultants need to differentiate between “external change agents”–you and me–and “internal change agents”–principals, superintendents, university deans and presidents. Perhaps one commandment for us might be “Thou shalt not undertake to change teachers unless and until there is an internal change agent as advocate.”

And another truism: we may need to do a better job of analyzing the pieces and interconnections of the educational system we’re trying to change to locate the various sources of the resistance to change. Obvious examples: the academic setting: if the building has lecture halls, do they ask to be used, and are we about saying letting them stand empty? If there is a hierarchy of instructional roles, e.g., lecturers and section leaders, which elements of the hierarchy resist the change? Accrediting bodies? National disciplinary bodies which define “standards”? Budget? The teachers to whom we attribute the resistance are one element in an elaborate ecology of forces that create and maintain the status quo, and attributing all the resistance to the teachers alone is patently unfair.

Or maybe not, John.

A beginning, John.

Bonnie Bracey Sutton, 22 Oct. 2009, 9:20 am:
What reformers do is to infuse ideas and lend support for the teacher change agents and involve the administration of the schools in meaningful ways. My help was at the highest level. At George Mason, Chris Dede was teaching and he brought a whole class to watch me work, but also invited me to the class to share ideas, frustrations, concerns and anything I wanted to share.

Frank Withrow and other leaders also were there.

Eventually we became a group for change with some funding. You are needed. One teacher can be moved, disposed of in a New York Minute.

John Adsit, 24 Oct. 2009, 9:05 AM:

Steve, I am not sure all of us are bristlers when it comes to change. Perhaps I am fooling myself, but the reason I ended up being a staff developer was my penchant for experimentation with change. When I encountered a new idea, I tried it out. If it worked, I went with it. The instructional processes I taught (with enthusiasm) when I was a staff developer were ones I had never used 5 years before.

A number of books have been published in the last decade that report on research on the effects of different strategies on student achievement. Bob Marzano, for one, has published several. I have read them and taken what I could from them. One of those strategies is the use of graphic organizers for instructional activities, which are apparently quite effective. I have personally always hated them. Hated them. When I read the results of the research, though, I shrugged my shoulders and made sure that strategy was a part of our required instructional design.

What makes teaching so different from other professions? Did doctors continue to use the iron lung after other strategies were shown to be more effective? Did attorneys continue to cite Plessy v. Ferguson after Brown v. Board of Education overturned it?

One of the things I used to hear frequently in protest of change was “What I am doing now is working.” Really? Are all your students learning at a high level? Is there no room for improvement?

A colleague of mine was a major advocate of the traditional lecture as the primary (perhaps only) instructional practice in his classroom. He was, in fact, a very vocal critic of the changes I advocated. One day one of his students openly said that the class was boring. He said, “It is my job to be boring, and it is your job to be bored. That’s how education works.” The fact that his students had the worst record in the history of AP exams (you can’t do any worse than having not a single student take the test during the years you teach the course because of the fear that they will fail) did not deter him from his unshakable belief in the quality of his practices.

I guess I don’t understand that attitude.

24 Oct. 2009, 5:08 AM: [Reply to Bonnie:] That is how it starts. The students taking a class from the likes of Chris Dede are a far different group from teachers at a mandatory inservice workshop.

As I said before, the key element in your experience is the administration, which must understand the reform and know how to lead that change effectively.

John Thompson, 24 Oct. 2009, 5:29 am:
“What I am doing now is working.” Yes, I hear that all the time. “Why change if I’m already successful?” is the refrain. As a response, I like to highlight Tiger Woods. After he won The Masters golf tournament by a record margin, everyone was singing his praises and how accomplished he was. However, he wasn’t satisfied so he retooled his swing, which was dangerous because sometimes golfers who do that never get back to their previous level let alone to a higher level. But Woods took the risk and was successful after nearly two years of work. His game went to another higher level. After a few years, he did the same. And he did it yet again when he was hurt and came back after a long layoff to recuperate. Here’s the acknowledged greatest golfer in the world and he’s not satisfied with his performance. So how is it that some teachers can smugly assert they are doing everything they can do in their teaching? Plateauing is not an option for Tiger Woods. It shouldn’t be for our teachers either.

Steve Eskow, 24 Oct. 2009, 6:09 am:
Hi John,

First a general comment, then some interlinear commenting.

The general comment is really a question: Is there a bit of bristling in your last message to me?

Steve, I am not sure all of us are bristlers when it comes to change. Perhaps I am fooling myself, but the reason I ended up being a staff developer was my penchant for experimentation with change.

My speculation was this, John, and I am increasingly convinced there is something to it: many teachers do not bristle at change: like you, they have a “penchant for experimentation with change.”

They bristle at change agents.

A number of books have been published in the last decade that report on research on the effects of different strategies on student achievement. Bob Marzano, for one, has published several. I have read them taken what I could from them. One of those strategies is the use of graphic organizers for instructional activities, which are apparently quite effective. I have personally always hated them. Hated them. When I read the results of the research, though, I shrugged my shoulders and made sure that strategy was a part of our required instructional design.

Might it be that in a hypervisual culure one of the overall tasks of the educational system ought to be to balance visuality by emphasizing the language skills–language sans graphics–that make discussion, dialog, and debate possible? Students may have to learn to be comfortable in discussions without Power Point. Like this one.

(You of course are noticing that I am starting to resist–perhaps even bristle a bit.)

What makes teaching so different from other professions? Did doctors continue to use the iron lung after other strategies were shown to be more effective? Did attorneys continue to cite Plessy v. Ferguson after Brown v. Board of Education overturned it?

Here, John, we reach a critical point in our discussion and in our relationship, and I don’t know how to handle it well–so I’ll probably botch it and evoke resistance rather than understanding and agreement.

I’ll deal now only with the matter of education and medicine, and leave the matter of education and the law for another time.

Proposition: education and medicine are profoundly different, and it is a grave error to confound and confuse them.

Education is, at best, a “human science,” not a “natural science,” or a “physical science.”

Dilthey and others distinguished between “understanding”–what is attempted in the “human sciences”–and “explanation”–what is attempted in the natural sciences.

The belief that “educational research” provides us with hard incontestable evidence, e.g., that the research on graphic illustration is as conclusive as the iron lung–is a fallacy.

If it was, John, there would be no more Sages on Stages, all teachers would be Guides by the Side, and Harvard would require Michael Sandel to stop lecturing to a thousand students and become a quiet Guide by the Side.

It probably won’t happen, John.

Bonnie Bracey Sutton, 24 Oct. 2009, 7:09 am:

Well I have been lucky. In my lifetime I met an older woman who pushed me kicking and screaming into study of the out of doors, not just in the book. But she was the supervisor so who was I to say no. She was the change agent. At first I resented the birding, wildflower, and so on courses, but then as I got good, I really enjoyed them and became the summer camp director. No one would have predicted that. I arrived on the first visit in my Chanel suit and Gucchi sandals, and she handed me boots, a big coat, and a bucket. We hiked and she would share what various things were, and we did this over a set of seasons, with proper credit and with some great comforting things at the outdoor lodge.

Then there was the Nanosecond lady. Grace Hopper. I kept thinking she is so old and the men are being deferential to her. She must be really smart. I taught in the shadow of the NSF. How the administrators in the school system razzed us when we did the NSF project, SeeYou SeeMe. There was the most terrible write up and criticism, and so also with the NASA projects. You had to pull teeth to get the supplies and resources or buy them, so I learned to write grants. I forgot who taught me this. Some man, a physics teacher at the museum in Richmond, Virginia. He was a mentor, too, with an unconventional way of teaching physics, and I loved it.

My funniest story is about the professor who got upset about people using wireless in his classroom. It was in the newspaper. He ranted and raved and pulled out the wireless, to no avail. Those students were bored and were surfing the net duing class. If you work with the Supercomputing people and can see them on the grid, you know you have their attention when they stop looking at the computer for a while, but it doesn’t bother you because they can multitask.

There were also supervisors who wanted all of the science materials back in the closet by 4 PM, There were the people who took what I got with the grants and claimed it, so I learned to make my name the total grant recipient. I learned to do this after I won a Mac and the principal declared she was going to put it in the library (they sent it to my home, fortunately).

My latest mentor is Bob Panoff. See www.shodor.org — Interactivate. Well, I have a lot of learning to do. I have taken wonderfulworkshops in the computational sciences, and, you know, it’s the way in which people teach that gets your interest and attention. Programming? He says, “What is the story you want to tell?”

Anyway Chris Dede was wonderful. I fought with Seymour Papert who did not understand the restrictions in various schools, but it was a good fight. Got me to go to MIT to share the concerns.

[Steve Eskow:] Based on your account, perhaps we as consultants need to differentiate between “external change agents”–you and me–and “internal change agents”–principals, superintendents, university deans and presidents. Perhaps one commandment for us might be “Thou shalt not undertake to change teachers unless and until there is an internal change agent as advocate.”

And another truism: we may need to do a better job of analyzing the pieces and interconnections of the educational system we’re trying to change to locate the various sources of the resistance to change.

John Adsit, 24 Oct. 2009, 7:26 am:
Steve,

I am not bristling at you. I have heard similar comments so often I rarely associate them with an individual any more. Along those lines though, in my old age my memory for such details is failing me and I must ask a question. Did we have similar exchanges a decade or so ago on WWWEDU?

Faulty research has plagued education for years. I think the greatest harm of all came from the faulty research processes in the Coleman study, which has led several generations of teachers to assume falsely that it does not matter how you teach, for educational achievement is determined by what the student brings to the classroom, not what the individual teacher brings to the student. Subsequent research has shown that the opposite is true, but I doubt if more than a small percentage of teachers is aware of this.

When I speak of the comparison of teaching to medicine, I am speaking primarily of the attitude of the practitioner. Physicians generally assume that no matter how well the procedures or medicines they now use are working, something will eventually come along to improve things. They are thus always on the lookout for such improvements. Teachers use rationales such as the one you provide to deflect all suggestions for change and stay with what they have always done. John Goodlad showed years ago that teachers generally teach the way they themselves were primarily taught, regardless of the educational program they are supposed to be implementing.

Back in the 1970s I was introduced to the idea of group or collaborative learning. I tried it and pronounced it a total failure. Years later I attended a workshop that included that concept once more, but this time they showed how to do it, and they said that if you don’t do it right, it will be a total failure. I realized I had not indeed done it right, for the reasons they showed me. When I used the methods these change agents showed me, it worked wonderfully, and it became a mainstay of my educational technique from then on. The district even had a film crew come in to one of my classes so they could show how effective the process can be.

In the early 1980s, I had to teach writing to a remedial class. I used the best grammar based approach I knew how, and failed utterly to teach them how to write in complete sentences. I concluded they were not capable of writing in complete sentences. Years later a change agent suggested that the grammar-based approach I used was not the best, and when I taught a remedial writing class again, using a totally different approach, I achieved 100% success in getting students to write in complete sentences.

I used to think my instructional approach to teaching Oedipus Rex was my best lesson, once that I would be selected to be evaluated on if given the choice. I would teach it with total pride in a Harvard lecture hall if given the chance. But, just before I was about to teach it one year, change agents suggested a different approach to education, and I immediately thought of a way to do it with Oedipus Rex. The results were so dramatically better than anything I had ever done before that I was stunned. It was, in fact, that experience that propelled me to becoming a change agent.

So, if you embrace change but despise change agents, how is change to occur without them?

Harry Keller, 24 Oct. 2009, 7:51 am:

You [John Thompson] said, “It shouldn’t be for our teachers either.” Indeed, it shouldn’t be for anyone seeking to remain competitive in their activities. I (with some great help) created an excellent online science lab system. However, not a day goes by that I don’t think about how to improve it. My severe resource constraints require me to be more creative and selective about the changes I make, and I continue to make them.

I think that I have the best solution, and I know that without constant improvement, it won’t remain there. If my biased opinion is incorrect, I have even more reason to make it better.

Despite the above, I think that we all should consider the reasons behind teachers not choosing change. Sure, some teachers may just plateau just as those in any activity may do so. However, the entire system thwarts change. Teachers arrive at their first classrooms with visions of all of the good work they’ll be doing. They’d like to try this idea and that idea. Soon, they discover that they aren’t rewarded for good effort or even good results. They may even be punished for innovation. For some the work is its own reward. Some become discouraged and leave teaching. Some others hang on hoping for a better future. Too many get worn out trying to build great education on a foundation of sand and mark time until they retire with a nice pension.

Let’s not be too quick to blame those in the trenches for a system that only partially works. To extend the metaphor, consider the captains and generals, the politicians and citizens, and the environment in which the “battle” is waged. Our education system should be synergistic. Too often, it’s dysfunctional.

Steve Eskow, 24 Oct. 2009, 10:35 am:

Ah, John, how could I hate change agents? That would be selb has, self hate: I’ve been one of those things for a long time.And now I’m working in Africa, where very few teachers care about Marzano.

You may be willing to consider that your personal testimonials (or mine) of transformation are no more convincing to a skeptic than those of car salesman testifying to the quality of the machine he is selling. You’re selling change, and you tell stories of miraculous improvements. I’m sure they’re true, but given your motivation they will be discounted.

Or: you’re explaining why teachers who themselves are actively, even eagerly changing, balk when an outsider tries to sell them on the need for change, and sell them his particular nostrum.

The Coleman Report, with all that star power and all those data collections faulty? Of course it was faulty.It was also a powerful stimulus for an important rethinking of education in the United States.

Incidentally, is the Marzano research faulty? Might it be found faulty tomorrow? If so, what happens to all those teachers and all those courses that are going graphic?

John, it might be useful to consider that just as you’ve heard all the voices of resistance to change, many of the resisting teachers have heard an army of change agents, all with similar messages about sages on stage and guides by the side and constructivism and active learning and digital natives who are pictorial rather than print oriented.

Maybe we change agents have to stop the old sermons and find some new ways to get educators to think about where they are and where they aren’t and how they might get there.

And that new way might not be active learning or constructivism. Are you, am I, able to face the possibility that we may have to abandon our faith in constructivism? Change ourselves and our story?

John Adsit, 24 Oct. 2009, 12:44 PM:

The flaw in the Coleman methodology unfortunately meant that the stimulus it provided for rethinking education may have pushed it in a bad direction.. To summarize very quickly, the study looked at whole school performance and compared school to school, finding that the factors that determined student achievement lay with the student.

The Coleman study did not adequately compare teacher to teacher within a school. More recent studies, especially the Sanders study in Tennessee, have shown a tremendous difference in student achievement from one teacher to another within a school, and they have shown it is not just a good or bad year. Some teachers will have consistently poor or consistently excellent results year after year after year. More important is the overall impact on students. A series of poor or excellent teachers in elementary school can mean the difference between dropping out and going to college.

Today we realize that the most important factor in student success lies in the instructional decisions made by the teacher in the classroom. That is a pretty big shift in thinking, one that is still not embraced by the majority of teachers.

Harry Keller, 24 Oct. 2009, 1:00 pm:

It’s great that someone actually bothered to study what most people instinctively know. The teacher is the primary determinant of student achievement, all student differences being factored out.

[John Adsit:] Today we realize that the most important factor in student success lies in the instructional decisions made by the teacher in the classroom. That is a pretty big shift in thinking, one that is still not embraced by the majority of teachers.

Steve Eskow, 24 Oct. 2009, 6:00 pm:

Harry, John, all:

Might it be all of the above: the school and its setting and climate; the students and their backgrounds and their culture; the teachers and their methods?

In the great US universities,e.g. Harvard, the lecture is a common instructional mode, perhaps the most common instructional mode.

And Harvard spends much time selecting its students for success.

Do we really believe it’s the great teaching methods at Harvard that make for its excellence? That Harvard is great because its faculty practices Marzano’s 9 secrets of great teaching?

Don’t we “instinctively” know that at least some of Harvard’s success is due to the quality of its students rather than the quality of its faculty?

[Harry Keller:] It’s great that someone actually bothered to study what most people instinctively know. The teacher is the primary determinant of student achievement, all student differences being factored out.

[John Adsit:] Today we realize that the most important factor in student success lies in the instructional decisions made by the teacher in the classroom. That is a pretty big shift in thinking, one that is still not embraced by the majority of teachers.

Harry Keller, 24 Oct. 2009, 6:36 pm:
Precisely, Steve.

That’s why Harvard (and Princeton and MIT and Caltech) spends so much effort on student selection.

After all, the courses at these institutions aren’t exactly paragons of excellent teaching. I know. I went to Caltech. The only “good” part of the courses was that they were very challenging. They forced you to think and think hard. The homework was grueling. The tests were unforgiving.

The faculty of these institutions are great but not for their teaching prowess. Many even dislike teaching.

However, primary and secondary education are different animals than post-secondary teaching.

The teacher is the person in the trenches, where the rubber meets the road (to mix metaphors). If all other factors (environment, student capability, family support, etc.) are eliminated, then the teacher is the one who makes the difference. In other words, if you look at the same school with students randomly distributed among teachers in the same subject, you should expect large and significant differences between teachers because there’s no uniformity. Each teacher is allowed to have an individual approach to the same curriculum.

Also, there’s very little control. Without feedback, any system can meander anywhere.

I think I see most of the issues clearly. I don’t have any real solution for the big picture. I continue to work on a small part of the solution for science education and hope that I can make a difference. Science students should have ample opportunities frequently to do science as scientists do no matter what their school or income level or background. That’s my goal.

John Adsit, 25 Oct. 2009, 6:53 am:
Back when America first realized there was a section 504 of IDEA, and teachers were required to accommodate certain student needs in the classroom, I was asked to write an article describing some of the instructional strategies needed to work with students with specified learning needs. I was given a stack of research and recommendations from which to work. To my amazement, I saw that a handful of the same instructional strategies were suggested for the vast majority of these learning needs.

When I asked special education experts to explain this, they told me that all students learn better when those methods are used. The difference is that the “good” students have the self-motivation and personal skills to overcome weak teaching, but the rest of the student must have excellent instructional strategies to succeed.

One study in which I participated as a researcher yields more evidence of this. I was part of a team that looked at student performance within a school (compare student performance entering the school with student performance leaving the school) to see if we could identify the characteristics of schools in which students improved the most during their stay. We were to identify 10 such schools in a very large school district and compare their characteristics. We found a concentration of such schools in one attendance area. (By attendance area, I am referring to a group of elementary schools feeding into a smaller number of middle schools feeding into one high school.) Most of the elementary schools and both of the middle schools in this one area were really doing an excellent job with their students.

As you might guess, the high school, by the most common measures, was doing very well. It sent a very high percentage of its students to elite colleges, like Harvard. The teachers at that high school were very self-confident and proud of what they were accomplishing. But our study showed the opposite. The achievement of their seniors was lower than would be expected in comparison to the achievement of their freshmen. This school’s students were actually losing ground while in those classrooms. They had students of gold walking in their doors, and they had students of silver walking out.

Every one of the high achieving elementary and middle schools in that attendance area used what would be called innovative instructional methods. The high school was quite traditional (lecture) in its instructional approach.

Harvard admits only students who will thrive under any educational experience. The fact that it admits such students does not imply that its teaching is excellent. You also have no comparison. You do not know how these excellent students would perform if Harvard abandoned its lectures and went to different instructional methods. They may do even better with a different approach.

By the way, Harvard medical school dropped its traditional lecture format years ago in favor of a more experiential approach to education. They found that after three years of lecture, their medical students didn’t seem to know anything when they started internships. They switched to a program where students start interning immediately, with great results. I had to study this program’s philosophy as a part of my training.

Harry Keller, 25 Oct. 2009, 7:08 am:

[John Adsit:] Harvard admits only students who will thrive under any educational experience. The fact that it admits such students does not imply that its teaching is excellent. You also have no comparison. You do not know how these excellent students would perform if Harvard abandoned its lectures and went to different instructional methods. They may do even better with a different approach.

John has it exactly right. We don’t know. However, from a strictly statistical estimate, we can expect that some other instructional strategies will work better. The same is true for MIT, which nearly kills their students with huge workloads and class averages that frequently are in the 30s.

I’m not sure where such approaches originate. Is it Darwinian? Is it “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?”

I have met MIT grads who have had their self-esteem destroyed. They’re smart but unsure of themselves. That’s a horrible outcome. Other MIT grads are cocky and self-assured beyond reason. That outcome isn’t as bad as the first, in my opinion, but it’s still not rational.

I’m not sure which strategy is best, but I know that MIT could improve theirs.

I’m making the point, in addition to John’s, that even if students survive because they were chosen to be able to survive virtually any educational environment, they may not actually thrive.

John Thompson, 25 Oct. 2009, 8:48 am:
On the other hand…

You can kill with kindness and/or lowered expectations and/or accepting what you see as the inevitable.

Case in point…A number of years ago I taught a one-credit “intro to college” course for freshmen university students at highly respected and tough admissions public higher ed institution. In our conversations during the semester the students related how easy their last half of their senior year in high school was. Apparently their teachers had concluded that there was nothing more to be gained from their insisting that the students continue grinding right through the end of the year. So instead, the teachers had accepted the premise and implications of the supposed “senioritis” syndrome so these otherwise hard driving students had effectively been given much of their last year off. At least this is what the students (pretty much all the students in the class) had admitted. The striking thing was that they expressed resentment and regret for that happening. They would have preferred to continue running right through the finish line instead of ending the race prematurely. But without their teachers mandating such hard work, the students had slacked off and developed bad habits that there dogging them in college.

So to reference another “syndrome,” this seems like what I refer to as the Goldilocks Syndrome. I.e., too hard-too easy-just right, too much-not enough-just right, etc. Where to draw the line? Who gets to draw it?

John Adsit, 25 Oct. 2009, 10:08 am:

Killing with kindness and lowered expectations are not the alternative I am suggesting for poor instructional technique. There are other things you can do.

The extreme Harry describes comes when a teacher sets high standards, leaves the students alone, and then measures the results.

The alternative John describes is to lower the standards, leave the students alone, and measure the results.

I am suggesting something very different:

1. Set high Standards

2. Use strong teaching methods to ensure that students meet those standards

3. Measure the results.

Someday I will write a book about the conspiracy of students, parents, teachers, and administrators in high school, who all work together to make sure that standards stay low, but that is another story—and an extremely long one.

I was once asked to consult with a technical college of nearly the same stature as MIT. There writing program was nearly nonexistent. I wanted to use the instructional methods that I had instituted in a high school that in two years had gone from 20th place in the district writing assessments to 1st place, which was the primary reason I ended up in that role. When they heard what I wanted to do, they were horrified. It would mean too many students would succeed and earn high grades, even though we were maintaining high standards. They needed to make sure that enough students got Ds and Fs to make it appear that they weren’t involved in grade inflation. I pointed out that the grades would not be inflated—the students would have achieved and learned at levels of worthy of As and Bs, but they would have none of it. They needed to make sure that a decent percentage of their students failed so that they could maintain their reputation for toughness.

Setting high standards and then failing those who are not able to get there on your own does not make you a great teacher. Setting high standards and then using your skills to help students reach them makes you a great teacher.

Steve Eskow, 25 Oct. 2009, 12:24 pm:

John, I’m increasingly unsure of your point as you tell these interesting stories.I am tempted to tell personal stories that point in different directions, but I don’t think my stories would help us to agreement.

Do we agree that no single factor can account for educational success? That educational results are influenced by a) the background, motivation, and development of the student; b) the culture of the school: a culture supportive of learning rather than a culture hostile to learning; and c) the skill of the teacher in recognizing a) and b) and adopting a teaching approach responsive to them?

Or are you saying that a) and b) don’t matter, don’t influence outcomes, and that only the skill of the teacher makes the difference?

John Adsit, 25 Oct. 2009, 12:46 pm:
Of course all things count.

What I am saying is that recent research says that the instructional strategies employed by the teacher are the primary factor in education. The others all all factors, too, and sometimes the best teachers with the best strategies cannot overcome all the other factors.

In the past, the belief was that the personal factors associated with the student were so important that the instructional strategies employed by the teacher were insignificant. That belief is still prevalent among educators.

Bonnie Bracey Sutton, 25 Oct. 2009, 6:37 pm:

I always get really upset when the issue of Harvard is raised. How many people get to go to Harvard? Their influence is everywhere, but what are the rest of us supposed to be , chopped liver? My mentor is at Harvard, Chris Dede, but he does not rest on his Harvard reputation, he is out there at FETC, ISTE and other places.

We common people who went to the places that Arnie Duncan talked about are people too,Some of us collect learning experiences that are just as valuable as Harvard’s methodology.I would like to hear from others what they think was valuable as a learning experience.

I would like to know if we only use a few universities too expensive for most of us, and theoretically the best, but an isolated experience as a learning initiative from what is teaching and leanring , and then I question.

If Harvard is all of that, why are we still having minority based institutions ? Minority serving institutions need help but as Arnie Duncan says they need more than that. If Harvard is so great isn’t part of their mission to improve education for the masses? What is their outreach to other groups.

Or do we have an elite organization that pats itself on the back creates initiatives and thumbs away the rest of the teaching instititions?

Regarding students, it is easy to talk and blame the teacher for the lack of student achievement when there are other variables. The perception from the top of what is right. We teach mind numbing math that gets terrible results.

We have this ongoing fight in reading about phonics and other types of reading such as reading as an experiential type of learning. A little girl asked me once why do we have so many ways of teaching phonics from book to book.

For about eight years , science has been neglected in favor of what was tested, in 8 of the states in which I work 20 minutes a week ( probably more time given to announcements and bathroom.. and we want to be first in the world?

I have taught urban, rich, DODDS, ghetto, inner city not ghetto, rural and distant and each population has its needs. Working in inner city DC, I worried more about children’s food, health and living conditions, often finding them sleeping beneath my car , or at my doorstop. There was little in the way of resources in the ghetto schools. More in DODD schools just a really interesting ELL problem, which was over come.

I think the theorists need to put their teaching ideas in practice to show us what works everywhere. There is no universal way to teach that fits all situations. You have to look at the variables of the situation..

John Adsit, 26 Oct. 2009, 5:46 am:
Steve,

I agree with the first part of the message, and I feel it is too bad that you have experienced the last part:

And the notion promoted by some change agents that certain instructional techniques are always and uniformly beneficial are the problem, e.g. the belief that multimediated instruction is always preferable to monomediated instruction, or the insistence that group collaborative instruction is always superior to individualized instruction.

No one I know teaches that. We instead teach that the skilled teacher has a large repertoire of instructional strategies ready to be used. That teacher uses whatever is appropriate to the content, the situation, and the student.

Bonnie Bracey Sutton, 26 Oct. 2009, 5:45 am:
See Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing, by Jane Margolis

Bonnie Bracey Sutton, 26 Oct. 2009, 6:00 am:
I hear so much talk about the poor teacher. What are the earmarks for such. Teaching is like slavery, by permission, they had permission to service the crops, they did not design the land, create the soil, the weather/climate and or manage the variables of insects, disease or the illnesses that rankled the enslaved and majority population , still they were supposed to pick their bale of cotton. Regardess… Teachers have very limited permission and the more control a school system has the less innovation and creativity there is.

John Adsit, 26 Oct. 200i, 6:07 am:
[Re Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing, by Jane Margolis] This is a good example of the conspiracy to lower standards I suggested earlier.

There is an assumption that some students are not capable of swimming in the deep end, so they are steered toward lover level classes. The students and parents are generally happy with that, because they have come to believe the same thing and try to avoid the extra work that they believe will not lead to anything positive anyway.

Administrators are happy, too, for they are pressured to improve the percentage of students who graduate. Graduation requires the completion of a certain number of courses, not a certain standard of quality. The schools are thus well served by an academic program that provides enough units to get students graduated. Learning would be a nice actual side benefit, but it is not the goal.

Everyone is working together to make sure students don’t learn.

That is only one segment of the greater conspiracy.

Harry Keller, 26 Oct. 2009, 6:31 am:
As a scientist and not an education researcher, I have to wonder what all of the talk about recent research in education means in light of this comment. It would seem that educators attempt to follow research in choosing what to do in the classroom. The Department of Education, in its new “Investing in Innovation Fund,” has emphasized techniques that have the support of studies.

If each situation requires different approaches, then the research either cannot be universally applied or else must be imperfect in the first place. I know that difficulties should not prevent us from trying. Still, it would seem to be a cautionary note with regard to applying research results blindly.

[John Adsit:] No one I know teaches that. We instead teach that the skilled teacher has a large repertoire of instructional strategies ready to be used. That teacher uses whatever is appropriate to the content, the situation, and the student.

John Adsit, 26 Oct. 2009, 7:45 am:
Different instructional approaches are needed for a variety of reasons. Here are a couple:

1. Different subjects have different content goals. Some are heavily weighted toward skill and performance, and others have a greater emphasis on content knowledge.
2. Different students learn in different ways. What works for student A is less effective for student B.
3. Varying approaches keeps students interested and engaged.
4. Even within a content area, learning goals are complex and variation in approaches leads to more complete learning.
5. Different approaches take differing amounts of time, and teachers have to work with an eye to the calendar. A true constructive project takes a lot of time, and the instructor frequently cannot do all learning that way and get the job done. In planning a unit, the instructor will decide that some degree of lecture is needed for some aspects of the learning, some level of practice is needed, and a project might complete the learning process.

CARACTERÍSTICAS TÉCNICAS

Eslora total: 12,35 m

Eslora de casco: 11,99 m

Eslora de flotación: 10,76 m

Manga: 3.89 m

Desplazamiento ligero quilla larga:  7.386 kg

Desplazamiento ligero quilla corta: 7.815 kg

Calado quilla larga o mixta: 2,10 m

Calado quilla corta: 1,75 m

Peso quilla larga o mixta: 2.386 kg

Peso quilla corta:  2.815 kg

Altura del mástil: 19,50 m

Superficie vélica en ceñida 91 m2

Mayor: 48 m2

Génova: 43 m2 Capacidad carburante: 200 l 

Capacidad agua: 360 l

Potencia motor: 40/55 cv

Arquitectos : Humberto Felci/ Patrick Roséo

Tras el éxito cosechado por la versión Evolution de su 34 pies y por el Dufour 45 Performance, Dufour sigue ampliando su gama Evolution con el Dufour 40E Performance, en el que la innovación viene acompañada como en todos los modelos por un concepto global de confort.

Dufour 40E Performance

Prestaciones en navegación, espacio interior, materiales de primera calidad, volumen, ergonomía y confort son las palabras que mejor definen este nuevo modelo salido de la mesa de diseño de Humberto Felci y Patrick Roséo, arquitectos habituales de la casa.

En el exterior reconocemos inmediatamente el diseño moderno y depurado característico de la marca, con un casco de línea estilizada, optimizado para la navegación rápida y la competición. También la quilla y el timón están pensados para una navegación “Performance”: mínimo rozamiento del agua, máxima rigidez y mayor ángulo de ceñida. Tanto casco como cubierta han sido construidos para mejorar la relación de peso/rigidez estructural.

Una amplia bañera ergonómica con doble puesto de gobierno preside la cubierta, enrasada para facilitar la circulación. El enrollador de génova bajo cubierta y la disposición centrada de los winches facilitan la maniobra tanto en crucero como en regata.

Los interiores de madera de moabi y selectos materiales como el Corian, aseguran la calidez y comodidad que se espera de un Dufour. Numerosos portillos garantizan una máxima luminosidad y ventilación y abundan los espacios de estiba. El gran salón central y una amplia cabina principal son los elementos principales de la distribución, que el astillero propone en 3 versiones -con 2 y 3 cabinas y 1 o 2 baños.

Dufour 40E Performance Interior

Con la renovación del Dufour 40, el astillero sigue apostando por su crucero-regata de mayor éxito, un modelo que desde su lanzamiento ha cosechado grandes éxitos en los campos de regata internacionales sin olvidar a los amantes del crucero, que han encontrado en el Dufour 40 un barco del que disfrutar del mar y de la navegación familiar con las mejores prestaciones.

El hombre es un ser cultural y como es sabido la cultura es un hábito que se aprende o se asimila. Desde antes de nacer estamos ya influidos por una cultura, la que nuestros procreadores traen inscrita, es decir, su historia. Esta circunstancia nos condiciona un referente de la vida que el procreado conllevará en un futuro; posiblemente predeciremos la religión, la educación, la comida y el lenguaje que adopte para sí mismo.

Somos seres anclados a una forma de vida puesto que vivimos en sociedad y por más que queramos escapar de ella, nos influye al mismo tiempo que nos crea nuestra subjetividad, porque aunque estemos inmersos en una cultura o forma de vida logramos crear ideas propias y ésto es una de las cosas que nos diferencia de los otros animales, el ser humano vive en sociedad y en una cultura pero es capaz de imaginar, crear y razonar, es capaz de tomar sus propias decisiones en comparación con los animales, los cuales viven en manadas varados a una forma de vida dependiente del clima.

El ser humano depende de la cultura en la que vive y el animal del clima en el que vive; el hombre vive en una educación cultural y el animal busca exclusivamente su supervivencia.

Pero también el ser humano es un ser neotén, inacabado, inmaduro, incapaz de sobrevivir, un ser incompleto, dependiente, puesto a fallecer en el momento de nacer si no nace en sociedad.

Con esta introducción he de dar cita a una forma de pensar (Jacob Bronowsky) frente a una de las teorías más importantes a mi parecer (Neotenia) que ponen en juicio estas características que nos hacen diferente a las otras especies de animales:

Charles Darwin en su texto El origen de las especies en 1859 y en La descendencia del hombre en 1871 argumentaba que el hombre descendía del mono, desde ese momento el camino de la cultura humana tomó otro rumbo, a raíz de esta argumentación que aún sigue siendo una teoría, descendieron algunas otras teorías que explicaban el origen del hombre, algunas insistían en la comparación del hombre con el mono y no sólo con este tipo de animal sino con las otras especies parecidas a nosotros; ya lo decía Darwin somos seres en una cadena evolutiva y tenemos características de todas las especies de animales, es por ello que en los laboratorios se experimenta con ratas puesto que éstas tienen la particularidad de parecerse a nosotros o nosotros a ellas y en el juego de las palabras el ser humano es una rata escurridiza que intenta escapar a todas las enfermedades posibles de las cuales su mecanismo biológico no es capaz de evadir. Pero continuando con el tema de este ensayo cabe aclarar que no descendemos del mono, somos parientes de él, hay una parte en la cadena evolutiva en la que nos separamos de este animal y es en ese rompimiento de la cadena evolutiva por el cual el ser humano tiene la característica singular que ningún otro animal posee: El pensamiento.

El hombre es una criatura singular. Posee un cúmulo de dones que lo hacen único entre los animales: a diferencia de ellos, no es una figura del paisaje, es un modelador de este.

(Bronowski Jacob, El Ascenso del Hombre. F.E.I.  Casi Como los Ángeles, p.19)

Pero no he de ensalzar esta cualidad única del ser humano que por un lado puede verse como su vertiente angelical y que lo hace superior a cualquier especie animal, necesariamente he de criticar el texto casi como los Ángeles de Jacob Bronowsky donde compara al corredor (hombre atleta) con la gacela cuando termina diciendo que el corredor al escuchar el disparo de una pistola corre por un objetivo (ideal) y la gacela al contrario por miedo, a mi parecer tal comparación carece de sentido dado que el autor al situar al hombre como ente magnifico de la creación tan sólo por pensar olvida que este ser magnifico tiene otra capacidad que animales de otras especies no poseen: La cualidad de destruir.

Hasta ahora hemos de llevar dos cualidades que nos distinguen de los animales: Crear y destruir, al mismo tiempo que creamos el paisaje lo destruimos, pero… por qué!

Con esta pregunta voy a dar paso a la teoría que he de comparar con el pensamiento de Jacob Bronowsky: El ser humano es un ser incapaz de adaptarse a la naturaleza puesto que é adapta la naturaleza a si mismo; somos seres que necesitamos cambiar nuestro entorno para vivir puesto que de no hacerlo de esta manera podemos perecer. Pero la incapacidad del hombre no acaba en esto.

Hay demasiados textos y teorías narcisistas que se encargan de ensalzar al hombre frente a las otras especies de animales (porque el ser humano también es un animal) debido a que -como ya he dicho- posee la característica única (he de dudarlo) del razonamiento  y por ello se ha de suponer que somos superiores.

Pero, de otro lado, hay características físicas que hacen de la nuestra una espceie infinitamente inferior a cualquier otra especie de animal: Cuando nacemos somos seres incompletos, carecemos de pelo, dientes, necesitamos de otro ser humano mayor que nosotros para sobrevivir.

Salí demasiado pronto, prematuro, ni hecho ni por hacer, tan poco acabado que habría debido fallecer sin dejar huella. Tabiques cardíacos sin cerrar, inmadurez postnatal del sistema nervioso, insuficiencia de los alvéolos pulmonares, circunvoluciones cerebrales a duras penas desarrolladas, crecimiento físico insuficiente respecto a las normas constatadas en los demás mamíferos…

(Dany Robert Dufour. Carta sobre los neotenes, los axolotl y las Venus de Botero)

Precisamente se trata de una de las teorías que nos hacen ver nuestra inferioridad frente a los otros animales: La teoría de la Neotenia (En 1926, el anatomista Bolk nos revelo el hecho de que somos seres neotenes).

Somos totalmente diferentes a las otras especies de animales: Creamos, destruimos y somos prematuros.

Pero… ¿Qué especie no es diferente de la otra?

Lo que las teorías citadas me permiten concluir es -a mi parecer- la más clara diferencia entre el ser humano y las otras especies de animales; no es pensar (a veces pienso que los animales piensan), ni tampoco la capacidad física (cualquier especie es diferente en capacidad física): Lo es la cultura.

Aunque los animales también socializan, viven en manadas o grupos, me viene a la mente un ejemplo: Cuando una manada de elefantes se encuentra frente a un cúmulo de huesos que identifican como de su propia especie y -aún mejor- de su propia manada, suelen hacer un tipo de ritual frente a éstos; tocan los huesos con sus trompas y pezuñas. Los elefantes tienen un tipo de sociedad relativamente compleja, llegan a comunicarse por medio de sonidos, algo que podría llamarse lenguaje y reconocen dichos sonidos como cierta comunicación.

En los animales podemos hablar de un tipo de sociedad y de comportamiento; en los seres humanos hablamos de cultura, los animales independientemente del lugar (mientras estén adaptados al clima) llevarán el mismo tipo de comportamiento mientras que el ser humano es diferente en cada continente, país o incluso familia. Es por ello que este ensayo comenzó con el análisis de la cultura en la especie humana.

Aunque somos seres subjetivos creamos sociedades con las mismas cualidades, nos sentimos identificados con un grupo de personas que tienen de alguna manera el mismo tipo de pensamiento; el ser humano es magnifico por su capacidad de socializar y por la manera en que transforma su cultura, no al clima, como es el caso de los animales sino a sus propios ideales.

Es por ello que a lo largo de la historia se habla de diferentes épocas de la vida del ser humano, empezamos desde las formas prehistóricas hasta llegar a lo que ahora conocemos o llamamos posmodernidad. Las formas de vida cambian constantemente y aunque una cultura en distancia se encuentre lejos de otra no puede evitar influirla pues finalmente somos seres sociales; puedo hablar en especifico de la cultura del consumo ya que la Coca-Cola la encontramos por doquier, desde los pueblos más viejos hasta las casas infonavit.

El desarrollo de la cultura del ser humano se encuentra influido por las distintas formas de pensamiento del mismo. Como metáfora hablemos de un niño que nace en México, aprende a hablar español y come tamales pero se lo llevan a vivir a Estados Unidos, pronto aprende ingles y come hamburguesas.

Así se desarrolla la cultura del ser humano, el tiempo no pasa en vano sobre nosotros. Cada minuto provoca un cambio, de igual manera que el levantamiento de la revolución francesa provocó el de la revolución por la independencia de México.

Y no se trata de la migración de cuerpos sino de ideas, éso es lo transitorio en el ser humano; a mi parecer estamos ante la gran diferencia con los animales: La cultura y la capacidad de transmitir ideas y provocar cambios drásticos en la forma de socializar.

…que la cultura da al hombre la capacidad de reflexionar sobre sí mismo. Es ella la que hace de nosotros seres específicamente humanos, racionales, críticos y éticamente comprometidos. A través de ella discernimos los valores y efectuamos opciones. A través de ella el hombre se expresa, toma conciencia de sí mismo, se reconoce como un proyecto inacabado, pone en cuestión sus propias realizaciones, busca incansablemente nuevas significaciones, y crea obras que lo trascienden.

(UNESCO, 1982: Declaración de México)

Hemos de transitar por infinidad de pensamientos y de formas de educación, hemos de  descubrir nuevas opciones de crear y de  convivir.

La cultura nos da oportunidad de independencia. Es la misma cultura la que nos crea subjetividad, los pasajes históricos del lugar en el que vivimos nos crean una identidad propia e incluso una personalidad, los seres humanos nos influenciamos unos a otros no por el tipo de pelo o clima, sino por el tipo de ideas del lugar donde nacimos y aún estas ideas son influidas por las ideas que viene arrastrando en su historia esa comunidad en la que nacimos.

Por todo ello, sostengo mi crítica sobre la comparación del ser humano con las otras especies de animales, porque evidentemente somos distintos, como el león lo es diferente del ratón.

Sostengo, asímismo, que me parece ilógico la comparación del ser humano con los otros animales dado que cualquier especie -como ya dije- es diferente de la otra. Cada especie es diferente en si aún siendo del mismo tipo, ya sea mamífero o reptil. Siempre habrá cualidades que nos distingan unas de las otras y no por ello se considere a una de ellas superior o inferior a otra, simplemente somos parte de una cadena evolutiva y necesaria para la conservación de todas las especies.

Así que ambas posturas, la de Jacob Bronowsky por un lado y de otra parte la de Robert Dufour me llevan a pensar en la necesidad que tiene el ser humano de sustentar su realidad y de justificar su permanencia en este mundo.

Pues, aunque poseamos capacidad de razonamiento, éste no nos da para alcanzar a entender la razón de nuestra existencia, por un lado pretendemos creer que somos los elegidos por Dios (¿quién o qué es Dios?), necesitamos de ese gran creador que nos protege y ¿guía? y -más aún- nos creó sin que siquiera nosotros entendamos por qué lo hizo.

Necesitamos sentirnos parte de la gran maravilla que es la naturaleza aún sabiendo que somos destructores de la misma. Intentamos infinidad de veces entender… ¿Para que servimos en este gran paisaje qué es el mundo?

 Ciudadana Ccy

La gama Evolution de Dufour tuvo mucho éxito y por ello Dufour tiene pensado lanzar el nuevo Dufour40E Performance. Donde el confort y la innovación vienen juntos.

Este barco se podrá ver durante el mes de Noviembre en el Salón Náutico de Barcelona gracias al importador en España que presentará este barco como una novedad. Y según tengo entendido se podrá ver en el agua, en el Moll de la Fusta de Barcelona. Este barco sigue manteniendo el estilo de la marca Dufour muy característico en sus barcos, con un casco muy estilizado, y optimizado para la navegación rápida y la competición.

Además incluye mucho más espacio interior, con acabados de primera calidad.

El Dufour 40 se puede considerar un barco de regata o un barco con las mejores prestaciones para la navegación familiar.

Desde Enero del 2009, todos los barcos de Dufour siguen unas normas muy estrictas para ayudar al medio ambiente. Todos los barcos nuevos llevarán la etiqueta “Blue Sail”.

Dufour ha definido 9 aspectos “Blue Sail”, estableciendo los siguientes nueve compromisos que cumplirán todos los barcos que salgan del astillero a partir de enero.

• Cubierta de iroko FSC: contribuyendo a una explotación de los bosques que satisface las normas medioambientales, sociales y económicas.
• Motores Volvo de nueva generación: para reducir hasta un 50% la emisión de partículas y limitando los niveles de sonoridad.
• Alternador de fuerte potencia (115-140A): para limitar el tiempo de recarga de las baterías, reduciendo así el consumo de energía.
• Luces de navegación LED de bajo consumo: ahorro energético, ya que estas luces consumen un 10% menos de corriente para 25W.
• Bomba de pie para agua de mar: para reducir el consumo de agua dulce a bordo.
• Cubierta por inyección/infusión: para limitar la emisión de sustancias volátiles y mejorar la calidad del aire
• Sistema anti-desbordamiento de carburante: para prevenir la caída de carburante durante el repostaje (etiqueta Barco Azul de la Federación de Industrias Náuticas)
• Tanque de aguas negras de gran capacidad: para limitar el desbordamiento y preservar el medio marino (etiqueta Barco Azul de la Federación de Industrias Náuticas)
• Lote de productos de mantenimiento biodegradables: para contribuir en un primer paso hacia un comportamiento más ecológico y responsable.

Nueve modificaciones con las que Dufour y sus clientes contribuirán desde ahora en el respeto y la defensa del medio marino que cada vez esta siendo más castigado por los vertidos que se hacen desde tierra, así como los barcos que encallan y vierten esas cantidades de combustible que degradan la fauna marina y las costas.

Dufour apuesta por el medio ambiente.

sudouest.com, Yannick Delneste,  le 5 Octobre 2009

BORDEAUX. Plus de 500 personnes dont des élus de tous bords ont participé hier au rassemblement de l’association Taca

Oecuménique, le « Picnic » sans carbone

Romain a 11 ans et se tourne vers son père. « Mais Papa, quand on expire, on dégage du gaz carbonique. Ce carbone-là, il est bon ? » Les enfants sont formidables. Hier midi, sur les quais bordelais, Bastien le père s’en est sorti avec un « Regarde la pièce de théâtre, tu vas comprendre », pas franchement glorieux mais efficace. La réussite du pique-nique sans carbone est parfois à ce prix. Il est 13 h 30 près du parc des sports Saint-Michel et à défaut d’être un sommet artistique, la petite pièce de théâtre a le grand mérite de la pédagogie. Une planète aux criantes inégalités environnementales, une Amérique du Nord et une Europe surproductrices de gaz à effets de serre dont la réduction (diviser par 4 en France par exemple) est une urgence absolue.

Un fonds « climat »

Après le premier acte du constat, le second de la réponse : l’association Taca (comme taxe carbone) milite depuis plusieurs années pour son instauration. Sans citer la gouvernementale, Taca (1) rappelle les valeurs de la sienne : avoir le courage d’augmenter d’un euro le litre d’essence, un chèque vert identique pour tous pour la moitié de la taxe, un fonds climat pour aider les plus démunis à s’isoler par exemple, mais aussi la moitié de ce fonds pour aider les pays du tiers-monde à s’équiper durable. À cette heure-là, la troisième édition est d’ores et déjà une réussite : près de 500 vélos ont été comptabilisés, garés sur les nombreuses barrières. Créé à Bègles qui a abrité les deux premières éditions, le pique-nique prenait cette année une dimension d’agglomération avec recentrage sur la ville-centre et démarche de consensus au service de la plus grande mobilisation.

De 17 des 27 communes de l’agglo, des « vélobus » sont partis, cortèges de cyclistes convergeant verts les quais bordelais. Tables de pique-nique et stands d’associations les deux-roues et les pedibus. Celui venu en voiture ne le criait pas sur les toits mais était aussi le bienvenu. « Enlevez les élus et leurs familles et vous n’aurez plus grand monde… ». Il est des Brugeais sarcastiques. Le maire Bernard Seurot emmenait un cortège de près de 80 personnes au tee-shirt consensuel où on lisait « Bruges, en vert et avec tous ». Le carbone est-il politique ?

Le maire de Bordeaux Alain Juppé (UMP), le maire de Bègles Noël Mamère (Verts), le président de la CUB et maire de Blanquefort Vincent Feltesse (PS), le président de la Région Alain Rousset… le gratin politique en bras de chemise, tous hérauts de la cause du développement durable et pourfendeurs du vilain carbone. « La taxe carbone est un gâchis », s’énervait Noël Mamère vannant les ralliés tardifs du combat écologique. « Nous sommes à un basculement de civilisation et il va falloir en prendre conscience », soulignait Vincent Feltesse. Mais malgré la belle agora, la chose politique n’a pas pris le pas sur un rassemblement qui se voulait avant tout œcuménique.

Soumis gentiment à la Question par Taca sur leur durable engagement personnel et collectif, les élus rivalisaient alors de certificats de bonne conduite : « Je circule en vélo », insistait Anne Walryck, l’adjointe bordelaise au développement durable. « Notre tri sélectif est au top », affirmait le maire de Bruges. Agenda 21 et extinction des lumières la nuit à Blanquefort, transports collectifs boostés sur la CUB… L’élu régional Jean-Pierre Dufour en appelait à la conscience collective, un élu du Haillan évoquait, à la Hulot, un monde allant droit vers l’iceberg. « Et seuls les plus riches auront des chaloupes. » « Sommes-nous stupides ? », s’interrogeait enfin et avec force Jean Sireyjol, le président de Taca. Ils étaient nombreux hier midi à vouloir faire sonner le réveil des consciences. Bastien et Romain sont repartis sur leurs vélos.

(1) www.taca.asso-web.com

Bonjour, nous voilà bien rentré de ces championnats du monde. Il y a eu beaucoup d’euphorie de mon coté en rentrant sur Avignon ; le moment où l’on retrouve sa famille, ses amis, ses proches, bref tous ceux qui nous sont cher. Tous réunis forment un cocon protecteur, une arme puissante pour lutter et contrecarrer les contraintes liés à l’amateurisme de notre sport. Je vous remercie tous pour votre soutien ; d’y avoir cru jusqu’au bout ! Nous ne sommes pas des surhommes mais pouvons être les acteurs, avec votre aide, des Jeux Olympiques de Londres 2012. Nous avons un rêver, vivons-le ensemble !

Je vais faire une pause d’une semaine, sans entrainement. Ce nouveau temps libre va me permettre de préparer sereinement la « rentrée ». Le bilan  de cette année est excellent : validation de ma première année de Kiné, médaille au championnat du monde d’aviron. J’essaierai d’actualiser régulièrement le blog pour vous tenir informé de mes projets, du déroulement des événements sportif et universitaires qui m’attendent.

Bonne journée. Encore merci.

]]> http://novafilmquebec.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/le-festival-international-de-musique-militaire-de-quebec/ Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:20:33 +0000 novaquebec http://novafilmquebec.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/le-festival-international-de-musique-militaire-de-quebec/

La semaine dernière se déroulait le FIMMQ et Nova était en charge de toute la captation vidéo de l’événement. En plus, Nova s’occupait de créer le visuel projeté sur les écrans du Tattoo militaire, un événement réalisé par Dufour dans le cadre du FIMMQ.

Pour ce faire, nous avons amené un soldat du Royal 22e Régiment en studio sur fond vert et lui avons fait faire tous les mouvements de routine d’un soldat. Ensuite, sur fond blanc, nous avons créer un petit court-métrage avec le metteur en scène Ghislain Turcotte avec le même soldat, qui servait à ouvrir le Tattoo. Nous avions aussi comme mandat de réaliser le montage de 25 clips différents composé d’extraits de films connus, qui servait à appuyer la musique que les bands de soldats performait.

Voici quelques images de ce que tout ça a donné !

Et voilà, les championnats du monde d’aviron de Poznan viennent de se terminer. Bilan des médailles : un titre et trois médailles d’argent. Le 2-SHPL décroche dans la matinée le titre devant les Italiens. Une course sans fautes mène nos héros vers l’excellence mondiale. Ils permettent ainsi à la France, pour la seule fois de la journée, de chanter la Marseillaise. Merci à vous pour ce grand moment.

De notre coté, Fred et moi partons du ponton d’embarquement. La nuit a été bonne. Je me sens en jambe, le vent semble favorable sur le lac de Malta, bref toutes les conditions sont réunis pour que la finale soit l’avènement de la saison 2009. L’attitude d’avant course : décontracté, mais déterminé. Le stage terminal s’est bien passé, nous nous sentons prêt à donner le meilleur. Un vent favorable et violent crée de la vague. Pendant  la montée au départ Fred et moi faisons un repérage du bassin. Les derniers 500m de course sont trop agités pour qu’un équipage, quel qu’il soit, fasse un enlevage de qualité. La tactique de course établie devient donc la suivante : partir pour 1500m de course à fond, tout miser là-dessus, mettre le feu !! Nous voici  au ponton de départ. L’envie de bien faire, se donner à 200%, fait tomber complètement la pression de mon coté. Le départ est donné. Fred et moi faisons un départ extrêmement rapide. Nous passons en tête après 500m de course. Nous sommes très généreux dans l’effort, le strock n’affiche pas en dessous de 40 de cadence pour le moment. Seul les Néozélandais restent dans notre longueur. Puis c’est le passage à mi-parcours où les Kiwis passent devant pour 14 centièmes. Nous n’arrêtons pas de relancer pour rester au contact et tenir les Italiens à plus d’une longueur. A 750m de l’arrivée la course s’est décantée et nous voyons bien que le podium est assuré, reste à définir la couleur de la médaille maintenant. Nous relançons une série mais les vagues limitent notre marge de manœuvre. Arrivent les derniers 500m de course, Fred et moi avions vu juste, les conditions météos sont exécrables et figent le classement des équipages jusqu’à la ligne d’arrivée. Nous terminons donc deuxième derrière les Néozélandais et devant les Italiens qui nous avaient battus en demi-finale. La joie est énorme. Le Podium, la médaille, les félicitations. Nous avons été malin quant à notre tactique de course, quelle joie de se voir récompensé de l’argent  sur un coup de « bluff » après 1500m de course à fond. Nous allons maintenant fêter ça entre amis.

Voici le lien pour visionner notre finale : http://fisa.feedroom.com/

En vous remerciant pour vos encouragements. Je vous dis à demain. Bon dimanche.

]]> http://azoujeremie.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/de-largent-pour-la-france/ Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:30:05 +0000 azouj http://azoujeremie.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/de-largent-pour-la-france/

Crédit Photo : FFSA

                Et déjà deux médailles d’argent au compteur pour l’équipe de France sur ces championnats du monde de Poznan. La première est remportée par Nathalie Benoît dans la matinée au terme d’une excellente finale. Pour ses tout premiers championnats du monde d’aviron elle ouvre magnifiquement le bal et donne déjà un reflet  argenté coté tricolore. Plus qu’une médaille, c’est le début d’une longue et belle carrière sportive qui se profile pour notre institutrice. A toutes mes félicitations  viennent s’ajouter mes encouragements pour l’année qui arrive. Encore Bravo ! !

                A suivi la finale du 2-SH français. Cette finale menée du début à la fin par des Kiwis impressionnants place nos français quatrième. Les Grecs champions du monde en 2-SHPL l’an dernier termine 3^ème.

                Autre belle finale, celle du double composé de Julien Bahain et Cédric Berrest. Après un premier 1000m impeccable les Estoniens et les Allemands les surprennent  dans le 3^ème 500m de course. Un sprint final d’exception leur permet de se classer deuxième, pour 4 centièmes  devant le bateau Estonien. Ils offrent ainsi une seconde médaille d’argent à la France. Bravo !

                Le 4- français se classe 5^ème de sa finale. A la bagarre pendant 1750 mètre pour la médaille de bronze, les franchies ne parviennent pas à prendre l’ascendant sur leur concurrents directs. La victoire revient à l’embarcation anglo-saxonne.

                Le 2-SF gagne brillamment la petite finale au terme d’une course intelligente et d’une remontée fantastique dans les derniers 500m de course.

                Ce matin Fred et moi n’avons fait que 8km en bateaux avec 2 séries de 10coups et deux départs. C’était le dernier entrainement de la saison 2008/2009. Nous nous sentons en forme et prêt à mettre le feu pour cette grande finale. Suivez l’ensemble des finales en direct sur Eurosport.

                Bonne soirée

                Nous venons de rentrer du bassin. La séance de Kiné juste après une bonne douche a fait du bien.

                Et une demi-finale, une ! Nous voici au ponton d’embarquement avec Alexis qui établit la stratégie de course pour cette demi-finale : une seule consigne : mettre le feu ! Et hop, un pied au large direction les starting blocks. Notre phase d’échauffement a été très perturbée par la circulation et les vagues des bateaux arbitres.  Puis vient l’heure de s’aligner dans notre ligne d’eau, la 3 aujourd’hui. L’arbitre appelle les équipages. Les conditions météos sont encore difficiles : vent ¾ contre soufflant en rafales avec des vagues de bateaux arbitre. Le départ viens d’être donné, Fred et moi partons fort et passons en tête au premier 500m, nous replaçons une attaque dans le deuxième 500m de course afin de stabiliser notre avance sur les Canadiens et les Italiens qui nous talonnent de près. Nous sommes toujours aux commandes de cette demi-finale à mi-parcours. Nous entamons le troisième 500m de course, quelques petites erreurs techniques de notre coté et c’est la sanction : les italiens passe en tête à l’entrée du dernier 500m pour 25 centièmes de secondes. Arrive le sprint finale, la cadence monte : 39, 40, 41, 42. L’acide lactique commence à me bruler les jambes mais voilà le « Bip » final qui met un terme à ces 2000m de course. Le résultat final s’affiche sur un écran géant. Nous finissons 2^ème derrières le bateau transalpin (à 80 centièmes) mais devant les canadiens (plus d’une seconde). Après avoir fait l’analyse de cette course avec l’entraineur et entre nous (Fred et moi) nous sommes plutôt satisfaits de notre prestation.  Comme on dit : « voilà une bonne chose de faite ! ». La finale de dimanche s’annonce palpitante. Nous serons à la ligne d’eau 2 entre les canadiens (à notre droite) et les italiens (à notre gauche). Nous passons à 11h48. L’objectif sera bien sur de gagner ! C’est dans nos cordes, j’en suis sur.

                Deux autres bateaux français courraient aujourd’hui les demi-finales : le 4XSH et le 4-SHPL. Tout deux gagnent leur billet pour la grande finale de dimanche après 2000m de bord à bord. La délégation française peut vraiment jouer quelque chose dans deux jours au tableau des médailles. A suivre…

                Le TAMix2X termine 3^ème en finale B derrière la Russie et la Bulgarie. Le LTAMix4+, lui, finit 4^ème en finale B.

                Bonne soirée. Merci de votre fidélité.