Reality, Knowledge, and Instruction

Martin A. Kozloff

Here’s a rule. Civilizations rest on knowledge. The figure below shows the rule. All things that are civilizations are inside the category of things that rest on knowledge. The figure also shows that cooking perfect chicken rests on knowledge.

All things that are civilizations

All things that rest on knowledge

Cooking perfect wings.

Well, what is a civilization?A civilization is a People who share two things:(1) an identity. (2) a common culture. The identity of a civilization is based on blood relationships, history, language, land, and/or religion.“We are The People of The Book.”“We are The People of The Mountain.”“We are The People whose first ancestor was Abraham.”“We are The People of The Cheese. We are The Cheezies.” [Motto of the Cheese People.]

The common culture consists of three things: (1) social institutions, (2) core values, and (3) a stock of knowledge. Social institutions are the stable ways that civilizations make a living, make children, make

sense of life, and defend themselves. So, social institutions include family, economy, religion, political, medical, legal, and art.

Core values (1) motivate and (2) guide the behavior of members. Examples of core values might include patriotism, love of liberty, the value of life, and fair play.

Finally, a stock of knowledge tells members how to DO medical, economic, child rearing, and political activities.

Put it all together and it looks like this.

Civilization

Identity Social Institutions

Blood, history, land, Core Values Stock of Knowledge language, religion

What’s this got to do with education? A lot.The purpose of education is to transmit culture (social institutions, knowledge, core values) to the next generation so that the next generation can sustain the civilization. If we were a small society---a band of hunter-gatherers---our culture (social institutions, core values, and stock of knowledge) could be transmitted (taught) by the whole village, through (1) modeling (“Do it like this.”); (2) rituals (“Now you are a woman.”); and (3) everyday activities (“Let me tell you the story of our people.”). But when a civilization is large, and when a lot of new persons enter the territory as immigrants, then family and neighborhood are not enough. So, we have a special institution---education---that takes over the job of transmitting culture beyond the basics (such as language, respect, activities of daily living) taught by family. Whether our education institution does a good job---and whether it even COULD do a good job given changes in our society---is another question. And, given the easy availability of knowledge and teaching materials of all kinds---it’s possible for many families to provide a high quality education in the home. Still,

whether education is provided in schools or homes or some other place, instruction (communication of knowledge) has to be well-designed.

But what is knowledge? I’ll tell you, one step at a time.

1. Reality. What is it? Reality simply IS. Reality is THAT whose existence does NOT depend on being experienced (witnessed) or interpreted (understood). Reality IS---even if human

beings are NOT. Reality IS, no matter what human beings believe. 2 + 2 is 4, even if you say it’s 5. The earth revolves around the sun, even though it LOOKS like the sun revolves around the earth.

2. Knowledge must be about reality---about what IS. If knowledge is NOT about reality---not about what IS---then knowledge would be about what ISN’T, and therefore knowledge would be about NOthing. And that’s just stupid! So, knowledge must be about something. And that something is……..reality.

3. What does it mean to say, “Knowledge is about reality?” About reality? What is the connection between reality and knowledge? Okay, I’ll show you.

Reality [The Human Learning Mechanism Knowledge Transforms Raw Experience Into…]

Pretty much all we get from Jupiter is Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far colors and movement. But, with the largest. Jupiter is more than twice physics and mathematics, we can as massive as all the other planets combined (the transform the raw experience of color mass of Jupiter is 318 times that of Earth).and movement into knowledge---factssuch as those on the right. Diameter: 142, 984 km

Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, the Moon and Venus).

Jupiter is about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium

Jupiter probably has a core of rocky material amounting to something like 10 to 15 Earth- masses. http://nineplanets.org/jupiter.html

Knowledge is a representation of reality. RE-presentation. Look at this. Sunset, clouds, sky, trees. Are these IN your head? Is the sunset in your head?

No, the sunset is something (reality) OUT THERE that exists INDEPENDENTLY of you. IT is not in your head. Even if you have a fat head with lots of room.

What IS in your head is a representation of the EXTERNAL reality of sunset, sky, clouds, trees. Listen, reality presents itself to your senses as raw experience---color, sound, touch. The picture, above, however, REpresents (presents again) reality to your senses. Likewise, the words “thunder,” “lightning,” “precipitation,” “hail,” “gale force” are not in the stormy sky. They are words used to represent the reality of the storm. They are knowledge OF the storm.

4. There are different ways to represent reality---different mediums. Mediums for what? Representing ___________________. Let’s look at some of the media for representing reality.

a. Paintings, drawings.

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (……May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Cassatt

Mary Cassatt’s painting represents---portrays, communicates about—a REAL mother and child. Clothing. Hair. A table. Nursing. What else in REALITY does it portray? Tenderness? Trust? The most intimate connection in the world? That for which we long? The essence of woman?

If we analyze the painting----if we break it into details, parts, elements and examine each one and how they FIT---we might find out HOW Mary Cassatt was able to represent and then COMMUNICATE this knowledge of reality. How does she represent a translucent fabric? How does she represent tenderness? How does she represent connection? Look at the eyes.

Cassatt arranged colored dots and lines, and the arrangement produces in the viewer the knowledge identified above.

Imagine that there is the slightest deviation from the imaginary line between mother’s and child’s eyes. The painting no longer communicates the mother-infant bond. “The infant is looking at her but she is looking away. Maybe she’s bored.”

Imagine that she is not holding the kid's foot. The painting no longer communicates love and tenderness. “The baby is naked and she’s not even keeping her foot warm.”

***So, whatever knowledge is communicated depends on a selection of colors (so you can see eyes) and the arrangement of elements (colored points)---to depict tenderness, for example.

Now, in what sequence did Cassatt paint this picture? In what sequence did she DESIGN and enact the communication—that is, put brush to canvas? I have it on good authority (from Ethan Vick. Personal communication. January 25, 2011) that she FIRST placed mother and child in the center. Then she chose colors (purple for divinity---the mother as goddess). Then she worked on arm under sleeve, hand on foot, hand on hip, and finally eyes.

Note that this sequence for designing and enacting the representation of reality uses LOGIC. Cassatt could not paint the mother’s clothing until she had painted the body underneath; she could not paint the body until she had decided where to place the figures on the canvas; and she could not paint the eyes (with the imaginary eye-to-eye line communicating bond) until she had placed the heads. In other words, logically, she had to enact the communication in a LOGICAL order. Certain steps logically must come before others.

***So far, when we think of design, we think of (1) selection of colored points (basic knowledge elements); (2) arrangement of colored points (basic knowledge elements) to represent persons, feelings, bond; and (3) a sequence used by the painter for designing and then enacting (painting) the communication.

Note: asking why Mary Cassatt followed a certain (logical) sequence for designing and enacting (painting) her communication about the reality of mother and child, is the same as asking why

you follow a certain (logical) sequence for designing and delivering instruction to communicate about the reality of mathematical relations or how mountains are formed. Do you plan instruction by starting (a) with the last lesson, or (b) the first? Do you plan instruction by starting with (a) objectives, and then figure out how to teach knowledge that MEETS the objectives; or, (b) do you first plan how to teach certain kinds of knowledge, and THEN figure out what the objectives of the teaching should be? The answer is “a” both times. Start with final objectives for instruction (what you want students to do when you are finished) and work backwards, always asking, “What do they need to know from earlier lessons (and what do I need to teach in earlier lessons) to learn the current lesson?” Lesson 100 tells you what lesson 99 has to teach. Lesson 99 tells you what lesson 98 has to teach. All the way back to lesson 1.

b. Music.

Listen to these. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM8RlCZP0KQ&feature=related Beethoven. 6th Symphony. Fifth Movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghVAH_WX-9I Iris Dement. Our Town.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT-aEcPgkuA&feature=related. Stan Rogers.

What knowledge about reality do these pieces of music communicate? What (1) elements (notes, instruments, words, speed, loudness) and sequences of elements (sentences, stanzas, passages) communicate the information.

c. Dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNeIMzrCXnQ&feature=related See especially at time 3:43. What knowledge of reality---physical or human or divine---does this communicate?

d. Poetry and prose.

They Are Not Long

THEY are not long, the weeping and the laughter,Love and desire and hate:I think they have no portion in us afterWe pass the gate. They are not long, the days of wine and roses:Out of a misty dreamOur path emerges for awhile, then closes

Within a dream.[Ernest Dowson]

These words are talking about reality. They are representing it. What are they representing? THAT is the meaning of the poem? The words represent (they mean, signify, point to) some reality.

Another poem. Notice the difference between seeing the poem and hearing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhQwFf6Qb9U Gerard Manley Hopkins.

THE LEADEN ECHO

HOW to kéep—is there ány any, is there none such, nowhere known some, bow or brooch or braid or brace, láce, latch or catch or key to keepBack beauty, keep it, beauty, beauty, beauty, … from vanishing away?Ó is there no frowning of these wrinkles, rankéd wrinkles deep,Dówn? no waving off of these most mournful messengers, still messengers, sad and stealing messengers of grey?No there ’s none, there ’s none, O no there ’s none,         5Nor can you long be, what you now are, called fair,Do what you may do, what, do what you may,And wisdom is early to despair:Be beginning; since, no, nothing can be doneTo keep at bay         10Age and age’s evils, hoar hair,Ruck and wrinkle, drooping, dying, death’s worst, winding sheets, tombs and worms and tumbling to decay;So be beginning, be beginning to despair.O there ’s none; no no no there ’s none:Be beginning to despair, to despair,         15Despair, despair, despair, despair.

THE GOLDEN ECHO

Spare!There ís one, yes I have one (Hush there!);Only not within seeing of the sun,Not within the singeing of the strong sun,         20Tall sun’s tingeing, or treacherous the tainting of the earth’s air,Somewhere elsewhere there is ah well where! one,Oné. Yes I can tell such a key, I do know such a place,Where whatever’s prized and passes of us, everything that ’s fresh and fast flying of us, seems to us sweet of us and swiftly away with, done away with, undone,

Undone, done with, soon done with, and yet dearly and dangerously sweet         25Of us, the wimpled-water-dimpled, not-by-morning-matchèd face,The flower of beauty, fleece of beauty, too too apt to, ah! to fleet,Never fleets móre, fastened with the tenderest truthTo its own best being and its loveliness of youth: it is an everlastingness of, O it is an all youth!Come then, your ways and airs and looks, locks, maiden gear, gallantry and gaiety and grace,

        30

Winning ways, airs innocent, maiden manners, sweet looks, loose locks, long locks, lovelocks, gaygear, going gallant, girlgrace—Resign them, sign them, seal them, send them, motion them with breath,And with sighs soaring, soaring síghs deliverThem; beauty-in-the-ghost, deliver it, early now, long before deathGive beauty back, beauty, beauty, beauty, back to God, beauty’s self and beauty’s giver.         35See; not a hair is, not an eyelash, not the least lash lost; every hairIs, hair of the head, numbered.Nay, what we had lighthanded left in surly the mere mouldWill have waked and have waxed and have walked with the wind what while we slept,This side, that side hurling a heavyheaded hundredfold         40What while we, while we slumbered.O then, weary then whyWhen the thing we freely fórfeit is kept with fonder a care,Fonder a care kept than we could have kept it, keptFar with fonder a care (and we, we should have lost it) finer, fonder         45A care kept.—Where kept? Do but tell us where kept, where.—Yonder.—What high as that! We follow, now we follow.—Yonder, yes yonder, yonder,Yonder. 

Here’s paragraph 2 of the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. [Thomas Jefferson. First author. Paragraph 2. Declaration of Independence. July, 1776. ]

5. The painter, the composer, the poet, the choreographer, and the writer must design the communication (how they will represent reality) and enact their design (that is, paint the picture, sing the song, read the poem, write the document) in a certain way---LOGICAL---or else the message will not be seen or properly understood. They have to select the right elements (words, examples) and arrange them into sequences (steps, statements, logical arguments)

Let’s compare the portion of the Declaration to Cassatt’s painting of mother and infant. We saw that she used colored points to represent (communicate knowledge of) the superficial reality of clothing, a mother sitting, an infant in the mother’s lap, a table, a plant, and nursing. She also used these colored points to represent (communicate) the more profound realities of love, tenderness, and the intimate and perhaps cosmic bond between Mother and Child. She did this by (1) selecting and arranging colored points; and (2) following a logical sequence for designing and enacting the communication---putting brush to canvas. That is, she had to paint certain things (the location of mother and infant on the canvas) before she could paint other things (an imaginary line connecting their eyes).

Now look at what Jefferson did.

Jefferson is communicating a theory of representative government. This theory is really a logical argument (a case being made) for the right of revolution. As with Cassatt, all he has to work with are small black figures (basic elements of written communication, or representation)---ink on paper. He arranges the basic element of letters (u, n, a, l, i, e…) a. Into a longer sequence of words (“unalienable”) that he has selected.b. He arranges the words into longer sequences of statements (assertions that have a subject and predicate). “…they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”) in sentences. [Some sentences contain several statements.]c. He arranges the sentences into an argument (a logically connected sequence of statements leading to a conclusion statement)---all to communicate about the reality of human rights and government.

Notice the word choice (similar to Cassatt’s color choices). He says, “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights...” He could have said, “they have certain unalienable rights.” Adding Creator gives weight to the rule about humans having unalienable rights.

He said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” He could have said, “We believe the

following are pretty clear.” Again, these words add weight or force to the rule that what come next are truths.

He said “unalienable rights.” He could have just said “rights.” The use of “unalienable” adds force to the rule--“….endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights…” Meaning, they can’t be taken away. They are not up for discussion. They come with being human.

Now look at the arrangement of statements. He begins by saying that everything that comes next is a self-evident truth. Pretty strong. Then he asserts a general rule about rights (an example of a self-evident truth); then says what these rights are; then says governments are instituted to protect these rights; and then ends (concludes) by saying that when governments don’t protect these rights, the People have the right to alter or abolish the government. Each next statement follows from the earlier. Do you see that the final statement (the conclusion that he was working towards all along) follows logically from the ones before? You can’t resist the truth of the final statement about revolution. If everything he said before---every statement ---is true (and he said that everything was a self-evident truth), then the conclusion (right of revolution) MUST also be true.

Imagine that he arranged the sequence of statements differently. Imagine that the last line was, “Oh, and we think these truths are self-evident. “ That would have little force. It would come off NOT as truth, but as opinion.

Imagine that he did NOT begin by stating that all human beings equally have certain rights, but ENDED with that. That would sound weird. Not logical. “Where did THAT come from?

***So, as with Cassatt’s painting, the selection and arrangement (ordering) of elements (letters to make words, words to make statements in sentences, arranged into an argument in a paragraph) is all.

Isn’t it true that these arrangements have the quality of perfection? They are “logically faultless.” And for that reason, they communicate knowledge easily and quickly and unambiguously. You don’t have to think about what Cassatt is telling you about mothers and nurturing, the nature of women, etc. It’s EXPLICIT. And you don’t have to think hard about where Jefferson got the conclusion that People have the right to alter or abolish their government. It follows logically from the way he arranged the statements.

6. Summary, and a New Concept (Forms of Knowledge)

Human beings represent reality with words, music, sculpture, dance, etc. Even if you look at a painting or sculpture, or listen to music, however, you STILL make sense of it with WORDS. “What does this say? What is the meaning? What knowledge can I get from this?”

Here’s the famous sculpture—The Pieta---by Michelangelo, worked on between 1498 and 1499. It shows Mary holding her son, Jesus, after he was crucified. Notice how large she is compared to her full grown son.

What does this mean? Put it into words. How about “A son is always (a child, my child, my boy, my baby) to his mother”? So, most of what we know, store, and communicate is in the form of words.

Now here’s BIG NEWS!

1. There are only six kinds of knowledge that represents reality with words. And

2. The most efficient and effective way to store and communicate knowledge with words is with simple, declarative statements.

Subject….predicate.

The part of the statement that tells what the statement is about (subject), and the part of the statement that tells more about the subject (predicate).

This (subject. What the statement is about) is, has, was, can, does, will, is part of, is not part of, means, is defined by, is an example of, produces change in, does not have any effect on, is important because, has these features ______________________ (predicate. Tells more about the subject).

3. Therefore, there are only six kinds of declarative statements---one kind for each kind of knowledge.

4. So, your BIGGEST job is to translate the words in your head and the words in the materials you

and your students will read, into simple declarative statements.

5. Know what kind of knowledge statements is IN your head and in the materials you are now working on; e.g., a section of a chapter on ancient Greece.

6. Use the right simple declarative statements to communicate this knowledge.

7. Teach your students to do 4-6.

But what ARE the six kinds of knowledge that (1) are in your head and in materials, that (2) you and your students must turn into simple declarative statements? Here’s a quick look. We’ll go deeper later. Notice the simple declarative statements.

1. Facts. Connections between a subject that is PARTICULAR and a predicate that tells more about the subject.

The first ten amendments (particular subject) are called The Bill of Rights (predicate: tells more about the subject).

The British attacked Lexington and Concord (a particular event---subject) on April 19, 1775 (predicate---a particular that tells more about the subject).

2. Lists. Connections between a subject and predicate that is a set of descriptors that tell more about the subject.

The elements of carbohydrate (subject) are (1) oxygen, (2) hydrogen, and (3) carbon (predicate: list of features).

The rights enumerated in the First Amendment (subject) are freedom of (1) religion, (2) speech, (3) press, (4) assembly, and (5) petitioning government for redress of grievances (predicate---a list that tells more about the subject).

3. Sensory or basic concepts. Categories or classes (circles) that contain examples that share defining features. Any example of a sensory concept shows all the features needed to identify the example. Everything that defines BLUE is in any example.

This one (subject) is blue (predicate).

This one (subject) is a triangle (predicate).

This one (subject) is NOT a triangle (predicate).

4. Higher-order (abstract) concepts. Categories or classes (circles) that contain examples that share defining features. However, the defining features are not material or tangible. Examples aren’t THERE the way examples of blue and on (sensory concepts) are there. Examples: political system, unalienable right, family, woman, cell division

Verbal definition of concept: Deciduous (subject) is a characteristic of organisms that involves shedding certain parts at particular times in the life cycle (predicate). Examples that show features identified in the verbal definition: For example, trees that are deciduous shed their leaves at certain times of year. Certain mammals shed their teeth (humans, dogs) or antlers (deer) at certain times in their lives.

5. Rules. The subject and predicate are not particular things, as in facts (“This table is made of oak.”) but are whole classes or categories of examples; that is, concepts. Rule statements connect classes or concepts. There are two kinds of rules or connections: categorical and causal/hypothetical.

a. Categorical rules state that one class (a subject) is (predicate) inside, partly inside, or outside another class.

All (examples of the class of) dogs (subject) are (in the class of things that are) canines (predicate).

Some (examples of the class of) mushrooms (subject) are (in the class of things that are) poisonous (predicate).

No (examples of the class of) governments (subject) can be (are in the class of things that can be) trusted.

b. Causal/hypothetical rules state that things in one class change along with things in another class. For example, (1) Change in one class (independent variable) predicts change in another class (dependent variable).

The higher the rate of unemployment in manufacturing industries (subject: independent variable), the higher the rate of mental hospitalization (predicate: dependent variable).

(2) Change in one class (dependent variable) does not happen UNLESS there is first change in another class (independent variable).

Citizens be able to identify and oppose unconstitutional laws and policies of their government (subject: dependent variable), if and only if citizens understand what the U.S. Constitution says (predicate: independent variable).

(3) Change in one class (independent variable) is ENOUGH to start change in another class (dependent variable).

When(ever) a government coerces compliance from citizens (subject), it begins to lose legitimacy (predicate).

6. Routines. Routines are sequences of steps for accomplishing something.

Sounding out words. run -> say rrruuunnn Solving math problems 654/16 = Writing essays. First… Next… Then… Finally… Critical examination: Read a political document, identify the rules it states, restate the

rules as simple declarative statements, examine the validity of the argument made by the series of rules.

Okay, so now you know that1. Most of our knowledge is in the form of words. 2. To effectively communicate, you have to chose and arrange words carefully---into simple declarative statements. 3. There are only sixth things that can be known and communicated about reality. At least as far as we know. 4. Therefore, your mind and your materials contain only six kinds of things to communicate---in

the form of simple declarative statements. 5. Learn what the six kinds of knowledge are; learn to see them in text and in your mind; translate complex and poorly worded sentences into simple declarative statements, and you

will be in business. It will be easy to communicate knowledge buried in even the most complicated passages, and easy for your students to learn.

BUT…

If you DON’T do what I’m telling you, you and your students will be lost and confused.

And now, MORE that will make you SMART!

7. Tool Skills, Tightly-coupled vs. Loosely-coupled Knowledge Systems, and Kinds of Instruction

Human beings have been learning about reality (what exists, how things are connected, what happens when you do one thing vs. another) for thousands of years. a. We have translated and we communicate what we’ve learned with words, paintings, sculpture, and dance. b. We have (1) collected, (2) stored (in books, rituals, and other media), and (3) passed on this knowledge. c. Each next generation correct errors in the stock of knowledge and adds to it.

These collections of knowledge are KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS, such as mathematics, literature, physic, medicine, law, family, economics, and many others.

Some knowledge systems are called TOOL SKILLS. Reading, math, logic, writing. These are tools for learning and using (thinking, communicating) knowledge in all other knowledge systems. Other knowledge systems (chemistry, literature, history) are more ABOUT reality, than they are about how to learn and communicate about reality (tool skills).How is math a tool skill for the knowledge systems of physics, chemistry, engineering, and economics? How is logic (how to think) a tool skill? How is reading a tool skill?

The Elements (facts, lists, concepts, rules, routines) in Knowledge Systems Can be Tightly Coupled or Loosely Coupled

The knowledge elements (facts, lists, concepts, rules, routines) in a knowledge system are connected, or coupled, or interdependent. In some knowledge systems, the knowledge elements are TIGHTLY COUPLED. That is, to know any one of the elements you have to know other elements. So, if you don’t know one of the tool elements, you can’t learn the others that DEPEND on that one element. Reading and math are tightly coupled.

1465 divided by 12. What are the elements? Estimation. 12 goes into 14? No 146. How many times? Multiplication 12 x 12 is what? Subtraction. Counting. Writing numerals. All these elementary skills work together (tightly coupled). If you don’t know ONE of them, then you can’t do the division. Can you do multiplication (an element of long division) if you don’t already know addition? Multiplication is nothing but adding groups of numbers. 3 x 4 is nothing but 4 + 4 + 4. Can you do addition if you don’t know counting? Addition is nothing but counting forward? 4 + 5 is start with 4 and count forward 5 more. 4, now say 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Reading is also a tightly coupled system of skill or knowledge elements. Here’s something from John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government.

A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another; there being nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection.

What skill elements are needed to read this easily and with comprehension?1. How to say sounds.2. What sounds go with the letters.

3. How to decode words---sound out unfamiliar words (segment) and then say fast (blend).4. How to read words---string words together—into sentences.5. How to segment complex sentences into knowledge-bearing simple declarative statements. “In a state of equality (subject), all power and jurisdiction is reciprocal (predicate).” “In a state of equality (subject), creatures of the same species and rank should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection.

6. What words mean---equality, reciprocal, jurisdiction.7. How to identify concepts and rules and the logical flow of an argument or explanation or description.

Look how these knowledge or skill elements are tightly coupled. Can you comprehend if you don’t know vocabulary? Can you read sentences if you can’t read words accurately and fast? Can you read words if you don’t know how to sound them out? Can you sound them out if you don’t know the sounds that go with letters? No.

So, when you teach tightly-coupled knowledge systems, YOU HAVE TO ENSURE MASTERY OF EVERY ELEMENT. And the best way to do this is with explicit, systematic, focused, direct instruction.

Explicit = The teacher TELLS what she is doing. “First I…” This way, students can INTERNALIZE what the teacher says, and guide themselves.

Systematic = Lines (words), tasks, and lessons are carefully sequenced so that elements needed for later tasks and lessons have all been taught and firmed up by review; examples are carefully chosen to reveal the knowledge being worked on; work on fluency, generalization, and retention are done at the right time and comprehensively.

Focused = Communication aims at exactly what students are supposed to learn. No blather and meandering talk. One thing taught at a time.

Direct = Teacher models or tells to communicate knowledge. Students are not expected to figure it out or construct or discover knowledge. That is a DIFFERENT objective---like asking students to tell what the main point of a poem is. The poem itself does not tell its main point. You have to figure it out.

Explicit, systematic, focused, direct instruction is most important when teaching TOOL SKILLS, such as reading, spelling, language, writing, and math. Tool skills are skills that are basic elements of most other knowledge systems, such as chemistry, poetry, and history. The elemental skills in tool skills (e.g., the elemental skills in reading) are so tightly coupled (connected with one another, part of one another) that you must ensure that students have mastered certain skills before you teach them the next skill that USES the prior skills. [You can’t cement in the next higher course of bricks on a wall unless the lower course is firm.]

Other knowledge systems are loosely coupled. History, for example. It’s not clear, for instance, exactly how some historical events caused other events. It’s not clear what the causes are for some events. We still need to find out and add that knowledge to the knowledge system. Or consider the knowledge system of literature. Yes, you need the tools skills of reading and thinking, but you don’t need to know poetry in order to learn to read plays. You don’t need to know plays in order to read short stories. In other words, some of the knowledge elements (knowledge needed to learn poetry, plays, fiction) are not dependent on the others. Also, there are gaps and uncertainties. It’s clear (in the knowledge system of economics) what a sudden rise in demand for gold means (price will go up), but it’s not clear what “To be or not to be” means. There is room for interpretation, for inquiry, and discovery.

So, you might NOT use explicit, systematic, focused, direct instruction to teach other kinds of knowledge, such as literature or history. You would use a lot more Socratic methodology, for instance. STILL, you would teach much knowledge in a loosely coupled system—like history---in an explicit, systematic, focused, direct way. For example,

“New concept. Monarchy. A monarchy is a political system that involves rule by one person, usually on the basis of heredity or force.”

“Say that definition.”

“Here are examples of monarchy.”

“And here are examples that LOOK like monarchy, but are NOT monarchy.”

Here are examples of procedures for teaching the six kinds of knowledge (facts, lists, sensory concepts, higher-order concepts, rules, routines) in both more and less explicit fashion.

Now look at a lesson on beginning reading. Use what you’ve learned from Cassett and Jefferson, as designers of logically faultless communication of knowledge, to explain why the

lesson will communicate (teach) knowledge quickly and effectively. Hints: (1) Is the information/knowledge (the thing students are supposed to get) obvious or is it hidden behind or among excessive and distracting verbiage (noise)? (2) Do examples unequivocally communicate knowledge; that is, is there only ONE interpretation of what an example MEANS?(3) Have students been taught (and are they currently firm) on pre-skills (knowledge elements) needed to get and use the new knowledge.

Examine the wording in sentences, the sequence of sentences in tasks, and the sequence of tasks in the lesson.

The lesson consists of a number of tasks (a few minutes long) focusing on (objectives relevant to) knowledge items on each strand—phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension. http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/

Below is systematic, focused, explicit, direct instruction of beginning reading—a tool skill.

Lesson 40 Design features.Explains why it’s done this way.

Task 1. Review of phonemic awareness. Rhyming.For example, mmman. fffan rrran

“Boys and girls. Eyes on me. Ready to learn!”

“Let’s practice rhyming.”

Firm up prior knowledge needed for the current lesson. This is a phonemic awareness skill. By rhyming, kids segment words. fffan. This skill—segmenting—is an ELEMENT of the larger skill of sounding out a WRITTEN word.fan “Sound it out.”fffaaannn.

Gain and focus attention.

Frame instruction. Tell what they will learn or do.

“Listen. I’ll rhyme with…iiiinnnn. What will I rhyme with? iiinnnn

“Here I go. ffffff…in sssshhhhh...in.

“Your turn to rhyme with….in. Start with fff….[wait time] Get ready. GO!” ffff…in

Yes, ffff..in. You rhymed with…in.

Diagnose and remedy any difficulties or errors.

1. Doesn’t remember rhyme part—in? fff… uh

2. Trouble pronouncing? fff…in

3. Trouble putting together? iiinnn

1. “We’re going to rhyme with in. What are we going to

rhyme with? in

fffffff……in. Say it. ffff….in “Yes. Listen. shshsh…..in. Say it. shshsh….in.

“Excellent for riming with….in!”

2. “Look at my mouth. Listen. iiiiinnnn

“Open your mouth like this… Say it with me…iiiiiiinnnnn

“Excellent. Your turn. (signal) iiiiiinnnnn.

“Oh, you’re sooo smart!”

3. “Listen. fffffff….in.

Check to make sure students are prepared for what’s coming.

Model the information.

Immediately test/check to see if student’s got it by giving them a turn.

Verify correct response.

Correct every error and firm any weak response immediately.

Practice weak spot[part-firming]; then go back to examples. Usemodel-lead(?)-test.

“Say it with me. ffffffffffffffin

“Again, ffffffffffffffin

“Your turn. ffffffffffffffin

“Excellent for saying fffffin

Task 2. Letter-sound correspondence. Review s, a, t, r, i, m, p

“Eyes on me, you sweet kids. Let’s review ALL of our sounds.”

s a t r i m p

m “What sound?” (signal) mmm

“Yes, mmm.”

This is one alphabetic principle task. Know-ledge of sounds that gowith letters is an ele-ment of the larger skillof decoding words (sounding them out---segmenting, and thensaying them fast--blending)

Gain attention and focus. Before introducing anew sound, review ear-lier ones.

Note scaffolding tofocus attention and guide response.

Touch the ball on the left; say “What sound?”;loop to the ball under the sound; child says the sound; loop back to the starting ball to communicate “Stop.”

Verify correct response.

Immediately correct errors. Joe says, rrr. Teacher says (points) “That sound is mmmm. Say it with me”…. mmm“What sound?” mmm

Task 3. New letter-sound f. [Teach with format = gain attention-frame-model-lead-test.]

“Boys and girls…..GOOD! Now you’re ALL ready to learn.”

“New sound.”

“Listen, ffff.”

f

“Again, ffff.”

“Your turn. Say the sound when I touch under it. Keep saying it as long as I touch under it. ….(wait time) Get ready.” (signal) ffffffffff

“Again.” ffffffff

“Yes, fffff.”

[Correct all errors.]

“This sound IS f. What sound?” fff. (point to several more f’s and repeat. Return to the first f the kid missed.

Teacher comes back to m later to make sure Joe has it.

Gain attention and focus.

Frame instruction. Point to sound—focus.

Model sound that goeswith letter. Touch ballon left. Loop to sound and say sound. ffffThen loop back and stop.

Repeat model to ensure students saw/heard it.

Immediate acquisition (did they get it?) test/check. Note: Tell students it’s their turn; give instruction; give wait time (3 seconds); give signal (touch ball on left and loop to the sound).

Verify correct response.

Correct errors using model—lead (?)—test/check—retest.

Task 4. Review sounding out earlier-taught words = retention. man, sat, the, on, it, can.

“You did great! Eyes on me and we’ll READ!”

“Let’s review our words.” [points to words]

“First you’ll sound out a word, then you’ll say it fast. When I touch undera sound, you say the sound. When I slash across the word, you say it fast….(wait time) Wait for my signal. Get ready.”

the s a t i t o n

c a n m a n s i t

“Sound it out.” thththeee. “Say it fast!” the“Yes, the.”

Task 5. Sounding out new words, using newly-taught sounds. fit, fin, sat, pin, pat, tin, tan

“Boys and girls. We’re going to sound out these NEW words. THEN we are going to say them fast.”

This is the second alphabetic principle task. Student uses knowledge of letters-sounds (elements) to decode words (a routine that uses the elements)—sound out words (segment) and then say fast (blend).

Gain attention, frame task, and focus.

Instruction. Note 3-second wait time and then the signal.

Verify correct responding.

This task strategically(i.e., planfully) integrates all of the elements taught and firmed up earlier.

Gain attention and focus.

Since these are new words, model the

“My turn.” [Touch the ball on the left, loop under each sound and say the sound. Do not stop between sounds.]

f i t

“fffffiiiiit”

“Say it with me. fffffiiiiit

“Say it fast! (Slash under the word) fit!

“Yes, fit.”

Task 6. Fluency. Use a word list of most of the past words decoded. the fit sit sat on can man Read fast.

“Boys and girls. You are SO smart. Now let’s read our words the FAST way.” [Point to the word list.]

“When I touch next to a word, you say it fast.”…..(wait time) “Wait for my signal. Get ready.”

“First word. What word? fit“Yes, fit.”

Next word. What word? fin

routine again.

Model

Lead

Immediate test/check

Verify correct responding.

Fluency is a combination of (1) accuracy (the goal of the acquisition—first—phase of instruction), and (2) speed. You build fluency by (1) modeling how to go fast; (2) making sure students as fluent with all the elements; (3) practice; (4) speed drills.

Gain attention, frame, and focus.

Instruction and wait time. Tick tick tick.

Verify correct responding.

Correct any errors.“That word is finnnn.”“What word?”finnn“Yes, fin.”

“Yes, fin.”

Next word. What word?” (etc.)

[Repeat and go faster. Repeat and fade out the talking, and just point-touch]

Task 7. Fluency with connected text made with words they can already

read (100% decodable)

“I am soooo proud of you, class!! Now let’s read a story. Get ready to learn.” [Point to story th e m a n s a t o n a c a n.

“First you’ll sound out each word. Then you’ll say it fast.” [Point to each word.]“Sound it out” [Start with the ball on the left and loop under each sound]… (wait time) Get ready. thththe

“Say it fast.” [Slash across the word.] the

Repeat with each word.

“Yes, the man sat on a can.”

Correct any errors with model-lead-test. “That word is…What word?...Start over.”

“Now let’s read the story the fast way. When I touch under a word, you say it fast…..Wait for my signal. Get ready.”

“Start over.” [Back up 4 or so items on the list. When you get to ‘fin,’ say “Careful. Don’t let it fool you.”

When the kid gets it right, verify. “Excellent! Fin.”

Notice how this task integrates all earlier learning (elements) in an even larger sequence---sentences.

Gain attention, frame, and focus.

Instruction.

Verification.

8. Human beings have spent about 5000 years collecting and organizing knowledge (representations of reality) into knowledge systems. This takes us back to the notion of stock of knowledge that human use to DO their social institutions. So, you have knowledge systems such as medicine, building, government or rule, law, theology, literature (stuff we write about ourselves), logic (knowledge about how to think clearly), philosophy (what we think reality is, how we define what is right and wrong), economics, chemistry, physics. Don’t think of these as subject matter. They are SYSTEMS of knowledge. They include six kinds of knowledge that CAN be expressed with simple declarative statements---subject (is, has, does, was, is part of, is not part of, causes) predicate.

Now we’re going a bit deeper…..

a. Facts. The British attacked Lexington and Concord (a particular event---subject) on April 19, 1775 (predicate---a particular that tells more about the subject).

In July, 2010 (a particular time---subject), the number of orders for silver stock was on average

5000/day, and the price of one ounce of silver was $11 (predicate---particular numbers that tell about the subject). In December, 2010 (a particular time---subject), the number of orders for silver stock was on average 12,000/day, and the price of one ounce of silver was $22 (predicate---particular numbers that tell about the subject). [two facts. If there were more facts (about particular orders and prices) we might figure out a GENERAL STATEMENT (rule) that connects orders and

prices in general ]

b. Lists. A subject goes with a predicate that lists features of the subject. Here’s the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Amendment I.Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

What’s the best way to teach this list? a. You or students read it. Then you ask, “What rights are specified in the First Amendment?”

b. You or students read it. Students have note paper with a numbered list from 1 to 6. You or students read the First Amendment again. This time, students write each right next to a number.

“a” is better. It prepares students’ reading (Look for rights) and guides their reading (Find the first right that is protected [Congress can’t impose a religion]; write it; find the next right that is protected [Congress can’t infringe on how you worship.]; write it; find the next right [Congress can’t abridge freedom of speech.]; write it; etc.

It might look like this.

Guided Notes

Read.

Amendment I.Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Then identify rights protected.

Amendment I.Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion(1), or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (2), or abridging the freedom of speech(3), or of the press(4); or the right of the people peaceably to assemble 5), and to petition the government for a redress of grievances (6).

Then list.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Now read list.

c. Concepts. Categories whose members (examples) share defining features. Some concepts (blue, on, straight, rough) are sensory, or basic concepts. (1) You CAN see or hear or feel examples all at once. (2) Any example shows all the defining features. One triangle shows triangularity.

So, teach sensory concepts just by showing examples and nonexamples that reveal the defining features. “This is rough. This is NOT rough.”

Other concepts are abstract, or higher-order.

(1) They are a SYNTHESIS of features that are spread out. Democracy = certain values, groups,

activities (elections, transfer of office), offices. (2) So, you can’t SHOW examples the way you can show examples of sensory concepts. “This is a triangle.”

See? All the features that define the concept triangle are there in one example.

You can hold up a red triangle and say “Triangle.” But you can’t hold up democracy. So, you have to give a verbal definition of a higher-order concept, that tells the features; then you give examples that show the features; and then you give NONexamples that are missing the defining features—to contrast with the examples.

d. Rules. Relationships not between subject and predicate that are particular (that is, fact knowledge), but between whole categories or concepts. When demand (as a whole category --subject) increases, price (a whole category---predicate) increases. Tyrannical governments (as a whole category—subject) produce opposition ideologies and groups (as a whole category---predicate). Please see “a”above—facts about orders for silver and the price of silver.

e. Routines. Sequences of steps for accomplishing something, such as how to wire a building, how to remove a kidney, how to plant a crop, how to make a compelling case for a conclusion. Each step could be expressed as a simple declarative statement. First, or the first thing to do (subject), is to state the main point to be made in the essay (predicate). Next, you….

Let’s Firm up Your Knowledge of the Six Kinds of Knowledge.

I’ll give examples. You use the descriptions about to identify the examples.

The Bolsheviks did not come to power in Russia by any uprising of the workers and peasants, but by a coup d'etat, orchestrated by a tightly disciplined Marxist cadre and ultimately consolidated by civil war. They also received — lest it be forgotten — critical help from Western political and banking elites. (Fr. James Thornton. “Gramsci's Grand Plan” The New American ^, July 5, 1999) [Hint. What’s the subject? Is it a particular thing or a whole class of things? Does the predicate define the subject---tell what the word MEANS---or does it tell something ABOUT the subject? One thing or a number of things about the subject?]

“…our Constitution and its imitators presuppose that government exists by the consent of the individuals who live under it, all of whom are "created equal." (Angelo M. Codevilla. From Citizens to "Stakeholders": The New American Constitution http://spectator.org/archives/2009/09/08/from-citizens-to-stakeholders[Hint. What’s the subject? Is the subject particular or is it a whole class, or concept? Does the predicate define the subject---tell what the word MEANS---or does it tell something ABOUT the subject Is the predicate defining the subject or telling something ABOUT it?]

I’ll define socialism both as (1) the state’s involvement in the economy, including the economic livelihood of every citizen, to the detriment of all, as well as (2) state involvement in culture and the characterological formation of every individual, to the increasing exclusion of the vital social institutions of family, church, and the natural community. (Greg Reese. 2010. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/obamas_backwardness.html)

Nikola Tesla was born in the Serb family in hamlet of Smiljan on July 9, 1856, in the then Austro-Hungarian border province of Lika / Serbian Krajina (from 1995 part of Croatia) and died January 7, 1943 in New York. His parents were rev. Milutin Tesla, priest of Serb Orthodox Church, and mother Djouka from the Mandic family. Nikola Tesla was the electrical engineer who invented the AC (alternating current) induction motor, which made the universal

transmission and distribution of electricity possible. (Nikola Tesla. My Inventions: An Autobiography. Kolmogorov-Smirnov Publishing)

When the government becomes one central authority, it becomes vulnerable to dictatorship. (Greg Reese. July 15, 2010. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/obamas_backwardness.html )[What’s the subject? Is it a particular thing or a whole class of things? Does the predicate define the subject---tell what the word MEANS---or does it tell something ABOUT the subject?]

“Fascism is a religion of the state. It assumes the organic unity of the body politic and longs for a national leader attuned to the will of the people. It is totalitarian in that it views everything as political and holds that any action by the state is justified to achieve the common good. It takes responsibility for all aspects of life, including our health and well-being, and seeks to impose uniformity of thought and action, whether by force or through regulation and social pressure. Everything, including the economy and religion, must be aligned with its objectives. Any rival identity is part of the ‘problem’ and therefore defined as the enemy. I will argue that contemporary American liberalism embodies all of these aspects of fascism.” (Jonah Goldberg. Liberal fascism) [What is the subject? Is it a particular thing or a class of things? Does the predicate define the subject---tell what the word MEANS---or does it tell something ABOUT the subject? The first sentence tells you what he’s doing.]

I’ll further define a “movement socialist” as someone who is so deeply ingrained with the beliefs and habits of mind of this movement socialism that the person and the movement are not separable. (Greg Reese. 2010. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/obamas_backwardness.html)[What dies the writer say he’s doing? So what is the subject? Is it a particular thing or a class of things? Does the predicate define the subject---tell what the word MEANS---or does it tell something ABOUT the subject?]

The true rewards are ever in proportion to the labor and sacrifices made. (Nikola Tesla. My Inventions: An Autobiography. Kolmogorov-Smirnov Publishing)[Hint. What’s the subject? Is it a particular thing or class of things? Does the predicate define the subject (tell what it means), tell some things about the subject, or connect the subject to other classes?]

I’ll define socialism both as (1) the state’s involvement in the economy, including the economic livelihood of every citizen, to the detriment of all, as well as (2) state involvement in culture and the characterological formation of every individual, to the increasing exclusion of the vital social institutions of family, church, and the natural community. (Greg Reese. 2010. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/obamas_backwardness.html)

Science is observation and analysis of natural processes occurring in the physical world. (Today's Revolutionary Aristocracy. Sunday, March 07, 2010 http://www.thomasbrewton.com/index.php/weblog/todays_revolutionary_aristocracy_part_2 )

Party is a body of men united, for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest, upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed. (Edmund Burke. 1730-1797. Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke)

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day… (Jefferson. 1816, April 24. To Dupont de Nemours)[Can you restate this in the form of If X happens, then Y happens? If so, then what kind of knowledge statement is this?]

There is the authority of the extraordinary and personal gift of grace (charisma), the absolutely personal devotion and personal confidence in revelation, heroism, or other qualities of individual leadership. This is charismatic domination... (Max Weber. "Politics as a vocation." 1918)

This Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting; it squints toward monarchy, and does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American? Your president may easily become king. Your Senate is so imperfectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed to what may be a small minority; and a very small minority may continue for ever unchangeably this government, altho horridly defective. Where are your checks in this government? Your strongholds will be in the hands of your enemies. It is

on a supposition that your American governors shall be honest that all the good qualities of this government are founded; but its defective and imperfect construction puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of mischiefs should they be bad men; and, sir, would not all the world, from the Eastern to the Western Hemisphere, blame our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad?...Away with your president! we shall have a king: the army will salute him monarch; your militia will leave you, and assist in making him king, and fight against you: and what have you to oppose this force? What will then become of you and your rights? Will not absolute despotism ensue? (Patrick Henry, anti-federalist, speech against ratifying Constitution. 1788)

"(A) religious society cannot exist without a collective credo." (Emile Durkheim, Suicide. 1897)[What’s the subject? Particular thing or class? Is this a definition of the subject (telling what the word means?) or does it connect the subject to another class?]

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance (usually enacted) in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama

Drama is often combined with music and dance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama

Where the State is the only environment in which men can live communal lives, they inevitably lose contact, become detached, and thus society disintegrates. (Emile Durkheim. The Division of Labor in Society. 1893)

Our Milky Way galaxy is a pretty typical large galaxy. Most of the stars are in a disk that is about 100,000 light years across in diameter and 3000 light years thick. Most of the galaxies in the universe are actually smaller than the Milky Way. For example, most of the dozens of galaxies in our Local Group are at least ten times smaller in diameter. http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/001205a.html

A better definition of terrorism is a deliberate attack by armed men on unarmed civilians. Terrorism is aggression against civilians as civilians, inevitably taken by surprise and defenseless. Whether the hostage-takers and killers of innocents are in uniform or not, or what kind of weapons they use—whether bombs or blades—does not change anything; neither does the fact that they may appeal to sublime ideals. The only thing that counts is the intention to wipe out random victims. (André Glucksmann, From the H-Bomb to the Human Bomb, City Journal, Autumn, 2007)

No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. (Frederic Bastiat. The Law. 1850)

Clear communication (instruction) of knowledge boils down to this: mostly signal, very little noise.

The signal is the information or knowledge (about reality) that is supposed to be communicated by a painting, poem, declaration, sculpture, dance, symphony, lesson in math or reading, or argument by a prosecuting attorney in a trial.

The noise is everything that (1) Hides the signal. “Bah blah blah yadda yadda The Constitution was blah blah in 17 yadda yadda.”

(2) Distracts you away from the signal. “This letter makes the sound…ffff.” [But Teacher is not pointing directly at the letter.]

(3) Gives the signal more than one possible meaning (makes the signal ambiguous) so that you aren’t sure WHAT the information is. Teacher: “This is the letter ay (a). It says ahhhh.” Kids: “Now I’m all confused. What’s the name? ay ahh? What’s it say? ay ahh?”

(4) Doesn’t signal (signify, point to, mean) anything. “Learning is a constitutive but iterative process of inquiry-based discovery that adjusts cognitive structures in relation to the pragmatics of action.” (I. M. A. Doodlehead, 2009. Journal of Advanced Nonsense.)Yeah, that’s clear, doodlehead!

Compare these two paintings of mother and child.

Mary Cassatt Timothy Oriki

http://www.zazzle.com/timothyorikri/gifts?pg=2#products

Does the painting on the right communicate as much knowledge of the reality of mother and child as the painting on the left? Does the painting on the right communicate knowledge as clearly as the painting on the left? That is, is the knowledge of mother and infant obvious (not hard to find)? It may be that the artist of the painting on the right does not want to be perfectly clear. Maybe the artist wants the viewer to GIVE meaning to the painting….

That’s fine, but asking students to use certain skills to think of (construct) what a painting MIGHT represent, is a different objective than asking students to learn exactly what a document, for instance, says. There is a time for each of these objectives. But note that in order to interpret a painting, you have to have certain skills. Don’t those skills have to be taught? And how would students learn these basic “making sense of something” skills? Would you teach these skills---gain attention and focus-model-lead-test-verify? Or would students construct (make up) these, too? At some point----INITIAL instruction---you have to TEACH = tell, show.

Now compare these two poems.

They Are Not Long

THEY are not long, the weeping and the laughter,Love and desire and hate:I think they have no portion in us afterWe pass the gate. They are not long, the days of wine and roses:Out of a misty dreamOur path emerges for awhile, then closesWithin a dream.[Ernest Dowson]

Anna Blume

Oh you, loving my 27 senses, I loves you!You, yours, you you, I you, you me, --- we?Does not belong casually here!Who are you, uncounted woman Mrs., you are, are you?The people say, you would be.Let it say, it know not, how the church tower stands.You carry the hat on your feet and move on the hands,On the hands you move.Halloh, your red dresses, into white folds saws,Red I love Anna flower, red love I you.You, yours, you you, I you, you me, ---- we?Belongs casually into the cold glow!Anna flower, red Anna flower, how the people say?... [Kurt Schwitters]

I have no idea what this guy is talking about. Something about love and Anna. I say, “Hey, bud. If you have something to say, say it! If not, sit down and shut your pie hole.” Yeah, what the world needs is more psych-talk.

Does the poem on the left clearly communicate knowledge about youth, age, death, emotions, and how these all change? Is the meaning (message, information) obvious? Are you likely to misinterpret what Dowson is telling because his words and lines have many meanings?

How about the poem on the right? Do you know WHAT he is talking about---if anything? How is the poem on the right different from the poem on the left—in terms of word choice, and arrangement of words into lines?

One more. Compare paragraph 2 of the Declaration of Independence, on the left, with a passage from an article on social justice, on the right.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, With the reframing of poverty as a cultural

that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. [Thomas Jefferson. First author. Paragraph 2. Declaration of Independence. July, 1776. ]

problem and, in turn, antipoverty reformers' redeployment of the language used by cultural groups (e.g., groups formed from ethnic, religious, and gender affiliations) in their struggles for recognition, the goal of restructuring the political economy in the name of social justice has been displaced if not rendered unintelligible-or terroristic-in our advanced capitalist society. Nevertheless, although talk of wealth redistribution has all but disappeared from the U.S. stage, the discourse of distribution is far from dead. As Young (1990) points out, common sense (Gramsci, 1971) notions of social justice in the United States frequently revolve around a distributive frame-work that masks critical institutional analyses of domination and oppression. This dominant distributive paradigm "defines social justice as the morally proper distribution of social benefits and burdens among society's members" (p. 16). These benefits include material resources, such as income, but also nonmaterial social goods, such as rights and self-respect. When employed in social justice discussions, the dis-tributive paradigm frequently fails to examine social structures and institutional contexts, such as the division of labor and the organization of decision-making bodies. It also frames rights, including social respect, as possessions rather than relationships…

(More than Words? Delving into the Substantive Meaning(s) of "Social Justice" in Education Author(s): Connie E. North Source: Review of Educational Research, Vol. 76, No. 4 (Winter, 2006), pp. 507-535 Published by: American Educational Research Association Stable URL:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4124413 Accessed: 03/08/2010 00:42

What a load of nonsense! It’s NOT that the person is a poor writer. The person doesn’t know how to think. Or maybe the article is a joke. I’m not laughing.

1. You must communicate so that it’s easy for students to discern the knowledge statements embedded in talk and text. They must GET the signal through the noise. “Is she saying ANYthing?”

2. You must communicate so that the message is clear in what it says. “Huh? What’s THAT mean?”

How to do this?

1. New concept--Statement. a. All clear cognitive knowledge (thinking) is in the form of simple declarative statements. Declarative statements TELL something about a subject. Declarative statements have a subject (the thing told about) and a predicate (information about the subject).

“The United States (subject) is in the northern hemisphere (predicate. Tells about the subject).”

“Your cat (subject) is so fat that her gut drags on the floor (predicate. Tells about the subject.).”

“Some things (subject) are a waste of time (predicate. Tells about the subject).”

“Sarah (subject) could not care less about Angelina Jolie (predicate. Tells about the subject.).”

b. However, writing and speaking (ways to communicate knowledge that represents reality) may NOT be IN simple, easy to grasp declarative form. So, you and your students need to rearrange speech and text into simple, easy to grasp declarative statements. Subject then predicate.

“One thing only she had.” (not simple declarative). “She had only one thing.” (simple declarative) “Rights from God are given.” (not simple declarative). “Rights are given from God.” (simple declarative) “The singularity. What a world changing event that will be.” (not simple declarative) “The singularity will be a world changing event.” (simple declarative) “How many middle east states are likely to fall to radical Islam? Six.” (not simple declarative) “Six middle east states are likely to fall to radical Islam.” (simple declarative)

Here. Turn these into simple declarative statements.

What, then, is law? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense. [Frederick Bastiat, The Law, 1850]

“Listening not to me but to the Word (Logos) it is wise to agree that all things are one.” (Heraclitus (c.500 BCE)

Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. [Frederick Bastiat, The Law, 1850] Turn this into ONE declarative statement.

c. Sentences may contain more than one knowledge statement. So, you and your students need to identify separate statements in speech and text, and arrange them into a series of simple, easy to grasp declarative statements.

I’ll show you how.

“That public virtue, which among the ancients was denominated patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the preservation and prosperity of the free government of which we are members.” [History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Vol.1 Edward Gibbon, 1782]

Segment into:(1) One public virtue among the ancients (subject) was denominated patriotism (predicate).(2) Patriotism (subject) is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the preservation and prosperity of the free government of which we are members.

“Electromagnetic radiation can be described in terms of a stream of photons, which are massless particles each traveling in a wave-like pattern and moving at the speed of light.”http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html

Segment into:(1) Electromagnetic radiation (subject) can be described in terms of a stream of photons (predicate).(2) Photons (subject) are massless particles each traveling in a wave-like pattern and moving at the speed of light.

“In the study of objects which change their brightness over time, such as novae, supernovae, and variable stars, the light curve is a simple but valuable tool to a scientist.”http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/how_l1/light_curves.html

Segment into:(1) The light curve (subject) is a simple but valuable tool to a scientist in the study of objects which change their brightness over time (predicate).(2) Novae, supernovae, and variable stars (subject) change their brightness over time (predicate).

“Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to. [Theodore Dalrymple. http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=7445]

Notice how below you can substitute words whose meaning is clearer--synonyms. You can point this out to students. “’Writ small’ means smaller version of.”

You can also add comments.

Also notice that there are hidden statements. The writer MUST believe the hidden statements in order to go from one written statement to the next. For example,All beings are mortal

Fred is mortal.What’s implied, but not stated? Fred is a being.

So, to help students see how a writer got from X to Z, add Y---the hidden statement.

Okay….

Segment into:(1) Political correctness (subject) is communist propaganda writ small. Or, Political correctness is a smaller version of communist propaganda. (2) The purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform.(3) The purpose of communist propaganda was to humiliate.(4) If you say what is obviously untrue, you humiliate yourself. (hidden statement)(5) Communists want citizens to be humiliated. (hidden statement)(5) The less it (subject. communist propaganda) corresponded to reality (i.e., is obviously untrue) the better (because citizens will be that much more humiliated).(6) People (subject) lose their sense of probity (what is right and proper, and what is wrong) when people are forced to remain silent.(7) People (subject) lose their sense of probity when they are being told the most obvious lies.(8) People (subject) lose their sense of probity when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves.(9) When a government (subject) obviously lies, that is evil. (hidden statement)(10) When you (subject) assent to obvious lies you co-operate with evil.(11) When you (subject) assent to obvious lies you in some small way become evil yourself.(12) When you (subject) assent to obvious lies your standing to resist anything is eroded.(13) When you (subject) assent to obvious lies your standing to resist anything is destroyed.(14) A society of emasculated liars (subject) is easy to control.(15) The intended effect of political correctness (subject) is to emasculate citizens and make them easy to control.

Here. Segment these into simple declarative statements. You will be so smart when you learn to do this!!! Remember:a. Many sentences contain more than one declarative statement. Segment the sentence into these.b. You can substitute a clearer word—a synonym. 3. You can add a comment to clarify. 4. You should add hidden statements.

“All is flux, nothing stays still.” (Heraclitus c.500 BCE)

The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention. It is the most important product of his creative brain. (Nikola Tesla. My Inventions. Kolmogorov-Smirnov Publishing.)

The rampart itself was usually twelve feet high, armed with a line of strong and intricate palisades, and defended by a ditch of twelve feet in depth as well as in breadth. [Description of Roman legion camps. History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Vol.1 Edward Gibbon,1782]

“A well regulated militia being (can you think of another word that makes this easier to get?) necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.)

"We must realize that war is universal, and strife is justice, and that all things come into being and pass away through strife." (Heraclitus c.500 BCE)

"This world, which is the same for all, no one of gods or men has made; but it was ever, is now, and ever shall be eternal fire." (Heraclitus c.500 BCE)

“For a Monarchy readily becomes a Tyranny, an Aristocracy an Oligarchy, while a Democracy tends to degenerate into Anarchy. So that if the founder of a State should establish any one of these three forms of Government, he establishes it for a short time only, since no precaution he may take can prevent it from sliding into its contrary, by reason of the close resemblance which, in this case, the virtue bears to the vice.” [Niccolo Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius]

“Thrasymachos. And the different forms of government make laws democratical, aristocratical, tyrannical, with a view to their several interests; and these laws, which are made by them for their own interests, are the justice which they deliver to their subjects, and him who transgresses them they punish as a breaker of the law, and unjust.” (Plato, Republic [428/427 BC – 348/347)

“But the possession of unlimited power, which corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding of monarchs exercised its demoralizing influence on the illustrious Democracy of Athens.” (Lord Acton)

(There are lots of sentences here. Boil them down to a few statements that say it all. That is, one statement can mean the same as four sentences.) "And how we burned in the (slave labor and prison) camps later, thinking: What would things

have been like if every Security operative (secret police in Russia), when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the down-stairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of a half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? After all, you knew ahead of time that those bluecaps were out at night for no good purpose. And you could be sure ahead of time that you'd be cracking the skull of a cutthroat. Or what about the Black Maria (prison van) sitting out there on the street with one lonely chauffeur - what if it had been driven off of or its tires spiked? The Organs (secret police agencies) would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt.

If .... if... We didn't love freedom enough. And even more - we had no awareness of the real situation... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward."[Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 1973 He describes slave labor and prison camps in Russia and the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin.]

The Bolsheviks did not come to power in Russia by any uprising of the workers and peasants, but by a coup d'etat, orchestrated by a tightly disciplined Marxist cadre and ultimately consolidated by civil war. They also received — lest it be forgotten — critical help from Western political and banking elites. Gramsci's Grand Plan The New American ^ July 5, 1999 Fr. James Thornton

“Fascism is a religion of the state. It assumes the organic unity of the body politic and longs for a national leader attuned to the will of the people. It is totalitarian in that it views everything as political and holds that any action by the state is justified to achieve the common good. It takes responsibility for all aspects of life, including our health and well-being, and seeks to impose uniformity of thought and action, whether by force or through regulation and social pressure. Everything, including the economy and religion, must be aligned with its objectives. Any rival identity is part of the ‘problem’ and therefore defined as the enemy. I will argue that contemporary American liberalism embodies all of these aspects of fascism.” (Jonah Goldberg. Liberal fascism)

This next is a tough one---but it is a common style in historical documents and in textbooks. So: (1) Some sentences contain several statements that you’ll have to segment; (2) You’ll have to add easier words (synonyms) and comments to clarify; (3) You’ll have to rewrite many statements in simple declarative form. When you do this, your intellect will be real different!

http://www.stcolmcilles.org/pupil%20zone/Roman%20Webpages/Images/Marching%20Army.jpg

The attachment of the Roman troops to their standards was inspired by the united influence of religion and of honor. The golden eagle, which glittered in the front of the legion, was the object of their fondest devotion; nor was it esteemed less impious than it was ignominious, to abandon that sacred ensign in the hour of danger. ^34 These motives, which derived their strength from the imagination, were enforced by fears and hopes of a more substantial kind. Regular pay, occasional donatives, and a stated recompense, after the appointed time of service, alleviated the hardships of the military life, ^35 whilst, on the other hand, it was impossible for cowardice or disobedience to escape the severest punishment. The centurions were authorized to chastise with blows, the generals had a right to punish with death; and it was an inflexible maxim of Roman discipline, that a good soldier should dread his officers far more than the enemy. From such laudable arts did the valor of the Imperial troops receive a degree of firmness and docility unattainable by the impetuous and irregular passions of barbarians. [History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Vol.1 Edward Gibbon,1782]

Here’s another beauty. Gibbon is telling that Rome began to decay precisely because it was so peaceful and prosperous. So you have to find and state that main point, and then follow that main point with details that Gibbon gives—in the form of simple declarative statements.

It was scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. The natives of Europe were brave and robust. Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Illyricum supplied the legions with excellent soldiers, and constituted the real strength of the monarchy. Their personal valor remained, but they no longer possessed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independence, the sense of national honor, the presence of danger, and the habit of command. They received laws and governors from the will of their sovereign, and trusted for their defence to a mercenary army. The posterity of their boldest leaders was contented with the rank of citizens and subjects.

The most aspiring spirits resorted to the court or standard of the emperors; and the deserted provinces, deprived of political strength or union, insensibly sunk into the languid indifferenceof private life. 61 [History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Vol.1 Edward Gibbon,1782]

Exercise. Let’s firm up the rule about how whatever is communicated depends on the selection and arrangement of elements.

1. Rewrite the paragraph below from the Declaration. Make it unclear, illogical, and weak. Change some words; change the word order in statements; change the order of the statements. Then tell: (1) what is communicated; and (2) whether it is communicated clearly; (3) how the revised Declaration differs in what is communicated from the original.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. [Thomas Jefferson. First author. Paragraph 2. Declaration of Independence. July, 1776. ]

2. Keep the Declaration as it is, but prepare to TEACH it.

a. What historical facts do you want to teach first? http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-the-declaration-of-independence.htmlb. What political theorists from whom Jefferson GOT his ideas do you want to present?

John Locke. The Second Treatise of Government. http://www.constitution.org/jl/2ndtreat.htm

http://www.constitution.org/jl/2ndtr02.txtSec. 4. TO understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man.

A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another; there being nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection, unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one above another, and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty.

Sec. 5. This equality of men by nature, the judicious Hooker looks upon as so evident in itself, and beyond all question, that he makes it the foundation of that obligation to mutual love amongst men, on which he builds the duties they owe one another, and from whence he derives the great maxims of justice and charity. His words are,

http://www.constitution.org/jl/2ndtr09.txtSec. 131. But though men, when they enter into society, give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of nature, into the hands of the society, to be so far disposed of by the legislative, as the good of the society shall require; yet it being only with an intention in every one the better to preserve himself, his liberty and property; (for no rational creature can be supposed to change his condition with an intention to be worse) the power of the society, or legislative constituted by them, can never be supposed to extend farther, than the common good; but is obliged to secure every one's property, by providing against those three defects above mentioned, that made the state of nature so unsafe and uneasy. And so whoever has the legislative or supreme power of any common-wealth, is bound to govern by established standing laws, promulgated and known to the

people, and not by extemporary decrees; by indifferent and upright judges, who are to decide controversies by those laws; and to employ the force of the community at home, only in the execution of such laws, or abroad to prevent or redress foreign injuries, and secure the community from inroads and invasion. And all this to be directed to no other end, but the peace, safety, and public good of the people.

http://www.constitution.org/jl/2ndtr18.txtSec. 202. Where-ever law ends, tyranny begins, if the law be transgressed to another's harm; and whosoever in authority exceeds the power given him by the law, and makes use of the force he has under his command, to compass that upon the subject, which the law allows not, ceases in that to be a magistrate; and, acting without authority, may be opposed, as any other man, who by force invades the right of another.

c. What vocabulary words/concepts do you want to teach first?

d. How would you segment sentences in the Declaration so that you can more easily present (and students will more easily see) each statement?

Guided Notes

Topic____________1. Frame task. Why important? Objectives = students will do…

2. Background facts.

3. Background ideas; e.g., Locke.

4. New vocabulary. Define by genus and difference. Test to see that students recite definitions correctly. Then give examples and nonexamples.

5. Present paragraph 2. What is Jefferson doing? Show where he makes the concluding statement. Show HOW he makes the case---the argument as a sequence of statements. Point out word choice. Show logic of the sequence.

The juxtaposition of mixed media can represent reality in a powerful way.

For example, maybe you want to show students (1) what Marxism/Socialism/Communism lead to, and (2) how evocative and appealing words may conceal ruthlessness in the pursuit of goals.

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels

Manifesto of the Communist Party

1848

The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state, i.e., of the proletariat organized as the ruling class; and to increase the total productive forces as rapidly as possible. …

Nevertheless, in most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable.

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.

The big three. Lenin, Stalin, Mao. Heroes of Communism.

T

The proletariat look forward to a Communist utopia. Freedom, equality, social justice.

Here’s what they got. The gulag---thousands of slave labor and prison camps.

Mass graves Starvation

How many killed in the name of freedom, equality, and social justice?

Any lessons?

"And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a

quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the down-stairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of a half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? After all, you knew ahead of time that those bluecaps were out at night for no good purpose. And you could be sure ahead of time that you'd be cracking the skull of a cutthroat. Or what about the Black Maria sitting out there on the street with one lonely chauffeur - what if it had been driven off of or its tires spiked? The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt.

If .... if... We didn't love freedom enough. And even more - we had no awareness of the real situation... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward."

[Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 1973 He describes slave labor and prison camps in Russia and the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin.]

To be considered knowledge, representations (in words, diagrams, music, dance, painting, sculpture) must be true, faithful, and accurate depictions of reality. Otherwise, these representations are false, bogus, nonsense, bunk, bilge, piffle, twaddle, lies, deceptions, flapdoodle, or error.

Therefore, beliefs about reality---statements and pictures and graphs that are supposed to represent the way things ARE---are not necessarily knowledge. If they aren’t true, accurate, and faithful representations of reality, then the beliefs are bunk, hooey, wrong, doltish, stupid, dunderheaded.

For instance, here is the infamous hockey stick graph that purports to show global warming. It was used to try to scare millions of persons into accepting all sorts of new taxes, laws, government regulations, and global organizations that were going to save the planet.

http://www.john-daly.com/hockey/hockey.htm

The graph shows a rise in global temperature during the last 100 years, and it shows that temperature increases along with increases in CO2. However, (1) the graph is bogus; (2) CO2 is does not CAUSE a rise in temperature. It is the other way around. As oceans get warmer (because of activity of the sun), more CO2 is released. Do these falsehoods represent simple error or criminal conspiracy to commit fraud?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5576670191369613647#

You know what this phony science and political shenanigans means? It means that we need a special kind of knowledge to decide if beliefs and statements ARE knowledge, or if they are bunk? You know what that kind of knowledge is? LOGIC. Logic tells us whether and how beliefs are accurate or whether and how they are false and nonsense.

See Identifying and challenging logical fallacies.