Like I said in the post, I noticed that my bookmark folder called “blog articles” was filling up with two types of content: great/interesting stuff I wanted to develop further or share… and then the stuff that was so absurdly worthless that I wanted to expose it to a broader discussion.

I agree with “best practices,” a phrase that I encounter both in business and education. It is a huge element of consultantspeak (as I’m sure you know, Mark). It is a total sham. I think it’s even worse when used in education.

Luke’s post made me think that there are two types of worthless eduspeak. There are the phrases that reference a specific skill/act but mean nothing – ie, “critical thinking” – and then the phrases that group concepts together like “students’ needs” and “community.” I suspect that the singular phrases are there to suggest that someone knows about individual issues and the group phrases are what’s used when they just don’t get it at all.

Why are the words “crock” and “Shinola” running through my head?

Perhaps my cognitive constructivism needs a social community that critically inquires more about pedagogy. ;-)

Nice post Matthew for I resonate with your words.

“Best Practices.”

If we understood what was clearly “best” in education, we’d all be doing it. Fact is, there is precious little agreement on what is best. So give up the term, people: it’s empty.

And pretty soon, bloggers will realize that nonsensical jargon-filled education “research” is a vast, untapped source of blog articles. Lots of material there.