Regan Ross Responds

I am posting this response on behalf of Regan Ross. This is a very important discussion, and I am very pleased that you are engaging Regan's ideas and program in a substantive and catalytic manner. His response is constructive and informative and you should think seriously about what he has to say about the challenges for the "local" and teacher developed curriculum in a large corporate dominated field. His challenge to you to develop your own curriculum is one that needs to be answered.


Regan Ross response to "Hey Buddy: Spare some opportunity"

"it's bullshit.we are here to teach young people. we should all work together to do just that. sell your books, but don't sell out your (my) students for your benefit."I'm sorry you felt the presentation was ... well .. as you did. I can't say for sure what your experience as a teacher is going to be, but I can say - from my own experience - that the lessons me and all of my colleagues have delivered have been anything but commodities (i.e. goods for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market). Every teacher brings something different to the table. You will too.I suppose you don't like that I'm building a business out of the notion of simulations, starting with The Civic Mirror. That's cool. There's a part of me that really gets that sentiment. The thing is, though, that after my first 3-4 years of teaching I realized that there's nothing really out there other than the Pearson, McGraw-Hill, etc. textbooks which perpetuate the status quo (i.e. didactic teaching methods). So, the genesis of the Action-Ed idea was to make high-quality, teacher-friendly resources more readily available to teachers from all over ... so that you don't have to stumble upon the one-in-a-thousand-type teacher to be exposed to this type of teaching and learning.At the end of the day, you - and every teacher - will need learning resources. If you don't like the ones I've created, that's cool. There's lots of learning resources out there ... there's lots I don't like either, and there's no one stopping any teacher from creating their own. I would, however, respectfully submit that I didn't claim to "invented simulations" as you indicated, nor do I recollect stating that I alone possess the "the ability to expand a tried and true teaching tool" like simulations. I guess it's this: I see a bunch of crap learning resources out there, I see scores and scores of burnt-out teachers trying to make things exciting by doing back flips (which gets tiring after a while), and I feel pretty excited - and confident - about creating a vehicle to make teacher-friendly simulations readily available. I appreciated reading your comments and hope we can compare notes down the road. All the best to you in your practicum.Regan Ross.