Good for you! I think sometimes we get so bogged down with out teaching, we forget how to be a “person.” Building a relationship with students based on trust and honesty may be just as important (and is in my opinion) as being knowledgeable about the content of the course. College is tough; sometimes students need to talk. It’s important that we make time for them.

I think it is important to find something that you enjoy doing. This seems obvious until you start hearing the pressures of society pushing you into “a more marketable” job. I say, keep it up and it will pay off.

P.S. Is there anyway to see your mom’s work?

Thank you for your comment!

Memorizing anything in this day and age seems unproductive due to the utility of the Internet, be it Shakespeare or not. In my experience, the best classes in the humanities (or otherwise) were those that either helped me build an appreciation for something I never thought I had, or afforded me the means to do so on my own. This is universal, not tied to a particular discipline. The worst classes were those that I had no stake in. Shakespeare will matter to students if you allow them an entry point into his work, if you are able to show them (or teach them how to show themselves) the relevance and nuance within it. What I think makes the humanities so particularly intriguing in academia is that it allows students the opportunity to say “Yes, and…” which is a luxury other disciplines may not have. If you make learning deterministic and limiting, then you miss the point. It’s not about exclusion; it’s about invitation.

Even though it was scripted, that video was hard to watch. To see passersby consistently walk by, barely acknowledging that a woman was being hit right in front of them, is disturbing. However, it is also affirming to see someone stand up for someone who appears in need of help. It may be true that individual bias is impossible to regulate as Ben said, but as long as there are individuals standing up for others, perhaps the culture, as well as that culture’s tolerance, will change as well.

Children are considerably better at learning than adults. It’s because it’s the first thing they have to do. As a baby we have to learn what our parents’ voices sound like, eventually we have to learn language, how to be independent, etc. It’s an evolutionary condition that we are all born with, the inherent ability to learn. Eventually, when we grow into adults we have the perception that we have reached our limit, that we can’t learn anything else. Really, it’s just that they are out of practice.

That’s certainly a part of it. Not everybody learns linearly, or even in a compartmentalized way. Lord knows, I don’t. I have to relate everything that I am learning back to something that I already understand in order to provide some grounding for myself. Otherwise, I’m lost.

I don’t know a ton of the specifics regarding the Flynn effect, so this may be a place for further research. However, the impression that I got form much of the research I’ve found is that instruction isn’t going away. Students may be able to learn by themselves, but are limited to their surroundings. Instruction allows for them to be exposed to new perspectives and to experience things they would otherwise not encounter. In terms of how quickly the intelligence increases, I believe the current theory is just that it is directly correlative to environmental conditions. The facts and figures on this, however, I am unfamiliar with. Regardless, I found it to be particularly fascinating. I’m glad you did, too!

I like how Cesar Herada was able to localize his lessons to his student’s lives. I think he is very fortunate to be able to incorporate those activities in such a practical way, as so many people (and administrations) would likely object to this kind of instruction. It is a good argument for illustrating what the real-world application of learning is.

That’s something that Flynn really seems to understand, as well as Robinson. It’s not just learning how to do a thing. It’s learning the applications of that thing to other fields, disciplines and mediums. How can we apply our tools to this situation?

As I mentioned in a comment elsewhere, University of Phoenix is a result of capitalism–the commodifying of education. If we view education as a good–as a product to be consumed–then it makes sense that the institution’s mission statement was a bit broad. It’s about getting a degree, not an education.