Thanks for posting, Mary. I popped over to the Mom Stories blog to read about the kindergarten report card. “… the main requirements are a) show up b) eat snack and c) take a rest — you’ve earned it with all that showing up and eating snack, let’s just say she nailed it.”
I was going to stop reading, but then it got better. “And so, given the stellar nature of this particular report card, we offered to let Kate pick out a small item at the American Girl store as a reward. She was, like totally ecstatic…” http://gph.is/1E2ssrH
The above will make for some interesting dinner conversation tonight :)

My mom always said that if my brothers and I grew up to be self-sufficient adults she would consider herself a success. No education tied to it, she hoped we would all grow up and move somewhere cool so that she could come and visit (older brother lives in England so he’s winning, for now). Of course, my mom and dad wanted us to get good grades, I don’t recall ever being punished for not getting good grades, but I was never rewarded for getting good grades.

I found this post very useful. While I have heard vaguely on different occasions about the different learning methods in ethology, this is the first time that I read them together with an example both on animal and human context.

After all, we are all animals.

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Great post. I think a few of our class sessions could serve as examples of bidirectional learning. With the help of those who have planned the course, I think we leave room for plenty of dialogue. Something to think about: I think you can have bidirectional learning even with a lecture. The format might look a little different that what you described. For example, you might lecture but then break up in groups to discuss the lecture and report that discussion back to the larger group…mixed modes if you will.

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Your reference to your transition to Hawaii was a great way to approach bi-directional learning, or the lack thereof. I would be curious to know if your friend’s opinion about the senator turned out to be true. I think, over time some opinions can morph into facts.

Thank you for the post.

Thanks so much for sharing Monica. I can relate to your story quite a bit, I left traditional high school in favor of an alternative program (still technically a public school, free from the state) which allowed me to enroll in online courses, community college classes (I wanted to be a doctor at the time), and work during the day. I was able to work all day and take my classes in the evenings and it was great for where I was as a teenager, I even held two jobs at the time, using my work experience as high school credit.
I then enrolled in community college, a bit behind the curve with math, but as you mentioned the remedial courses were there to boost me up to where I needed to be. My family didn’t really plan for me to go to college, but I saved enough from being able to work during high school that I was able to afford tuition for winter session at University of Delaware and summer session at Cecil College and I got my basic calculus taken care of at community college before going away to a four-year university.
I switched to engineering after getting to WVU, but my unique experiences in high school and college put me in a position financially and academically to be able to succeed.

I think you made some valid points, especially in the last paragraph. I just returned from a conference and witnessed the same behavior. Instead of the attendees providing the presenter helpful/useful feedback, they provided spiced up comments about what the presenter failed to do. While I think this type of back and forth is important for some scholars, it should be blended with constructive feedback as well.

Thank you for the post!

Once again you’ve blown me away, Qualla. I’m sorry that the last week has been so painful (again!), but really glad that Freire resonates so powerfully with the work we all must embrace if the classroom is ever to really be an inclusive, empowering, and empowered space. So glad you’ll be helping with the MFS Teach-In here, which is definitely NOT going to work from the assumption that “science” can be separated from politics. Just as teaching is a political act, “[t]he idea that a protest can be “not political” and that science can be separated from scientists are both political ideas. (from http://www.latinorebels.com/2017/03/14/the-march-for-science-cant-figure-out-how-to-handle-diversity/). Thank you so much for sharing this.

Hi Jake,

As you said, this is solely based on my experiences. I realize that students will come into the classroom with different levels of knowledge, and instructors must meet the needs of all their students as best they can.

However, I want others to be aware that alienating your students not only happens when you don’t let them speak their minds but also when you continuously debate/discuss topics without giving them (or confirming they already have) adequate background or supplementary information.

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I strongly agree with your point that many factors outside the education system contributes to the banking education. For example, people are often afraid of disagreements and view them as a threaten. In some country, freedom of speech is not protected. Professors have to be careful that don’t talk about some issues that may offend the authority. Although education cannot solve a lot of problems, but at least it sows the seeds of hope.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think listening is very important but I would tweak the idea that the instructor should “shoot down” students at any point. Certainly I’ve encountered students who have a lot to say and not a lot of information behind it but I see my role rather than to stop them from voicing (what is often) opinion but rather to provide examples, counter examples, and points of fact for them to mull over.

I might also question a dichotomy between intro level courses where one should “shut up and listen” and upper level courses where students have acquired enough knowledge to help them form opinions. I’m not sure education happens in such a linear way and I’ve seen students come to intro courses with some knowledge and come to upper level courses on particular topics with very little knowledge, for example.

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