Thank you for sharing the story of your grandmother, Iris. I agree that it is sometimes hard to see how the small changes in our environment are changing how we think and organize information. Certainly, it changes how we write and probably how we speak. The question is whether we need to all learn to cook on all of the stoves, or is it okay to just use one?
Author: mnorris
Comment on Pushing My Brain by mnorris
While I can’t argue with the arguments made in the reading this week regarding our difficulties in concentrating on long reading passages, I think that reading long, difficult passages (think academic reading) has always been difficult. It has always taken deliberate and practiced concentration to wade through this type of reading. I agree that this becomes more difficult with less practice, but all it takes to get better is practice.
When I was an undergraduate, I spent a lot of time reading textbooks and articles that were densely packed with ideas and language that were new to me. By the end of my undergrad years, I couldn’t read for more than 20-30 minutes without falling asleep! I has always been an avid reader, but the sustained practice of reading material that put me to sleep rewired me to doze off upon reading anything! Fortunately, I retrained myself to enjoy reading after a couple of years away from school. I think my experience was similar to the distraction of the internet. Now I just flip to a different website instead of sleeping.
Comment on Childhood is a journey, not a race…. Lessons from my daughter by mnorris
“We as learners should cherish our strengths and our weaknesses…” I love how you put that Meghan. There is joy to be found along so many paths. When we remember no to value ourselves only in terms of how we compare to others, but to value our own progress and change over time, then we are free to explore even the things we do not excel at free from fear of failure. ?
Comment on Childhood is a journey, not a race…. Lessons from my daughter by mnorris
Thank you for sharing one of the lessons your daughter taught you. What a wonderful school to instill that philosophy in its students. While I know that grades can be damaging to student’s self-esteem, I am not convinced that tossing them out is the answer. I think that the meaning of grades comes from the philosophy of learning through which they are interpreted. In a philosophy like your daughter’s, a grade is just a measure along a path of learning. And everyone does not have to get an A (or a B) to be successful!
Comment on On Anti-Teaching and Mindful Learning: Keeping an open mind by mnorris
I completely agree about automaticity. The more of your processing power you spend on rote tasks,the less you have for discovering patterns and relationships. You have to have basics to work with–be they facts or skills. The problem is when school becomes only rote learning.
Comment on #WeLearnBy/”Programmed Learning” by mnorris
I agree that the same learning style does not work for everybody. I think that it is also true that the same learning style does not work for every subject or topic. I think that individual students are capable of learning multiple ways. Some students figure out multiple ways to learn themselves and other students need someone to teach them how to learn. Teachers need to understand this and be able to remember that the goal is always learning and thinking–no matter how they happen.
Comment on Zen and the art of educational system repair by mnorris
Great post, Khaled. Are you familiar with the SCALE-UP program in physics? (See https://www.ncsu.edu/per/scaleup.html for more info.) It is a version of the flipped classroom in physics. The VT Physics department teaches the intro classes for majors this way. It is pretty cool to go to the classroom and observe. Not much delivery of information. Lots of time spent working in groups to answer carefully selected questions.
Comment on Chew and pour; Pass and forget by mnorris
I loved reading your post, Iris! I think that in Ghana you were an excellent student and in the US you are an excellent learner. Good students are good at school. They do whatever their teacher tells them and do it well even when their teacher tells them to complete tasks that are not useful. Good learners are curious and self motivated ask their own questions and to take the time to find their own answers. You are good at both. Do you think there is a relationship between these skills?
Comment on Experiential learning vs. “teaching to the test” by mnorris
I agree with you when we are talking about simple multiple choice tests, Nicole. But I think that we can create tests that are challenging and engaging and allow standardized measurement of what students know and can do. When the tests are aligned with a challenging curriculum, then teaching to the test simply means teaching the curriculum. I think that this can be a good thing and does not have to stifle creativity. However, teachers have to trust their students to learn and students have to stop worrying about grades and embrace the uncertainty of learning. As a teacher, it is both scary to compare your own students’ performance to students in other classrooms, but it can also be informative. I think that the emphasis on test scores as the endpoint rather than one piece of data to be used to inform teaching is one problem. Also, in addition to the problems you mentioned, I think that we need to work on parents and students to see grades as feedback not judgement. Too many students (and their parents) think that a grade of B or C is failing. All of it is tied together.
