I’ve been trying to figure out a good place to keep some of the notes I took while getting my Masters degree in Education. I think I’ll just keep editing this post and keep them here, so I can come back to them later when I want to.
Writing Your Life In Sharpie
Back in November, I was watching This Week in Tech episode 274, and guest Brian Brushwood said something I think everyone needs to learn. Whether we like it or not, we have to be more aware of our actions than people have had to in the past.
While speaking with host Leo Laporte about living his life in the public eye, Brushwood said, “… you are accustomed to writing your life in sharpie — where you don’t get to take anything backzies — and instead, all you get to do is write around it and try to, you know, do your best to say what you really want to say …”
Brushwood’s observation that all Leo can do is to write around what has been previously written is powerful. It means, as our lives inevitably become more public, while we are chained to evidence of our behavior, we are also able to create additional evidence to frame and give context to our actions. I can see it as a positive thing that people aren’t judged on a single action of the past, but a body of actions over a lifetime. It may make forgiveness more popular. It should also help to increase the value of learning from mistakes.
http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=mE3tovxr-XQ&t=15m24s Brian Brushwood "... you are accustomed to writing your life in sharpie -- where you don't get to take anything backsies -- and instead, all you get to do is write around it and try to, you know, do your best to say what you really want to say ..."
Study: It’s not teacher, but method that matters – SFGate
The students who had to engage interactively using the TV remote-like devices scored about twice as high on a test compared to those who heard the normal lecture, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.
The interactive method had almost no lecturing. It involved short, small-group discussions, in-class “clicker” quizzes, demonstrations and question-answer sessions. The teachers got real-time graphic feedback on what the students were learning and what they weren’t getting.
I wonder how this applies to a subject like language arts where it’s skills, not knowledge, that is learned. Won’t you need someone to diagnose and give feedback when the skill isn’t learned quite right? There are infinite wrong paths to go down, and a good teacher is needed to figure out what went wrong. I don’t think a method can cover all the possibilities. Also, wasn’t it a teacher that came up with the method (teacher’s still matter / who else is going to innovate)?