Group items tagged

What made collaborative rule-creation more effective in building a smoothly functioning class?

It never felt as if we were wrestling with the really important issues: Building a functioning community. Safety. Personal dignity. Kindness. Order. Academic integrity. Democracy.

No matter what rules you put on paper, your most important job is role-modeling those practices, not enforcing them

remember books. Books challenge and improve memory

(The book will kill the cathedral, alphabet will kill images).

During the sixties, Marshall McLuhan wrote his The Gutenberg Galaxy, where he announced that the linear way of thinking instaured by the invention of the press, was on the verge of being substituted by a more global way of perceiving and understanding through the TV images or other kinds of electronic device

we are going to draw

, in a world where computers are taking more and more of the jobs, what is it that humans most need to learn? It probably isn't primarily memorizing facts or figures, or simple rules for problem solving.

An immediate answer is that more of us need to get better at building and interacting with software tools.

the growing movement in education to focus on building social and emotional competencies.

But others, like this question from the same exam, required logic:

A science test isn’t something that can be mastered just by learning rules. It requires making connections using logic

“We can’t compare this technology to real human students and their ability to reason,”

to understand better how expectations operate as a cultural force in learning groups, we have to make a distinction between two types of expectations: directives and beliefs.

very clear standards for students about points, grades, and keeping score, one sees a belief that school is about work and that students must be coerced or bribed into learning through the use of grades

one sees the belief that learning algebra is primarily about acquiring knowledge of procedures rather than developing understanding, and that memorization and practice are the most effective tools for that job. This theory of action, “One learns through memorization and practice,” made it hard for Karen to bring out and facilitate students’ thinking. Instead, thinking existed as an add-on to the regular rhythm of the class, something she did as an “extra” to the regular work of the class. Through her strong focus on grades and passing the course, even if one is “no good at mathematics,” Karen sent the message that our abilities are largely fixed and that “getting by” was all that some could hope to accomplish. One might not understand algebra, but with effort one could at least pass the course. Finally, in her efforts to promote order and control, certainly worthwhile and important goals in any classroom, Karen tilted the balance toward students’ becoming passive learners who were dependent on her.