"Teacher, you´re not the Master! And student you´re not stupid!"
Real teaching is to not underestimate learners intelligence by believing you´re the "Master"! It´s been an immense pleasure to read Prof.Manzur´s article. Personally, because he talks about everything I´ve always believed all my life and even deeply suffered from the facts he points out. I´ve had serious arguments with teachers at school and professors at college for that kind of old\traditional teaching mindset.
I do believe that the richest thing we have in life is people and as we learn through brain connections, I strongly believe that BRAINS connections are even stronger and more powerful. It´s like if we could extend our individual dendrites and axons out of our physical skulls and have a united "CPU" (Central Processing Unit) for whatever we need: learning something, living, helping each other.
Prof.Manzur not only talks about that on his article, but proves it. He starts by sharing his experience when he learned the importance of peer-learning, by serendipidity and it led him to a broader view of classroom-teaching-learning style change.
His articles relates to Zull´s chapter 6, Thom´s story as it deals to Zull´s momentaneous inability to reach out his students and really teach his lesson, due to an old, traditional, non-efficient teaching style method.
I´ve also really liked the video where the presenter had the classroom with round tables. I´ve already had a chance to experience that and it´s really amazing. It does make all the difference. As from a teacher´s perspective, I´d really enjoy having my Flex groups into classrooms like that. Let´s have kids classroom style for all our groups!
I keep telling my students that we teachers are not the masters of the universe, we don´t know everything... and that our role there is to serve as bridges to help them reach their goals.
I like people, CONNECTIONS and do hope educators all over the world can ,one day, understand Manzur´s concept and put it into practice.
Quick tip: try watching a TV serie called "Sense8". It´s on its 1st season ! ;)
sexta-feira, 21 de agosto de 2015
Hello everyone,
I just can´t avoid sharing this EQUISITE, AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE article by a Harvard Professor, Eric Manzur. He simply talks about everything I´ve always thought about on how we should learn, how schools and universities should be... and how people really learn. I´ve struggled all my life due to the fact that we brazilians keep insisting on doing exactly the opposite. School and college have been hell for me.
The only feeling I have now is a great desire to move away... go to Harvard or anywhere I could experience something like Prof. Manzur describes. TDC has opened up my mind guys! What a gift!
For the last 15 years of my life, I´ve been telling myself I can´t read, study or learn anything anymore... being justified by doctors´ statements such as: "you´re a strong ADHD", "you need drugs like Ritalin to concentrate\study".
My "China Wall" has just fallen down!!! I´ve been constantly reading for the last 4 weeks and, more importantly, really enjoying it! Moreover, after Prof. Manzur´s article today, I just got it! I fully understand myself. I can´t put into words what I´m feeling right now, but I´m just not the same anymore.
Learning => Neuronal Networks => I´ve just built some new ones! ... maybe that´s just it!? ;)
Sharing the article with you... hope you have as much fun as I´ve had (maybe you can have some new connections too?!): http://harvardmagazine.com/node/34321
Have all a great weekend!
I just can´t avoid sharing this EQUISITE, AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE article by a Harvard Professor, Eric Manzur. He simply talks about everything I´ve always thought about on how we should learn, how schools and universities should be... and how people really learn. I´ve struggled all my life due to the fact that we brazilians keep insisting on doing exactly the opposite. School and college have been hell for me.
The only feeling I have now is a great desire to move away... go to Harvard or anywhere I could experience something like Prof. Manzur describes. TDC has opened up my mind guys! What a gift!
For the last 15 years of my life, I´ve been telling myself I can´t read, study or learn anything anymore... being justified by doctors´ statements such as: "you´re a strong ADHD", "you need drugs like Ritalin to concentrate\study".
My "China Wall" has just fallen down!!! I´ve been constantly reading for the last 4 weeks and, more importantly, really enjoying it! Moreover, after Prof. Manzur´s article today, I just got it! I fully understand myself. I can´t put into words what I´m feeling right now, but I´m just not the same anymore.
Learning => Neuronal Networks => I´ve just built some new ones! ... maybe that´s just it!? ;)
Sharing the article with you... hope you have as much fun as I´ve had (maybe you can have some new connections too?!): http://harvardmagazine.com/node/34321
Have all a great weekend!
terça-feira, 18 de agosto de 2015
When planning my classes I´ve always tried to keep in mind that students have to go through certain steps: new content introduction (what may be done in different ways), practice (pairwork, groupwork and\or individual) and assessment + consolidation (done at home). These were like some of my "raw"\basic steps for creating my lesson plans. I`d break those into sub-steps depending on the needs of each group.
After reading Zull´s chapters about the learning cycle, his experiences with students and the relation between learning and the brain, it´s IMPOSSIBLE not to think and consider all this when jumping into a classroom, planning the classes, creating new activities or simply dealing with the various kinds of students we have in class.
I´d like to share one very special experience I had this week from which I could notice how these lessons have been changing not only my points of view, my future goals, but also my daily practice in class:
1) I´m a stand-by teacher and I´ve been substituting a colleague on a Teens 3 group. I´ve already taught this level more than twice and I had never planned and\or experience a lesson so brain-consciously as I did this week. Some students came to me saying that they couldn´t understand some words like "straight", "freckles" and also said that they couldn´t understand "look like" questions.
Just to make it clear, my colleague has been absent for a week, so I´ve had this unique chance to be with this group twice. They gave me this feedback on a previous class, so I could make a "special class plan" dedicated to solve the issues they had pointed out. It´s OBVIOUS that Zull´s lessons instanteneously came to my mind!
First things first: I remembered the learning cycle: Concrete (sensory cortex) => I must present this content again to these KIDS in a way that is ATTRACTIVE to them (considering also the chapter about memory). I´m so lucky that within the group I have students that have freckles, that have straight hair, braces, glasses, etc, etc... so considering that, and also that they are very outgoing and extroverted, I decided to associate the words with them. Helping the students who were having problems to understand\memorize the vocabulary, to associate the words. (Sensory Cortex => Back Integrative => Frontal Integrative).
After that, to learn\review the correct adjective order that they have to use to answer the question "What do\does he\she\you look like?", I used some body language and sounds so that they understood that first they talk about the hair length\type\color. They walked around trying to describe each other replicating the body language and sounds. => Phase 3 of the learning cycle (Frontal Integrative Cortex). Then I used the PPT (I got some pictures, planning to ask them, on a later stage, to describe those famous actors and people. I even found a PPT on our CTJNET for this). and asked them to work in pairs and describe the people in the pictures using all the vocabulary they had learned.
To finish the class I decided to play a game ,which can be considered an extrinsic motivation but as they didn´t know about it before, I used it as a way to assess them in a more uncontrolled activity.
We played "Moving Chairs". When the music stopped the student who couldn´t get a chair to sit was asked to describe one of his classmates. It was amazing! The ones who had complained about the vocabulary, not only could answer the questions perfectly, but also spelled the words!
Before leaving the classroom they came to me, gave me a hug and said: "Now I know it teacher! Thanks".
(in progress)
After reading Zull´s chapters about the learning cycle, his experiences with students and the relation between learning and the brain, it´s IMPOSSIBLE not to think and consider all this when jumping into a classroom, planning the classes, creating new activities or simply dealing with the various kinds of students we have in class.
I´d like to share one very special experience I had this week from which I could notice how these lessons have been changing not only my points of view, my future goals, but also my daily practice in class:
1) I´m a stand-by teacher and I´ve been substituting a colleague on a Teens 3 group. I´ve already taught this level more than twice and I had never planned and\or experience a lesson so brain-consciously as I did this week. Some students came to me saying that they couldn´t understand some words like "straight", "freckles" and also said that they couldn´t understand "look like" questions.
Just to make it clear, my colleague has been absent for a week, so I´ve had this unique chance to be with this group twice. They gave me this feedback on a previous class, so I could make a "special class plan" dedicated to solve the issues they had pointed out. It´s OBVIOUS that Zull´s lessons instanteneously came to my mind!
First things first: I remembered the learning cycle: Concrete (sensory cortex) => I must present this content again to these KIDS in a way that is ATTRACTIVE to them (considering also the chapter about memory). I´m so lucky that within the group I have students that have freckles, that have straight hair, braces, glasses, etc, etc... so considering that, and also that they are very outgoing and extroverted, I decided to associate the words with them. Helping the students who were having problems to understand\memorize the vocabulary, to associate the words. (Sensory Cortex => Back Integrative => Frontal Integrative).
After that, to learn\review the correct adjective order that they have to use to answer the question "What do\does he\she\you look like?", I used some body language and sounds so that they understood that first they talk about the hair length\type\color. They walked around trying to describe each other replicating the body language and sounds. => Phase 3 of the learning cycle (Frontal Integrative Cortex). Then I used the PPT (I got some pictures, planning to ask them, on a later stage, to describe those famous actors and people. I even found a PPT on our CTJNET for this). and asked them to work in pairs and describe the people in the pictures using all the vocabulary they had learned.
To finish the class I decided to play a game ,which can be considered an extrinsic motivation but as they didn´t know about it before, I used it as a way to assess them in a more uncontrolled activity.
We played "Moving Chairs". When the music stopped the student who couldn´t get a chair to sit was asked to describe one of his classmates. It was amazing! The ones who had complained about the vocabulary, not only could answer the questions perfectly, but also spelled the words!
Before leaving the classroom they came to me, gave me a hug and said: "Now I know it teacher! Thanks".
(in progress)
sexta-feira, 14 de agosto de 2015
Just to start up this new blog with a Plato´s quote I found, while reading \searching for articles about "memory" for TDC. I´ve found it very interesting:
"Elements of instruction...should be presented to the mind in childhood; not, however, under any notion of forcing education. A freeman ought not to be a slave in the acquisition of knowledge of any kind. Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind." (Plato)
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