Identity and Performance…and Gardening
Take a moment to think about all the things you know how to do well. Choose one that really matters to you. It can be part of what you do…
Forget the Valedictorian; Let’s Recognize the Improvetorian
In top suburban schools across the country, the valedictorian, a beloved tradition, is rapidly losing its singular meaning as administrators dispense the title to every straight-A student rather than try…
Building Behaviors for the Future
Long-term behaviors are the optimal starting place when designing a course. As much as we might wish we had a Transmogrifier (a la Calvin and Hobbes) that we could use…
Unmet Needs and Effective Learning
All quotes from Maslow are from A Theory of Human Motivation, A. H. Maslow (1943) published in Psychological Review, 50, 370-396: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm Maslow’s Heirarchy describes five levels of needs, the…
Biases and Prejudging Students
The work by Darley and Gross, as documented in their paper, A Hypothesis-Confirming Bias in Labeling Effects, gives a troubling example of how preconceptions can cause an educator not only…
The G4P Hack
We shared some thoughts about generalizing a couple of weeks ago, but that was aimed at understanding the process and using it as individuals. What we’re offering now is a…
Failure for Dummies
One of the hallmarks of a quality learning environment is that it permits learners to fail. We might conclude that the primary reason is that without the possibility of failure,…
Generalizing Juggling
Generalizing knowledge is not the same as transferring knowledge. The process of generalizing means developing enough working expertise that knowledge can be transferred to new contexts at will. This is…
Cookies and Cameras
Each of us came into the world unable to exert any direct influence, unable to even feed ourselves! Some of us were born with the proverbial silver spoon in our…
Psychological Immunity
"According to a growing body of research, the brain has a remarkable capacity to make the best of bad events: when we encounter negative situations we subconsciously activate what is…