“More American Idle than American Idol” is how The Economist (January 3-9, 2009) described the current generation of young adults born in the 1980’s and 1990’s, known as Generation Y. Is this a fair assessment?
Tag: Teaching
Evolution of Learning
We expect teachers and schools to be objective. Yet, we demand subjectivity when a kid struggles to understand concepts. We assume knowledge is knowledge–some static, unchanging entity. So, if a kid doesn’t understand or even simply takes longer than the class is allotted to learn the concept, there’s something inherently wrong with the kid or…
The “Muddy” Side of Learning
Do-it-yourself does not just refer to hours at Home Depot, then trucking all that stuff home to saw, sweat, swear and drive back to Home Depot for stuff you forgot, while your family watches from a distance–afraid of the snarls. As an educational tool, DIY refers to the blow-stuff-up, come-home-dirty-enough-so-your-mom-makes-you-change-in-the-garage, direct-your-own-project learning. You know,…
Standardized Testing: The Good, The Bad and A Hmmmm…Moment
Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, an organization committed to a fair use of standardized testing in K-12 schools and college admissions, recently spoke with Creative Marbles about assessments. Our conversation reminded me of questions I’ve been asking since I was a beginning teacher, “How do we know (i.e. grasp clearly in the mind) what another has…
A University for the Students?
Is college education a public good or a student-centered model for individual development or both?
On Commencing
Commencement…always seemed funny to call graduation commencement. I focused on the ending aspect, the-that-was-a-long-4-years-and-too-many-homework-assignments-thank-goodness-its-over aspect of graduation. In reality, graduation is both–a recognition of what’s been accomplished and a beginning of what’s next.
Motivating others by helping others see the importance of their actions
We spend a lot of time trying to get others to do what we want, and generally our efforts end in failure. According to Dale Carnegie-the brilliant thinker on all things related to working with others-in his seminal work, “How To Win Friends & Influence People: Of course, you can make someone want to give…
The Neverending Reform in Education Coming to a College Near You
In a recent article by Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times, “Trying to Find a Measure for How Well Colleges Do,” we are beginning to see what might be the next chapter in the near obsessive effort to measure the performance of education: this time with colleges being in the cross hairs.