Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Needs
Just as we expect our students to want to come to school every day, we should expect the same from our educators. The environment of the school should be a place a teacher feels welcomed and a part of a community. In order for a teacher to reach his/her full potential, the school needs to make sure the teacher's hierarchy of needs is met. Abraham Maslow's created the Hierarchy of Needs, which believes that in order for a person to reach "Self-Actualization", the individual must have their other needs taken care of first. For example, if we expect teachers to be creative, problem solvers, who lack prejudice, we should make sure that they are getting enough pay, so they do not have to worry about financial issues. We should make sure that their work environment is safe and they they feel accepted. Also, recognition of a job well done will help their self-esteem. When a teacher's Physiological, Safely, Love/Belonging, and Esteem have all been taken care of then he/she can focus on their teaching without having to worry about other things. Too often are teachers concerned with their pay or not being appreciated, that it shows through their teaching. However, the most important thing is that a teacher sincerely wants to be a teacher.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Fark.com
Drew Curtis, the creator of the popular website Fark.com came to Luther College this semester to discuss his new book It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News. His humor won over the audience, mostly composed of college students, immediately and his power-point of misleading/silly articles kept them engaged. He is the founder of a website created to display daily new articles and other items from various websites. Most of the articles on his website you will be surprised even hit the press, which brings the attention to what our society is publishing and thinks is important.
Though his lecture was very interesting, what I found must amazing was how intrigued my fellow schoolmates where about the news. I was even surprised with myself. After his lecture I found myself actually reading the news. Sadly, I feel that since students spend so much time surrounded by their school work and school activities we often forget about the world around us. We need to make sure students are getting immersed in today's news, so they are not ignorant to what is happening around them.
Though his lecture was very interesting, what I found must amazing was how intrigued my fellow schoolmates where about the news. I was even surprised with myself. After his lecture I found myself actually reading the news. Sadly, I feel that since students spend so much time surrounded by their school work and school activities we often forget about the world around us. We need to make sure students are getting immersed in today's news, so they are not ignorant to what is happening around them.
Jodee Blanco
On Tuesday November 16th, Jodee Blanco graced the halls of Decorah High School. And, her presence was anything but subtle. Her loud and boisterous voice echo throughout gymnasium as parents, students, and community members gathered to listened to her tell her sad and traumatic tale of her Jr. High and High School experience. As a child/teenager she was bullied mercifully and these events changed her life forever. As she described herself to the audience that night as "damaged goods." Though her stage presence and some advice may have seemed far fetched, her over-all message was clear... Bullying is a major problem and needs to be stopped.
As educators, we should always be observant of the actions and behaviors of our students. Bullying in the classroom should never be allowed. This is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Though I do not know the "right" way about fixing the issue, I do however, disagree with Jodee's recommendation of purchasing the next dog to be euthanized at the pound and giving it to an "Elite Tormentor." Nevertheless, her message of action to stop bullying is what should be taken away from her lecture.
A clip of her speaking at Joliet Catholic Academy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eByfR2jeFtk&feature=related
As educators, we should always be observant of the actions and behaviors of our students. Bullying in the classroom should never be allowed. This is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Though I do not know the "right" way about fixing the issue, I do however, disagree with Jodee's recommendation of purchasing the next dog to be euthanized at the pound and giving it to an "Elite Tormentor." Nevertheless, her message of action to stop bullying is what should be taken away from her lecture.
A clip of her speaking at Joliet Catholic Academy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eByfR2jeFtk&feature=related
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Let's Reflect For A Moment
How often do we take time out of our busy schedules, to sit and reflect on our lives? We get caught up in our hurried pace world of work and school, that we feel we don’t have the time. If we, as adults, cannot find the time to think deeply about our actions, then how should we expect teachers and students to have the time to do the same in the classroom?
The process of reflection is a time consuming and difficult process. It can often bring up our past mistakes and failures. But, through failure we can understand what we did wrong and correct that mistake from happening again. Sadly, in our current school system this process of critical thinking is not taught. None of the standardize tests they will take, such as Iowa Test of Basic Skills, ACT, or SAT, will ever ask them to reflect or critically think about an answer. Therefore, why should valuable classroom time be spent on that if they will not use it on the exams that matter?
It has been proven, however, that the memorization of facts does not lead to actual learning. It is through the process of reflection and critical thinking does a student actual learn. A perfect example is in the history classroom. It is easy to memorize dates and names, but to actually question why a war started or why an economy failed is a much difficult task. But, it is through this process of thinking that one can help prevent it from happening again. Critical thinking will not only benefit the students’ learning, but it will also benefit our futures. We need to get students contemplating why this subject is important and how it impacts their lives.
How do we create mindful students? We not only ask them the right questions, but we get the students to ask the right questions. A perfect example would be in my Statistic 115 course I am taking at Luther, my professor told us that if we only take one thing away from the class he wants it to be this, “When presented with statistical data we need to ALWAYS ask where and how was this data collected?” My professor is getting us to think outside of what is presented to us and to question what is given to us, instead of simply accepting it as fact and memorizing it.
Students should be asked to reflect daily, because if it does not become a habit then they will become adults who do not question the world they live in. They will simply go through the motions of life, never fully thinking about the environment around them -- missing opportunities that could change their lives and make the world a better place all because they were not taught how to actually think in the classroom.
The process of reflection is a time consuming and difficult process. It can often bring up our past mistakes and failures. But, through failure we can understand what we did wrong and correct that mistake from happening again. Sadly, in our current school system this process of critical thinking is not taught. None of the standardize tests they will take, such as Iowa Test of Basic Skills, ACT, or SAT, will ever ask them to reflect or critically think about an answer. Therefore, why should valuable classroom time be spent on that if they will not use it on the exams that matter?
It has been proven, however, that the memorization of facts does not lead to actual learning. It is through the process of reflection and critical thinking does a student actual learn. A perfect example is in the history classroom. It is easy to memorize dates and names, but to actually question why a war started or why an economy failed is a much difficult task. But, it is through this process of thinking that one can help prevent it from happening again. Critical thinking will not only benefit the students’ learning, but it will also benefit our futures. We need to get students contemplating why this subject is important and how it impacts their lives.
How do we create mindful students? We not only ask them the right questions, but we get the students to ask the right questions. A perfect example would be in my Statistic 115 course I am taking at Luther, my professor told us that if we only take one thing away from the class he wants it to be this, “When presented with statistical data we need to ALWAYS ask where and how was this data collected?” My professor is getting us to think outside of what is presented to us and to question what is given to us, instead of simply accepting it as fact and memorizing it.
Students should be asked to reflect daily, because if it does not become a habit then they will become adults who do not question the world they live in. They will simply go through the motions of life, never fully thinking about the environment around them -- missing opportunities that could change their lives and make the world a better place all because they were not taught how to actually think in the classroom.
Fixing Schools With Reality TV
I was very surprised to find a reality TV show that focuses solely on fixing schools all around the United States. I feel it brings attention to the current flaws of our countries schools and the lack of interest in the upkeep of the schools. It also shows a positive light on the students and the amazing talents and motivation they have. Here is a clip I found about the show focusing on the arts, something that not many people focus on today...
http://www.hulu.com/watch/195920/school-pride-bring-back-the-arts
http://www.hulu.com/watch/195920/school-pride-bring-back-the-arts
Friday, November 26, 2010
Article From The Chronical Review About Creativity
November 21, 2010
How College Kills Creativity; Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
By Evan R. Goldstein
Jean-Paul Sartre said that the greatest gift a father can give his son is to die early. Sartre's remark, though harsh, isn't implausible. In a new book, Sudden Genius: The Gradual Path to Creative Breakthroughs (Oxford University Press), Andrew Robinson notes that a remarkable number of super-high achievers suffered the death of a parent at a young age. He cites a 1978 study of almost 700 historical figures that found that 25 percent of them—including J.S. Bach, Dante, Michelangelo, Leo Tolstoy, and Richard Wagner—lost at least one parent before the age of 10.
Robinson entertains the possibility of a correlation between tragedy and extreme creativity. Some psychologists believe that trauma can lead a child to turn inward and cultivate a taste for solitude. "The ability to be alone is critical," says Robinson, a former literary editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement, in an interview, noting that Mozart, who had an active social life, nonetheless withdrew for long stretches to focus on his work. "You don't write The Marriage of Figaro in six weeks if you go out and get drunk every night." Even in the sciences, where collaboration is common, Robinson says, major breakthroughs have been spearheaded by figures—Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein—with pronounced solitary streaks.
What are we to make of all of this? Not much, apparently. The notion that genius is nurtured by childhood adversity "is a tempting one," Robinson writes, but it crumbles under careful scrutiny. For every figure that fits the bill (Joseph Conrad was a bookish, withdrawn child whose parents died before he turned 12), another genius bucks the pattern (Henri Cartier-Bresson clashed with his wealthy parents, but they were supportive—and alive). Indeed, Robinson dismisses all unified theories of creativity, of which there have been many over the years. "They don't apply across the board," he says.
So where do big ideas come from? Sudden Genius looks for answers in the lives of 10 pioneering thinkers and artists, including Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Satyajit Ray, Virginia Woolf, and Christopher Wren. Robinson tries to ferret out the "sources, ingredients, and patterns" of their talents. The big—if bland—takeaway is this: Geniuses are made, not born. Breakthroughs that appear like flashes out of the blue in fact result from at least 10 years of preparation, if not a lifetime of industriousness. When Thomas Edison died, he owned 1,093 patents (that's about one every two weeks of his adult life); Picasso produced more than 20,000 works; Henri Poincaré published 500 papers and 30 books. The lesson, Robinson says, is that "hard work does pay off."
If the sources of genius remain something of a riddle, Robinson is emphatic about what does not contribute to creative excellence: higher education. The academy's emphasis on specialization and its "inherent tendency to ignore or reject highly original work that does not fit the existing paradigm" is an impediment to creativity, Robinson argues. He points to several intriguing studies. One, by Dean Keith Simonton, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis, suggests that creativity flourishes best among those with the equivalent of two years of an undergraduate education—no less, no more. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor of psychology at Claremont Graduate University, has also looked at the relationship between education and innovation. In his 1996 book, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, he argued that formal education has historically had little effect on the lives of creative people. "If anything," Csikszentmihalyi wrote, "school threatened to extinguish the interest and curiosity that the child had discovered outside its walls."
Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
This year the artist Michael Landy built a 130,000-gallon trash can inside a London gallery and invited fellow artists to toss their unsuccessful works into the garbage. One thousand pieces were destroyed during the exhibit's three-month run. Landy called his pile of disposed art a "monument to creative failure."
Landy is not among the contributors to Failure (MIT Press), a collection of meditations on misfiring edited by Lisa Le Feuvre, but the spirit of his "Art Bin" is present on nearly every page. Le Feuvre, who is director of sculpture studies at the Henry Moore Institute, in Leeds, England, culled previously published interviews, journal and magazine articles, and books to amass a wide-ranging compendium. Søren Kierke-gaard, Karl Popper, John Cage, and Giorgio Agamben are among those Le Feuvre turns to for insight.
Perhaps most interesting is an interview with Scott Sandage, an associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University and author of Born Losers: A History of Failure in America. Sandage explains that America's relationship with failure has evolved over time, noting that the word initially applied only to matters of business, not character. Up until the Civil War, he argues, people who suffered economic misfortune were described as making a failure, not being a failure. Sandage asks: "Why have we as a culture embraced modes of identity where we measure our souls using business models?"
The answer, he suggests, has to do with the end of slavery. Around that time, Sandage says, the two primary identities in American life shifted from "slave" and "free" to "success" and "failure."
In the arts, Le Feuvre emphasizes in a brief introduction, failure is central to the creative process. A number of artists explain how falling short can be a catalyst for innovation; or, as Le Feuvre nicely puts it: "Through failure one has the potential to stumble on the unexpected." The conceptual artist John Baldessari adds this bit of wisdom: "Art comes out of failure."
And for some, failure is itself the stuff of art. For instance, incompetence is a central theme in the work of the Swedish artist Annika Ström. In a short video titled After Film, Ström documents the failure of her first (imagined) feature movie. In the script, friends and neighbors speculate as to why Ström, in the wake of the movie's bombing, has disappeared. The critic Lotte Møller argues that Ström's work questions "the predominant values of a success-oriented society."
Failure brims with inspirational quips. "To be an artist is to fail as no other dare fail," according to Samuel Beckett; the painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel describes his work as a "bouquet of mistakes"; the sculptor Joel Fisher insists that "the failures of big ideas are more impressive than the successes of little ones."
Reading page after page of paeans to failure has the effect of turning conventional wisdom on its head: Perhaps it is not failing that should worry us most.
How College Kills Creativity; Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
By Evan R. Goldstein
Jean-Paul Sartre said that the greatest gift a father can give his son is to die early. Sartre's remark, though harsh, isn't implausible. In a new book, Sudden Genius: The Gradual Path to Creative Breakthroughs (Oxford University Press), Andrew Robinson notes that a remarkable number of super-high achievers suffered the death of a parent at a young age. He cites a 1978 study of almost 700 historical figures that found that 25 percent of them—including J.S. Bach, Dante, Michelangelo, Leo Tolstoy, and Richard Wagner—lost at least one parent before the age of 10.
Robinson entertains the possibility of a correlation between tragedy and extreme creativity. Some psychologists believe that trauma can lead a child to turn inward and cultivate a taste for solitude. "The ability to be alone is critical," says Robinson, a former literary editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement, in an interview, noting that Mozart, who had an active social life, nonetheless withdrew for long stretches to focus on his work. "You don't write The Marriage of Figaro in six weeks if you go out and get drunk every night." Even in the sciences, where collaboration is common, Robinson says, major breakthroughs have been spearheaded by figures—Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein—with pronounced solitary streaks.
What are we to make of all of this? Not much, apparently. The notion that genius is nurtured by childhood adversity "is a tempting one," Robinson writes, but it crumbles under careful scrutiny. For every figure that fits the bill (Joseph Conrad was a bookish, withdrawn child whose parents died before he turned 12), another genius bucks the pattern (Henri Cartier-Bresson clashed with his wealthy parents, but they were supportive—and alive). Indeed, Robinson dismisses all unified theories of creativity, of which there have been many over the years. "They don't apply across the board," he says.
So where do big ideas come from? Sudden Genius looks for answers in the lives of 10 pioneering thinkers and artists, including Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Satyajit Ray, Virginia Woolf, and Christopher Wren. Robinson tries to ferret out the "sources, ingredients, and patterns" of their talents. The big—if bland—takeaway is this: Geniuses are made, not born. Breakthroughs that appear like flashes out of the blue in fact result from at least 10 years of preparation, if not a lifetime of industriousness. When Thomas Edison died, he owned 1,093 patents (that's about one every two weeks of his adult life); Picasso produced more than 20,000 works; Henri Poincaré published 500 papers and 30 books. The lesson, Robinson says, is that "hard work does pay off."
If the sources of genius remain something of a riddle, Robinson is emphatic about what does not contribute to creative excellence: higher education. The academy's emphasis on specialization and its "inherent tendency to ignore or reject highly original work that does not fit the existing paradigm" is an impediment to creativity, Robinson argues. He points to several intriguing studies. One, by Dean Keith Simonton, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis, suggests that creativity flourishes best among those with the equivalent of two years of an undergraduate education—no less, no more. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor of psychology at Claremont Graduate University, has also looked at the relationship between education and innovation. In his 1996 book, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, he argued that formal education has historically had little effect on the lives of creative people. "If anything," Csikszentmihalyi wrote, "school threatened to extinguish the interest and curiosity that the child had discovered outside its walls."
Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
This year the artist Michael Landy built a 130,000-gallon trash can inside a London gallery and invited fellow artists to toss their unsuccessful works into the garbage. One thousand pieces were destroyed during the exhibit's three-month run. Landy called his pile of disposed art a "monument to creative failure."
Landy is not among the contributors to Failure (MIT Press), a collection of meditations on misfiring edited by Lisa Le Feuvre, but the spirit of his "Art Bin" is present on nearly every page. Le Feuvre, who is director of sculpture studies at the Henry Moore Institute, in Leeds, England, culled previously published interviews, journal and magazine articles, and books to amass a wide-ranging compendium. Søren Kierke-gaard, Karl Popper, John Cage, and Giorgio Agamben are among those Le Feuvre turns to for insight.
Perhaps most interesting is an interview with Scott Sandage, an associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University and author of Born Losers: A History of Failure in America. Sandage explains that America's relationship with failure has evolved over time, noting that the word initially applied only to matters of business, not character. Up until the Civil War, he argues, people who suffered economic misfortune were described as making a failure, not being a failure. Sandage asks: "Why have we as a culture embraced modes of identity where we measure our souls using business models?"
The answer, he suggests, has to do with the end of slavery. Around that time, Sandage says, the two primary identities in American life shifted from "slave" and "free" to "success" and "failure."
In the arts, Le Feuvre emphasizes in a brief introduction, failure is central to the creative process. A number of artists explain how falling short can be a catalyst for innovation; or, as Le Feuvre nicely puts it: "Through failure one has the potential to stumble on the unexpected." The conceptual artist John Baldessari adds this bit of wisdom: "Art comes out of failure."
And for some, failure is itself the stuff of art. For instance, incompetence is a central theme in the work of the Swedish artist Annika Ström. In a short video titled After Film, Ström documents the failure of her first (imagined) feature movie. In the script, friends and neighbors speculate as to why Ström, in the wake of the movie's bombing, has disappeared. The critic Lotte Møller argues that Ström's work questions "the predominant values of a success-oriented society."
Failure brims with inspirational quips. "To be an artist is to fail as no other dare fail," according to Samuel Beckett; the painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel describes his work as a "bouquet of mistakes"; the sculptor Joel Fisher insists that "the failures of big ideas are more impressive than the successes of little ones."
Reading page after page of paeans to failure has the effect of turning conventional wisdom on its head: Perhaps it is not failing that should worry us most.
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