I’m about to see Diane Lewis do the same keynote that she did last year here. I wonder how many other people go for second helpings of workshops they really enjoyed before. It was one of the most memorable presentations from last year, and I know I’ve forgotten a ton from it. I’m hoping that the ICE crew in Illinois will bring her in for the local ICe conference in St. Charles.
Turns out Apple recorded Christopher and will be podcasting his keynote. However, Diane’s session is so visual (there’s a bunch of video footage), that she told them not to bother. Of course, that’s not going to stop me and I already have permission to record it and publish sound clips from it. She was totally cool with it so long as I don’t use sound clips from the students since she doesn’t have permission to republish them.
Her main theme revolves around constructivism.
She’s discussing fearless learners, what it means to be a fearless learner and why we might want our students to become fearless learners. Our world is all about working collaboratively as well as individually. Why don’t old teaching styles produce the learners we want?
She’s talking about her dogs now. She does that. A lot. I do have to admit, one reason I did attend this session again is because watching her with her dogs is an absolute blast. It really makes me miss my own dog, Solo.
She’s describing traditional dog training. The fun part is that she’s verbalizing what her dog is probably thinking throughout the process as well.
Sidenote: Battery life is going to be a major problem as usual. Why haven’t I sent this stupid laptop in for repairs yet? I even have Applecare! Why do semi-smart people continue to do really dumb things day after day, month after month. Do I never learn?
The results of traditional dog training is that they don’t enjoy training, they learn to fear failure, they learn that miscommunication, misconception or experimentation results in punishment. They learn to wait nervously until they know what is expected of you.
ARGH. I replaced the 9volt batteries in the battery pack and tried to record this, but it must be the AA batteries that are out. *sighs* I hate batteries. Of course, I left my powersupply back at the hotel room, so I’m totally hosed either way.
Back to the workshop, we’re bringing it around now back to students and the way we teach. If you misunderstand the question on a test, you get it wrong. etc. The similarities are startling.
Now we’re on to modern dog training, through positive reinforcement (food). This method teaches the dog to ‘follow the cookie’. If the cookie goes to the floor, lay down to get it. If the cookie is raised up in the air, stand up on two legs to get it.
During competitions, she says that she constantly sees people walking away saying, ” My dog knows that trick, he blew me off. He chose not to do it.” In reality, the dog just didn’t really know the skill that the owner thought they did. She said “That’s the difference between dogs and children, dogs don’t stay up at night thinking of ways to irritate you.”
You see the same thing in the classroom. “What’s the brain of the cell”, “The nucleus”, “What’s the powerhouse of the cell”, “Mitochondira”. It’s really just another lure. The students know how to give a specific response to a specific question. It does not represent real learning. When it comes time for them to take the standardized test, the students get presented with questions that aren’t phrased the same way, or that ask them to synthesize information. The students fail in these situations.
It’s the difference between understanding and the appearance of understanding. She points out that you can start with the lure and then move into high levels of understanding, but in dog training if you use the lure three times, they depend on the lure.
She’s just used videos to demonstrate the difference between constructionist learning and traditional learning in dogs. Actually, not the learning itself, but what the learners look like, their characteristics.
Unfortunately, my battery is about to die. I’m going to save and type sparingly. I guess I’ll do some reflecting on the rest of the session later.
“Positive is not permissive”
“Constructivism is not Chaos”
Misbehavior has negative consequences
Learning never does.
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
No Comments