Learning

Suggestions for Remembering

On October 25, 2012   /   Learning  

Memorization experts suggest that the more outlandish the picture, the easier it is for the brain to picture and remember. The process becomes even more engaging if the students themselves create their own images.

Conjuring up vivid images (right brain) while reading a book (left brain) encourages hemispheric integration and leads to improved memory and more efficient learning. If you think of engaging both sides of the brain, no matter what you are teaching, the learner builds up more hooks and cues to ensure long-term memory. The brain can keep on making connections and, therefore, grow throughout life. Learning builds learning because, as we continue to learn, the neural networks of the brain augment, creating ever-abundant connections.

We can even … >>>

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Effective Learning by Reflection and Visualization

On October 23, 2012   /   Learning  

The September 2012 Scientific American stated that most teachers would agree it is important for students to remember much of what they read. One of the most common sights on high school and college campuses is that of students poring over textbooks, yellow highlighter in hand, marking the pertinent passages. In the process, they often end up highlighting most of the page. Later in the semester, to prepare for their exams, students hit the textbooks again, rereading the yellow blocks of text. Yet, studies have shown that highlighting and rereading text is among the least effective ways for students to remember the content of what they have read.

A far more effective technique is for students to quiz themselves. … >>>

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Choices in Life

On October 17, 2012   /   Learning, Responsibility  

A significant difference between the optimist and the pessimist is related to the perception of choice. For example, a school math test is returned with a low score. One student concludes, “Well, I guess I’m not good in math,” while another student who receives the exact same score engages in different self-talk: “I guess I’ll have to study harder.”

The difference? The first youngster senses a lack of control—that nothing can be done. “I just have no gift for math,” goes the self-talk. The second youngster believes that something can be done. The first child’s pessimistic self-talk is of resignation—primarily based upon the wrong assumption of a lack of choice and, therefore, a lack of control. The second … >>>

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Bullying and How Not to Stop It

On October 16, 2012   /   Discipline, Learning  

A teacher recently ordered the poster containing the Levels of Development. When she hung it in her classroom, the school principal asked her to take it down. Why? The poster contained the word bullying.

I developed the hierarchy around of the thinking of Stephen Covey’s first habit of highly effective people: Be Proactive. 

The Levels of Development places “Anarchy” at the bottom level of unacceptable behavior. In a classroom this would be exemplified by such behaviors as leaving materials around, pushing others, throwing paper airplanes, and other unacceptable and unsafe behaviors.

The next level up the ladder refers to “Bullying” and bothering others. Examples are making fun of others, not being kind, and other activities where a child … >>>

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Use Choices to Build Responsibility

On October 15, 2012   /   Learning, Parenting, Responsibility  

Offering children choices promotes the most important skill for success in life: the skill of making responsible decisions. Responsible behavior is directly related to the number of responsible choices a person makes. Positive discipline approaches—of which offering choices ranks high on the list—motivate children to want to act responsibly because it feels good and because children realize it is in their best interests to do so. In contrast, if we deprive people of choices, we deprive them of positive motivation. By giving children opportunities to make decisions starting early in life, we prepare them for greater success as adults living in the 21st century.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, manufacturing led and fed the economy. There were few … >>>

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Cognitive Dissonance and Learning

On October 11, 2012   /   Learning  

Cognitive dissonance is a distressing mental state in which people find themselves doing things that don’t fit with what they know, or they have opinions that conflict with other opinions they hold. Wikipedia explains it this way: “The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognitions, adding new ones to create a consistent belief system, or alternatively by reducing the importance of any one of the dissonant elements.”

The concept of cognitive dissonance is best illustrated by Aesop’s fable about the fox and the grapes.

The fox tried in vain to reach a cluster of grapes that were dangling from a vine above his head. Although the fox leaped high … >>>

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Aristotle and Achieve the Honorable

On October 9, 2012   /   Effectiveness, Learning  

For over 200 years the name Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.) was virtually synonymous with philosophy. His most influential doctrine included the notion that morally virtuous people seek moderation in all things. He also believed that as people get older, they seek happiness. The great philosopher proposed that this state is achieved primarily through achieving the honorable.

As I walked to high school every day for three years, I saw Hollywood High School’s motto prominently displayed: ACHIEVE THE HONORABLE. Last weekend I had the honor of speaking at Alumni Day at Hollywood High School and mentioned that the motto was no longer there. The old sign had been replaced with an electric sign giving the name of the school—but … >>>

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Socrates’ Wisdom

On October 4, 2012   /   Learning  

Socrates, the classical Greek philosopher, was charged with and later executed for corrupting young people and for impiety against the Athenian gods. What Socrates really did, though, was challenge people’s thinking.

The Oracle of Delphi, a religious figure revered for her wisdom, was asked if she knew anyone wiser than Socrates.

The oracle replied that no one was wiser.

When Socrates learned of this statement, he was puzzled. He did not consider himself wise. On the other hand, the oracle would not be mistaken.

In order to determine what the oracle meant, Socrates talked to other Athenians—to ask them questions about themselves. In these discussions, Socrates discovered that people were far from being the authorities they were supposed to be. … >>>

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What You See is What You Thought

On October 2, 2012   /   Effectiveness, Learning, Relationships  

The old story of the two strangers coming to town periodically needs to be reviewed.

An old man was sitting at the gate of a city when a stranger approached.

“Tell me, old man,” said the stranger. “What kind of people live in this city?”

The old man thought for a minute and said, “I don’t know. What kind of people lived in the city where you came from?” 

“They were the biggest bunch of thieves you would ever want to meet,” said the stranger. “They’d steal the shirt right off your back.”

The old man said, “You’ll find them the same way here.”

A short time later, another stranger approached and asked the man the same question: “What kind … >>>

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Discipline Without Stress in Iraq

On September 27, 2012   /   Discipline, Learning  

I received an interesting package from Iraq yesterday. In it was a book written in Arabic. The only words I could read on the cover were “Dr. Marvin Marshall.”

Hike Samuel Artin, a teacher in Baghdad, Iraq, has been using the Raise Responsibility System—part of the Discipline Without Stress Teaching Model—in his classes for a number of years. He asked my permission to publish my education book, Discipline Without Stress® Punishments or Rewards: How Teachers and Parents Promote Responsibility & Learning.

The book has been published by “Beit Al-Hikma,” a publishing house in Baghdad that was founded in the 16th century. And the book in the package was the final product.

Interestingly, Iraq is attempting to promote democracy, … >>>

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Longer Life with an Open Mind

On September 25, 2012   /   Effectiveness, Learning  

Can your personality impact how long you live? Perhaps.

Researchers have long been studying the connection between health and personality traits. In particular, they’ve been looking at openness, which measures cognitive flexibility and the willingness to entertain novel ideas. Recent studies have linked the personality trait of openness with lower metabolic risk, higher self-rated health, and more appropriate stress responses.

How is this possible? It seems that creativity is associated with openness. Apparently, the trait leads to creative thinking that reduces stress and keeps the brain healthy.

One possible reason why creativity is protective of health is that it draws on a variety of neural networks within the brain. Creativity maintains the integrity of neural networks even into old age. … >>>

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Chicago Teachers, Eisenhower, and Lincoln

On September 18, 2012   /   Learning  

President Dwight David Eisenhower (34th USA President, 1953- 1961) believed in The Declaration of Independence’s ideal that every person has the inalienable right to pursue happiness. He tried, with much success, to create a climate during his presidential years in which Americans could fully exercise that right.

He kept the peace managing a number of crises where his advisors and critics insisted on some military action. He managed each one without overreacting, without going to war, without increasing defense spending, and without frightening the public. During Eisenhower’s administration, the U.S.A never lost a soldier or a foot of ground.

If the criterion for success as a great president would be keeping the United States out of war, he would … >>>

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Chicago Teachers Strike and Standardized Tests

On September 12, 2012   /   Effectiveness, Learning  

Both the media and the critics of the current Chicago teachers strike are paying little attention to the primary reason that the teachers are not in their classrooms: Recent legislation passed by the Illinois legislature requires that scores from standardized tests be used for teacher accountability and performance.

To someone not in the education field, this mandate may seem reasonable. However, most people don’t realize that standardized tests were never designed to measure learning. Standardized tests were designed so that half of the test takers will fall below the 50 percent line. If 50 percent of students “fail” by design, how can these types of tests be justified for teacher accountability? Under this ruling, teachers will be judged and evaluated … >>>

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Sesame Street a Poor Teacher

On August 30, 2012   /   Effectiveness, Learning  

At a recent meeting of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the National Speakers Association, Scott McKain, a well-recognized professional speaker, related a very interesting experience to me.

He said that he was asked to deliver a keynote speech at his former elementary school. After the presentation, he was surprised to see that his 3rd grade teacher was still teaching there, so he struck up a conversation with her. Scott inquired what his former teacher thought was the biggest problem in education today. Without hesitation, she replied, “Sesame Street.”

Scott was taken back and inquired into her reasoning. She responded that children today are brought up on entertainment, and when they arrive at school they expect to be entertained.… >>>

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Behaviorism’s Founder

On August 29, 2012   /   Discipline, Effectiveness, Learning  

Frank Knight (November 7, 1885 – April 15, 1972) was a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Four of his students received the Nobel Prize for Economics (Paul Saluelson, Milton Friedman, George Stigler, and James Buchanan, Jr.) . Professor Knight was rather outspoken. The short paragraphs below are his comments about behaviorism and its best known founders, John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner.

John B. Watson was a founder of the psychological school referred to as behaviorism. Behaviorists, represented more popularly by the controversial utopian B.F. Skinner of Harvard University, argue that all human behavior can be understood in terms of stimulus-response models that have been developed from studying the behavior of rats in mazes.

In 1932, … >>>

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Learning and Expectations

On August 23, 2012   /   Effectiveness, Learning  

If you ask someone the key to success in real estate, they’ll tell you, “Location, location, location.” In the field of education, a critical component of the superior teacher is “Expectation, expectation, expectation.”

We can see evidence of this in Rainier Scholars located in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Robert Hurlbut, Ranier Scholars is a project for low-income students. It recruits 5th graders who are highly motivated and has them attend full-time summer school plus weekend classes. The goal is to shepherd them through college graduation.

Drego Little, one of the teachers, says that he visualizes his young students as future doctors, city councilmen, and other responsible, successful grownups. He explains, “I treat them as if they are going to … >>>

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Correlation Is Not Cause and Effect

On August 21, 2012   /   Learning  

The best story I have heard about the confusion between cause and effect was from my days as an economics major. The story that Frank Knight of the University of  Chicago told came from Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, a social anthropologist. Here’s how it goes:

Many years ago, a group of missionaries in the eastern part of Africa decided to teach the natives better farming methods. They concluded that the way to do it rapidly was to get a promising young man from each tribe, teach him the needed farming skills, and then send him back to practice the better methods, whereupon the entire tribe would follow the example.

One of the young men selected went back to his tribe in Portuguese, … >>>

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Practice Isn’t Just for Youth

On August 14, 2012   /   Learning  

Next week, school starts in our area. As a parent, I’m looking forward to going back to the familiar school-day routine. This year, though, it will be a little different. School will be starting a half hour earlier, which means everyone—including mom and dad—will have to wake up earlier, learn a new morning routine, and be out the door sooner than we’ve had to for the past three years.

While a half hour may not seem like much, when that half hour falls before sunrise (and when you’re trying to get a first-grader and preschooler out of bed) a half hour is a big deal. To make it easier on the first day of school, our family has been using … >>>

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