the glory and the challenges
I am reading The ABCs of How We Learn: 26 Scientifically Proven Approaches, How They Work, and When to Use Them by Daniel L. Schwartz, Jessica M. Tsang, and Kristen P. Blair.
My goal is to read and contemplate each of the 26 chapters and then post on the blog about both the chapters and my thoughts.
A coworker introduced this book to me. Thanks, Steve!
“Sometimes the rightly phrased question packs the electric brightness and power of a lightning strike” (Humes 142).
“wield a Power Question as Churchill did. Keep it to a single line, and keep it simple” (Humes 147).
Humes, James C. Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln. Three Rivers Press.
“It was Roosevelt who changed the nae of the Executive Mansion to the White House and built the West Wing to house a bigger staff–some of whom were hired specifically to generate newspaper coverage of Roosevelt” (Humes 45).
Humes, James C. Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln. Three Rivers Press.
Some fascinating tidbits from Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln by James C. Humes:
When he [Franklin] arrived in Versailles to become the American minister to France, he wanted to stand out among the bewigged members of King Louis XVI’s court, who were garbed in the silk and velvet fashions of the day. Franklin’s daughter Sally said, “Poppa, you must buy new clothes if you’re going to Versailles.”
Franklin answered, “I want to look more like a pioneer than a prince.”
So instead of silk, Franklin wore just plain American broadcloth and no wig. … At a time when the “natural man” of Rousseau was the philosophical rage, Franklin played the role of the New World “natural man” and inspired a coterie of groupies.
In 1783, at the time the peace treated that ended the American War for Independence was signed, Benjamin Franklin sported his slightly tattered brown Manchester greatcoat that buttoned from the neck to the knees. Fellow peace commissioner John Adams berated him for wearing such attire on this glorious day for Americans. Franklin replied:
Adams, I wore this coat on that day of the “Cockpit Trial,” prosecuted by that British Attorney General Wedderburn about ten years ago, and I want to give my old brown coat a little revenge.(Humes 15)
I was reading Peter Drucker’s Managing Oneself, wherein he gives three things you need to know: your strengths, your method of work and your values.
The methods of work were interesting.
Are you a reader or a listener?
Some people respond well to extemporaneous situations, while others need time to prepare. The prepare-people are readers.
As a teacher, I am often asked to be a listener. I joined Toastmasters to help me become better at answering unexpected questions.
How do you learn?
His options were
writing,
doing,
self-talk.
I think I learn best when I prepare to teach others, but I know that I write to learn (among other options). I am not sure that I totally agree with his options here.
Do you work better alone per with others?
If you work better with others, do you work better as a subordinate or a leader? Or as an equal member of the team? Or as a coach or mentor?
Are you a decision maker or an advisor?
In companies, decision makers are often CEOs and the #2 position is an advisor. That person often won’t make a good CEO, because they aren’t strong in decision making.
Do you work well under stress or do you need a predictable, stable environment?
Good test takers work well under stress.
Do you do better in a big or a small organization?
This one is causing me to reflect quite a bit. I am not completely sure of my answer to that yet.
I plan on using some of this with my business writing students.
Carmen Tafoya spoke on the exclusion of students from learning from her own experience.
Teacher couldn’t say her name. Finally, “Carmen Tortilla”
didn’t fit what standard textbooks
didn’t include us
We were invisible.
Cops were scared to go into. City Council said we didn’t need a library, because we didn’t even read English.
We were searched everyday—and at lunch—for knives.
Loved literature. Loved books. Loved reading. Loved anything that had to do with story.
Where was I going to get books to read?
Finally got a library on our side of town. (Buena Vista Street)
My mom said she’d take me once a week. 2 mile walk both ways.
Got my five books. Read them all. Couldn’t go back till the next Tuesday.
Learned (by reading the boring pages) that all books come from New York.
Wanted to be a writer. If books are from NY, I need to write about NY.
So I wrote about New York… I had no clue what it looked like or what you could do there. I was stuck.
I had nothing to write about, because our stories weren’t published.
When students say “have to read for class,” they haven’t read the right book yet.
We were hungry for our culture, for a reflection that looked like us.
Mirror of society—don’t see themselves on television or in books.
We grew up so hungry for something that had to do with us.
I made good use of the library. Looked for Mexican-American. Nothing. Looked for stuff on Mexico. Haciendas… Read about Spain. Then France, because next door to Spain. Took French, because it was related.
I kept reading and reading and searching and searching until I found it.
The traditional canon was not made for us.
… made for a very small percentage of the world’s people.
… lied. It told us that we were all separate.
Poem that people can see themselves joining in it.
“This River Here”
full of me and mine, you and yours
right here, or maybe a little farther down
my great-grandmother washed the dirt
my grampa washed the sins out of his congregation’s souls
“I see Indians! I see Indians!” he threw pebbles at her. One day she got mad and threw them back. … After they got married…
right here we pour out picnics
weeping lady haunting the river—“I need my children.” ??
stories haunt us… scrapes in different places… married you and I …
It was right here and right here we stand. …or maybe a little farther down.
All from one skin
All from one little country
95% male
women props to be added when needed
Women have been keeping us alive.
Even the act of feeding someone becomes a statement of culture and civilization.
What is the canon?
Canon = teaching people how to stay alive
Survival instructions
How to deal with depression and loss
How to saunter sassy
Traditional canon beautiful.
Tell the stories of men in difficult situations.
Rich. Brilliant.
Excluded works.
World literature in our canon.
Her writings include
“Feeding You”
“Tortilleria”
I purchased one of her books and enjoy it immensely.
Quartz has an article about the Open Syllabus Project that uses online syllabi to examine what we are assigning in university.
Plato, Hobbes, Machiavelli, and Aristotle overwhelmingly dominate lists in the US, particularly at the top schools.
In the US, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein is the most taught work of fiction, with Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales a close second. In history titles, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi’s textbook, America: A Narrative History, is No. 1, with Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi, a memoir about life as an African-American woman in Jim Crow America, at No. 2. The Communist Manifesto is the third most taught in history, and is the top title in sociology.
“Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Love to Write”
No matter the quality of your prose, the act of writing itself leads to strong physical and mental health benefits, like long-term improvements in mood, stress levels and depressive symptoms. In a 2005 study on the emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing, researchers found that just 15 to 20 minutes of writing three to five times over the course of the four-month study was enough to make a difference.
By writing about traumatic, stressful or emotional events, participants were significantly more likely to have fewer illnesses and be less affected by trauma. Participants ultimately spent less time in the hospital, enjoyed lower blood pressure and had better liver functionality than their counterparts.
It turns out writing can make physical wounds heal faster as well. In 2013, New Zealand researchers monitored the recovery of wounds from medically necessary biopsies on 49 healthy adults. The adults wrote about their thoughts and feelings for just 20 minutes, three days in a row, two weeks before the biopsy. Eleven days later, 76% of the group that wrote had fully healed. Fifty-eight percent of the control group had not recovered. The study concluded that writing about distressing events helped participants make sense of the events and reduce distress.
I’m not sure I am totally surprised, but I do wonder what kind of shape I would be in if I didn’t write.
Great News for Those Who Read Actual Books
The following is a fairly serious issue, especially for someone–like me–who created iBooks for my literature course.
While e-readers try to recreate the sensation of turning pages and pagination, the screen is limited to one ephemeral virtual page. Surveys about the use of e-readers suggest that this affects a reader’s serendipity and sense of control. The inability to flip back to previous pages or control the text physically, either through making written notes or bending pages, limits one’s sensory experience and thus reduces long-term memory of the text.
This is also interesting:
Slow-reading advocates recommend at least 30 to 45 minutes of daily reading away from the distractions of modern technology. By doing so, the brain can reengage with linear reading. The benefits of making slow reading a regular habit are numerous, reducing stress and improving your ability to concentrate.
Regular reading also increases empathy, especially when reading a print book. One study discovered that individuals who read an upsetting short story on an iPad were less empathetic and experienced less transportation and immersion than those who read on paper.
The authors says it’s all about us. If the readings were interesting, the students would be there.
What can students learn from literature that they cannot learn elsewhere? Why should they bother with it? For understandable reasons, literature professors assume the importance of their subject matter. But students are right to ask these questions. All courses are expensive, in money, time, and opportunity costs.
…
No, the real literary work is the reader’s experience.This means the first thing a teacher needs to do is help students have the experience the author is trying to create. There is no point in analyzing the techniques for creating an experience the students have not had.
Students need to have such experiences, and not just be told of their results. It is crucial for them to see how one arrives at the interpretation and lives through that process. Otherwise, why not simply memorize some critic’s interpretation?
“Why College Kids Are Avoiding the Study of Literature“
Metaphors are not just for literature anymore.
The Guardian has an article on the Glasgow University research work on 13 centuries of metaphors. The map is cool, though the description is limited.
However, you can read the @MappingMetaphor blog and find details. The newest post on fear is interesting.
Indonesian Metaphorical Conceptualizations of Anger: Does Anger Taste Delicious or Disgusting? By Tessa Yuditha
Indonesian also has its own metaphorical expressions. Some of conventional Indonesian metaphors include Dia menjadi kambing hitam dalam kasus itu ‘He became the scapegoat in that case’, Jatuhnya harga saham membuat dia bangkrut ‘The fall in stock price made him bankrupt’ and Kata-katanya membuat aku meledak ‘His words made me blow up’.
The Guardian has an article on educational metaphors. I used this in a class recently and would like to discuss it again more thoroughly. Something that was particularly interesting to me:
“My teacher is an old cow.” What does this mean? How would you respond, as a teacher, if this were said about you?
The New York Times article This is Your Brain on Metaphors is also interesting. It says that your brain sometimes/often interprets metaphorical things literally.
In a remarkable study, Chen-Bo Zhong of the University of Toronto and Katie Liljenquist of Northwestern University demonstrated how the brain has trouble distinguishing between being a dirty scoundrel and being in need of a bath. Volunteers were asked to recall either a moral or immoral act in their past.