{"id":30544,"date":"2018-08-17T11:34:30","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T15:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/?page_id=30544"},"modified":"2018-09-03T14:06:34","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T18:06:34","slug":"chapter-one-learning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/chapter-one-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 1 Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.47&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;44.5667px|0px|0|0px|false|false&#8221; next_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.48&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_4&#8243;][et_pb_post_title date_format=&#8221;j M Y&#8221; categories=&#8221;off&#8221; featured_image=&#8221;off&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12&#8243; title_font=&#8221;|700||on|||||&#8221; title_font_size=&#8221;20px&#8221; title_font_size_last_edited=&#8221;off|&#8221; \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;3_4&#8243;][et_pb_video src=&#8221;https:\/\/youtu.be\/5eCnRPwjwR8&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12&#8243; \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.47&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;44.5667px|0px|0|0px|false|false&#8221; prev_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; next_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.48&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_testimonial author=&#8221;Benjamin Franklin&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12.2&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p><em><i>Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember.\u00a0 Involve me and I learn.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_divider divider_weight=&#8221;5&#8243; height=&#8221;5px&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12&#8243; \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.47&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;0|0px|42.5833px|0px|false|false&#8221; prev_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.48&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_3&#8243;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.12.2&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>i mentioned that, when i returned to college after working full-time, i was horrified by how little was being done in business schools to prepare students for their careers.\u00a0 That was the 1970s!\u00a0 Very little has changed since then.\u00a0 To give you an idea, consider what the CEOs of some of Fortune magazine&#8217;s &#8220;<em>Top 100 Companies to work for<\/em>&#8221; l<a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/2017\/03\/26\/ceos-ideal-job-candidates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ook for in hiring new employees<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Just taking one of those, the CEO of the 6th best company to work for is looking for candidates who possess:\u00a0 &#8220;<em>Curiosity, humility, collaboration, passion for their field, and the desire and drive to accomplish something great.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Most experts in developmental and cognitive psychology agree that these are all things that can be learned.\u00a0 So the question is:\u00a0 Is higher education &#8211; and more specifically, the PCSB &#8211; creating classrooms where its students can learn, practice, then develop these?\u00a0 If not, then what are our students learning?<\/p>\n<p>Generally, in college, learning refers to the following process:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>reading \/ studying information presented in the course, then<\/li>\n<li>demonstrating retention of that information through class assignments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s a simple, straightforward process, one that can involve many different classroom strategies and techniques, from lectures to engaging experiential exercises.\u00a0 It is remarkably efficient from the standpoint of college administration.\u00a0 But there is a problem when it comes to learning, as opposed to simply retaining information short-term.\u00a0 Research in higher education consistently shows that even students who retain much of the information in the short term, forget most of it after a few months. It is not unusual for specific studies to show that after just a few weeks, almost half of the information is forgotten. After 12 months how much information is retained can be as low as 15-20%.\u00a0 A question that occurs then, is:\u00a0 If we are taking all these classes yet forget most of what we retained, why are we taking those particular classes?<\/p>\n<p>Learning, as opposed to taking in information, involves understanding, and that usually comes from being able to take the information presented and applying it in real-world situations.\u00a0 That information becomes knowledge through practicing applications to the point where we don\u2019t forget, even if we stop using that knowledge for awhile.<\/p>\n<p>As an example, think about riding a bicycle.\u00a0 We could take a class where we learn all about bikes:\u00a0 their history, their parts and how they work together, the physics of cycling, perhaps even biology as it pertains to competitive bicycle racing.\u00a0 We could read stories on the great cyclists.\u00a0 And then we could take exams, write papers, and give speeches on what we have learned.\u00a0 A question is:\u00a0 What have we actually learned about riding a bike?<\/p>\n<p>That takes getting on the damned thing &#8211; usually with Mom or Dad hanging on to the back of the seat &#8211; and riding.\u00a0 Until you fall off.\u00a0 Then repeat.\u00a0 And if you do get to where you can ride without assistance, the rest of your life you will know how to ride, even if you don\u2019t do so for many years.<\/p>\n<p>Isn\u2019t that what education should be?\u00a0 Shouldn\u2019t it involve knowledge and skills that you can use successfully the rest of your lives?\u00a0 Honestly, i would never pay a quarter of a million dollars to do the same things i could do by myself in libraries and online.\u00a0 Especially when universities like MIT offer all of their courses online.\u00a0 For free!\u00a0 But i would pay $250,000, and more, if i came out of four years with knowledge and skills that i can use for success, the rest of my life.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair, you will learn things here.\u00a0 There are important lessons in getting along with people and learning what to do when you don&#8217;t get along with others.\u00a0 Being separated from families, you learn about balancing freedom and responsibility.\u00a0 You&#8217;ll likely learn a lot about yourself.\u00a0 Many will mature a great deal in your four years.\u00a0 Attending this particular college, we hope you will come away with a strong sense of personal ethics.<\/p>\n<p>However, since my role is in the classroom, i am more interested in what you learn in classes and how those experiences integrate with the personal, social, spiritual, and aspirational.<\/p>\n<p>Susan Blum, anthropologist at Notre Dame, refers to this traditional approach (what more non-politically correct faculty often refer to as \u201c<em>academic binge-and-purge<\/em>\u201d) as \u201c<em><a href=\"https:\/\/smile.amazon.com\/Love-Learning-Hate-School-Anthropology\/dp\/1501713485\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">learning in the cage<\/a>.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Students usually have no say in what they study in a given class, how they go about demonstrating how much they retain, and how they will be judged.\u00a0 There are so many constraints, it usually feels like one is caged.\u00a0 Under such conditions, it is rare to find a student who likes these conditions.\u00a0 Is it then any wonder why so little information is retained?\u00a0 The way it is presented in most classes, it seems to have very little to do with you personally.\u00a0 As a result, it is just not important to you.\u00a0 And it is not you.\u00a0 That&#8217;s the way everyone is.<\/p>\n<p>There is a significant disconnect between learning in a cage and the way humans learn naturally.\u00a0 Think of the things that have fascinated you to the point where &#8211; when first hearing of them &#8211; you simply needed to know more.\u00a0 You took it upon yourself to find out more about it.\u00a0 Asking questions and reading and viewing and listening and studying about it in no way resembled what you did when you prepared for those Civ exams.\u00a0 If your curiosity and interest deepened with your research, you started telling everyone else about it.\u00a0 Those as interested in you became your students; you, their teachers.\u00a0 And it was all natural, things you did without realizing that\u2019s what you were doing.\u00a0 And you did it without anyone telling you what to do, how to do it, by what deadline, or judging how well you did it.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to schooling, Blum refers to this approach &#8211; the way we all learned as babies, the way we learn about things we find fascinating &#8211; as \u201c<em>learning in the wild<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So here are some very important questions for us, concerning this class:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is it possible to create a class based on learning in the wild?\u00a0 It might be hard to conceive, given that in &#8220;<em>wild learning<\/em>,&#8221; each person follows her or his own rules and guidelines (note:\u00a0 as you will see, this is not a good reason for giving up completely on the idea of a \u201c<em>wild<\/em>\u201d class).<\/li>\n<li>How can we minimize the aspects of the cage?<\/li>\n<li>How can we maximize \u201c<em>wild<\/em>\u201d learning?<\/li>\n<li>What is the balance between cage and wild for the specific group of people in your class?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Even though you were just introduced to these ideas, you likely have some thoughts about them, questions of your own, perhaps even some responses to these questions.\u00a0 Given that one thing we simply must overcome in this class is the notion of a \u201c<em>right<\/em>\u201d answer, this could be a good first practice of using your voice.\u00a0 So &#8211; again it is optional &#8211; but if you accept the challenge of responding on this issue, please use the comments to do so.<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_3&#8243;][et_pb_testimonial author=&#8221;Hannah Sorila&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12.2&#8243; quote_icon_background_color=&#8221;#f5f5f5&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p><em>Out of desperation and not knowing how to move forward, we asked tom for some guidance. And his only response was about emailing the father of the girl we were reading about. It seemed unfathomable and so incredibly unhelpful.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=&#8221;3.12.2&#8243; author=&#8221;Grace Schieberl&#8221; quote_icon_background_color=&#8221;#f5f5f5&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p><em>Being someone who often puts too much pressure on myself and then cracks, I was reminded in that moment that I wasn\u2019t alone in this experience and that there was room to create something unique and awesome.\u00a0 So, [as a co-facilitator of the class] I brought my loud, bubbly, enthusiasm to a classroom full of nervous, fidgety freshman (who turned out to be among the most inspiring, intelligent, challenging group of freaks, whom I love dearly).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=&#8221;3.12.2&#8243; author=&#8221;Alvin Toffler&#8221; quote_icon_background_color=&#8221;#f5f5f5&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p><em>The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.48&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_divider divider_weight=&#8221;5&#8243; height=&#8221;5px&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12&#8243; \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=&#8221;3.12.2&#8243; border_width_all=&#8221;2px&#8221; \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.47&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;44.5667px|0px|0|0px|false|false&#8221; next_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.48&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_4&#8243;][et_pb_post_title date_format=&#8221;j M Y&#8221; categories=&#8221;off&#8221; featured_image=&#8221;off&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12&#8243; title_font=&#8221;|700||on|||||&#8221; title_font_size=&#8221;20px&#8221; title_font_size_last_edited=&#8221;off|&#8221; \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;3_4&#8243;][et_pb_video src=&#8221;https:\/\/youtu.be\/5eCnRPwjwR8&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12&#8243; \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.47&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;44.5667px|0px|0|0px|false|false&#8221; prev_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; next_background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.48&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243;][et_pb_testimonial author=&#8221;Benjamin Franklin&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.12.2&#8243;] Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember.\u00a0 Involve me and I learn. [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_divider divider_weight=&#8221;5&#8243; height=&#8221;5px&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30544","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30544"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31084,"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30544\/revisions\/31084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}