Learning. Learning is a constant process of human beings. To say that one is not learning is impossible; everything we do, everything we see we take something from it whether we want to or not. To die is to finally stop learning. I think everyone needs to embrace that. I am not just talking about learning in the classroom, I am talking about the things you hear on the news, the people you meet everyday, the things you see happening. To say you can't learn from a tree is ridiculous, even though saying that you can sounds extremely silly. Everyone can learn from everything if they open their mind to it, and that often seems to be a problem. Some students seem to not really care about what they are doing and school and, rather, go on auto-pilot. The amount of people I see do this has certainly changed drastically from when I was in high school, but still, the fact that people still do that is astounding.
Do not get me wrong, not everything you see or hear in the classroom necessarily needs to be learned. What good is a chemistry formula to, say, one who works in Public Relations? No, to such things I say write down and keep for later if the need arises. Keep your eyes open nonetheless, as one never truly knows what is useless and what isn't. But what about subjects that you need to learn about? How does an English major, for example, learn about writing styles or theories? How do you differentiate from learning a math theorem and learning an essential thing you need to know? What a terrible sentence. But anyway, one needs to be aware about such things and the difference between what they should pay attention to and what they should just write down. As there is the banking style of teaching where the teacher just inserts knowledge with very little rhyme or reason, there too is the banking style of learning, where even if the teacher or professor is great, the students just marks the notes in his or her
Aguilar 2
notebook and is done with it, only learning until the exam hits.
Learning, or at least academic learning, does not end in the classroom of course. This concept is not a difficult one to understand, as so many people accept this it is almost redundant to mention it. Nonetheless, it must be reiterated. As a student, I am obligated to not only do the homework but to understand it. What is the good of reading, say, Stein, if you do not at least understand why you are reading it? This is not to say that you should fully understand what Stein is saying, for example, as that is an exercise of tedium and may result in constant frustration in addition to taking months of constant attention to fully understand it. But understand the bare bones of the reading or at least why it was assigned and what else was assigned around it. There is another thing about learning and understanding, you have to make associations. Think about what is assigned and how they tie into each other. It is easy to read multiple essays at the same time and comment on them, but more than likely if multiple readings are assigned at once it is with a purpose. So one must be constantly observing.
I feel an obligation to the professor of the subject to pay attention or at the very least take notes. To procrastinate – as I often unfortunately do – or to not do the homework assigned almost defeats the purpose of the learning process. To forget that learning is important and always active is to fail, I think.
It is of course a struggle. Nobody is saying that is isn't. How does one overcome that struggle? Is it subject matter? An interest in that class? I don't know if I have gotten to that part yet.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Only the Beginning...
I believe that the heart of teaching should be patience with a side of understanding. There are many different beliefs on what teaching should be. What teaching really is, what it should convey and uphold. Books upon books exist consisting of theories on the supposed “right way” to go about teaching. There really is no right way. You teach how you teach. Students learn in their own ways. You can’t force them to learn in any certain way, it isn’t morally right. In reality everyone is a student in this world. As Paulo Freire says, “Man is merely in the world, not with the world or with others; man is spectator, not re-creator. In this view, man is not a conscious being; he is rather the possessor of a consciousness: an empty “mind” passively open to the reception of deposits of reality from the world outside.” He is saying that man is merely a spectator in this wide world. Every single person on this planet still has much to learn about life. We may be aware of our surroundings but we still have much to learn about them is the point in which I am trying to get across.
The qualities I have listed in the previous paragraph should only be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the layout of teaching. The traits a teacher may possess will undoubtedly influence, in some way, shape or form, your ability to learn. If a teacher dulls you and is
completely monotone, you are not going to be interested in the topic. As such, your ability to learn will suffer from this. However, if that same teacher were to really make the subject interesting and would truly capture your attention, then you will listen more intently. You will be more compelled to come to class, to take notes, to really try to learn something new. People, whether they except it or not, want to learn. It’s in our genes. From the day we are born we are constantly striving for more information. Every essence of our being is programmed to learn. This is true for our physical being as well. If something is, for say, extremely hot to the touch. You touch it and instantly pull your hand back. You learned something there. See? Learning is all around us.
Why do people strive to learn so much? With so many questions and still so many answers for these questions. “The aim of culture is to set ourselves to ascertain what perfection is and to make it prevail.” (Viswanathan). Is that why we wish to learn so much? Perhaps a hidden desire to become perfect? I do believe that culture today has an unhealthy obsession with perfection. No one should have to be perfect. We shouldn’t have to feel that we need to learn just to become perfect creatures. We should learn to enhance our own self. We should take in all that we can and give even more to ensure personal growth. I feel that learning is a kind of gift. A gift that is to be taken and shared with everyone. I believe this is a true reasoning for learning; or at least it should be.
Students learn the best in helpful open environments. One’s they aren’t afraid to speak up in, where they can ask questions, and receive insightful answers. Some people don’t need
participation to learn. They can learn through example and through just listening. I personally feel that students should not be forced to participate if they are doing just fine otherwise. I know learning can be about stepping out of your comfort zone but forced participation is unfair. If it has to be done, let the students slowly come out of their comfort zone. Soon enough they will feel more comfortable with their peers.
Thoughts
-Go into more detail about how I personally learn. Really talk about how I go about doing this and why I learn in that way.
-Discuss other theories from the essays we have read. Quote all of them. Talk about if I agree or disagree with any of them and why I think that way.
-Really think about any more questions I may have about this topic.
-Think about any frustrations any of these make me feel. Discuss them.
The qualities I have listed in the previous paragraph should only be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the layout of teaching. The traits a teacher may possess will undoubtedly influence, in some way, shape or form, your ability to learn. If a teacher dulls you and is
completely monotone, you are not going to be interested in the topic. As such, your ability to learn will suffer from this. However, if that same teacher were to really make the subject interesting and would truly capture your attention, then you will listen more intently. You will be more compelled to come to class, to take notes, to really try to learn something new. People, whether they except it or not, want to learn. It’s in our genes. From the day we are born we are constantly striving for more information. Every essence of our being is programmed to learn. This is true for our physical being as well. If something is, for say, extremely hot to the touch. You touch it and instantly pull your hand back. You learned something there. See? Learning is all around us.
Why do people strive to learn so much? With so many questions and still so many answers for these questions. “The aim of culture is to set ourselves to ascertain what perfection is and to make it prevail.” (Viswanathan). Is that why we wish to learn so much? Perhaps a hidden desire to become perfect? I do believe that culture today has an unhealthy obsession with perfection. No one should have to be perfect. We shouldn’t have to feel that we need to learn just to become perfect creatures. We should learn to enhance our own self. We should take in all that we can and give even more to ensure personal growth. I feel that learning is a kind of gift. A gift that is to be taken and shared with everyone. I believe this is a true reasoning for learning; or at least it should be.
Students learn the best in helpful open environments. One’s they aren’t afraid to speak up in, where they can ask questions, and receive insightful answers. Some people don’t need
participation to learn. They can learn through example and through just listening. I personally feel that students should not be forced to participate if they are doing just fine otherwise. I know learning can be about stepping out of your comfort zone but forced participation is unfair. If it has to be done, let the students slowly come out of their comfort zone. Soon enough they will feel more comfortable with their peers.
Thoughts
-Go into more detail about how I personally learn. Really talk about how I go about doing this and why I learn in that way.
-Discuss other theories from the essays we have read. Quote all of them. Talk about if I agree or disagree with any of them and why I think that way.
-Really think about any more questions I may have about this topic.
-Think about any frustrations any of these make me feel. Discuss them.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Brainstormin's
Sorry about this, my comp was being weird.
Brainstorming
I learn best when my mind and body are free to navigate with the vessels of my thoughts. As socially aware beings, we are cartographers. We learn through pain, when something is taken from us; without loss, we never learn to cherish what we have. We learn to let go of illusions, drop broken ties. Our hearts and minds expand through knowledge and exploration, and knowledge exists so that we needn’t spend our lives reliving what others spent their lives discovering. With all the resources available to us know, in a way we’ve each lived thousands of lives, yet being fed from such a mass store of information sometimes detracts from both the desire and need to explore for oneself, even if the discoveries are known; the way in which babies experience and learn about the world is sensory, and though we each began with the basics, that characteristic still lies within each of us if summoned properly by the correct environment. Metaphorically speaking, if this were done properly, we would all wish to crawl, discover, grasp new counter tops, all with a sense of newness- a location where a carnation doesn’t have a name, just something with a pink, ruffled top, though none of those words exist either; nothing has to have a label there, or a category.
True, raw learning is apart from its fraternal synonyms: knowledge, scholarship, wisdom. The process of learning lends itself to unfamiliarity, a realm where there may not be a black or white, true or false, or better or worse. We first with basics, then group them together into concepts, which are less arbitrary, learn in ways that are transitive and may involve experimentation and being disproved. One of the keys is that learning is a process, as if we were each born with all the tools and understanding that we needed to comprehend the world without first making mistakes and creating our own theories, then w would lack other forms of creativity as well. Also, we learn as sensitive and perceptive beings (many until two decades in their lives), that what they say and do actually has an impact on themselves and those around them. I learn best not when what I’m doing hurts me, but when it hurts those I care about, because part of being sentient and emotional involves acquires empathy, or at least sympathy, through a series of hardships; if everything came easy to us, then we would never have any reason to try to connect with people or broaden our horizons. As said in class of a philosophy of learning, dissatisfaction and indeterminacy each exist for a purpose, to make us better ourselves and never cease to explore new things about the world, those around us and ourselves. The most we can seem to do, truly, as limited beings, is try to know as much as we can about one or two subjects. To me this seems to be why majors exist. Also, even experts in various fields seem to know that, more than likely, they will never know all that there is to know within their field, and a century after their deaths, their fundamental thoughts on the topics encompassed maybe become obsolete; just as people took whatever information was told to them throughout points of history, like with FDR’s fireside chats, people of today turn to the news for a, perhaps, false sense of security. This is strange, as hindsight is known to be 20-20, yet many rely on foresight regardless. Also, an interesting aspect of human nature is knowing that the world is ever changing, yet some things are constant, like the shifting of the seasons, and that, though many have become highly commercialized, traditions are often able to serve a function of bringing people together, even though the world is ever-changing. Ecosystems, even if un-tampered with by humans, fluctuate as well, but not as dramatically as the world of homo sapiens. With our complex webs of morals, we learn that making conscious decisions varies in difficulty by who or what is involved; I read once in Time Magazine that given a scenario in which a train is supposed to stop ahead but will not, an operator is near the lever arm which can bring the train to a halt if pushed onto the lever, and save ten people on an incoming bus or save the one person, the operator, the people surveyed quickly responded that they would save the ten people over the one. However, in the next scenario they were told that the operator was their father or brother, and this baffled people, bringing many to choose the one person, which of course is selfish, taking into account the loss of the families of the other ten people, but this is where love comes into play.
We learn that it can often be the main force to drive a decision, like whether to change jobs and receive a lower salary to be with someone, or fly halfway across the world to care for one’s ill relative. In addition, love is a crucial aspect of learning, putting lessons to use, and appreciating why lessons exist. Without the love of and being loved by others, our lessons would be different ones in that they would detach us from others with smaller spectrums of emotion, accompanied by lower expectations, and on occasion a listlessness for learning if the underlying goal in improving and broadening oneself would be questionable, possibly buried even deeper within us but we’d lack the desire to find it.
Brainstorming
I learn best when my mind and body are free to navigate with the vessels of my thoughts. As socially aware beings, we are cartographers. We learn through pain, when something is taken from us; without loss, we never learn to cherish what we have. We learn to let go of illusions, drop broken ties. Our hearts and minds expand through knowledge and exploration, and knowledge exists so that we needn’t spend our lives reliving what others spent their lives discovering. With all the resources available to us know, in a way we’ve each lived thousands of lives, yet being fed from such a mass store of information sometimes detracts from both the desire and need to explore for oneself, even if the discoveries are known; the way in which babies experience and learn about the world is sensory, and though we each began with the basics, that characteristic still lies within each of us if summoned properly by the correct environment. Metaphorically speaking, if this were done properly, we would all wish to crawl, discover, grasp new counter tops, all with a sense of newness- a location where a carnation doesn’t have a name, just something with a pink, ruffled top, though none of those words exist either; nothing has to have a label there, or a category.
True, raw learning is apart from its fraternal synonyms: knowledge, scholarship, wisdom. The process of learning lends itself to unfamiliarity, a realm where there may not be a black or white, true or false, or better or worse. We first with basics, then group them together into concepts, which are less arbitrary, learn in ways that are transitive and may involve experimentation and being disproved. One of the keys is that learning is a process, as if we were each born with all the tools and understanding that we needed to comprehend the world without first making mistakes and creating our own theories, then w would lack other forms of creativity as well. Also, we learn as sensitive and perceptive beings (many until two decades in their lives), that what they say and do actually has an impact on themselves and those around them. I learn best not when what I’m doing hurts me, but when it hurts those I care about, because part of being sentient and emotional involves acquires empathy, or at least sympathy, through a series of hardships; if everything came easy to us, then we would never have any reason to try to connect with people or broaden our horizons. As said in class of a philosophy of learning, dissatisfaction and indeterminacy each exist for a purpose, to make us better ourselves and never cease to explore new things about the world, those around us and ourselves. The most we can seem to do, truly, as limited beings, is try to know as much as we can about one or two subjects. To me this seems to be why majors exist. Also, even experts in various fields seem to know that, more than likely, they will never know all that there is to know within their field, and a century after their deaths, their fundamental thoughts on the topics encompassed maybe become obsolete; just as people took whatever information was told to them throughout points of history, like with FDR’s fireside chats, people of today turn to the news for a, perhaps, false sense of security. This is strange, as hindsight is known to be 20-20, yet many rely on foresight regardless. Also, an interesting aspect of human nature is knowing that the world is ever changing, yet some things are constant, like the shifting of the seasons, and that, though many have become highly commercialized, traditions are often able to serve a function of bringing people together, even though the world is ever-changing. Ecosystems, even if un-tampered with by humans, fluctuate as well, but not as dramatically as the world of homo sapiens. With our complex webs of morals, we learn that making conscious decisions varies in difficulty by who or what is involved; I read once in Time Magazine that given a scenario in which a train is supposed to stop ahead but will not, an operator is near the lever arm which can bring the train to a halt if pushed onto the lever, and save ten people on an incoming bus or save the one person, the operator, the people surveyed quickly responded that they would save the ten people over the one. However, in the next scenario they were told that the operator was their father or brother, and this baffled people, bringing many to choose the one person, which of course is selfish, taking into account the loss of the families of the other ten people, but this is where love comes into play.
We learn that it can often be the main force to drive a decision, like whether to change jobs and receive a lower salary to be with someone, or fly halfway across the world to care for one’s ill relative. In addition, love is a crucial aspect of learning, putting lessons to use, and appreciating why lessons exist. Without the love of and being loved by others, our lessons would be different ones in that they would detach us from others with smaller spectrums of emotion, accompanied by lower expectations, and on occasion a listlessness for learning if the underlying goal in improving and broadening oneself would be questionable, possibly buried even deeper within us but we’d lack the desire to find it.
3 pages of hell..
Abstruse Of Comprehending
Learning is natural. We all have to do it. A philosophy of learning is connected with a philosophy of teaching. Education is a fragile thing. If you can’t learn, you can’t have an education. And without that, you won’t go anywhere in life. Having an education is powerful. Being literate is compelling. Learning is something that should not be overlooked.
There are many different ways of learning. Multiple intelligences are very important while learning. Depending on what kind of person that you are depends on the way that you learn. There are many different intelligences: linguistic, logical, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.
There are three different types of learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. I myself am a visual learner. I need things like overheads, and words written on the board to understand. Learning by listening sometime really doesn’t do anything for me. If I have be in a lecture, I have to take
Having the previous experience of being a student teacher, I have learned what it is to teach. I’ve learned what it is to be taught. When you are put in the position of being the teacher, you really have to understand how your students will learn from what you are teaching. You write the lesson plans, and have to assess what should be learned.
It is so frustrating to learn new things. It is even more frustrating to try to learn things that you don’t want to. That is when you’re five friends aren’t by your side. Not wanting to learn makes it hard. But when you are excited about learning it seems easier. You feel torn when you want to learn. You would rather being doing anything besides that at the time. To be honest, some of the books that we have read make me not excited to learn at all. Reading Stein made me not want to learn. I can’t do it. I can’t be excited to read books that I have to analyze. Why do we have to highlight and underline so much just to learn about one or two sentences? Do we honestly have to break down everything? There is so much under the surface and we have to understand more than just the sentence that is displayed in the paragraph. Writers seem to make it harder to learn. They make it harder for me to learn. Why isn’t everything just straight forward? It should tell you who what it means; it should be that simple. There shouldn’t have to be an underlying meaning.
How do I learn? I just do. But sometimes I feel like what Freire said is true. “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor”. (Richter- Freire 69) Teachers just put information in our heads, also known as banking. “The more completely he fills the receptacles, the better a teacher he is.” (Richter- Freire 69) Teachers are only good teachers if they make their students learn information, permanently. I feel though as some time passes those things that were placed in our receptacles eventually drop off.
Terry Eagleton compares literature and religion. In the classroom, you are not supposed to integrate religion. I was taught that God was not supposed to be talked about in school. It is such a controversial issue. Teachers were supposed to teach the subject that was intended to be taught, and leave God to the church. Eagleton says that religion should be replaced with literature, which I think is completely wrong. “If one were asked to provide a single explanation for the growth of English studies in the later nineteenth century, one could do worse than reply: “the failure of religion”.”(Richter- Eagleton 49). I think that you can learn both about literature and religion. It is ironic though that he would mention that, because religion is part based upon the Bible, and the Bible is literature. “It took rather longer for English, a subject fit for women, workers, and those wishing to impress the natives, to penetrate the bastions of ruling-class power in Oxford and Cambridge.” (Richter- Eagleton 53). I don’t know if it was the fact that the upper class thought they were too good for English or that it just came to the lower class first. Either way, English was put on the table to be learned by all. It is the basis of everything else that we have to learn. If you don’t have English, then there is not point to even attempt to learn other subjects.
I think also that how you learn depends on where you are, what you are surrounded by. Who is around you depends on how you learn. If you are sitting by someone that won’t stop talking, or has nervous habits, like popping their gum and tapping their pen, you might not be as susceptible to learning. When I am learning I need it to be peaceful. I don’t need it to be “pin-drop” quiet, but at least a good volume of quiet. Don’t speak in my ear when I’m trying to learn. I won’t pay attention. Sweatpants can sometimes be a hazard in the learning environment. Sometimes I am so comfortable that I don’t feel like learning. No shoes are a must. Covering the feet is like covering the mind. It blocks information from coming in. Crossing your legs might feel like tightening up, but it doesn’t. Playing with your hair is fidgety. I do it, most girls do. I can’t help it. Colors can spark interest. White, black, and gray make me look at the inside of my eyelids. Orange, red, and lime green; those are the colors that make me wake up. They open my eyes to new things, to want to learn. Enough sleep is necessary to focus. And so is the contents of your stomach. You have to be right on before you learn.
Learning is natural. We all have to do it. A philosophy of learning is connected with a philosophy of teaching. Education is a fragile thing. If you can’t learn, you can’t have an education. And without that, you won’t go anywhere in life. Having an education is powerful. Being literate is compelling. Learning is something that should not be overlooked.
There are many different ways of learning. Multiple intelligences are very important while learning. Depending on what kind of person that you are depends on the way that you learn. There are many different intelligences: linguistic, logical, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.
There are three different types of learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. I myself am a visual learner. I need things like overheads, and words written on the board to understand. Learning by listening sometime really doesn’t do anything for me. If I have be in a lecture, I have to take
Having the previous experience of being a student teacher, I have learned what it is to teach. I’ve learned what it is to be taught. When you are put in the position of being the teacher, you really have to understand how your students will learn from what you are teaching. You write the lesson plans, and have to assess what should be learned.
It is so frustrating to learn new things. It is even more frustrating to try to learn things that you don’t want to. That is when you’re five friends aren’t by your side. Not wanting to learn makes it hard. But when you are excited about learning it seems easier. You feel torn when you want to learn. You would rather being doing anything besides that at the time. To be honest, some of the books that we have read make me not excited to learn at all. Reading Stein made me not want to learn. I can’t do it. I can’t be excited to read books that I have to analyze. Why do we have to highlight and underline so much just to learn about one or two sentences? Do we honestly have to break down everything? There is so much under the surface and we have to understand more than just the sentence that is displayed in the paragraph. Writers seem to make it harder to learn. They make it harder for me to learn. Why isn’t everything just straight forward? It should tell you who what it means; it should be that simple. There shouldn’t have to be an underlying meaning.
How do I learn? I just do. But sometimes I feel like what Freire said is true. “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor”. (Richter- Freire 69) Teachers just put information in our heads, also known as banking. “The more completely he fills the receptacles, the better a teacher he is.” (Richter- Freire 69) Teachers are only good teachers if they make their students learn information, permanently. I feel though as some time passes those things that were placed in our receptacles eventually drop off.
Terry Eagleton compares literature and religion. In the classroom, you are not supposed to integrate religion. I was taught that God was not supposed to be talked about in school. It is such a controversial issue. Teachers were supposed to teach the subject that was intended to be taught, and leave God to the church. Eagleton says that religion should be replaced with literature, which I think is completely wrong. “If one were asked to provide a single explanation for the growth of English studies in the later nineteenth century, one could do worse than reply: “the failure of religion”.”(Richter- Eagleton 49). I think that you can learn both about literature and religion. It is ironic though that he would mention that, because religion is part based upon the Bible, and the Bible is literature. “It took rather longer for English, a subject fit for women, workers, and those wishing to impress the natives, to penetrate the bastions of ruling-class power in Oxford and Cambridge.” (Richter- Eagleton 53). I don’t know if it was the fact that the upper class thought they were too good for English or that it just came to the lower class first. Either way, English was put on the table to be learned by all. It is the basis of everything else that we have to learn. If you don’t have English, then there is not point to even attempt to learn other subjects.
I think also that how you learn depends on where you are, what you are surrounded by. Who is around you depends on how you learn. If you are sitting by someone that won’t stop talking, or has nervous habits, like popping their gum and tapping their pen, you might not be as susceptible to learning. When I am learning I need it to be peaceful. I don’t need it to be “pin-drop” quiet, but at least a good volume of quiet. Don’t speak in my ear when I’m trying to learn. I won’t pay attention. Sweatpants can sometimes be a hazard in the learning environment. Sometimes I am so comfortable that I don’t feel like learning. No shoes are a must. Covering the feet is like covering the mind. It blocks information from coming in. Crossing your legs might feel like tightening up, but it doesn’t. Playing with your hair is fidgety. I do it, most girls do. I can’t help it. Colors can spark interest. White, black, and gray make me look at the inside of my eyelids. Orange, red, and lime green; those are the colors that make me wake up. They open my eyes to new things, to want to learn. Enough sleep is necessary to focus. And so is the contents of your stomach. You have to be right on before you learn.
3page philosophy
Philosophy of Learning
The Buddhist Proverb says, “when the student is ready, the master appears”, personally this is extremely similar to my personal philosophy of learning. From years of education and life lessons, I strongly believe that you must be ready and want to learn before any knowledge is gained. Through all the classrooms I have sat in to all the teachers I have worked under, I realize that it was the ones where I was willing and ready to learn that made a difference. For the desire to learn to be present, there must be three circumstances existing. First, the correct environment and curriculum for learning is crucial. Also, the educator has his/her responsibilities that are crucial for student’s learning and students must hold their end of the responsibility as well.
Learning goes way beyond the classroom walls and school property. Learning occurs through communication and interaction. For this to be possible, the learning environment is critical. The classroom, or wherever the learning is taking place, must have a very open and welcoming atmosphere. The environment must be both accepting and critical for quality discussions and interactions to take place. The learners must feel comfortable enough to express their personal opinions without feeling apprehensive of judgmental thoughts. Students need to feel as if they can voice their opinion even if it the teacher or fellow peers do not agree for quality learning to happen. The classroom needs to engage in conversations in which all students may participate. Beyond discussions and class material, students must have choices. There must be a variety of activities and interactions that are enjoyable for a wide range of personalities and individuals. With the correct environment, students will be self-motivated to learn and will develop accomplishment and satisfaction easier.
As educators, teachers hold large responsibilities in shaping the developing minds of their students. The mentors should clearly explain their goals and methods so that their students are aware of the expectations. Teachers should create interest and generate curiosity while encouraging students to work hard. Teachers should focus on weaning students of being depending on adults and help them form their own individual. When students ask questions or spark discussions, teachers should never just plainly answer the question, instead they should allow the students to think for themselves first (providing time for the student to wonder and struggle). Teachers must not judge prematurely and only provide fair criticism. Students should be encouraged to communicate and collaborate with their peers and the teacher should partake in this as well. Educators hold the responsibility of being active listeners and learners, for they are learning from their students as well. Learning is a two way process that definitely results in knowledge gained from both sides. Teachers must allow for doubt and frustration in their students and instead of disregarding or reprimanding these feelings, teachers need to understand them and work with them.
The student’s role as a learner is the most important of all. From personal experience, I understand that learning is like a sport: it requires effort, determination, and interest. Without these things you cannot expect to be the team’s MVP and then go professional. Learning is a sport and until you learn the basics, you will still be sitting on the sidelines. Students must make use of their previous and initial knowledge. What you learn in grade school is the basis of all knowledge to come. Students must open up their mind to everything and not just stay focused one what they are personally interested in. There has to be a development of desire to learn. By doing so, one must work effectively and intensely. Premature judgment of fellow peers, mentors, courses, etc. must be avoided to keep an open mind on education. Once a student can think independently and take responsibility for his or her own actions, then they will be ready to learn.
Brainstorm for rest of paper:
-Quotes and points made by all of the philosophers and authors we read from in Eng 100
-Personal examples of how I learn best
-In what environment (small class size vs. big, lecture hall vs. interactive classroom)
-With what type of teacher and resources
-Learning outside of the classroom, in real life
-Taking initiative to learn
-Absorbing the knowledge and using it in real life
-My personal best environment to learn/read/write in
-“Banking system of education”
-Teachers as students, learning from their students and their fellow teachers
The Buddhist Proverb says, “when the student is ready, the master appears”, personally this is extremely similar to my personal philosophy of learning. From years of education and life lessons, I strongly believe that you must be ready and want to learn before any knowledge is gained. Through all the classrooms I have sat in to all the teachers I have worked under, I realize that it was the ones where I was willing and ready to learn that made a difference. For the desire to learn to be present, there must be three circumstances existing. First, the correct environment and curriculum for learning is crucial. Also, the educator has his/her responsibilities that are crucial for student’s learning and students must hold their end of the responsibility as well.
Learning goes way beyond the classroom walls and school property. Learning occurs through communication and interaction. For this to be possible, the learning environment is critical. The classroom, or wherever the learning is taking place, must have a very open and welcoming atmosphere. The environment must be both accepting and critical for quality discussions and interactions to take place. The learners must feel comfortable enough to express their personal opinions without feeling apprehensive of judgmental thoughts. Students need to feel as if they can voice their opinion even if it the teacher or fellow peers do not agree for quality learning to happen. The classroom needs to engage in conversations in which all students may participate. Beyond discussions and class material, students must have choices. There must be a variety of activities and interactions that are enjoyable for a wide range of personalities and individuals. With the correct environment, students will be self-motivated to learn and will develop accomplishment and satisfaction easier.
As educators, teachers hold large responsibilities in shaping the developing minds of their students. The mentors should clearly explain their goals and methods so that their students are aware of the expectations. Teachers should create interest and generate curiosity while encouraging students to work hard. Teachers should focus on weaning students of being depending on adults and help them form their own individual. When students ask questions or spark discussions, teachers should never just plainly answer the question, instead they should allow the students to think for themselves first (providing time for the student to wonder and struggle). Teachers must not judge prematurely and only provide fair criticism. Students should be encouraged to communicate and collaborate with their peers and the teacher should partake in this as well. Educators hold the responsibility of being active listeners and learners, for they are learning from their students as well. Learning is a two way process that definitely results in knowledge gained from both sides. Teachers must allow for doubt and frustration in their students and instead of disregarding or reprimanding these feelings, teachers need to understand them and work with them.
The student’s role as a learner is the most important of all. From personal experience, I understand that learning is like a sport: it requires effort, determination, and interest. Without these things you cannot expect to be the team’s MVP and then go professional. Learning is a sport and until you learn the basics, you will still be sitting on the sidelines. Students must make use of their previous and initial knowledge. What you learn in grade school is the basis of all knowledge to come. Students must open up their mind to everything and not just stay focused one what they are personally interested in. There has to be a development of desire to learn. By doing so, one must work effectively and intensely. Premature judgment of fellow peers, mentors, courses, etc. must be avoided to keep an open mind on education. Once a student can think independently and take responsibility for his or her own actions, then they will be ready to learn.
Brainstorm for rest of paper:
-Quotes and points made by all of the philosophers and authors we read from in Eng 100
-Personal examples of how I learn best
-In what environment (small class size vs. big, lecture hall vs. interactive classroom)
-With what type of teacher and resources
-Learning outside of the classroom, in real life
-Taking initiative to learn
-Absorbing the knowledge and using it in real life
-My personal best environment to learn/read/write in
-“Banking system of education”
-Teachers as students, learning from their students and their fellow teachers
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
check out this band
Check out this band. They will blow your mind. It's like contemporary art / music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGqJaFD7_wQ
Trippy trippy stuff.
1. Difference between factual knowledge, thought provoking knowledge, and reasoned knowledge
A. Factual Knowledge is objective and definite
A. Current Status of Education
a. This is what education is, but it is not what it should be
b. Increase of information on internet renders the knowledge of factual knowledge not valuable because answers are easy to be found
c. Factual knowledge can be easily found. Rendering it worthless if the value of knowledge is based on supply and demand.
i. Acquiring knowledge is done to elevate one’s status in the work place/job hunt.
ii. People pursue knowledge as a means of getting a better job to make more money which leads to a “better” life.
iii. The study of factual knowledge is ultimately futile because factual knowledge is worthless due to the ease of acquiring this knowledge
d. Paulo Freire Banking Concept pgs 72-74
B. Better technology makes factual knowledge worthless
a. Internet makes once hard to find information easily accessible by anybody with an internet connection.
b. About 75% of Americans have access to the internet from home. (Nielson-Nielson)
c. Through websites like Wikipedia.com, encyclopedia.com and Google one can find almost any piece factual information they could ever need.
d. Counter argument could be that online sources are not reliable sources of information but the sheer quality of information on the internet can verify most information.
e. Calculators are demonstrating this process .
i. Today’s common calculators can perform more tasks
ii. The need to learn how to multiply, add, subtract can be replaced with the knowledge of how to use a calculator, which can be found online
iii. New calculators have the power to perform advanced forms of calculus. TI-Nspire
C. Dangers in Schools emphasizing factual knowledge
a. Actually is detrimental to the progression of learning
i. Treats students as second class learners having to learn and regurgitate facts that might not be true
ii. Removes the freedom to question information which is key in education –scientific method
iii. Does not allow students to be a contributing member of society because the knowledge the possess will never be greater than the information yielded by a Google search.
B. Thoughts are subjective
A. Ultimately more beneficial to learn how to do
a. Requires actual thought process not wikipedia
b. Requires critical thinking and deeper understanding
Come about from communication
Heuristic- Thought provoking work
Freire quotes on pg 73
c. Thoughts are ideas or how to accomplish
d. Similar to reasoned knowledge
e. I’m really starting to think this isn’t going to be beneficial at all to what I’m actually going to write about.
C. Reasoned Knowledge
A. Come from a combination of factual knowledge and thought provoking knowledge.
B.
1. Learning through Experience
a. Learning is best done when questions are allowed to be raised
i. Only through communication is real learning acquired
ii. When someone can explain something and have a conversation about it can they actually claim to know it.
b. Learning is best when the initial goal is to create thought (heuristic)Learning through discussion
EPIPHANY!!Metaphor comparing learning to playing a trumpet
Quote Metaphors we live by at the very beginning. Probably something that has something to do with how metaphors make learning concept easier to comprehend.
Try to simplify as much as possible. I want it to be easy to understand and not seem like some of the stuff from richter.
Compare simple concept like “Play in a group of musicians” to the necessity of communication and group work.
Going with that concept.
“Take lessons” to “Go to school.”
“Spend a lot of time practicing by yourself” to “Spend a lot of time practicing by yourself”“Can read about how to play but you will never know how to play” to “experience Is necessary.”
“Listen to others, put forth your own sound, and blend.” To “communication.”This is so brilliant I’m so proud of myself. More to come later.
Stephen Stanger
Abstract: In keeping with George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s belief that “metaphorical concepts can be extended beyond the range of ordinary literal ways of thinking and talking into the range of what is called figurative, poetic, colorful, or fanciful thought and language(Lakoff and Johnson, P. 14)” Stephen Stanger compares the concept of learning with playing a trumpet. Through this metaphor basic connections are made between the act of learning and the process of making music. By comparing these two arts Stephen Stanger suggests that the process of learning is a universal procedure with how we acquire knowledge. Through human interaction, critical thought, and through personal experience we attain information that allows us to further the betterment of our character and our quality of life as a whole.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGqJaFD7_wQ
Trippy trippy stuff.
1. Difference between factual knowledge, thought provoking knowledge, and reasoned knowledge
A. Factual Knowledge is objective and definite
A. Current Status of Education
a. This is what education is, but it is not what it should be
b. Increase of information on internet renders the knowledge of factual knowledge not valuable because answers are easy to be found
c. Factual knowledge can be easily found. Rendering it worthless if the value of knowledge is based on supply and demand.
i. Acquiring knowledge is done to elevate one’s status in the work place/job hunt.
ii. People pursue knowledge as a means of getting a better job to make more money which leads to a “better” life.
iii. The study of factual knowledge is ultimately futile because factual knowledge is worthless due to the ease of acquiring this knowledge
d. Paulo Freire Banking Concept pgs 72-74
B. Better technology makes factual knowledge worthless
a. Internet makes once hard to find information easily accessible by anybody with an internet connection.
b. About 75% of Americans have access to the internet from home. (Nielson-Nielson)
c. Through websites like Wikipedia.com, encyclopedia.com and Google one can find almost any piece factual information they could ever need.
d. Counter argument could be that online sources are not reliable sources of information but the sheer quality of information on the internet can verify most information.
e. Calculators are demonstrating this process .
i. Today’s common calculators can perform more tasks
ii. The need to learn how to multiply, add, subtract can be replaced with the knowledge of how to use a calculator, which can be found online
iii. New calculators have the power to perform advanced forms of calculus. TI-Nspire
C. Dangers in Schools emphasizing factual knowledge
a. Actually is detrimental to the progression of learning
i. Treats students as second class learners having to learn and regurgitate facts that might not be true
ii. Removes the freedom to question information which is key in education –scientific method
iii. Does not allow students to be a contributing member of society because the knowledge the possess will never be greater than the information yielded by a Google search.
B. Thoughts are subjective
A. Ultimately more beneficial to learn how to do
a. Requires actual thought process not wikipedia
b. Requires critical thinking and deeper understanding
Come about from communication
Heuristic- Thought provoking work
Freire quotes on pg 73
c. Thoughts are ideas or how to accomplish
d. Similar to reasoned knowledge
e. I’m really starting to think this isn’t going to be beneficial at all to what I’m actually going to write about.
C. Reasoned Knowledge
A. Come from a combination of factual knowledge and thought provoking knowledge.
B.
1. Learning through Experience
a. Learning is best done when questions are allowed to be raised
i. Only through communication is real learning acquired
ii. When someone can explain something and have a conversation about it can they actually claim to know it.
b. Learning is best when the initial goal is to create thought (heuristic)Learning through discussion
EPIPHANY!!Metaphor comparing learning to playing a trumpet
Quote Metaphors we live by at the very beginning. Probably something that has something to do with how metaphors make learning concept easier to comprehend.
Try to simplify as much as possible. I want it to be easy to understand and not seem like some of the stuff from richter.
Compare simple concept like “Play in a group of musicians” to the necessity of communication and group work.
Going with that concept.
“Take lessons” to “Go to school.”
“Spend a lot of time practicing by yourself” to “Spend a lot of time practicing by yourself”“Can read about how to play but you will never know how to play” to “experience Is necessary.”
“Listen to others, put forth your own sound, and blend.” To “communication.”This is so brilliant I’m so proud of myself. More to come later.
Stephen Stanger
Abstract: In keeping with George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s belief that “metaphorical concepts can be extended beyond the range of ordinary literal ways of thinking and talking into the range of what is called figurative, poetic, colorful, or fanciful thought and language(Lakoff and Johnson, P. 14)” Stephen Stanger compares the concept of learning with playing a trumpet. Through this metaphor basic connections are made between the act of learning and the process of making music. By comparing these two arts Stephen Stanger suggests that the process of learning is a universal procedure with how we acquire knowledge. Through human interaction, critical thought, and through personal experience we attain information that allows us to further the betterment of our character and our quality of life as a whole.
Free me from this prison!!!
This paper about my beliefs on the philosophy of learning is going to focus on such things as the importance of the setting and setup of the classroom, how the material can help me in the real world, and how the teacher of a class can often dictate their students’ feelings towards the subject as a whole. I will include examples of alternative teaching practices that have helped me learn, such as having class outside and discussing material as a class in a sporadic way, as to stimulate deeper thought. Discussed will also be the text that I have read in the English 100 class, incorporated in such ways as explaining that just as in Las Casas, teaching can be a serious form of propaganda that is often overlooked by society. The main theme of this paper, however, will be that the old standard for teaching, the banking concept, simply is not the most effective way to be taught. This concept brings about the ability to talk about subjects, without being able to actually speak. In other words, I will try to illustrate how the main purpose of education is to develop critical thought about the world, in which every person’s end result will be different, and how this is best reached through engaged discussion, as opposed to recitation or listening to a full class of lecture.
Ideas for this paper
Alternative classroom styles:
Outside class on warm days to lessen feeling of entrapment
Class sitting around a round table or one long business style table so everybody is visible all the time
Couches or beanbags (I’ve been in a class like this, it works surprisingly well)
Alternative forms of class:
Homework assignments due every two days
One day of traditional class, one day of discussion
Incorporating real world problems into the classroom for real discussion
More classes devoted to interdisciplinary studies
Homework submitted through a blog or a website
Use of secure class chat room, students can discuss assignments together
Assigning odd assignments, such as poems of Silverstien or Dr.Suess and drawing out the more mature themes in such works
Creating mandatory public service assignments that can be done as a class
Internships
Once a week classes with large assignments
Asking students to read banned books, but not assigning it
Learning is best done under no stress
Making learning important to the student, not just recitation
Study abroad programs
Studying plotlines of popular new movies or video games, in relation to The hero’s quest, plot triangle ect…
Incorporation of the texts:
Stein – how odd assignments can foster tolerance, love of the odd
Las Casas – learning can be used as propaganda
Helen Vendler – students can read some of their own books for assignments as opposed to cannon
Terry Eagleton – literature as religion, each reader seeks a different message, making certain books more enjoyable to read
Guari Viswanathan – how state can achieve propaganda means, unless class is allowed to beat it down with reason
Paulo Freire – mostly used for arguing against banking concept
Vladimir Nabokov – people obsess over literature, pull things out that aren’t there such as Catcher in The Rye.
How to get students SPEAKING:
Having a class where students can give a presentation about what they are passionate about
Teaching critical thinking about basic assumptions
Asking students to relate material to their lives
Allowing students to do assignments through art or music, as long as the proper amount of work and thought are shownMake tests that test concepts, not definitions
Ideas for this paper
Alternative classroom styles:
Outside class on warm days to lessen feeling of entrapment
Class sitting around a round table or one long business style table so everybody is visible all the time
Couches or beanbags (I’ve been in a class like this, it works surprisingly well)
Alternative forms of class:
Homework assignments due every two days
One day of traditional class, one day of discussion
Incorporating real world problems into the classroom for real discussion
More classes devoted to interdisciplinary studies
Homework submitted through a blog or a website
Use of secure class chat room, students can discuss assignments together
Assigning odd assignments, such as poems of Silverstien or Dr.Suess and drawing out the more mature themes in such works
Creating mandatory public service assignments that can be done as a class
Internships
Once a week classes with large assignments
Asking students to read banned books, but not assigning it
Learning is best done under no stress
Making learning important to the student, not just recitation
Study abroad programs
Studying plotlines of popular new movies or video games, in relation to The hero’s quest, plot triangle ect…
Incorporation of the texts:
Stein – how odd assignments can foster tolerance, love of the odd
Las Casas – learning can be used as propaganda
Helen Vendler – students can read some of their own books for assignments as opposed to cannon
Terry Eagleton – literature as religion, each reader seeks a different message, making certain books more enjoyable to read
Guari Viswanathan – how state can achieve propaganda means, unless class is allowed to beat it down with reason
Paulo Freire – mostly used for arguing against banking concept
Vladimir Nabokov – people obsess over literature, pull things out that aren’t there such as Catcher in The Rye.
How to get students SPEAKING:
Having a class where students can give a presentation about what they are passionate about
Teaching critical thinking about basic assumptions
Asking students to relate material to their lives
Allowing students to do assignments through art or music, as long as the proper amount of work and thought are shownMake tests that test concepts, not definitions
Gin Real foy Roeth
Why, How, and What we Learn
Why we learn is a tricky question. There are probably many reasons. Just a few that come to mind: interest, requirement, survival, uncontrolled, boredom, quest for enlightenment, to understand, etc. There are a lot of them. But I think it would be interesting to pose a theory that could be related to each one of the reasons given. I was thinking that perhaps the underlying reason for learning was fear. And that does sound very bleak. That was why I didn’t want to use that idea, but now I'm starting to think it might be a very valuable hypothesis worth exploring. If you think about it, fear is an emotion that drives us all in many ways. But there are many levels of fear. You can be afraid of change or you can be afraid for your life. There are very wide spectrums to the word and I think that range could be used to explain the sub-reasons for learning. I think this theory might run into some snags and loop holes. For instance, I was thinking about the opposing argument: but don’t we learn for our own personal interest? I thought about that and how fear could relate. You know, why ARE we interested in things? What sparks are attention? What is it about certain subjects that fascinate us and get us to research on our own? When I look at my own experiences, there are very few times that I have been interested in a subject enough to go to the library and read-up on it. Maybe I’ve looked up reviews on movies… or maybe I’ve researched s topic in order to prove someone wrong. But other than that, I don’t think I’ve ever looked up something PURELY based on interest (at least nothing too prominent; I’m sure I’ve done it in the past, but very briefly). I have asked questions about things and had people tell me what I wanted to know – whether that be school or at home. But I think THAT is how I find more about something. I ask people. I find it very dull looking for things on my own because I find it extremely frustrating when I don’t find what I’m looking for. When I ask a physical person, I get my answer from them. It’s much, much, simpler. And I think simplicity might have a lot to do with how we learn. But back to the “why.” When we learn in order to understand the unknown that can be related to fear. The saying goes that we always fear what we don’t understand. So we MUST learn if we are to rid ourselves of this fear – this fear for the unknown. When you look at the whole institution of school, you see that fear plays a big role. Why do we go to school as little kids? At that point, we’re still being told to do it, so we are afraid to not do it. Why are we afraid? Because our parents will get mad at us; and as a little kid, that’s a big fear. This same sort of idea weaves together our education, although it gets much more intense as schooling progresses. When you’re in elementary school, you are afraid to disappoint teachers and parents. It’s always scary getting yelled at by someone. As we approach middle school, that fear is less prominent, but it’s definitely there. That is why rules get stricter; to keep students afraid of not learning. NOTE: if you look at the kids who AREN’T learning, they are usually not afraid of authority. They don’t care if someone yells at them. They don’t mind punishment. They aren’t afraid, and as we can see, when the fear is purged, so is the necessity to learn. As students get to high school, there is a bigger fear. We fear for our futures. That is why we take things more seriously (and the rules get even stricter). We learn to do well on standardized tests and we learn to get good grades – all so that colleges will look at us favorably. We want a college education and the fear of not having one drives our high school learning. And then when we get into college, there is even a bigger fear. We become afraid to fail because then our resumes won’t look sharp. We won’t get the job we’re looking for. We learn because we are afraid to fail in life. That is the reason for our education. Now when we get into everyday life, we see new fears. At the very beginning, we learn (in a very natural way) to survive. And why do we do that? Obviously, we learn to survive because we fear for our lives. And even when we grow older, we learn to adapt to situations – either because we’re afraid to suffer or we’re afraid to die. I mention all these circumstances that can relate to my theory, but maybe I should look at a few cases where I can’t relate to fear. Uncontrolled learning does happen. We learn just by seeing and hearing and using our other senses. That happens without our control. Why does THAT happen? Why do we learn subconsciously? I think that’s a question for psychologists, but maybe not. It’s obviously a natural instinct used for survival, but can be used for other aspects other than survival. So I think IN ADDITION to fear, we learn because we can’t control ourselves. It’s as simple as that. But let’s get back to that snag we ran into earlier. How does learning for personal interest have to do with fear? As I think about it more and more, I’m starting to realize that maybe the two don’t relate, but there’s a catch. You have to ask why you are interested. Is it because you just want to know? But that can go on forever! Why do you want to know? I just do. Well why? It’s a nagging question that may not have an answer. I guess what it comes down to is one question; is there such thing as inquisitorial interest where the only gain from further learning/self-indulgence is simply pleasure? I don’t know, but I do think that most people usually have a reason for ‘being interested.’ Physiatrists want to learn more about the human mind because they want to UNDERSTAND (they are afraid of not knowing why someone acts the way they do). A historian wants to learn more about the civil war (he is afraid of dealing with the present so he obsesses with the past). There can be so many motives for why someone is interested. I really want to know, though: can someone be JUST INTERESTED? If it IS possible, then I think that becomes the most extraordinary learning of all. To be genuinely curious would be wonderful. And I think that is what needs to happen all the time. We shouldn’t be threatened into learning – we should be welcoming of it. But then again; what would the world be without a strict educational system? No mandatory schooling, no grades, no attendance policy, no tests, nothing that could cause fear. Would the world enjoy the learning process more and learn about the things that interest them? Or would people become lazy and do nothing other than survive? Can we lose appreciation for that miracle we have – the ability to learn? Would our ENTIRE system collapse as we know it? If we only had to learn for our survival, would we see a need for any further understanding? I think we would, but in this primal state, it would be entirely based on fear. We would fear death and therefore learn to make cures. We would fear the opinions of others, so we’d learn to make ourselves look better.
Why we learn is a tricky question. There are probably many reasons. Just a few that come to mind: interest, requirement, survival, uncontrolled, boredom, quest for enlightenment, to understand, etc. There are a lot of them. But I think it would be interesting to pose a theory that could be related to each one of the reasons given. I was thinking that perhaps the underlying reason for learning was fear. And that does sound very bleak. That was why I didn’t want to use that idea, but now I'm starting to think it might be a very valuable hypothesis worth exploring. If you think about it, fear is an emotion that drives us all in many ways. But there are many levels of fear. You can be afraid of change or you can be afraid for your life. There are very wide spectrums to the word and I think that range could be used to explain the sub-reasons for learning. I think this theory might run into some snags and loop holes. For instance, I was thinking about the opposing argument: but don’t we learn for our own personal interest? I thought about that and how fear could relate. You know, why ARE we interested in things? What sparks are attention? What is it about certain subjects that fascinate us and get us to research on our own? When I look at my own experiences, there are very few times that I have been interested in a subject enough to go to the library and read-up on it. Maybe I’ve looked up reviews on movies… or maybe I’ve researched s topic in order to prove someone wrong. But other than that, I don’t think I’ve ever looked up something PURELY based on interest (at least nothing too prominent; I’m sure I’ve done it in the past, but very briefly). I have asked questions about things and had people tell me what I wanted to know – whether that be school or at home. But I think THAT is how I find more about something. I ask people. I find it very dull looking for things on my own because I find it extremely frustrating when I don’t find what I’m looking for. When I ask a physical person, I get my answer from them. It’s much, much, simpler. And I think simplicity might have a lot to do with how we learn. But back to the “why.” When we learn in order to understand the unknown that can be related to fear. The saying goes that we always fear what we don’t understand. So we MUST learn if we are to rid ourselves of this fear – this fear for the unknown. When you look at the whole institution of school, you see that fear plays a big role. Why do we go to school as little kids? At that point, we’re still being told to do it, so we are afraid to not do it. Why are we afraid? Because our parents will get mad at us; and as a little kid, that’s a big fear. This same sort of idea weaves together our education, although it gets much more intense as schooling progresses. When you’re in elementary school, you are afraid to disappoint teachers and parents. It’s always scary getting yelled at by someone. As we approach middle school, that fear is less prominent, but it’s definitely there. That is why rules get stricter; to keep students afraid of not learning. NOTE: if you look at the kids who AREN’T learning, they are usually not afraid of authority. They don’t care if someone yells at them. They don’t mind punishment. They aren’t afraid, and as we can see, when the fear is purged, so is the necessity to learn. As students get to high school, there is a bigger fear. We fear for our futures. That is why we take things more seriously (and the rules get even stricter). We learn to do well on standardized tests and we learn to get good grades – all so that colleges will look at us favorably. We want a college education and the fear of not having one drives our high school learning. And then when we get into college, there is even a bigger fear. We become afraid to fail because then our resumes won’t look sharp. We won’t get the job we’re looking for. We learn because we are afraid to fail in life. That is the reason for our education. Now when we get into everyday life, we see new fears. At the very beginning, we learn (in a very natural way) to survive. And why do we do that? Obviously, we learn to survive because we fear for our lives. And even when we grow older, we learn to adapt to situations – either because we’re afraid to suffer or we’re afraid to die. I mention all these circumstances that can relate to my theory, but maybe I should look at a few cases where I can’t relate to fear. Uncontrolled learning does happen. We learn just by seeing and hearing and using our other senses. That happens without our control. Why does THAT happen? Why do we learn subconsciously? I think that’s a question for psychologists, but maybe not. It’s obviously a natural instinct used for survival, but can be used for other aspects other than survival. So I think IN ADDITION to fear, we learn because we can’t control ourselves. It’s as simple as that. But let’s get back to that snag we ran into earlier. How does learning for personal interest have to do with fear? As I think about it more and more, I’m starting to realize that maybe the two don’t relate, but there’s a catch. You have to ask why you are interested. Is it because you just want to know? But that can go on forever! Why do you want to know? I just do. Well why? It’s a nagging question that may not have an answer. I guess what it comes down to is one question; is there such thing as inquisitorial interest where the only gain from further learning/self-indulgence is simply pleasure? I don’t know, but I do think that most people usually have a reason for ‘being interested.’ Physiatrists want to learn more about the human mind because they want to UNDERSTAND (they are afraid of not knowing why someone acts the way they do). A historian wants to learn more about the civil war (he is afraid of dealing with the present so he obsesses with the past). There can be so many motives for why someone is interested. I really want to know, though: can someone be JUST INTERESTED? If it IS possible, then I think that becomes the most extraordinary learning of all. To be genuinely curious would be wonderful. And I think that is what needs to happen all the time. We shouldn’t be threatened into learning – we should be welcoming of it. But then again; what would the world be without a strict educational system? No mandatory schooling, no grades, no attendance policy, no tests, nothing that could cause fear. Would the world enjoy the learning process more and learn about the things that interest them? Or would people become lazy and do nothing other than survive? Can we lose appreciation for that miracle we have – the ability to learn? Would our ENTIRE system collapse as we know it? If we only had to learn for our survival, would we see a need for any further understanding? I think we would, but in this primal state, it would be entirely based on fear. We would fear death and therefore learn to make cures. We would fear the opinions of others, so we’d learn to make ourselves look better.
ABSTRACT: This scholarly essay proposes a challenging, controversial, and quite thought provoking theory behind the wonder of learning. It proposes that we, as humans, harbor a strong underlying fear that propels us to learn. It is fear that forces us to adapt and study. We are all slaves to this force, and because of it, the majority of the human race loses a simple beauty – we lose our genuine inquisitorial interest. The fear itself takes on many forms – each of which is discussed in this study. In this almost tyrannical system we have in place, this common fear leads us all to adapt. We all still learn, whether that be the cause of fear or not. But how does it happen? This essay proposes that it has to do with our natural instincts, and also through happiness. One can only learn when he/she is in good mental spirits. But with all this talk of learning, one would obviously wonder what needs to be learned. With such a misplaced driving force (fear), it is hypothetically suggested that we need not learn frivolous subjects such as history, science, mathematics, or grammar. In a primal world, these topics have little to do with natural survival – they have to do with societal survival. But what this study DOES encourage is learning based solely off of curiosity. With this suggestion in mind, the paper poses the ultimate question, “Can we and do we learn if we’re not afraid?”
No goodbye. No see you later. No nothing. You just left. I don't know much, but I know that.
This is my first semester of my freshman year here at ISU, and I must admit that I am bit thrown off by the request for me to write a philosophy of learning. For the fact of the matter is I am one of the worst candidates to write this paper, for I don’t really know what I am doing.
But I suppose that this is why I am at Illinois State University in the first place, and by acknowledging the fact that I am lacking in life experience, academic knowledge, and social skills, and overstocked with sarcasm and strange habits probably puts me in a better place than some of my colleagues.
See, I don’t know a whole lot about anything. I am no expert, or even a specialist of any sort. There are two things I can say with 110% certainty and those are:
A) I will never like Steely Dan
B) No one is just going to listen to what you have to say, you have to keep them interested.
First and foremost, in able to learn, one must be interested, not necessarily in the topic at hand, but perhaps in what the educator has to say about a topic. Something has to catch the student’s attention at each and every lesson, or nothing will be taken from it. Whether this make it entertaining, controversial, fun, sad, awkward, or just intense, any type of memorable emotion will help the information passed along in class much more memorable than anything that is described as boring, or sleep inducing.
Open communication is a necessity. Nothing can be learned by either party if there is confusion. Paulo Friere examines this in his essay The “Banking” Concept of Education,
“When their efforts to act responsibly are frustrated, when they find themselves unable to use their faculties, men suffer. ‘The suffering due to impotence is rooted in the very fact that the human equilibrium has been disturbed.’ But the inability to act which causes men’s anguish also causes them to reject their impotence by attempting to restore their capacity to act (Friere, pg 73).”
“Education as the practice of freedom-as opposed to education as the practice of domination-denies that man is abstract, isolated, independent, and unattached to the world; it also denies that the world exists as a reality apart from men. Authentic reflection considers neither abstract man nor the world without men, but men in their relations with the world. In these relations consciousness and world are simultaneous: consciousness neither precedes the world nor follows it (Friere, pg 75).”
The difference between knowledge and intelligence
Intelligence: the capacity for learning; reasoning, understanding, similar forms of mental activity. Aptitude in grasping truths, relationships facts, meanings.
Knowledge: acquaintance with facts, truths, principles. As from study or investigation, general erudition, knowledge of many things.
In order to teach something efficiently, an educator must understand at least a little of every single aspect of their chosen subject. I would at some point in my life, like to teach Theatre arts at the high school level, and I know (thanks to personal experience) that a theatre teacher that only knows acting, is not an effective teacher at all. To teach theatre, one must understand and be able to perform the technical, managerial, and performance tasks that are required. For this to happen, a person must realize that they will never stop learning. As cliché as it sounds, knowledge is indeed everywhere.
Some ideas and theories are best illustrated rather than described.
Not a lot of things have never been thought of before, but that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t try to reach for them. And it’s always fun to add to already determined theories.
Write a song. Music makes the brain work better.
No one will learn if they are miserable. Challenge people, but not obscenely.
Abstract: This essay attempts to describe and analyze all the aspects of modern education. What the author believes works and does not work, why the author believes learning is important, and how academic learning is just a viaduct into actual knowledge. True knowledge can’t be taught, it can just be uncovered. As an educator, your job is to expose students to ideas, theories, and historical instances that in other situations would be left undiscovered or forgotten. Hopefully, by the end of the essay, a previously unheard of or misunderstood aspect will be discovered, or at least explained a bit more thoroughly.
But I suppose that this is why I am at Illinois State University in the first place, and by acknowledging the fact that I am lacking in life experience, academic knowledge, and social skills, and overstocked with sarcasm and strange habits probably puts me in a better place than some of my colleagues.
See, I don’t know a whole lot about anything. I am no expert, or even a specialist of any sort. There are two things I can say with 110% certainty and those are:
A) I will never like Steely Dan
B) No one is just going to listen to what you have to say, you have to keep them interested.
First and foremost, in able to learn, one must be interested, not necessarily in the topic at hand, but perhaps in what the educator has to say about a topic. Something has to catch the student’s attention at each and every lesson, or nothing will be taken from it. Whether this make it entertaining, controversial, fun, sad, awkward, or just intense, any type of memorable emotion will help the information passed along in class much more memorable than anything that is described as boring, or sleep inducing.
Open communication is a necessity. Nothing can be learned by either party if there is confusion. Paulo Friere examines this in his essay The “Banking” Concept of Education,
“When their efforts to act responsibly are frustrated, when they find themselves unable to use their faculties, men suffer. ‘The suffering due to impotence is rooted in the very fact that the human equilibrium has been disturbed.’ But the inability to act which causes men’s anguish also causes them to reject their impotence by attempting to restore their capacity to act (Friere, pg 73).”
“Education as the practice of freedom-as opposed to education as the practice of domination-denies that man is abstract, isolated, independent, and unattached to the world; it also denies that the world exists as a reality apart from men. Authentic reflection considers neither abstract man nor the world without men, but men in their relations with the world. In these relations consciousness and world are simultaneous: consciousness neither precedes the world nor follows it (Friere, pg 75).”
The difference between knowledge and intelligence
Intelligence: the capacity for learning; reasoning, understanding, similar forms of mental activity. Aptitude in grasping truths, relationships facts, meanings.
Knowledge: acquaintance with facts, truths, principles. As from study or investigation, general erudition, knowledge of many things.
In order to teach something efficiently, an educator must understand at least a little of every single aspect of their chosen subject. I would at some point in my life, like to teach Theatre arts at the high school level, and I know (thanks to personal experience) that a theatre teacher that only knows acting, is not an effective teacher at all. To teach theatre, one must understand and be able to perform the technical, managerial, and performance tasks that are required. For this to happen, a person must realize that they will never stop learning. As cliché as it sounds, knowledge is indeed everywhere.
Some ideas and theories are best illustrated rather than described.
Not a lot of things have never been thought of before, but that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t try to reach for them. And it’s always fun to add to already determined theories.
Write a song. Music makes the brain work better.
No one will learn if they are miserable. Challenge people, but not obscenely.
Abstract: This essay attempts to describe and analyze all the aspects of modern education. What the author believes works and does not work, why the author believes learning is important, and how academic learning is just a viaduct into actual knowledge. True knowledge can’t be taught, it can just be uncovered. As an educator, your job is to expose students to ideas, theories, and historical instances that in other situations would be left undiscovered or forgotten. Hopefully, by the end of the essay, a previously unheard of or misunderstood aspect will be discovered, or at least explained a bit more thoroughly.
....Heres my 3 pages
Donny Miller
ENG 100
Like photography, we develop from our negatives. I believe that people learn about their lives from their low points. People can tell us over and over again not to do, or to do something but I believe we cannot truly learn until we experience something for ourselves. Accomplishment teaches us many things, however, failure teaches us so much more. It has been proven that memories are more vivid and can be stored longer if it is a traumatic experience. To some this may seem like a sad fact, yet I understand and accept that. I think that my failures have shaped who I am to this day. If everything went swimmingly in life I believe I would not know how to interact people, what is and is not socially acceptable, or how to handle negative situations. If we were never down in life we would never know what true happiness was.
I believe that because we do not get everything right away it helps us see what is good and what is not. This is seen with writing especially, the frustrations one feels at the beginning of an assignment teaches us that we need to work for the things we want. As well with writing first and second drafts help us see what we did wrong and how we can fix that for our final draft. This is similar to our lives in the sense that we make mistakes but when we realize they are wrong we can fix those mistakes and hopefully that realization will permanently affect our personalities. Yet, there still are some people who after their first and second draft do not change their paper and receive a bad grade. Yet, there are still some people who make the same mistakes over and over again but will not change. I am not saying that people need to change for others, what I am saying is that people need to change from themselves. If people learn from their mistakes it shows they are taking a proactive approach to their life because they are taking the negative in their life and turning them into beautiful pictures.
As people, we see how bright stars shine, and we are determined to shine brighter. Like I said earlier I believe we learn from accomplishments but I do not believe that we learn from our own accomplishments. I think that the accomplishments we learn best from are the accomplishments of others. If we see other people, especially people we look up to, undertaking in great things it inspires us to great things as well. When we see people who we admire doing great things it acts like the giant flames beneath a rocket and propels us up because people want to be like other people who they admire. We learn how and why to succeed by watching what the say and do.
This is not always a good thing though. Sometimes people, who are admired, are not worth being admired. Sometimes those people inspire the ones who look up to them to do things they should not. It is not a good thing when people idolize others who will not benefit their well being. This is something that is an issue in our society today because of how children, teens, and adults are worshiping celebrities who are drug addicts, or poor parents. This is unfortunate because a role model should be someone who is a person who possesses great strength, wisdom, and the power to help others. A role model should be a person who one learns how to make their life better from.
I believe the reason we learn is because we have a curiosity and because of a thirst for knowledge. This thirst is not only limited to people in school due to the fact that one can learn so many things outside of a school setting. However, it also does not exclude school because one can also learn very many things from being in school. Wherever someone may gain their knowledge, and whether or not they wanted to learn the information or not, the fact that they learned the information says so much about people. We can learn information even if we do not think we are learning or do not want to. Imagine how much we can learn when we want to learn, and when we care about knowledge. The reason people want to learn is because as cliché as it is, knowledge is power. The more someone knows about something the more the better they will do in that field. For example, I would not be studying English and taking so many English classes if I wanted to teach Math. Or a tow truck driver would not be picking people in their truck and driving them around as if they were a taxi cab driver. No matter what people who are going into their trade they are going to want to learn everything there is to know about that trade. That way when they are talking to people about their work they sound educated. As well, if someone knows very much about their trade it makes them more likely to get a job in that trade. If I wanted to teach English, I would not take a bunch of Math classes.
I have found that over the years, the way I have learned the best is from doing. I learned that especially when it comes to learning a language it is very easy to keep hearing, practicing, and speaking. When I learned Spanish the teacher made sure that she did not just cram vocabulary and grammar into our brains, but she made sure we were proactive in our learning. We would act out what the vocabulary meant that way would be able to remember the words that much better. Learning is a process that can be learned in many different ways to learn, there is no one right way and one wrong way to learn but there are many.
ENG 100
Like photography, we develop from our negatives. I believe that people learn about their lives from their low points. People can tell us over and over again not to do, or to do something but I believe we cannot truly learn until we experience something for ourselves. Accomplishment teaches us many things, however, failure teaches us so much more. It has been proven that memories are more vivid and can be stored longer if it is a traumatic experience. To some this may seem like a sad fact, yet I understand and accept that. I think that my failures have shaped who I am to this day. If everything went swimmingly in life I believe I would not know how to interact people, what is and is not socially acceptable, or how to handle negative situations. If we were never down in life we would never know what true happiness was.
I believe that because we do not get everything right away it helps us see what is good and what is not. This is seen with writing especially, the frustrations one feels at the beginning of an assignment teaches us that we need to work for the things we want. As well with writing first and second drafts help us see what we did wrong and how we can fix that for our final draft. This is similar to our lives in the sense that we make mistakes but when we realize they are wrong we can fix those mistakes and hopefully that realization will permanently affect our personalities. Yet, there still are some people who after their first and second draft do not change their paper and receive a bad grade. Yet, there are still some people who make the same mistakes over and over again but will not change. I am not saying that people need to change for others, what I am saying is that people need to change from themselves. If people learn from their mistakes it shows they are taking a proactive approach to their life because they are taking the negative in their life and turning them into beautiful pictures.
As people, we see how bright stars shine, and we are determined to shine brighter. Like I said earlier I believe we learn from accomplishments but I do not believe that we learn from our own accomplishments. I think that the accomplishments we learn best from are the accomplishments of others. If we see other people, especially people we look up to, undertaking in great things it inspires us to great things as well. When we see people who we admire doing great things it acts like the giant flames beneath a rocket and propels us up because people want to be like other people who they admire. We learn how and why to succeed by watching what the say and do.
This is not always a good thing though. Sometimes people, who are admired, are not worth being admired. Sometimes those people inspire the ones who look up to them to do things they should not. It is not a good thing when people idolize others who will not benefit their well being. This is something that is an issue in our society today because of how children, teens, and adults are worshiping celebrities who are drug addicts, or poor parents. This is unfortunate because a role model should be someone who is a person who possesses great strength, wisdom, and the power to help others. A role model should be a person who one learns how to make their life better from.
I believe the reason we learn is because we have a curiosity and because of a thirst for knowledge. This thirst is not only limited to people in school due to the fact that one can learn so many things outside of a school setting. However, it also does not exclude school because one can also learn very many things from being in school. Wherever someone may gain their knowledge, and whether or not they wanted to learn the information or not, the fact that they learned the information says so much about people. We can learn information even if we do not think we are learning or do not want to. Imagine how much we can learn when we want to learn, and when we care about knowledge. The reason people want to learn is because as cliché as it is, knowledge is power. The more someone knows about something the more the better they will do in that field. For example, I would not be studying English and taking so many English classes if I wanted to teach Math. Or a tow truck driver would not be picking people in their truck and driving them around as if they were a taxi cab driver. No matter what people who are going into their trade they are going to want to learn everything there is to know about that trade. That way when they are talking to people about their work they sound educated. As well, if someone knows very much about their trade it makes them more likely to get a job in that trade. If I wanted to teach English, I would not take a bunch of Math classes.
I have found that over the years, the way I have learned the best is from doing. I learned that especially when it comes to learning a language it is very easy to keep hearing, practicing, and speaking. When I learned Spanish the teacher made sure that she did not just cram vocabulary and grammar into our brains, but she made sure we were proactive in our learning. We would act out what the vocabulary meant that way would be able to remember the words that much better. Learning is a process that can be learned in many different ways to learn, there is no one right way and one wrong way to learn but there are many.
Philosophy of Learning: A Work in Progress
A Philosophy of Learning
Anna Fogel
Every single student is unique in the way that they think. It is not rare to read a passage out of a novel in a classroom and have several different interpretations about what was just read. With this in mind, I think students should be exposed to many different types of learning so that they are open to everything and the student can learn which way is best for them. This includes group discussions, lecture, reading various genres of literature, writing in styles we are not used to and thinking in ways that are new to us. From my experience, the classes that have been the most beneficial and the ones I have gotten the most out of, have been the most challenging ones where I was forced to try new things and think in deeper ways.
My senior year I took an AP Literature course and it opened my eyes to English and not only did it change how I wrote and how I read but it changed the way I think; a class holds true meaning if it carries with you in the outside world. The class sticks out in my mind because it was more than just a regular class; it left a lasting impression on me. Our teacher, Mr. Johnson, had a couple main goals for us. First of all, he did not want it to be like every other English class we had taken in the past, filled with grammar and reading stories out of a textbook but never really getting any lasting meaning out of those things. He wanted to teach us in a way where we would learn certain things that would help us in the future and also in society. Every day we would move our desks into a circle to represent a more discussion-friendly environment. We would sit in our circle and talk about what we had just read; we would dissect the novel and we could spend the entire class period on a single paragraph.
Class and group discussion was a huge part of this class and I believe it is essential to the learning process. It is one thing to write a response or a summary to a reading but a class discussion is so much more thought provoking and interesting. Everyone gets to share their individual ideas and it makes others think harder about their unique ideas and also about other’s views and they may see something they did not realize before. Students can learn so much from each other; I believe student-to-student interaction is a key part to the learning process and I base that statement from my personal experience. Mr. Johnson wanted the class to run in this fashion, he was there to guide us and add some insights but he really wanted the students to be in charge.
Some texts we have read have been extremely challenging, some of the essays from Falling Into Theory stand out particularly. It is ironic to me because many of the essays mainly focus on learning: the different types of learning, what the author feels like the best way of learning and teaching is and they are written in a style that is very hard to fully comprehend. These essays all have really good points and they are all important individually and when compared and contrasted but they should be written in a style that is more readable. Those texts were extremely frustrating to read and I believe that if they were written differently I would have been more open to the ideas represented in the text and I would have been more willing to give them a chance.
Another essential part to the learning process is being open to new things; whether it is a different style of writing like Kamau Brathwaite’s Ancestors or reading something that makes you rethink how you view certain things in the world like Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By. It is important to accept and engage in things that may seem foreign to us because in the end they are things that will make us more well rounded and well-educated.
Learning should evoke strong emotions out of people: happiness, understanding, warmth, and the want to share knowledge with others. Learning is a personal experience that is different for everybody but everybody learns and people should want to spread what they are learning.
In class we talked about the effects of positive feelings that should be involved with the learning process and more specifically, with an assignment. The five friends are a key component to the process but I think they are overlooked and not viewed as seriously as they should be. Attitude, whether it be good or bad, really does make an impact on how a person learns.
A positive attitude makes students more open to the project at hand, whether it is a reading assignment or a writing assignment. As a result, the reading is understood more fully and probably enjoyed more, as well and the writing will be done better; the paper will definitely be better written. Attitude plays a large role in the learning process; it is not necessarily essential to it but the quality of learning definitely depends on it. I really believe if all students had a positive attitude when completing an assignment or even just going to a class, the results would be great! This is also something that extends beyond the classroom and can be carried forward into the future.
Abstract and 3 pages of paper(brainstorming)
Rachel Lulay
English 100
Abstract for paper
October 28th, 2008
Abstract for paper
My paper will not only cover the foreground of the effects these pieces of literature have had on me, but by doing so I will use numerous quotes from the texts as well as my own experiences and thoughts that I believe tie into what I think the “Philosophy of Learning” is. I will state my thoughts and beliefs on the thoughts of learning by arguing what I believe learning means, and how it is incorporated in a way in which people build knowledge on how to properly learn. I believe the correct way to learn is through experiences and insights from others, such as the texts we have read that have taught us numerous ways of looking at things, and different points of view and ways to interoperate texts we have never thought of before. I believe learning involves creativity and cooperation from the learner themselves. What I plan to do is take my definition of the “Philosophy of Learning” and put introduce the “Philosophy of Learning” as a process rather then something one picks up out of nowhere. By using experiences and quotes and examples from the texts we have read in class, I believe I can argue my points of view on the meaning and everything involved in the “Philosophy of Learning” such as, why we learn, how we learn, and the different aspects involved in the learning process.
Three pages of paper
(Brainstorming)
Intro: Philosophy of Learning—What does it mean?
· Definition/ examples/thoughts
· How I will prove and argue what I believe the learning of Philosophy is.
o Through examples of the texts I have read, experiences, quotes.
o How I learned, effects it has had.
o Why I believe we learn.
Definition of learning
Further explain MY definition of learning
· What my definition involves
· Examples—from books we have read
How does one learn?
o Wayne C. Booth—“The reader must “give himself generously”(Booth 350) to the reader…
§ Explain how this ties into the philosophy of learning. One must give themselves to learning in order to fully understand and engage in learning itself.
· One gives them self to learning, they are open for anything and will retain information and be more interested in learning all together.
Theories of learning
*Theories of the philosophy of learning.
* My own theory compared to theories of others.
* Graff/Birkenstein
* Compare
* Use examples from book as well as my own, tie together. (I believe philosophy of learning is similar to the beliefs of Graff and Birkenstein. )
Why do we learn?
· Explanation of why we learn.
o My thoughts and ideas—We learn in order to grow, grow with knowledge and appreciation of the world around us. As well as to experience and understand things we never would have before, learning opens one’s eyes to the things they were blind to before.
o Thoughts and ideas from texts we have read—Texts from, “Falling Into Theory”.
· Give explanations based off of the thoughts and ideas from “Falling Into Theory” and “Metaphors We Live By” , from my point of view.
Different Aspects of Learning
· Everyone “learns” different things, but the philosophy to get one to the main understanding of learning and how to do so remains the same.
o Take examples from text and use to quote the different beliefs and views on how to read, write, learn, why, and how.
o Ex: Brathwaite and Nabokov
· Will show the different aspects of learning while all surrounding the same central philosophy.
Questions and Frustrations of learning
· What problems, questions, frustrations people experience when learning.
o How they are brought upon through the “Philosophy of Learning”.
§ Reading, “How to Write”.
· How others felt when reading it, confused, not able to understand.
o How my “Philosophy of Learning” helps these confusions and frustrations.
Conclusion
· Tie together my “Philosophy of Learning”.
o Finalize my thoughts and ideas
§ Capture the how and the why of learning.
· Again, use examples to prove my argument and points of view.
o Restate “my” definition of the “Philosophy of Learning”.
Final thoughts and ideas
*Constantly use thoughts and ideas from other texts to further explain my “Philosophy of Learning”.
* Make the “Philosophy of Learning” strategies possible for every type and instance in which one needs to “learn”.
* Make sure to use many examples from ALL texts read in class. – in proper paragraphs.
* Further explain the “Philosophy of Learning” throughout all paragraphs to see why everything else fits within the way I view learning.
Late...as usual...Danny DownS
In years previous, I once knew a man. Yet before this time, I did not know this man, but I did in fact know of another man, one who carried the same nomenclature as myself. Although Dan and Danny seem very relatable, they are in fact unable to coexist at the same time. One with a heart of gold and a desire to make people laugh, the other with a heart of malice and misunderstanding which in turn made people laugh is very laughable in thought.
As we all know, a day occurs. On that particular day, Dan and Danny decided to coexist if only for a second, in the same institution, in the same room. Whether this occurence truly happened, it is impossible to tell, for all those there to witness the event were intent on the sub-par performance of Peter Cottontail.
It is hard to distinguish the motives of Danny over Dan, but what did occur was the pompous eradication of human decency as it had been previously known. Danny, in all his glory and splendor trudged onward to meet a class that only Dan had known previously in nothing but underwear and an oversized toilet-seat rung around his neck.
Sometimes people weep, other times people stare in horror. This occurence showed neither. In fact, it showed no emotion whatsoever.
When it was all over, people looked on and a faint giggle occured. Danny had removed his diaper and ran around the room of "equals". Granted he was not nude, but the effect was nonetheless shocking. The giggle slowly grew to uproarious laughter, Danny in complete confusion. What's more, Dan, nowhere in sight up until this point, slowly came into the picture.
Dan returned and looked upon himself in disgust as he had missed the entire show and felt a invariable cold sweep over his loins. He zipped up his fly and remained sitting where he had always seemed to have been sitting as Danny slowly fizzled away.
As we all know, a day occurs. On that particular day, Dan and Danny decided to coexist if only for a second, in the same institution, in the same room. Whether this occurence truly happened, it is impossible to tell, for all those there to witness the event were intent on the sub-par performance of Peter Cottontail.
It is hard to distinguish the motives of Danny over Dan, but what did occur was the pompous eradication of human decency as it had been previously known. Danny, in all his glory and splendor trudged onward to meet a class that only Dan had known previously in nothing but underwear and an oversized toilet-seat rung around his neck.
Sometimes people weep, other times people stare in horror. This occurence showed neither. In fact, it showed no emotion whatsoever.
When it was all over, people looked on and a faint giggle occured. Danny had removed his diaper and ran around the room of "equals". Granted he was not nude, but the effect was nonetheless shocking. The giggle slowly grew to uproarious laughter, Danny in complete confusion. What's more, Dan, nowhere in sight up until this point, slowly came into the picture.
Dan returned and looked upon himself in disgust as he had missed the entire show and felt a invariable cold sweep over his loins. He zipped up his fly and remained sitting where he had always seemed to have been sitting as Danny slowly fizzled away.
Abstract/brainstorming
In this paper, I plan to display what it is that I feel learning truly is. I want to cover the different aspects of learning such as the relationship between teacher and student. This paper is to show that in order to learn one most be accepting of frustration, and able to grow from it. The process of learning is more than just the taking in of new material, but is about discovering oneself in the process. Acknowledging your downfalls and strengths is a necessary process of being able to then learn about the world around you. You have to know yourself before you can truly know anything else. I also want to establish the fact that environment has a lot to do with effective learning, as well as the attitude of the learner. Knowing the ideal situations of your own personal learning will be beneficial to you because everyone is a lifetime learner whether they want to be or not. We learn not only in academic classrooms but from life experiences.
Teacher and student relationship is important
Teacher has to be learning with the student
Teacher cannot be superior because students will only trust in teachers thoughts not in their own
Student must think independently use someone else’s thougts to enlighten yourself-don’t just allow to be your own
Use teacher only to guide
Not be afraid of failing
Learn from each other through insight
Add quotes and ideas from Paulo Freire
Lectures are fine with science and math as long as student interaction is involved
The atmosphere needs to be positive and happy
Learning in an environment that is condesending and negative hurts ego
One feels worried about what they say is stupid and don’t allow themselves to think
Their desire to share opinions is gone
They can’t get feed back from others to improve their insight
Others aren’t enlightened by their ideas-the process is ruined
Know your friends and enemies
Be aware, put forth effort, trust in yourself, concentrate and understand there are dissapointments.
Avoid doubt in yourself and in overall subjects
If they are taught, they are worth learning, don’t hate the world because you have to do something, school is a job, you have to do it so get over it. Avoid looking too far ahead. Focusing on more desirable activities leads to lack of concentration. Focusing on getting into a book instead of just reading it also is distracting. Stop worrying and don’t be lazy. You only get out what you put in.
Overcoming difficult tasks is rewarding
Adapt academic lessons into life lessons
Relating ideas to personal life or our culture makes it relevant
Learners are interested in themselves
We must enjoy what we learn
Frustrating as it may be take in what you can get out of it
Focus on the elements that are interesting to you.
The best learning is done in a place that inspires you
Being stuck in a dorm isn’t ideal
Go outside and observe the world around you
The buildings and trees and grass and sidewalks and peoples and squireels can intrigue some insights or just allow creative thoughts to flow
Learning involves making mistakes
Adventure allows learning
If you don’t go out into the world and take risks you won’t be able to learn through experience
I hate the idea of learning through other people’s mistakes. Live your life the way you want to. Learn what you want from other people but realize that not every situation is the same.
What works for some may not work for you.
Learning is a never ending process
We as humans constantly grow and learn
We are never finished learning
I believe that you really do learn something new everyday
Sometimes it is a simple thing like how the sight of the leaves on the quad at 8 in the morning makes you feel
Teacher and student relationship is important
Teacher has to be learning with the student
Teacher cannot be superior because students will only trust in teachers thoughts not in their own
Student must think independently use someone else’s thougts to enlighten yourself-don’t just allow to be your own
Use teacher only to guide
Not be afraid of failing
Learn from each other through insight
Add quotes and ideas from Paulo Freire
Lectures are fine with science and math as long as student interaction is involved
The atmosphere needs to be positive and happy
Learning in an environment that is condesending and negative hurts ego
One feels worried about what they say is stupid and don’t allow themselves to think
Their desire to share opinions is gone
They can’t get feed back from others to improve their insight
Others aren’t enlightened by their ideas-the process is ruined
Know your friends and enemies
Be aware, put forth effort, trust in yourself, concentrate and understand there are dissapointments.
Avoid doubt in yourself and in overall subjects
If they are taught, they are worth learning, don’t hate the world because you have to do something, school is a job, you have to do it so get over it. Avoid looking too far ahead. Focusing on more desirable activities leads to lack of concentration. Focusing on getting into a book instead of just reading it also is distracting. Stop worrying and don’t be lazy. You only get out what you put in.
Overcoming difficult tasks is rewarding
Adapt academic lessons into life lessons
Relating ideas to personal life or our culture makes it relevant
Learners are interested in themselves
We must enjoy what we learn
Frustrating as it may be take in what you can get out of it
Focus on the elements that are interesting to you.
The best learning is done in a place that inspires you
Being stuck in a dorm isn’t ideal
Go outside and observe the world around you
The buildings and trees and grass and sidewalks and peoples and squireels can intrigue some insights or just allow creative thoughts to flow
Learning involves making mistakes
Adventure allows learning
If you don’t go out into the world and take risks you won’t be able to learn through experience
I hate the idea of learning through other people’s mistakes. Live your life the way you want to. Learn what you want from other people but realize that not every situation is the same.
What works for some may not work for you.
Learning is a never ending process
We as humans constantly grow and learn
We are never finished learning
I believe that you really do learn something new everyday
Sometimes it is a simple thing like how the sight of the leaves on the quad at 8 in the morning makes you feel
Abstract. Learning. Paper.
Wow I am doing a post! (Mostly because I can basically just copy and paste this one and no work is required...because I'm a lazy piece of shit. Now that I think about it, writing all this is requiring much more effort than I intended to put into this, so yea...Blog Post!)
Learning is a fundamental skill that is necessary to each and every person to survive. Some decide to further their studies beyond that of college and continue to learn for the rest of their lives. Others utilize only they feel they have needed to know to get to where they are today. Without necessarily being conscious of what is happening the act of learning continues no matter what a person does. Learning takes place in mind, body, soul. It helps distinguish right from wrong, fallible from infallible, establish different feelings and how to feel those feelings, and open many more doors to not only the world, but to ourselves as people. Learning is simply an extension of our mindfulness of the world. I am here to show how learning is an outreach of and towards human understanding and potentially why it occurs.
I did not copy the junbled ideas, because basically it is just an extension of the exact same ideas in the abstract itself.
Learning is a fundamental skill that is necessary to each and every person to survive. Some decide to further their studies beyond that of college and continue to learn for the rest of their lives. Others utilize only they feel they have needed to know to get to where they are today. Without necessarily being conscious of what is happening the act of learning continues no matter what a person does. Learning takes place in mind, body, soul. It helps distinguish right from wrong, fallible from infallible, establish different feelings and how to feel those feelings, and open many more doors to not only the world, but to ourselves as people. Learning is simply an extension of our mindfulness of the world. I am here to show how learning is an outreach of and towards human understanding and potentially why it occurs.
I did not copy the junbled ideas, because basically it is just an extension of the exact same ideas in the abstract itself.
my philosophy of learning
For one to learn one must want to learn. Learning, in my opinion, is being open to gaining knowledge of things outside of your comfort zone. Without the want and passion to learn, you allow yourself to shut out information. I am going to answer the questions how do you learn and why do you learn in this paper.
How do you learn? Everyone learns in his or her own way. For me, flashcards and writing notes helps me learn. I like to go over flashcards because I picture what the answer will be in my head and while I am looking at them I get to remember what the answer is. Taking notes is the best way for me to learn. If I am just staring at the teacher while they are lecturing chances are, I am not really concentrating on what the teacher has to say. I know a lot of students that are like this. They look like they are paying attention but when they are staring at the teacher usually they are thinking of other things like what they are going to do after class or what they ate for breakfast.
Taking notes helps me learn because I have to listen to what the teacher says in order to write down the notes. Even if I am not thinking about what I am writing down I can go back and reread what I wrote. Also, on tests, I can remember writing down those specific facts and it helps me remember the answer. Taking notes helps learning even when you don’t think so. These are ways to help learning now I am going to explain how the learning process actually happens.
With the help of flashcards, taking notes, and studying, learning, in my opinion, has a lot to do with the want to learn. It is easy to shut your brain off during a lecture and not remember anything the teacher has said but what about the students who gain knowledge and can recite the whole lecture? How does that happen? These kids have a passion for learning and know that it is important to learn. Learning is not very difficult as long as you are open to it. Babies learn how to talk because they practice and want to make out those words. Kids get potty trained because they want to learn how to be a big kid. Learning in college is no different than these situations. Students want to learn about calculus because they want to be more educated.
Learning is instinctive. We learn from our relatives and that is why we have such amazing technology now. We learn from the inventions they had before and create new and improved inventions. Learning is second nature to us and as long as we are willing to accept this knowledge, we will never stop learning. You learn new things every day.
Out of all the books we have read this semester in English 100, I have contained many different points of view on how and why we learn from these authors. I believe that in A Defense of Poetry, Gabriel Gudding was using humor to get people to understand what he meant. He uses phrases such as, “Someone cut off my head and punted it,” throughout his whole book (52). He uses humor and strange phrases to grab the attention of his readers. They look into what he says more because they want to know why he is saying such absurd things. That is one way students can learn; by finding strange things and wanting to solve them.
In How to Write, the author uses long sentences and questionable writing methods to catch the attention of her readers. She uses run on sentences and some sentences that seem incomplete but then she is telling you that that is the correct way to make a sentence. For example, she writes, “Very carefully what is it. What is it. They know they knew,” (Stein 166). When I read that part I questioned if the sentences she was saying were correct were even sentences at all. Like Gudding, Stein writes in an unusual way to get her readers’ attention. She believes that this will help them question things and learn about something that have never encountered before.
Vladimir Nabokov also writes in similar fashion to Gudding and Stein. He uses humor to get his readers involved. His whole book Pale Fire is a made up story that is quite humorous. Its about one guy writing a poem and another guy dissecting it because he thinks its about him but it truly is not. The man who is dissecting the poem is very strange and does not think he is humorous but while reading the book I found myself laughing at his thoughts. He states, “I am quite sure it was I who one day, when we were discussing ‘mirror words,’ observed that ‘spider’ in reverse is ‘redips,’ and ‘T. S. Elliot,’ ‘toilest,’” (193). He believes that the poet used his ideas in the poem but he did not have anything to do with why the poet wrote what he did. This is funny and interesting. The readers of this book will find this humorous and want to keep reading. By reading more, they will learn more. I believe this was the philosophy of Nabokov.
How do you learn? Everyone learns in his or her own way. For me, flashcards and writing notes helps me learn. I like to go over flashcards because I picture what the answer will be in my head and while I am looking at them I get to remember what the answer is. Taking notes is the best way for me to learn. If I am just staring at the teacher while they are lecturing chances are, I am not really concentrating on what the teacher has to say. I know a lot of students that are like this. They look like they are paying attention but when they are staring at the teacher usually they are thinking of other things like what they are going to do after class or what they ate for breakfast.
Taking notes helps me learn because I have to listen to what the teacher says in order to write down the notes. Even if I am not thinking about what I am writing down I can go back and reread what I wrote. Also, on tests, I can remember writing down those specific facts and it helps me remember the answer. Taking notes helps learning even when you don’t think so. These are ways to help learning now I am going to explain how the learning process actually happens.
With the help of flashcards, taking notes, and studying, learning, in my opinion, has a lot to do with the want to learn. It is easy to shut your brain off during a lecture and not remember anything the teacher has said but what about the students who gain knowledge and can recite the whole lecture? How does that happen? These kids have a passion for learning and know that it is important to learn. Learning is not very difficult as long as you are open to it. Babies learn how to talk because they practice and want to make out those words. Kids get potty trained because they want to learn how to be a big kid. Learning in college is no different than these situations. Students want to learn about calculus because they want to be more educated.
Learning is instinctive. We learn from our relatives and that is why we have such amazing technology now. We learn from the inventions they had before and create new and improved inventions. Learning is second nature to us and as long as we are willing to accept this knowledge, we will never stop learning. You learn new things every day.
Out of all the books we have read this semester in English 100, I have contained many different points of view on how and why we learn from these authors. I believe that in A Defense of Poetry, Gabriel Gudding was using humor to get people to understand what he meant. He uses phrases such as, “Someone cut off my head and punted it,” throughout his whole book (52). He uses humor and strange phrases to grab the attention of his readers. They look into what he says more because they want to know why he is saying such absurd things. That is one way students can learn; by finding strange things and wanting to solve them.
In How to Write, the author uses long sentences and questionable writing methods to catch the attention of her readers. She uses run on sentences and some sentences that seem incomplete but then she is telling you that that is the correct way to make a sentence. For example, she writes, “Very carefully what is it. What is it. They know they knew,” (Stein 166). When I read that part I questioned if the sentences she was saying were correct were even sentences at all. Like Gudding, Stein writes in an unusual way to get her readers’ attention. She believes that this will help them question things and learn about something that have never encountered before.
Vladimir Nabokov also writes in similar fashion to Gudding and Stein. He uses humor to get his readers involved. His whole book Pale Fire is a made up story that is quite humorous. Its about one guy writing a poem and another guy dissecting it because he thinks its about him but it truly is not. The man who is dissecting the poem is very strange and does not think he is humorous but while reading the book I found myself laughing at his thoughts. He states, “I am quite sure it was I who one day, when we were discussing ‘mirror words,’ observed that ‘spider’ in reverse is ‘redips,’ and ‘T. S. Elliot,’ ‘toilest,’” (193). He believes that the poet used his ideas in the poem but he did not have anything to do with why the poet wrote what he did. This is funny and interesting. The readers of this book will find this humorous and want to keep reading. By reading more, they will learn more. I believe this was the philosophy of Nabokov.
BFFS
My best friend Emily and I were at first not friends at all.
We hated eachother in Mrs. Angelettis 1st grade class.
We always got into competitions and my group of friends made fun of hers and vice versa.
We were very catty in elementary school.
We had a mutual friend, Kristina eventually we ditched her but ill go into more detail about that a little later.
Kristina would have to choose between us when we both wanted to hang out with her.
Well eventually Emily moved away in 3rd grade.
We were both still friends with Kristina.
In middle school, Kristina made us hang out one day.
It wasn't the end of the world but it was very awkward.
Well in eighth grade I got a job at Tinley Park Roller Rink.
Freshman year, I got Kristina a job too.
Sophomore year Kristina got Emily a job.
We hated working together until we started hanging out outside of work.
It was always the three of us together but I would never hang out with Emily by myself.
Until the summer of sophomore year Kristina got a tool ass boyfriend.
She would ditch me and Emily every once in a while and ruin our plans.
Well when me and Emily had had enough we decide we would hang out just the two of us.
And we never looked back since.
We're college roommates!
And the phrase Best Friends Forever seems like it might actually work out.
All of my best and worst memories are with Emily.
We know practically everything about eachother and even though we piss eachother off and can be total bitches, we can never stay mad at eachother for more than 10 minutes.
She is my favorite childhood memory.
We hated eachother in Mrs. Angelettis 1st grade class.
We always got into competitions and my group of friends made fun of hers and vice versa.
We were very catty in elementary school.
We had a mutual friend, Kristina eventually we ditched her but ill go into more detail about that a little later.
Kristina would have to choose between us when we both wanted to hang out with her.
Well eventually Emily moved away in 3rd grade.
We were both still friends with Kristina.
In middle school, Kristina made us hang out one day.
It wasn't the end of the world but it was very awkward.
Well in eighth grade I got a job at Tinley Park Roller Rink.
Freshman year, I got Kristina a job too.
Sophomore year Kristina got Emily a job.
We hated working together until we started hanging out outside of work.
It was always the three of us together but I would never hang out with Emily by myself.
Until the summer of sophomore year Kristina got a tool ass boyfriend.
She would ditch me and Emily every once in a while and ruin our plans.
Well when me and Emily had had enough we decide we would hang out just the two of us.
And we never looked back since.
We're college roommates!
And the phrase Best Friends Forever seems like it might actually work out.
All of my best and worst memories are with Emily.
We know practically everything about eachother and even though we piss eachother off and can be total bitches, we can never stay mad at eachother for more than 10 minutes.
She is my favorite childhood memory.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Artistic liberties have been taken.
I remember my stage debut like it was yesterday. It was truly a juvenile affair; the cast were naught more than a bunch of pre-pubescents running around in anti-zit creme and construction paper costumes. But what can be said about that? Our director was no better, a future cat lady whose receding hair line seemed to indirectly correlate with her expanding waist line. Despite her faults, let it be known that she could recognize talent when she saw it. Why, when I came read the part of Alice, even going as far as to dress up in a blond wig and dress - I didn't need to wear fake breasts, mind you, as at this time my girth made it irrelevant - she pulled me aside and told me that I should perhaps be Humpty Dumpty instead. Of course, my lines would drastically decrease from a couple hundred to a measly 10, but in essence I would be the real star of the show. The plight of twit Alice is quite mundane and base compared to the almost Shakespearian sub-story arc of the tragic Humpty Dumpty. I think in everybody there is a little bit of a Humpty Dumpty, where all we want to do is bring ourselves together. Many of my so-called "peers" could not understand this, especially the girl chosen for Alice. I tried to educate them. I brought the book to every rehearsal, even the ones I was oddly not told about. I rarely read the lines from actual script, as the fools who wrote the play rarely followed the book. And for whatever reason, our plump director never supported me. I tried to petition her, I intentionally left the book in her purse and later in her mail-box, however each time I would find it back in my hands the next day. It was truly strange how detached she was from the whole production.
Needless to say, my performance was still mentioned for years. Many people would come up to me through high school and say to me "Hey, weren't you that nut who played Humpty Dumpty in Junior High and actually hurt yourself when you flung yourself from the wall to the linoleum floor?" To which I would reply and not only explain method acting but educate them on the fact that a nut and an egg, while both sometimes spherical, are not the same thing.
Needless to say, my performance was still mentioned for years. Many people would come up to me through high school and say to me "Hey, weren't you that nut who played Humpty Dumpty in Junior High and actually hurt yourself when you flung yourself from the wall to the linoleum floor?" To which I would reply and not only explain method acting but educate them on the fact that a nut and an egg, while both sometimes spherical, are not the same thing.
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