- Feb 2017
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marginalsyllab.us marginalsyllab.us
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That which was once this is moving slowly—at least at first—toward becoming tha
I love this quotation to describe the slow and positive process of change.
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These texts routinely problematize that alluring notion that there’s a set of best-practice teaching methods some-where out there that are so foolproof they should come with a money-back guarantee.
I can connect to this. There are some wonderful ideas in all of these texts, of course, but the real trick seems to be recognizing that no two groups of students will ever be the same, and therefore teaching methods must constantly transform. #ED677
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- Jan 2017
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marginalsyllab.us marginalsyllab.us
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the children told me, that the reason for the late development of the cotton industry as compared with the woolen is, that the cotton fiber is so very difficult to free by hand from the seeds. The children in one group worked thirty minutes freeing cotton fibers from the boll and seeds, and succeeded in getting out less than one ounce. They could easily believe that one person could only gin one pound a day by hand, and could understand why their ancestors wore woolen instead of cotton clothing.
This sounds like it goes along with what John Seely Brown was saying about "playing" and "tinkering." It is only through hands-on exploration that you will figure out how something works. It sounds like the children's tinkering with the fibers is similar to kids today tinkering with computer programming until they find out how to make it do what they want it to do. Learning by discovery.
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The radical reason that the present school cannot organize itself as a natural social unit is because just this element of common and productive activity is absent. Upon the playground, in game and sport, social organization takes place spontaneously and inevitably. There is something to do, some activity to be carried on,
I am currently taking The Teacher & the Classroom where we are studying a great deal of behavioral issues. This speaks so well to what we have been talking about in that class. When kids need to feel genuinely engaged and useful (like Dewey seems to be suggesting), it appears to have the lovely side effect of eliminating a great deal of behavioral issues. Go Dewey!
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neighborhood system
I'm really drawn to Dewey using the words "neighborhood system" as it relates to connected learning. With a few modern updates, it really does seem like Dewey is advocating a system of connected learning. Where students learn from one another and learn IN the field and not just in theory. This helps me understand the concept of connected learning!
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