Chapter 2 Discussion

I have mentioned before that it is not my intention to be the "leader" of our group. I would, instead, prefer to be just another participant. That said I would now like to post one part of chapter two that has struck a strong chord for me, talk about my thoughts, and then hope that others of you might respond... Here goes:

"... they still carry a belief that they're not as clever as they make out, because they failed the eleven plus... Some of the most successful people I know still carry the burden of failure at eleven." pg 78

Is it possible that this is happening again? Is it possible that this terrible scar is being stamped on a whole new generation? One of my great fears as a teacher, specifically a fourth grade teacher, is that I might have a child leave my class hating writing. I work hard to make my room a place without inhibitions. To make my space safe for young voices. Often I have students come to me with a fear of writing, and even a belief that they are not capable of writing anything of worth. It is my belief that this fear of failure stems largely from widespread assessment, and assessment in turn is directly connected to our history of strong held belief in academic ability. Turn it in and it is assessed. 1-2-3-4. Returned. Pass or fail.

For most of my students I find that they do not know an in between. You may tell them that they have been working hard and are making wonderful progress, but ultimately that number is all they care about. It is as though it is tattooed on their shoulder. A few twos on some writing work and it doesn't take long for children to begin to believe that they are not writers.

I find it amazing to think that this perception of self might persist on into adulthood, even after they have achieved success.

Using many talents and gifts

I think what the author is saying fits wonderfully into the study and practice of multiple intelligences. I would like to see more of our at-risk students taking Performance Arts electives with emphasis on improving basic skills--Bo Reece has many ideas on this topic. I have more thoughts on the subject and will align with our book and then blog more.

Like any British text, I'm finding the author somewhat repetitive and wordy--just like my management texts in library school that were published in Britain. In the library field, we have been discussing this change in information and business for many years. It is indeed a revolution and will be rapidly changing our lives for many years to come. Sometimes, I find the change overwhelming as I try to keep up with different methods to identify, organize, access different types of information. I do like the interactive quality of the new web tools.

First Meeting Discussion Thoughts

Well, in the future, we will all hopefully post these kinds of thoughts as we read. I have invited all of you to be authors. We will have an official blogging lesson this Thursday for those of you may be intimidated.
Here they are:
What is creativity? Why should we promote it? How can we foster it?
(I feel like this is a good starting place, as I think that our opinions will likely vary across the board. Additionally, it seems to be the primary focus of the book.)

"Education doesn't just follow the natural grain of young people's abilities; it sorts them through two different filters. The first is economic: education categorises peole on implicit assumptions about the labor market. The second filter is intellectual: education sorts people according to a particular view of intelligence." from the intro pg. 3
(I think that it will be interesting to see what we all think about this notion of the sorting filters.)

"Raising standards is no good if they're the wrong standards." intro pg. 4
(Do you think that we are raising the wrong standards? What could be changed?)

What do you think about the idea of recovering from our own education? That intelligent people pass through education feeling that they aren't?

How can we create an atmosphere where risk taking and exerimentation are encouraged rather than stifled?

"The Intellectual Property Association in Washington has estimated these sectors (idea generators) to be worth currently $360 billion, making them more valuable than auto, agro, or aerospace." pg 42
(What does this mean to us?)

"Life opportunities are more closely related to degree reslults than ever before. Coupled with that, children are being examined more than ever before. This loses sight of exams being an indicator of how you are progressing and becomes rather like continually pulling up a plant to see how well it is growing." pg 51
(Can't wait to see what people think about this.)

better order those books!

Hello everyone. I just wanted to encourage you to order those books if you haven't done so yet. I ordered mine about two weeks ago and am STILL waiting for it. - Nathan