Journal 14

Trying to do the taxonomy of learning theorists is pretty interesting, but using mind meister is pretty annoying. I've hit the table in the library at least 5 times while trying to use it. The thing that sucks about it is trying to move your entire (lets call it a tree) tree to where you want it to go without deleting everything! It should not work that way! Anyway, it is cool to see connections and inspirations that other learning theorist connect to an use based on your learning theorists! Everything is built upon everything else, which makes me realize how easy it can be to build an idea off of an incorrect idea and then get stuck in a place that seems impossible to get out of... one might say that is what happened with our education system. Someone that I have never heard of, but agree with some of his theories is Carl Roberts. I like how he states that a person cannot directly teach another person, but facilitates their learning. Pretty interesting way of looking at teaching.

I also like how he thinks that we should give people a chance to prove themselves before assuming negative assumptions onto them. I am working with one of my kids on that right now! He always assumes I do not know facts he knows. When it comes to animal facts, which he is a rockstar with, he is most likely right, but he is learning that he does not know what I know, or not. Now he knows he should ask me first instead of saying "I know you don't know this." This also goes hand in hand with my job because we probe and reprobe things to see if they are generalized, or not. Meaning if he already knows the skills and we do not have to teach it to him. If we assumed he knew nothing because he is autistic and hasn't worked with our company before, then he would get bored, not improve, and we would not be doing our job.

Journal 13

For my taxonomy project I chose the learning theorist Piaget! You caught me, I do know a lot about him because of my background in Psychology. I actually forgot how much I actually knew about him until I started researching him! He believed that children could only learn certain things during certain stages in life, not before the stage, only within. He focused on maturation as the key importance for understanding new skills. I call bull #*@&. One of his main ideas is adaptation, which is adapting to the world around you through assimilation and accommodation. Kids are learning to adapt constantly and different kids can learn and adapt at different rates. Some can comprehend faster than others. I do not believe that learning certain skills or mental realizations can be confined within a certain age or all humans. I do agree that with maturation comes more understanding and that there are certain ages that reflect certain understanding more than others, but I think those boundaries do not pertain to everyone. The fact that this was used pertaining to the way school is structured is understandable, but maybe if students were put in classrooms with older students, it would prove that children can gain understanding of skills earlier because of the collaboration that would go on between the young and the older students. Children who have developed skills faster than others, which does happen, will get bored and be unmotivated to learn. The fact that some children skip grades proves that Piaget was wrong in saying that any child no matte how bright cannot move on mentally until a certain age. Also if that was the case, then everyone would have the exact same skills as everyone else, and no one would ever move ahead. Everyone would be considered equally knowledgable at those ages.

Journal 12

I remember a few weeks ago in Design class Paul asked if we agreed that they best way for children to learn was to hand them something and let them figure it out. Saying that the student will fail until he finally figures it out, but I do not entirely agree with this. I do think that spending time on a project or learning goal and failing is a way to learn and really comprehend what one is learning, but it definitely is not the only and best way to learn. Dewey pointed out in the first few chapters of Democracy in Education that without learned knowledge from elders the children would die and that would lead to the end of the human race. Children need to be taught language and other skills for survival. They can learn these skills in different ways, but it is our job as the elder to prepare the child to be able to survive. Without communication and other basic skills, survival would not be possible. In my job, working with autistic children, if we tell the child to do something and they have never accomplished it before, there is very little chance they will achieve their goal without assistance. They have to be prompted in what to do, just like extremely young children. Without prompting, or help from others, the child may never understand what to do or how to communicate and they will fail indefinitely. We need mentors for success.

Journal 11

Alright I have a huge problem with the way that scoring is done in some classes at UCSD and I feel like this is exactly what is wrong with education and grading. My girlfriend is a student at UCSD and told me that in all of her writing classes the teacher tells them ahead of time that only 10% of all the essays turned in will get an A. Even if the paper is an A paper! Are you kidding me! Great way to set students up for failure and unmotivated them to try, or care at all! I reviewed her latest essay and there were check marks on every page showing that she showed complete comprehension as to what they teacher wanted the students to learn from the assignment. The only comment that was made was a yes after a strong point in the argument. There were no red marks, or comments pertaining to something that she did not cover in the essay and should have. She had an A paper and at the bottom of the paper was an 84%! I want her to go to her teacher and ask why she received an 84%, but who knows what excuse the teacher will come up with. I really do not understand knocking a student down for no reason. What does that say about the education system other than "hey lets make this completely unfair to the students, that way the will become unmotivated or think they will never live up to grade A standards. Then they will never reach their full potential and it will be all our fault! yay!" Maybe they think it will push the students harder... highly doubtful. Congratulations UCSD you have turned learning into an impossible standard.


In other words.... GO STATE!

Journal 10

This is the first blog that I get to connect with what I have learned in this program with my job as an ABA Tutor! Yay so exciting! Dewey talks about the General Learning Method and Mastery. Dewey states that mastery is accomplished by the learner through becoming a master of shared experiences. Learning how to become a successful ABA Tutor has everything to do with shared experiences! Of course I was hired to work with children with autism because of my background in Psychology, but I also had to go through a few weeks of training to become a master of ABA therapy. I was given so much specific information to read on autism and how ABA therapy works. I observed the ABA supervisor, and joined in when asked. Even though I could now talk the talk and I understood the concepts, it was time for me to walk the walk. The only reason I now have a full understanding in what I am doing is because of my shared experiences with my supervisors and my kids! I would run an entire session by myself with the support from the supervisor if needed. I learned what triggered behaviors by experimenting with different techniques with the kids. That way I learned what to do and not to do after failing he first time if I caused the child to have behaviors. I learned how to use extinction not only be observing what to do with the supervisor, but actually having to deal with the behaviors without the supervisor. I learned how to take data more efficiently by readjusting my organization due to the child's reaction, or suggestions from the supervisor. I learned the most when it was just my child and I. Without all of the shared experiences with the children and the supervisor I would be able to tell you how to handle autistic behaviors, but if I was thrown into the action I would not do as well. Learning by failing, or doing something wrong has also increased my ability of doing my job well.

Journal 9

Ok so I have been thinking about generalized self expression on the internet and I have mixed feelings about it. Generalized self expression was mentioned in Wenger's book, and Shirky's by a way of publishing as a form of acting. I completely agree that expressing your opinions on the internet and making a fb page about it can definitely make change and cause actions through coordination, but I it is kind of annoying at the same time depending on the rant/cause. For example the guy in the first chapter of the Shirky book that made a huge fuss about his friends phone and got a bunch of bandwagon followers to help him "hate" (yes I just used slang) on that 16 year old girl for a phone that was left in a cab until he got it back... ridiculous and annoying. Just let the phone go dude! Is giving people this type of voice making them feel entitled to make others feel humiliated or angry?  This kind of thing happens on fb all the time! It drives me crazy if you cannot tell. If someone uses Facebook as a soap box and someone who reads it does not agree apparently when hiding behind a computer people feel entitled to be as rude, harsh, or just plain mean.

Don't get me wrong I believe there is so many great things that come out of being able to have a voice on the internet, but I wish it was more positive on specific social media like Facebook. Will having blogs and other types of social media soap box bring people together, or tear nations and cultures a part? You can argue both sides, but I think it is a question that needs to be asked.

Journal 8

So I probably should have blogged about dewey before Shirky, but better late than never right?! I love Dewey's points about active learning verses passive learning. Active learning has to be something you comprehend, which means there have had to be a reflection on what you have analyzed. Teachers giving out notes and having students memorize them is not an active way to learn because the students cannot reflect on what they have memorized. All they know is that blank happened because of blank, or this war happened and this time, but unless you really understand why something happened, or works you aren't learning anything. You can learn more by asking yourself why? Without reflection, there is only memorizing, not comprehending. This was my biggest problem in school. I am a fantastic memorizer, and I definitely used that to my advantage! All of my tests were mostly multiple choice due to the amount of people in my class. I could memorize everything in 2 days and pass with flying colors. If you asked me to retake the test a few weeks later without revisiting my notes... I most likely would do worse, which meant I didn't learn anything. When you reflect and comprehend something, forgetting does not happen. Now my memorizing talent got a little shoo-kin up when it came to science classes like physiology because you needed to really understand how one part worked in order to understand how the next part was going to work. Even in my Anatomy class though a lot of it was memorization. There was so much memorization packed into the class in a semester that passing the class with full understanding of the human body definitely did not happen. I believe that when reflecting you also come up with things that you were unaware that you understand, or learned.

 In conclusion, active learning > passive learning. Reflection is key to comprehending which is the key to learning.