[math4] FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19

[Richard Holden]

Greg Dekoenigsberg wrote:
>
>> And although the activities should not be perfect, they should be very
>> thoughtful. That is full of thought about why what you are trying
>> might work for learning.  Team members should be thinking together
>> about learning and it would be great if we could transfer some of
>> those thoughts to the next person who picks up the activity and
>> improves it.  Maybe the next person will also improve or have a
>> different view of the pedagy of the activity too.
>
> This is all true, of course.
>
>> I'm not frustrated. I'm excited!!!  I just know from research how many
>> learning technologies are totally ineffective and sometimes even
>> reduce learning.  So I want to encourage thinking about pedagogy and
>> learning during the design stage.
>

I don't know how useful in general my resources can be, since they are
my relatives and don't have a great deal of time, but my Mother-in-law
is a retired teacher who did both 4th grade and special-education.

My mother is also I guess officially retired from teaching and while she
didn't ever teach 4th grade she is currently working on her Doctorate in
education methodologies at Brigham Young University here in Utah. She
has some new research and a new learning methodology coming out of BYU
soon that I'm going to see how it can fit in with what we are doing.

> The brilliant thing about open source is that "failures" always contain
> in them the seeds of future success.  So while I agree that we don't
> want to be precipitous, I also think that open source is most effective
> when there's a bias towards action.
>
>> I also want to encourage reflective practice in general.
>
> I want to encourage rapid failure in general.  Very yin and yang between
> us.  :)
>

I think rapid failure is a good thing, but I think failure also needs to
be looked at closely to make sure we are not marking something a failure
because it doesn't work for a certain learning style and maybe missing
the one or two children that it would help in the long run.
>> I do this for two reasons. First, I think it will make your work
>> better and second, its the change we need to accomplish in the schools
>> and with the students, it just makes sense for us to try to practice
>> it ourselves.
>>
>> I'm excited because having kids using instructional materials that
>> really promote thinking and result in learning is the whole point.
>> What you are starting is important.  Thinking about it is important too.
>
> My learning style is a rapid loop of doing and thinking.  Reflection and
> action together.  A structure that allows exploration and celebrates
> failure.
>
> Of course, until we find a whole bunch of teachers to set us right,
> we're just talking to ourselves.  :)  How can we recruit teachers to our
> cause?
>

If we're not to old I'm sure our 4th grade teachers would love to see us
again, or if you have children of your own talk to the teachers at their
school, they may not have time to jump on the mailing list and be a
solid resource but most teachers would love to explain how they do their
job, especially when your not trying to tell them they do it wrong.

-Richard Holden