Chapter 4
Quote:
Unlike a classroom where the teacher controls the lecture, the organic communities that emerge through collectives produce meaningful learning because the inquiry that arises comes from the collective itself.
Question:
I wonder if this can be done with second graders. How would I start? Would I need to establish some rules in order to keep the learning flowing? Both teachers and students have been so “trained” to have one person in charge of the class. How difficult would it be to change that dynamic?
Connection:
My district has trained teachers and implemented effective questioning throughout. Learning form the collective reminds me of the dynamic that can come out of implementing effective questioning appropriately. When my students are very interested in what we are discussing they become very engaged in their discussions. The point of effective questioning is for the teacher to ask questions that will keep the conversation going and that will encourage more sharing from the students. Every time that someone answers the teacher’s question every student learns something new about the subject and thinks more thoroughly. This year my students truly enjoy this process and are always ready with something to say and eager to share it.
Epiphany:
This semester I have seen a glimpse of a collective arise on social media and our Weebly pages and I am truly impressed with what I have seen. I have tried to encourage collaboration and collectivism in my own classroom with the use of Schoology. I create discussion posts for them and they respond to a question or speak about a subject. I also have encouraged them to go on each other’s comments and reply to their classmates. They love to do this. I have some students who just read posts and like other people’s posts. They say that they are on Facebook.
Chapter 5
Quote:
The success of a blog depends on two things, neither of which is in the author’s control: reader comments and external links. Blogs that survive and thrive do so because they create a strong collective of users who build conversations around the author’s posts.
Question:
I wonder if it is difficult to have so little control over something that the author considers their own work. How does the author solicit new members to their collective and at the same time still feel that their blog is still their own.
Connection:
I have a friend who started a blog and she, very quickly, gained popularity. I am very impressed with the speed of her popularity. Her blog is fun to read and it is very honest. Her voice gives it a sense of “this could be anyone talking, even you”.
Epiphany:
During this class I have seen the potential for the development of a blog like it is described above. I wonder how long it would take a blog to reach popularity if it was fully promoted on social sites.
Chapter 6
Quote:
When a parent first tells a child not to touch a flame because it is hot, the child will almost always put out her hand and get burned. Why? Because the parent has given the child only a portion of the information she needed to make the decision—the explicit, cognitive part. He has shared only the knowledge he knew how to articulate: “Fire is hot.” But when a child gets burned, her body learns all kinds of things that cannot be conveyed by such a simple phrase: It hurts. It is unpleasant. What’s more, she learns not only to avoid the match that burned her but also to avoid things that look like the match that burned her, and she starts to make all kinds of connections to other things. That turns out to be the most important point. From that one experience, a finger touching a flame, a person learns countless things. Because our minds, bodies, and senses are always learning, we pick up
Question:
How difficult is it for a person to replace one type of tacit knowledge for another (for example, a positive for a negative one)?
Connection:
This passage makes me wonder how tacit knowledge plays a role in education, in a negative way. Especially when I read things online titled, “How to Kill a Learner’s Curiosity in 12 Easy Steps”. Students who go through school with an old culture of learning system in place learn tacit knowledge as a direct reaction to the way in which their classroom is being run. Just like the child who touches the flame, their “body learns all kinds of things that cannot be conveyed” by something verbal. Instead, their body learns from the uncomfortable reaction that they have to learning in such an environment and therefore they develop negative tacit knowledge. They learn the rules of school and learn not to be creative. They learn the rules of the game, school, on the tacit level.
Epiphany:
As adults, we have more control over how kids turn out than I ever considered. Kids develop tacit knowledge from life experiences. They learn from being around parents, teachers, and other adults, even those they see on television. These life experiences are the very experiences that develop their tacit knowledge.
Quote:
Unlike a classroom where the teacher controls the lecture, the organic communities that emerge through collectives produce meaningful learning because the inquiry that arises comes from the collective itself.
Question:
I wonder if this can be done with second graders. How would I start? Would I need to establish some rules in order to keep the learning flowing? Both teachers and students have been so “trained” to have one person in charge of the class. How difficult would it be to change that dynamic?
Connection:
My district has trained teachers and implemented effective questioning throughout. Learning form the collective reminds me of the dynamic that can come out of implementing effective questioning appropriately. When my students are very interested in what we are discussing they become very engaged in their discussions. The point of effective questioning is for the teacher to ask questions that will keep the conversation going and that will encourage more sharing from the students. Every time that someone answers the teacher’s question every student learns something new about the subject and thinks more thoroughly. This year my students truly enjoy this process and are always ready with something to say and eager to share it.
Epiphany:
This semester I have seen a glimpse of a collective arise on social media and our Weebly pages and I am truly impressed with what I have seen. I have tried to encourage collaboration and collectivism in my own classroom with the use of Schoology. I create discussion posts for them and they respond to a question or speak about a subject. I also have encouraged them to go on each other’s comments and reply to their classmates. They love to do this. I have some students who just read posts and like other people’s posts. They say that they are on Facebook.
Chapter 5
Quote:
The success of a blog depends on two things, neither of which is in the author’s control: reader comments and external links. Blogs that survive and thrive do so because they create a strong collective of users who build conversations around the author’s posts.
Question:
I wonder if it is difficult to have so little control over something that the author considers their own work. How does the author solicit new members to their collective and at the same time still feel that their blog is still their own.
Connection:
I have a friend who started a blog and she, very quickly, gained popularity. I am very impressed with the speed of her popularity. Her blog is fun to read and it is very honest. Her voice gives it a sense of “this could be anyone talking, even you”.
Epiphany:
During this class I have seen the potential for the development of a blog like it is described above. I wonder how long it would take a blog to reach popularity if it was fully promoted on social sites.
Chapter 6
Quote:
When a parent first tells a child not to touch a flame because it is hot, the child will almost always put out her hand and get burned. Why? Because the parent has given the child only a portion of the information she needed to make the decision—the explicit, cognitive part. He has shared only the knowledge he knew how to articulate: “Fire is hot.” But when a child gets burned, her body learns all kinds of things that cannot be conveyed by such a simple phrase: It hurts. It is unpleasant. What’s more, she learns not only to avoid the match that burned her but also to avoid things that look like the match that burned her, and she starts to make all kinds of connections to other things. That turns out to be the most important point. From that one experience, a finger touching a flame, a person learns countless things. Because our minds, bodies, and senses are always learning, we pick up
Question:
How difficult is it for a person to replace one type of tacit knowledge for another (for example, a positive for a negative one)?
Connection:
This passage makes me wonder how tacit knowledge plays a role in education, in a negative way. Especially when I read things online titled, “How to Kill a Learner’s Curiosity in 12 Easy Steps”. Students who go through school with an old culture of learning system in place learn tacit knowledge as a direct reaction to the way in which their classroom is being run. Just like the child who touches the flame, their “body learns all kinds of things that cannot be conveyed” by something verbal. Instead, their body learns from the uncomfortable reaction that they have to learning in such an environment and therefore they develop negative tacit knowledge. They learn the rules of school and learn not to be creative. They learn the rules of the game, school, on the tacit level.
Epiphany:
As adults, we have more control over how kids turn out than I ever considered. Kids develop tacit knowledge from life experiences. They learn from being around parents, teachers, and other adults, even those they see on television. These life experiences are the very experiences that develop their tacit knowledge.