Hi folks!
Well here we are, back at The Talent Code. What ideas did you find compelling in our readings? Please be sure to complete 1 post and 2 comments by your class due dates and times. Late posts and comments will have points deducted. I have "recycled" some posts from our old Talent Code Blog that I thought were in harmony with our class discussions. Freshman Fieldwork students are posting about Chapters 1, 2 and 8. Sophomores and Juniors are posting about pages 177-end of the book. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
ReplyDeleteChapter 1-2
Athletic training, music education, and career training are all very different things but fundamentally they are learned in the same way. There is a process that occurs in each of these areas that produces a specific result, positive or negative. According to Bjork, the positive or successful result is created when a student has difficulty, but through that process learns how to overcome. In teaching, I think Coyle’s view is correct in that I must challenge my students “to operate at the edge of their ability” so they will make mistakes, but in making those mistakes there can be correction. This is true success. Being able to make mistakes and correct them just by hearing them.
I think personally the example of looking at the words in list A and B on pg. 16 was very interesting. I gave this list of words to my high school students to look over and then I asked them to remember the words on the list. Without fail, they each remembered more words on list B. Because of this we are changing our studying habits in our classroom to see if this method will help with things such as spelling words. (I am positive it will work actually!)
Posted by Linda Estep at 7:32 PM
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
ReplyDeleteBeneifical mistakes
I have really enjoyed reading this book. One point that Coyle keeps on bringing up is the use of mistakes to become better. Most times mistakes are looked as something that needs to be eliminated in practice. But Coyle points out that mistakes are good and necessary to develop skill. Another point that Coyle keeps bringing up is myelin. Suzuki's method is built in part on the idea of myelin. Although I don't know that he knew about it at his time, the idea of "every child can" certainly goes right along with how myelin works. One example that came to mind is a story in Nurtured by Love, a little handicapped girl wants to learn the violin. Through the consistent, patient practice with her mom, she is able to play the violin. Reading these chapters has given me a lot to think about.
Posted by Mel Steinbart at 8:14 PM
I also thought about the little handicapped girl from Suzuki's book. That story has stuck with me for years, when I get frustrated with a student I have to go back to that and remember that anyone can learn, it's my job to make sure that happens.
DeleteWednesday, September 21, 2011
ReplyDeleteMyelin
What an interesting read. It seems to me that the best in teaching techniques comes from ideas that are backed by science. Rolland's physical approach stem from the neurological and cognitive processes that occur at both the conscious and unconscious level. Coyle's ideas of deep practiced is backed by the myelin discoveries. As previously stated, the best way of learning is modeled after the natural, God-made way. I love to learn about this "discoveries." They grow my faith, even though the books are littered with evolutionary thoughts, biases, and terminology.
We can praise God even through our teaching style, if it has Biblical motives, goals, and methods.
Posted by Jonesy at 9:05 PM
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
ReplyDeleteMyelin is cool!
This concept of how myelin works is amazing! Everything we do is based on all the nerve impulses running through the brain wrapped in a myelin sheath. But the way it happens is so complex. It amazes me that the author recognizes this as an astonishing phenomenon, yet still does not recognize that it is a result of God's awesome creation.
I think that one of the most interesting things that I read was that, "Memory wasn't like shoe size - it could be improved through training" (pg 50). Because of myelin, the memory can be improved, but only through practice, because that is the only way to increase the myelin sheath. The only way to use the myelin is to take advantage of it and train properly so that it increases and the memory improves.
Posted by BethRH at 11:02 PM
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
ReplyDeleteThe flexible teacher
The thing that just popped out at me as I read this chapter was the story about Hans Jensen. I can really see the ability to adapt to students needs as being a great strength, the first student needed emotion in his playing and the other student needed to internalize her music. It amazed me how fast he went from one student to the next without a break, without getting to know the students level and needs, and just started teaching them exactly what they needed. It seems to me that teachers not only need this aspect of "flexible teaching" but they also need to adapt to the same students needs every lesson. As human beings we can’t help but constantly change. Our students might need an uplifting and encouraging lesson one week and a motivationally challenging lesson the next. I'm learning this now with my student and it's just like Miss Betsy said "we are not teaching a curriculum we are teaching a person.
Posted by RachE at 8:19 PM
BethRH October 26, 2011 9:34 PM
ReplyDeleteThat is so true, Rachel. Reading this chapter was a real eye opener for me, too, seeing that we need to be able to read our students' needs and teaching what they need to fulfill that need. I guess it's something that comes with lots and lots of practice in teaching and interaction with people.
bgetsorganizedOctober 27, 2011 12:21 PM
ReplyDeleteIn music ed research they call this "proximal positioning." It is the ability to "put yourself in the other person's shoes"-- so to speak. According to a study by Sylvia Gholson, Dorothy Delay also had this in "spades".
I thought it was interesting in the reading that the key to being a successful teacher in general is developing and understanding of the person and developing a relationship with them. This reminds me of Corinthians 13 which talks about the importance of love, and how everything fails without it. Without developing an understanding of the person you are teaching, you will never be a successful teacher because you will only have curriculum to teach and not a person.
DeleteJonesyNovember 10, 2011 12:23 PM
ReplyDeleteI've come across this in my music theory class. Some of my kids do well in the individual learning environment, but several of them have needed individual attention to grown and understand. I as a teacher have to be aware of not only my student's personality, but also their learning styles.
I have also experienced this in my theory class, it is hard to be able to assess every child's needs and learning styles in even a smaller class.
DeleteWe are not teaching a curriculum; we are teaching students :)
DeleteI loved how Coyle compared giving instructions to a series of signals and responses similar to neurons and axons. Just like neurons in the brain have to fire at just the right moment or a multiplicity of problems can occur, this same idea applies to teaching. There has to be an understanding of exactly what exercise, process, or word of instruction to put where in order to be successful. As a teacher I have to understand not just my students individual learning needs, but also how best to apply my methods to those needs.
ReplyDeleteI love that you are a science major. :) It is cool to take teaching to a whole new level by comparing it to how God created our brains to function in the first place. Imitating the examples that God has given us in the first place is, I would imagine, more effective than creating a teaching methodology that goes against how we naturally function.
DeleteCoyle’s reduction of the learning process is fascinating. I am sure I don’t understand myelination, but Coyle’s explanation of how athletes, musician, and other performers rely on their acquired hard-wiring made a lot of sense. It scared me when he said that the hard-wiring for habits cannot be reversed. Sloppy practice has lasting effects. However, Coyle would be quick to point out that the opposite is also true—well used (Coyle would say deep) practice time has lasting, positive effects.
ReplyDeleteChapter eight’s description of the two languages teachers use is also interesting. Wooden spoke the “language of information,” but Miss Mary spoke “using emotional triggers . . . and motivation.” Both of these methods are necessary, but one teaches beginning piano students and the other teaches college basketball players. A teacher needs to know their audience. While being a loving and motivating teacher takes a lot of effort and care for the student, it seems like the "information packed" part of teaching would take more outside planning to master. Wooden coached for many years to develop his ability to communicate a lot with few words.
It is scary to think what bad practicing will do to creating bad habits. That's why we as teachers need to teach our students how to practice. Much more, we as teachers need to be practicing correctly.
DeleteWow, there were tons of little snippets from the reading that stood out to me. I think the biggest thing was the overriding theme that is summed up by Thomas Carruthers quote on page 196, "A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." The role of a teacher is not to spoon feed skill into each student. A teacher's role is to know how to effectively communicate and challenge their student to figure out things for themselves. Of course a teacher will have to model or explain how to do things for a student to be effective, especially when teaching strings, but ultimately the student has to be willing and have the motivation to try these things out on their own, and work out their own skills. It is the job of the teacher to ignite this desire to 'deep practice' as shown on page 205.
ReplyDeleteThere was an idea in the book that I thought was pretty cool: the idea of each student having a sweet spot on the edge of their ability, and the job of the coach or teacher is to find that sweet spot and send the right signal to help the student reach the goal. We are teaching students how to do this for themselves, and to approach the puzzles or challenges they face with lots of different keys until they find the one that fits. If we do that in the lesson, and give them a whole bunch of master keys to use, then they have the tools to be independent learners.
Delete"A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." Is this what Miss Pabon is talking about when she uses the term scaffolding? Or does scaffolding have more to do with finding effecting ways of supporting the student's learning process?
DeleteThis the second time that I have read through this section of the book, and several ideas popped out to me. The main idea that popped out to me is the GPS reflex. I found the transcript of the three minutes of Septien’s teaching very fascinating. In the three minutes, Septien gave eight directives for the student to do. These directives were given in one sentence. The student was singing the piece most of the time. This goes right along with what Miss Betsy has said about the lesson time having a 3:1 ratio of student action and teacher explaining. This is what I am working on to improve my teaching.
ReplyDeleteGood point! That is also something that I was reading about in chapter 8. The master coaches hardly ever talked except to briefly explain what the student needed to do. I am realizing that as I teach I spend a lot of time explaining the "why's" when I should directing the student to figure out the answers by him/her self. If I am not having them play they should still be actively engaged in what we are doing or I will lose them.
DeleteWell there must have been some miscommunication because I heard that the reading was chapter 8 so that is what my post is about.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the reading. It is such good material! There are a ton of things I would like to talk about, but the thing that really caught my attention was a small portion in the coaching love section. It said that a way to make kids learn better was getting them to be excited about learning and going to lessons. This is something that I have been thinking about for a while. How do we make lessons instructive, but fun? I try to use a lot of praise and encouragement in my teaching, but how can I get them to want to work hard and figure out what they are doing wrong?
Rereading this section of the Talent Code was definitely refreshing. I thought the concept of the matrix was particularly interesting. The matrix is the huge wealth of knowledge that the teacher owns, and the teacher uses that knowledge to teach the student. If one approach doesn't work for the student, then the teacher can approach it a different way, and if that doesn't work, even a different way. But these approaches are all part of the matrix. It is a resource that is built up over time, which means that teachers have to be constant learners as well! The teacher should be able to think about the material that is being taught as many ways as possible, allowing the opportunities to have many different approaches to teaching it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point about how teachers have to be constant learners. I guess that is why there are so many teacher conferences available.
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