" 'Working with my partner Kari has been inspiring'" --Emily Rinkema
"'I found myself learning more from Adrian than I was teaching him'"- Adrian Walther
Takeaways: The Art of Changing the Brain
"Not only is knowledge stored in the brain, it is produced by the brain through formation and change in neuronal networks. Any change in knowledge must come from some change in neuronal networks" (92).
As teachers, in order for the learning to stick, you need to be aware of how the brain functions and is created and access those avenues.
"No one can understand anything if it isn't connected in some way to something they already know" (94).
Without something familiar to use as a platform for new learning, it will be as though you're trying to get the students to propel themselves in an antigravity chamber and not let them touch the walls.
"As certain as we are that change in the wiring of our brains is directed by genes, we are equally certain that sensory experience changes our neuronal networks" (115). The brain is plastic, meaning that no matter how your brain was wired when you were born, it has the ability to change depending on your experience. This goes hand in hand with the idea of a growth mindset.
Takeaways: Fair isn't Always Equal
"Differentiated instruction is doing what's fair for students. It's a collection of best practices strategically employed to maximize students' learning at every turn, including giving them the tools to handle anything that is undifferentiated" (3).
This quote seems to encapsulate the essence of the title, that, for education to be fair, students are not always given equal tasks and/or expectations. It is up to teachers to meet students where they are at (skill-wise) and to provide them appropriate challenges to get them to the target.
"We can't teach in a vacuum. What are the three most important things in real estate? The most common reply is, 'Location, location, location.' It's the same thing in differentiated instruction: location, location, location of the student's mind. We cannot teach blind to our students" (20).
This means that we constantly, in the form of pre-assessment, formatives, and summatives, need to "check in with students to see what their location is. The more data you gather, the more assured you can be that each student is on the right trajectory to the target.
(34). I took a screen shot of this section of the text because of the significance of the differences between "Fluff" and "Substantive." The example they provide captures the distinction between skill and content based learning. The fluff assignment is something anyone could look up with a smartphone and teachers shouldn't waste their or their students' time with something technology does for us. The Substantive asks the student to use critical thinking skills, and to go beyond rote memorization. If they can master the skill, they can apply it to any real world situation they come across in the future.
Takeaways: Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard.
"If you want to change things, you've got to appeal to both. The Rider provides the planning and the direction, and the Elephant provides the energy. So if you reach the Riders of your team but not the Elephants, team members will have understanding without motivation. If you reach their Elephants but not their Riders, they'll have passion without direction" (8). Students will change/learn most effectively when you engage both their emotions and their rationality. Teachers must tap into the rational half of their students, show them why the learning has value and what it can be used for in the future, but also their emotional half, the half responsible for love, compassion, integrity, in order to change their behavior, beyond the temporary.
"We want what we might call a destination postcard--a vivid picture from the near-term future that shows what could be possible" (76). Goals that we set for our students should be articulated so that they can get excited about where we are heading as a class (in terms of skills and what they can do with them) and it should be seen as an attainable destination in the not too distant future.
"Not only is knowledge stored in the brain, it is produced by the brain through formation and change in neuronal networks. Any change in knowledge must come from some change in neuronal networks" (92).
As teachers, in order for the learning to stick, you need to be aware of how the brain functions and is created and access those avenues.
"No one can understand anything if it isn't connected in some way to something they already know" (94).
Without something familiar to use as a platform for new learning, it will be as though you're trying to get the students to propel themselves in an antigravity chamber and not let them touch the walls.
"As certain as we are that change in the wiring of our brains is directed by genes, we are equally certain that sensory experience changes our neuronal networks" (115). The brain is plastic, meaning that no matter how your brain was wired when you were born, it has the ability to change depending on your experience. This goes hand in hand with the idea of a growth mindset.
Takeaways: Fair isn't Always Equal
"Differentiated instruction is doing what's fair for students. It's a collection of best practices strategically employed to maximize students' learning at every turn, including giving them the tools to handle anything that is undifferentiated" (3).
This quote seems to encapsulate the essence of the title, that, for education to be fair, students are not always given equal tasks and/or expectations. It is up to teachers to meet students where they are at (skill-wise) and to provide them appropriate challenges to get them to the target.
"We can't teach in a vacuum. What are the three most important things in real estate? The most common reply is, 'Location, location, location.' It's the same thing in differentiated instruction: location, location, location of the student's mind. We cannot teach blind to our students" (20).
This means that we constantly, in the form of pre-assessment, formatives, and summatives, need to "check in with students to see what their location is. The more data you gather, the more assured you can be that each student is on the right trajectory to the target.
(34). I took a screen shot of this section of the text because of the significance of the differences between "Fluff" and "Substantive." The example they provide captures the distinction between skill and content based learning. The fluff assignment is something anyone could look up with a smartphone and teachers shouldn't waste their or their students' time with something technology does for us. The Substantive asks the student to use critical thinking skills, and to go beyond rote memorization. If they can master the skill, they can apply it to any real world situation they come across in the future.
Takeaways: Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard.
"If you want to change things, you've got to appeal to both. The Rider provides the planning and the direction, and the Elephant provides the energy. So if you reach the Riders of your team but not the Elephants, team members will have understanding without motivation. If you reach their Elephants but not their Riders, they'll have passion without direction" (8). Students will change/learn most effectively when you engage both their emotions and their rationality. Teachers must tap into the rational half of their students, show them why the learning has value and what it can be used for in the future, but also their emotional half, the half responsible for love, compassion, integrity, in order to change their behavior, beyond the temporary.
"We want what we might call a destination postcard--a vivid picture from the near-term future that shows what could be possible" (76). Goals that we set for our students should be articulated so that they can get excited about where we are heading as a class (in terms of skills and what they can do with them) and it should be seen as an attainable destination in the not too distant future.