Teaching

Posts Tagged ‘Teaching’

Active Learning

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Activity, Education, John C. Holt, Learning, Philosophy, Product, Quotes, Teaching on December 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.

― John C. Holt

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Click here (5 December) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Sitting Near The Road

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Anonymous, Construction, Education, Philosophy, Polly B. Berends, Quotes, Roads, Secrets, Success, Teaching on March 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The road to success is always under construction.

— Anonymous

Everything that happens to you is your teacher. The secret is to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it.

— Polly B. Berends

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Click here (31 March) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Triple Truth

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Buddha, Compassion, Generousity, Humanity, Kind Speech, Philosophy, Quotes, Service, Teaching, Truth on January 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

— Buddha

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Click here (13 January) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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I Think He Meant Teach Best…

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia, Learning, Modeling, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching on November 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I’ve learned that you learn best by modeling. If you want people to learn, do it!

— Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia

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Click here (15 November) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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When You Want To Change The Future

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Colleen Wilcox, Happy Birthday Sis, Optimism, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching on April 5, 2024| 2 Comments »

Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.

–– Colleen Wilcox

[Happy Birthday to my sister who has been teaching (and changing the future for the better) for over 30 years! — Love ya, kmab & Hil]

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Click here (5 April) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Models And Structures

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged How Children Fail, John C. Holt, Mental Models, Mental Structures, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching, Understanding on February 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I doubt very much if it is possible to teach anyone to understand anything, that is to say, to see how various parts of it relate to all the other parts, to have a model of the structure in one’s mind. We can give other people names, and lists, but we cannot give them our mental structures; they must build their own.

― John C. Holt
From his book: “How Children Fail“

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Click here (23 February) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Learn To Love Learning

Posted in Education, Other Blogs, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged John C. Holt, Knowledge, Learning, Love, Other Blogs, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching on January 27, 2024| 4 Comments »

Since we can’t know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance.

Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn what needs to be learned.

— John C. Holt

[Found at one of the blogs I follow: https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/
The specific post is located at: https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2020/01/28/learn/

Please visit the original site if you have a few spare minutes. — kmab]

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Click here (27 January) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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A Passion For Teaching And Learning

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia, Knowledge, Learning, Life, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching on December 8, 2023| 4 Comments »

I have been a teacher myself all my life. I have an intense passion to share with people. Our only salvation is in knowledge, in learning.

— Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia

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Click here (8 December) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Whatcha Doin’?

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Abba Hyperichius, Actions, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching, Wisdom on September 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The person who teaches others by actions, not words, is truly wise.

— Abba Hyperichius

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Click here (7 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Enjoying Being A Serious Blogger

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Being Serious, Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia, Enjoying Life, On Blogging, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching on May 20, 2023| 2 Comments »

I am a teacher. And I think I am a serious one who happens to be enjoying life.

— Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia

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Click here (20 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia, Ignorance, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching, Wisdom on September 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

If I don’t have wisdom, I can teach you only ignorance.

— Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia

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Click here (15 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Relegated To Study Hall

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, Hearing, Learning, Philosophy, Quotes, Study, Teaching on May 4, 2022| 4 Comments »

To study is a good way to learn; to hear it is still a better way; to teach it is the best of all.

— Erasmus

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Click here (4 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Learning And Teaching

Posted in Career, Disclaimer, Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, Work, tagged Disclaimer, Dr. Richard P. Feynman, Education, Frankfurt, Germany, Great Teachers, Learning, NCO Academy, Performance Oriented Training, Philosophy, POTs Training Technique, Quotes, Teaching, Work on November 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Feynman Learning Technique:
1) Take a piece of paper and write the concept’s name at the top.
2) Explain the concept using simple language (show examples to demonstrate you know how the concept works)
3) Identify problem areas in your explanation or examples and then go back to the sources to review the material / concept
4) Pinpoint any complicated terms and challenge yourself to simplify them.

Several days ago, I posted a quote and made a comment about excellence in teaching. (Why We Have So Few Personal Favorites ) Basically, my proposition was that it is extremely difficult to evaluate the competence and productivity of a teacher because of the number of variables and an inability to control them to a point sufficient to determine what are the tools we could provide the “most effective” teachers to make them better (or any teachers for that matter).

I never gave much thought about teaching until I joined the Army and they insisted I learn, participate in and practice “Performance Oriented Training” (POTs training) when I attended the NCO Academy in Frankfurt, Germany. Essentially, POTs stipulates that until the student can perform the task, the training has not been effective. There were three elements: 1) the instructor demonstrates the task to be performed / explaining the objective of the task, the reason for the task, and each step necessary to complete the task; 2) the instructor then walks / talks the student through each step as they (the student) follows along with each step; and, 3) the instructor asks the student to perform the task independently. If the student fails in performance (step 3), the instructor must return to element 2. Re-cycle through elements 2 and 3 until 3 can be accomplished independently. At that point, the student can perform the task and the training has been effective. (Of course long term retention of the knowledge / skill is a different matter.)

This training methodology served me very well during my working life / career as I was frequently called upon to instruct on topics in the military, and then as a civilian: from credit card fraud prevention, to correspondent banking, to numerous Information Technology topics (basic trouble-shooting, using spreadsheets, using word processing applications, server and network administration, setting up databases, conducting data analysis and creating web pages to display the analysis / data).

Rather late in my career, I “discovered” (i.e. read about) Dr Richard P. Feynman (PhD) and his personal learning methodology. Post-employment (i.e. in retirement), I’ve now watched bits and pieces of Professor Feynman’s lectures (on YouTube) and I believe his methodology is a civilian / academic equivalent of personal POTs training. That is: how we should expect to teach ourselves and verify our own knowledge / competency in a subject. I shudder to think of the number of lectures / classes / training sessions I’ve attended where the instructor either did not have this level of personal expertise or expect the student to demonstrate understanding at the end of the session. Which, (again) is why we remember our few “great” teachers over our lifetimes.

Disclaimer: The list of four steps above are available in several books and on the web and the exact wording is neither mine nor exclusive to any specific source so I have not bothered to cite any “original” source. I apologize in advance if anyone reading this feels I have used their exact language describing Dr. Feynman’s technique.

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Click here (1 November) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Why We Have So Few Personal Favorites

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Competence, Education, Performance, Peter Drucker, Philosophy, Quotes, Teachers, Teaching, Tools on October 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the ‘naturals’, the ones who somehow know how to teach.

— Peter Drucker

[One of the few times I don’t agree with Drucker… I believe we rely on ‘willing to’ rather than ‘naturals’ to become teachers and then hope most rise to a level of competence and performance.

First, I’m not convinced “average” people are capable of being competent teachers. I don’t think the ability to teach academic subjects is a skill the average person has. I do believe that everyone can teach “some” things – just not academic topics, and certainly not at all levels.

Second, I believe “tools” make most people better at “some” things, but do not necessarily make average people competent or able to perform in academic areas. I’m not convinced tools necessarily make a below-average (whatever that is) person average (whatever that is); just better than they might have been otherwise.

Third, I’m not convinced we have adequate testing methodologies to rate an academic teacher’s competence and / or performance. Students are living beings and not subject to controlled experiments as inputs or as outputs. The “best” we can do is use statistics to estimate student competence / performance under very limited circumstances and, therefore, the results of the comparisons may or may not be widely applicable across wider groups in society. Even the world’s greatest high school math teacher may not be good (or average) in a grammar school or at a university, let alone at another high school or in other subjects.

Finally, we believe we can use standardized tests to measure the students performance and, therefore, “measure / determine” a teacher’s competence. This is an assumption which may or may not be valid.

In any case, my understanding is that social / economic banding is the most common important factor for economic progress / success. This banding has very little to do with an individual teacher’s ability or a student’s performance.

The same teacher can teach multiple siblings at the same school and still end up with a wide variance of sibling performance success. — kmab]

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Click here (28 October) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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How Learning Infections Begin

Posted in Education, Music, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Children, Education, Learning, Leonard Bernstein, Music, Philosophy, Quotes, Teaching on August 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »

We destroy our children’s songs of existence by giving them inhibitions, teaching them to be cynical, manipulative, and all the rest of it… You become hardened, but you can find that playfulness again. We’ve got to find a way to get music and kids together, as well as to teach teachers how to discover their own love of learning. Then the infectious process begins.

— Leonard Bernstein

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Click here (29 August) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.