Lesson Number One: The Importance of Being Jewish
From this section, I got that we should never be too proud to do what has to be done. We are not "above" certain jobs. Sometimes doing the off beat things can pay off. "What started out as adversity ended up being an opportunity" p. 128.
Lesson Number Two: Demographic Luck
The timing of your birth sometimes works for you or against you. This theme has been seen in previous chapters. Timing is everything!
Lesson Number Three: The Garment Industry and Meaningful Work
Work that is complex and engages your mind and imagination is far more rewarding than something meaningless.
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1 & 2
"...Intellect and achievement are far from correlated" p. 90. We should not underestimate people based on their IQ's. IQ level doesn't guarantee success. Providing all students with good opportunities can have just as big an effect as IQ levels. Just because we have students with high IQ's doesn't guarantee that our students will be successful in life. Many of our children don't know how to navigate the academic system. We have to make sure that we fill in the gaps.
10,000 Hour Rule
This chapter hit home the fact that a lot of work goes into being great. Generally, it takes about 10,000 hours of work and practice to be really successful at something. From the Beatles, to Bill Joy, to Mozart, the rule of 10,000 seems to be a constant. We should pick something and do it really well rather than do a million things just ok.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The Matthew Effect - Reflections
This chapter made me think a lot about ability grouping. The ones with the most ability are given the most opportunities to thrive. The ones that really do well in their field take advantage of those opportunities and have a passion. The book talked about Denmark waiting until maturity to make selections once age evens out. It doesn't go into detail about if that levels the playing ground. I'm curious.
How can we level the playing ground for our students while continuing to foster the growth in our students that show additional talents? The book said we could group students based on calendar age, but states that we don't because "we cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit", p. 33. While we can't experiment with our children, it would be interesting to see if this type arrangement really would make a difference in those students that are born later in the year. I would think that even then, students with more talent would begin to rise from each group.
How can we level the playing ground for our students while continuing to foster the growth in our students that show additional talents? The book said we could group students based on calendar age, but states that we don't because "we cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit", p. 33. While we can't experiment with our children, it would be interesting to see if this type arrangement really would make a difference in those students that are born later in the year. I would think that even then, students with more talent would begin to rise from each group.
Introduction - Roseto Reflections
I have to admit that I am just now starting the book. So far, I am happy to say that I find it an interesting read!
I think what I will do is give my thoughts on each chapter as I read them.
A sense of community seems to be a very important component of a healthy life. I thought about this in terms of school and at home. I felt like the following quote summed up what the chapter was about. "They had to appreciate the idea that the values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are (pp. 10 - 11)." How does this relate to Manor ISD? I believe that building a sense of community in our schools will help our students do better in school. Being a part of something bigger than our own little worlds gives people a sense of belonging. We can choose to join in or become an outsider.
In my opinion, we need to figure out what Manor ISD stands for and then build a community where people WANT to belong. We have to make sure that the way we represent our school district to others reflects our goals. The members of our community have to buy in to our goals and want to share them with others. Sometimes, in doing this, we become our own worst enemies. When we make comments such as, "It's nice to hear good things about Manor for a change" we are really bringing to light all the things that are wrong.
Since I live in Manor, I also thought about our new community. Living in a neighborhood does not necessarily make us a part of the community. We need to get to know our neighbors, join in on some of the neighborhood activities, become more a part of what is being built here in Manor.
I think what I will do is give my thoughts on each chapter as I read them.
A sense of community seems to be a very important component of a healthy life. I thought about this in terms of school and at home. I felt like the following quote summed up what the chapter was about. "They had to appreciate the idea that the values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are (pp. 10 - 11)." How does this relate to Manor ISD? I believe that building a sense of community in our schools will help our students do better in school. Being a part of something bigger than our own little worlds gives people a sense of belonging. We can choose to join in or become an outsider.
In my opinion, we need to figure out what Manor ISD stands for and then build a community where people WANT to belong. We have to make sure that the way we represent our school district to others reflects our goals. The members of our community have to buy in to our goals and want to share them with others. Sometimes, in doing this, we become our own worst enemies. When we make comments such as, "It's nice to hear good things about Manor for a change" we are really bringing to light all the things that are wrong.
Since I live in Manor, I also thought about our new community. Living in a neighborhood does not necessarily make us a part of the community. We need to get to know our neighbors, join in on some of the neighborhood activities, become more a part of what is being built here in Manor.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
ability, opportunity, and utterly arbitrary advantage
I'd like to throw this out for comments...
So far, I've found the book to be really interesting (I'm relieved). Sometimes I struggle to make the leap from "Gee, this is an interesting anecdote" to "Hey, this has relevance to us in the field of education," and at this point (I'm about a third of the way through the book), the passage that has made the most striking impact on me, in that regard, is on p.37:
"...[successful] outliers in a particular field reached their lofty status through a combination of ability, opportunity, and utterly arbitrary advantage."
In other words, the really super-successful people Gladwell writes about did have innate abilities, but opportunity and arbitrary advantage were hugely important factors too.
In a school system, students come to us with innate abilities, but it's our task to provide them (all of them) ample opportunities to develop those abilities. I suppose I'm stating the obvious. Really it was the 'arbitrary' factor that I hadn't thought about before. It's pretty ingrained in us to believe 'bootstrap' storylines for success (person A with some talent and a lot of gumption meets with great success, regardless of background); it's the American Dream storyline, but Gladwell says that more often than not, there are arbitrary factors at work, beyond ability and gumption.
Topic for discussion @ La Palapa... are there 'arbitrary advantages' inherent in school systems? If there are arbitrary advantages, doesn't that mean there are arbitrary DISadvantages? If there are, are they within or beyond our control?
Thoughts, anyone? How about a Thursday La Palapa gathering sometime in late October or early November (if no one is ready sooner)?
So far, I've found the book to be really interesting (I'm relieved). Sometimes I struggle to make the leap from "Gee, this is an interesting anecdote" to "Hey, this has relevance to us in the field of education," and at this point (I'm about a third of the way through the book), the passage that has made the most striking impact on me, in that regard, is on p.37:
"...[successful] outliers in a particular field reached their lofty status through a combination of ability, opportunity, and utterly arbitrary advantage."
In other words, the really super-successful people Gladwell writes about did have innate abilities, but opportunity and arbitrary advantage were hugely important factors too.
In a school system, students come to us with innate abilities, but it's our task to provide them (all of them) ample opportunities to develop those abilities. I suppose I'm stating the obvious. Really it was the 'arbitrary' factor that I hadn't thought about before. It's pretty ingrained in us to believe 'bootstrap' storylines for success (person A with some talent and a lot of gumption meets with great success, regardless of background); it's the American Dream storyline, but Gladwell says that more often than not, there are arbitrary factors at work, beyond ability and gumption.
Topic for discussion @ La Palapa... are there 'arbitrary advantages' inherent in school systems? If there are arbitrary advantages, doesn't that mean there are arbitrary DISadvantages? If there are, are they within or beyond our control?
Thoughts, anyone? How about a Thursday La Palapa gathering sometime in late October or early November (if no one is ready sooner)?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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