Risk Taking

Why Did the Duck Cross the Road? A Story of Readiness

/ Dave Eberwein / 2 Comments

Sort of like “Why did the chicken cross the road”?  Maybe the better question should be “UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES did the duck cross the road”?

I think you’ll enjoy this 27 second video — the German voice over isn’t relevant — just watch the ducks and the traffic signal:

 

I’ve watched it a few times trying to figure out what the actual stimulus was for the lead duck — it certainly appears like he recognizes the light change.  Regardless, once the right conditions were in place — in other words, a safe environment to take the risk of crossing the road — every duck took the leap of faith and walked.

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Do These Glasses Make Me Look Smart?

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

book smartWe’ve all probably heard the conversation about being ‘book smart or ‘street smart’, heard others talk about someone ‘having a sixth sense’ or being a ‘people person’.

As a society, we often find ourselves describing people in terms of their strengths or ‘intelligences’.

But, what does it mean to be intelligent? Continue reading →

Will Your Parachute Open Every Time?

/ Dave Eberwein / 2 Comments

Teaching Less (2)

Wait a minute!  Teaching less is a good thing?

Let’s be careful in what is actually being said here.  Teaching is an EXCELLENT thing to do.  If we didn’t teach adequately our students would not learn sufficiently.  But, what Grant Wiggins is trying to stress is that FEEDBACK is one of the strongest correlates to student success.  And not just a letter grade or percentage, but critical feedback that helps the student learn from their mistakes so that they can focus on personal improvement.

Nobody gets better by just seeing a ‘B’ on their paper, lab report or report card.  What makes us improve our learning is the opportunity to understand what we didn’t fully succeed at, be given an opportunity to refine our learning and perhaps demonstrate our mastery of the topic again.

I remember sitting in a meeting where we were talking about feedback, student mastery of material and grading.  The speaker asked us to step out from our ‘classroom comfort zone’ and think about … parachute packing.

OK.  Why not?

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