the Number One way that most of us know what we know is … autonomous, firsthand, curiosity-driven, wide-ranging, self-directed, trial and error, immediate feedback, personal experience. Number Two in efficiency is learning through shared experience and the dialogue that ordinarily accompanies it. The Number Three way we learn — from “delivered information”— is a distant...
Category: Marion Brady
Unwilling to grasp the instructional implications of kids’ differences and complexity
I have strong feelings about what kids should learn, which is why I’d put them in charge of their own educations. Experience assures me they’ll get where they need to go, and do so more efficiently than will otherwise be possible. Experience also tells me that won’t happen as long as they’re fenced in by...
Cramming is indisputable proof of the superficiality of most classrooms in America
Marion Brady says: The Procedure: 1. Take notes during lectures, and hi-lite key sentences in the textbook. 2. Before a big test, load the notes and hi-lited passages into short-term memory. 3. Take the test. 4. Flush short-term memory and prepare for its re-use. … The Procedure, of course, is called “cramming.” Do it well...
Even more important than interpreting text
Marion Brady said: Common sense says we educate to help learners make better sense of experience – themselves, others, the world. Those Common Core Standards above say something very different, that we educate to help learners make more sense of text – words on a page. There’s no acknowledgement of the myriad other ways humans...