Learn from the best!
One of the people who attended the course on the 14 January has very kindly given me a copy of Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto. Thank you, Mike! It is a really wonderful book. It is written by a New York schoolteacher, who has a perceptive analysis of what is wrong with the US educational system and ideas for how it could be improved.
The analysis of what is wrong is compelling. In The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher, he says that the first lesson he teaches is confusion. 'Everything I teach is out of context'. He points to the huge variety of unconnected activities and says, 'Meaning, not disconnected facts, is what sane human beings seek'. Charles Dickens makes the same point repeatedly in Hard Times. Sadly, the spirit of Gradgrind still haunts our National Curriculum. It does not have to be like this. A hundred years ago, the great educationalist, Rudolf Steiner, developed a curriculum around meaning. Some examples of Steiner's approach would be: finding a relationship with colour through painting and getting 'a feeling for hues, tones, perspectives and spaces of colours' exploring sound and rhythm in speech with movements linked to sounds; learning about fire with Bunsen flames, bonfires, then chemical reactions. Topics would be explored in morning sessions of two and a half hours, over a period of weeks and further developed subsequently. This block approach would counter Gatto's third lesson, indifference. As Gatto says, 'When the bell rings I insist they drop whatever it is we have been doing and proceed quickly to the next work station...The lesson of bells is that no work is worth finishing, so why care too deeply about anything?'
As well as analysis of the lessons implicit in the way education is delivered, Gatto explains what his students can't do. I thought this was interesting, particularly as, thanks to brain imaging, we now have a better understanding of how youngsters' brains develop. It is important that they develop their thinking ability and get the most from the brain growth spurt at puberty. Gatto's point 8: 'The children I teach are dependent, passive and timid in the presence of new challenges'. This is something we all should be concerned about. Critical thinking skills are critical!
Well, what do youngsters do if they want to succeed and are trapped in this absurd system? The school system is not going to change overnight. Adam Robinson's book What Smart Students Know, suggests that youngsters play the system to stand a chance of winning the academic success that opens career doors. Robinson says: 'Other books assume that if you are not doing as well in school as you'd like, something is wrong with you. I start from the premise that something is wrong with the school'. It is a pragmatic approach and explains how to make the best of a bad situation.
How do we change the school system? Gatto has some helpful ideas, which relate to his sense of history and understanding of how local communities in New England developed. He is in favour of individuals, families and communities gathering together voluntarily. This way education will keep in touch with what gives life meaning: 'self, family, friends, work and intimate community'. It is a fascinating book. It makes us think about what education currently is and what it could be. I'd also recommend Education Towards Freedom by Frans Carlgren, a Rudolf Steiner education book. It is inspirational.
Hein Oosthuizen from South Africa is a keen speed reading student. I should say at the outset that have not met Hein and I have not taught Hein speed reading. Hein contacted me via email about some difficulties in learning the skill. I am impressed by Hein as a learner. Hein has an inquiring mind, a clear goal (a minimum 1500 wpm in six weeks) and the determination to succeed. Hein emailed me with these questions. Of course, I was delighted to answer them. We thought that the questions and answers might be useful to other speed reading students, so we are sharing them with you.
Hein's questions:
Anne's reply: There is already something about sub-vocalisation on the Speed Reader site. It is an article from December 2010. I don't think sub-vocalisation is an issue. It is how we learnt to read, by saying the words and usually pointing at them. It is impossible to completely eliminate it. Even if we don't think we sub-vocalise, scientists have shown with brain scans that when we read the area to do with speech is active. Most of use sub-vocalisation as a memory strategy. Most of have a mental voice when we read, which we can tune into or out of. We can hear articulated speed at speeds of 1500 wpm. Try speeding up the hearing of the words, if that is what you do. I use it as a memory strategy, as I explain in the article. If you want to read more than six words, try using a book with small print or reading a newspaper column. My guess is that you could guide down a newspaper column with one fixation in the centre. I would imagine that you are concentrating on the process, rather than what you are reading. That can often be the case for beginners. Anne adds that you do need to practise!
Remember November's article about how best to recover from interruptions? Alexander from Brussels emailed his suggestions, which I thought you might like to read.
'Distraction and interruption is a big topic. It's not only phone calls and incoming emails but also the temptation to multi-task which, in my experience, never really works out. I think that one ideally should try to limit all distractions and interruptions (which might be difficult in certain jobs). If distractions and interruptions occur, then it might be a good idea to follow a little routine to re-focus (e.g. like relaxing, smiling, widening the field of vision, breathing). That's what I try to do.'
A new batch of books have arrived ready for the next training days in London.
I get to read them first. It is one of perks of the job!
As a big fan of Dan Roan and David Sibbet, I love the visual impact of Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur.
Business jargon such as 'value propositions' and 'customer segments',
normally a bit off-putting, became interesting in the context of the diagrams which explained clearly how different types of businesses operate.
It is absolutely fascinating and very useful. Particularly as a result of the internet, business models have changed and are still evolving.
It is the kind of book that gets you thinking about what you do and how your business can adapt to meet new challenges.
Armed with post-it notes, markers and large sheets of paper, I am definitely going to have a go!
Like many people, I know that I need to improve my health. I loved an article in the online Washington Post recently entitled Get ready for a work workout.
(Do a search!) It illustrated twelve exercises that you could do in the office and rated them under the headings of difficulty, sweaty and humiliating.
They are all do-able, even by someone like me. What is more you can download a poster of the exercises to display near your desk.
(Thank you, Washington Post!) I think that it is a good idea to have a set of exercises that you can do anywhere, no special equipment required.
The Washington Post article is aimed at office softies, of whom I am one. Anyway, another newly arrived book is You are Your Own Gym.
It is written by Mark Lauren, who is a trainer of elite American Special Operations soldiers.
It has the same proposition. Lauren says that you don't need special equipment to build fitness. I think it is a really good read.
I have made a start with the work workout exercises. I am going to try You are Your Own Gym next.
It does claim that it is 'For men and women of all athletic abilities'. I feel I have no athletic ability at all.
I am 'working towards' doing the exercises, as teachers say euphemistically, when a student is a long way off being able to achieve a goal.
It sounds better than a 'hopeless case'!
Twitter and how it affects presentations is the subject of The Backchannel, by Cliff Atkinson.
Atkinson explains how presenters can anticipate audiences tweeting.
The event experience can be enhanced by increased audience participation through tweets.
Presenters can design Twitter into their presentations and manage the information flow.
The presenter can quickly respond to tweeted feedback and, by following Cliff's tips, avoid such things as snark bombs (snide remarks), tweckling (heckling with tweets) and, horror of horrors, twitterjacking (taking control of a presentation through tweets).
There is a lot of useful advice for the novice tweeter. Cliff Atkinson's style walks the talk.
He talks about how story and metaphor improve audience engagement by using stories and metaphors to hook us into the content.
He explains how to structure presentations so that the audience can assimilate the information easily, in an accessible way.
Great advice, with or without tweets. I think incorporating Twitter into what I do will be something else that I am 'working towards'!
Over the past few weeks I have been fortunate enough to have been invited to a community group in the east of Hexham. It was a wonderful experience. The group at No. 28 was very welcoming. Among other things, I was explaining how to create Mind Maps. One of the examples I gave was the Mind Map of all the things you like. (Tony Buzan uses it when he teaches Mind Mapping. It is a great way to introduce Mind Mapping.) Anyway, it is a very useful thing to do. If you are feeling a bit low, this Mind Map could remind you of the things you like to do. You could cheer yourself up by doing one of them! It can remind you to make more time for the things you enjoy doing. At this time of year, parents might like to encourage youngsters to create their own Likes Mind Map. It might give them a bit of inspiration for those times in the school holidays when they claim that they are bored and they have nothing to do!
Well, the news is that two new elements are being added to the periodic table after they were discovered through a collaboration between US and Russian scientists.
The elements are the first to be added since copernicium in 2009. They have not yet been named, but are known for now as 114 and 116.
Perhaps when they are named it would be a good time to update Tom Lehrer's song The Periodic Table of the Elements. Set to the tune of I am the very model of a modern major general, it is very funny in performance and a definite memory challenge in itself.
I was delighted to discover that Tom is still alive and living in retirement. I am a big fan of his songs and his great sense of humour.
Listeners to 17 February show may have heard me explaining how to speed read. I appeared on the expert interview slot on the show. Apparently the idea for the interview came about in connection with the show's book club. If you did get to hear the interview, I hope you enjoyed it!
In an article in the New York Times on 20 January 2011, To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test, writer Pam Belluck discussed the implications of recent research published in the American online journal Science. The research suggests that attempts to retrieve information shortly after having read and re-read something may be a better strategy than re-reading or concept mapping.
The account of the experiment was interesting. Apparently the experiment involved 200 college students reading several paragraphs about scientific topics. They were divided into four groups. Group one read the passage for five minutes. Group two read and reread the passage in four consecutive five-minute sessions. Group three created concept maps with the passage in front of them. The final group read the passage and then had ten minutes to write down what they could remember of it, before repeating the reading and retrieval practice. All the groups were tested a week later, with a short answer test involving recalling facts and making logical deductions from them. The group who did the retrieval practice is said to have retained an astonishing 50% more of the information than the groups who used the other methods.
Of course, there is more to reading than recalling facts and applying them logically. Analysis, synthesis and evaluation require more depth of thought. However, it is definitely worth thinking about our own unique ways of retrieving information from memory. How can we improve what we do? How about taking a quiet moment or two after we have read something and testing ourselves to discover whether we can recall the key points? When we check back through what we've read, we could notice the points we forgot. Why did we forget them? What made the other points more memorable? We can have the Buckminster Fuller approach and use our lives as an experiment!
My attention was drawn to a recent article in the Daily Mail, about the use of Sony and Kindle e-readers. Why ugly fonts and messy handwriting make it easier to remember what you've read,17 January 2011. The article referred to research published in the Princeton journal, Cognition. The research is Fortune favours the Bold (and the Italicised): Effects of disfluency on educational outcomes. It was conducted by Connor Diemand-Yauman, Daniel M. Oppenheimer and Erikka B. Vaughan. The article suggested that the use of easy to read fonts made the text more forgettable. The memory of what has been read is improved when the brain has to work harder to decode the words, for example, handwritten notes. The suggestion is that the readability of the fonts used results in poorer recall of information presented on e-readers.
I think that poorer recall was always likely to be the case. If information is presented in exactly the same way, book after book, it will be more forgettable. Additionally, there will be a loss of context as a result of using an electronic presentation. How information is set out on the page is important for memory, as where it is in the book itself. The cover, the size of the book, etc, all add to our memory of it. I am sure you have personal experience of this, as I have. How many of us in an exam have had the experience of being able to recall where in our notes the answer to a question was, but not the actual answer? In speed reading competitions I occasionally had the situation where I could recall where on the page was the detail of an answer to question, although I could not recall what exactly it was. The point I am making is that that we take in more information about the layout of a book than we consciously are aware of when we read it. This effect is lost when we are using a small screen and a standard font.
Your Best Year Yet! by Jinny Ditzler. Published by HarperElement, 2006 edition
I expect that the New Year will bring with it the usual annual avalanche of articles about New Year's resolutions, makeovers, etc. If you are seriously contemplating making changes in your life, then do take a look at this very helpful little book. It is not new. It was first published in 1994. I like the simplicity of the process of working your way through Jinny Ditzler's ten questions and coming up with a plan for the next year. It does not take long to do (about three hours).
However carefully we plan, events can often affect our lives profoundly. At least if we have been living our lives by our values, we can feel some consolation when things happen that we have little control over. These things do happen. As John Lennon remarked, 'Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans'.
When we feel we are making progress towards our goals, it reduces our stress. It gives meaning to our lives. Planning may be the nearest we actually get to achieving our goals. At the very least, it does make it more likely that we will learn something useful from the attempt to reach them.