The menus of this website have been updated with a calendar1 and a section titled “Lost?” that should help you to organize yourself as we pick up speed in our studies. This post is about the question, “What do I do next?”
Three Steps to Repeat
You now have a poster of this in our room:
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The handout version is formatted so that you can print a copy of it on a single sheet of paper. Something like 100 copies will always be available in Room 210, as well.
This document, in any form, is the answer to the question, “What do I do next?” If you finish a formal assignment, you move on to another step in this cycle. You write about what you’ve learned. You share your insights. You ask questions. You go back and read older instructional posts. You keep working.
Everything you do in here connects to something else. Usually, the connections are varied and significant. We are always trying to tap into the white matter of your brain — to make connections that help you internalize knowledge and inculcate skills and traits. Let’s say you don’t know what “inculcate” means, for instance. First, I would send you to Merriam-Webster to read the denotation of the word. Then I would send you here to read about how “inculcate” means to stamp something into the brain. The metaphor of an idea or belief being stamped repeatedly into your brain (the grey matter, this time) is more information to remember, but you’re more likely to recognize the word because of the extra connections made.
Paul Graham, author of the essay that will inform how we write essays all year, described it this way:
When you first read history, it’s just a whirl of names and dates. Nothing seems to stick. But the more you learn, the more hooks you have for new facts to stick onto — which means you accumulate knowledge at what’s colloquially called an exponential rate.
You need hooks for this stuff, too.
Three Steps to Repeat: Annotated
That’s one of the most powerful aspects of flipping instruction and teaching you through these posts. It’s not just that I can write them on my day off, or that you can learn from them over long weekends, but that they explicitly work to make connections between all sorts of things for you. They all but force you to develop more hooks for new facts to stick onto.
Which is why you need to read this set of annotations:
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We can stick to PDF versions for now, simply because they have more universality. Drive documents sometimes look awful in non-Google phones. The basics aren’t going to change much, anyway, which means this PDF is somewhat future-proof.
Read those annotations. They don’t just explain why we’re using a picture of Donkey Kong on a paradigm-shifting approach to assessment; they also give you links to learn about everything from the Dunning-Kruger effect to the tardigrade. And it all connects. You will almost feel your brain making those connections, if you take the time to look for them.
As always, ask questions here. I should have time to start answering interstitial comments and responses this weekend, now that most of the foundational work is done.
Which has already been updated and rendered obsolete behind the scenes. I will post an updated version with an account of the rest of the year later this weekend. This is one reason we use Google so often: We need to be able to update documents and protocols and so on without having to print another 150+ copies or render another PDF to post online. It’s a process, right? ↩
Reading about the hooks we create as we read made a lot of sense to me. The first time I read of the introductory materials, I got a general sense of things but I couldn’t pin down the specifics. Last weekend, I reread all of the photocopied materials on the classroom shelves and it really made a lot more sense because I was not distracted by the big picture concepts- I already understood them- and so I could understand how the ramiform links clicked into place and I remembered more of the details and where I found them within the framework of Sisyphean High.
I’d also like to bring up a few things about the annotations. An Organizational Onus was a useful link for me, it really puts the pieces together about why we need organization. The meaning of the symbols for each trait was pretty interesting as well (I especially like the tardigrade). I was relieved to find out that it is okay to get lost in the instructional posts because despite that being a part of the learning process, I was worried that I needed to always understand what we HAD to know. Couldn’t get the link for the Chad Fowler piece but here it is http://chadfowler.com/2014/01/19/empathy.html. I like how it brought up the imposter syndrome and how we take sides in an argument as well as how we listen to other people in general. Also, here’s something- Inculcate (v): instill (an attitude, idea, or habit) by persistent instruction. Just thought that was an interesting word to consider within the context of the course.
What are the things you’ll be analyzing in our reflective response to this post? Do you want all of it annotated as well?
This project is driven by inspiration, a factor that cannot be forced. As Jane was saying, the vastness and lack of limitations for this assignment are quite intimidating. In every other class, we are taught to follow rubrics and deadlines religiously or else we risk a drop in our grade. Transforming our minds to a space where creativity is encouraged is difficult, as we tend to fear the unknown. I am glad that the Pareto Project will be taking place over a longer period, because I feel it will give my well-trained brain a chance to stretch out a bit. Accessing our full potentials for this project will take time, as our heads need a chance to undo the inculcating of the structure that comes along with assignments that have extensive rules and rubrics.
I hope I used that word correctly, I learned it in “What Do I Do Next”. 🙂
You did use it correctly! I love that word. As for the rest of your comment: I think we’re all institutionalized by school, which is why I write so often about pushing back. I’m trying to break my own thinking down and rebuild it, too, even after all these years. We’ll get there. Some of this weekend’s posts talk about how.