Tag Archives: cognition/learning/understanding

A Memo to Education “Reformers” from Sherwood Anderson

Posted on August 24, 2017 | Leave a comment

“The whole object of education is…to develop the mind. The mind should be a thing that works.”

Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

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The Proverbial Joy of Skepticism

Posted on August 24, 2017 | Leave a comment

“The believer is happy; the doubter is wise.”

Hungarian Proverb

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.

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John Adams on Freedom and Education

Posted on August 4, 2017 | Leave a comment

“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”

John Adams (1736-1826)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

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What Office Indeed? Harriet Martineau on Teaching

Posted on July 31, 2017 | Leave a comment

“What office is there which involves more responsibility, which requires more qualifications, and which ought, therefore, to be more honourable, than that of teaching?”

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

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Joseph Addison on Education as Sculptor

Posted on July 23, 2017 | Leave a comment

“What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul.”

Joseph Addison (1672-1719), as quoted in The Spectator (1711)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

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Strategies for Creating Cognitive Apprenticeships

Posted on July 23, 2017 | Leave a comment

During the month of July, I generally try to work on planning and professional development, so I’ve had my nose in both for the past three weeks. The summer’s reading is The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, which, 205 pages in, I have not found as useful to my own practice as I did The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy. Still, there are plenty of important ideas articulated in the book (Cambridge University Press has thoughtfully posted as a giveaway this PDF of the introduction to the book, by its editor, R. Keith Sawyer; if you search The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy, you’ll find a couple of different PDFs from its pages for free download as well.)

One of the first articles in this volume is by Allan M. Collins, who, as you can see from his Wikipedia page, is an important figure in the learning sciences. I like his ideas about cognitive apprenticeship. Here is an outline describing cognitive apprenticeship strategies that I took from his article and typed into a Word document.

I hope you find it useful.

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Posted in Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference

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J.D. Salinger (and Holden Caulfield) on Teachers

Posted on July 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

“You can’t stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it.”

J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

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Cultural Literacy: Dyslexia

Posted on July 11, 2017 | Leave a comment

Here is a short Cultural Literacy exercise on dyslexia to complement some other readings and worksheets posted below on cognition and learning.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Understanding Memory

Posted on July 8, 2017 | Leave a comment

To add a third to the two Intellectual Devotional Readings on oppositional defiant disorder and learning I posted below, here is an Intellectual Devotional reading on memory and a reading comprehension worksheet to complement it.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Short Exercise on the Greek Word Root Crani/o

Posted on July 8, 2017 | Leave a comment

Here is a short worksheet on the Greek word root crani/o. Your students will very likely recognize quickly that it means skull and cranium. Along the way, however, they’ll expand their vocabulary with some common medical terms–particularly helpful if they are interested in careers in healthcare.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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