One concept that I has been more frequently used of late is the term "Kaizen." It is a Japanese word which means many small changes over time will yield big results. With the beginning of the new school year creeping (or galloping depending on your point of view) closer, I am thinking of specifically incorporating the practice of kaizen into my classes. I think it fits remarkably well with education and with the idea of students, the class and the school will improve with the collective efforts of all participants.
In our PBL program, it would be a natural progression to include students being able to use their knowledge of the expected learning, along with experiences and community contacts to suggest changes or additions to the lesson or unit. They can use the strategy of Kaizen to create a more personalized assignment or assessment. In the past, we have encouraged students to take control of their learning, but having the term as a touchpoint makes it easier to communicate what exactly we expect.
As teachers, it seems our role in creating an atmosphere in our classroom where Kaizen can flourish is to be more transparent about our plans, activities and the structure of each unit. The challenge for us will be to make it organic and to truly embrace the changes which will make it a better, more effective learning environment.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Summer Skiing: Overcoming Lizard Brain
For years I have tried to use what I call "circular thinking" to examine decisions from as many different perspectives as possible to make sure I have considered all aspects of it. One of the key components is to try to see it from the perspective of my future self. Because of the myriad of factors in every decision, it is almost impossible get it perfectly right. Will my future self wish I had asked more questions? have done the thing anyways? consulted with someone more knowledgeable about the topic? done more research? Often what it comes down to is "what will make the better story?"
Maybe I am wrong in thinking this because is can lead to paralysis by analysis, which I believe can be caused by the lizard brain or "the resistance." One example I use with my class in describing how I overcame lizard brain, at least in this instance, was skiing on Mt. Hood outside of Portland, Oregon.
While we were visiting my brother in the Portland area in late July, he asked my son if he wanted to snowboard Mt. Hood. He also asked me if I wanted to go. My son eagerly said he wanted to go. My thinking was much different than his. I thought "I'm not that good at skiing. I know it will be difficult, probably too tough fo
r a person who skis the green runs, even in Wisconsin." and "I don't have equipment; how can I ski?" After much hemming and hawing, I thought of Seth Godin's writings and talks about the lizard brain and I decided that my future self would not be happy if I missed the opportunity to ski a big mountain in the summer. I decided to rent equipment and go skiing.
For what seems like my whole life I have seen pictures and videos of people skiing in shorts and T shirts and wondered how they could do it since my experience skiing was mostly in temperatures below 20 degrees. On this day I found out. It was 70 degrees and many of the good skiers did not wear cold weather gear. I was finally going to live the warm weather skiing experience!
It took two lifts to get to the top, which really freaked me out. When we got to the top, it was like nothing I had seen before! Blue sky, peaks of other volcanoes in the Cascades--then I saw the black diamond signaling this would be a difficult, if not impossible, outing. I had never skied a black diamond anywhere before and now I was going to ski one from 9000 feet!
I took it easy and made a hundred turns and wiped out on purpose when I got going too fast, but a half hour later I made it to the bottom to find my brother and son waiting for me. I don't know how many times we did the run that day, but because I conquored my lizard brain, I had an experience I had always dreamed of and will never forget.
If I had chosen not to ski, my daughter and sister-in-law spent their day picking blueberries.
Maybe I am wrong in thinking this because is can lead to paralysis by analysis, which I believe can be caused by the lizard brain or "the resistance." One example I use with my class in describing how I overcame lizard brain, at least in this instance, was skiing on Mt. Hood outside of Portland, Oregon.
While we were visiting my brother in the Portland area in late July, he asked my son if he wanted to snowboard Mt. Hood. He also asked me if I wanted to go. My son eagerly said he wanted to go. My thinking was much different than his. I thought "I'm not that good at skiing. I know it will be difficult, probably too tough fo
For what seems like my whole life I have seen pictures and videos of people skiing in shorts and T shirts and wondered how they could do it since my experience skiing was mostly in temperatures below 20 degrees. On this day I found out. It was 70 degrees and many of the good skiers did not wear cold weather gear. I was finally going to live the warm weather skiing experience!
It took two lifts to get to the top, which really freaked me out. When we got to the top, it was like nothing I had seen before! Blue sky, peaks of other volcanoes in the Cascades--then I saw the black diamond signaling this would be a difficult, if not impossible, outing. I had never skied a black diamond anywhere before and now I was going to ski one from 9000 feet!
I took it easy and made a hundred turns and wiped out on purpose when I got going too fast, but a half hour later I made it to the bottom to find my brother and son waiting for me. I don't know how many times we did the run that day, but because I conquored my lizard brain, I had an experience I had always dreamed of and will never forget.
If I had chosen not to ski, my daughter and sister-in-law spent their day picking blueberries.
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