Archive for October, 2007

10.16.07

Oops! I Forgot to Make the Cake!

Posted in Learning at 11:31 am by Chris Champion

I’m working through just how I can change my entire teaching philosophy from “I know all of this and its my job to teach you it” to “you need to find all of this – I’ll help”. One way I found of doing it is to pair- or triple-up my students and ask them to decipher sections of our textbook (its written at a 14th grade level). They can use any other source (usually online) to try to better explain what the book says. It has been really useful.

Then I ask them to present their findings to the class, in a “round table” format – with a computer LCD projector/screen at the end of the table. And I make sure that they DON’T use PowerPoint. It seems that every HS kid learns all of the schnazzy features of PowerPoint – animated text, cool noises, contrasting text/backgrounds. When it comes time to present their information, though… well you know. Drivel.

I mentioned my “No PowerPoint” policy to a new group of students today, explaining that I often get lots of fluff and not much substance. And one kid came up with the quote of the year (and the inspiration for the title of this post):

Oops. I made the icing but I forgot to make the cake!

How many times have students turned in lovely icing, with flowers and leaves and wonderful color… but they forgot to make the cake? So I encourage everyone: let’s get away from icing – let’s get our kids to make fantastic cake. Once they learn how to do that, perhaps a little icing would finish it off nicely. But not until they’ve mastered cakemaking.

Picture source: Flickr user PinkCakeBox (Fall Wedding Cake) – Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0 license

10.06.07

Diffusion: We innovators have a history of failing to change minds

Posted in Learning at 11:29 am by Chris Champion

I’m reading Everett M. Roger’s book Diffusion of Innovations, a book about the how and why of changing people’s minds. I just read a passage that talks about the categories of people who adopt a new idea – you may know the categories already:

Innovators
Early Adopters
Early Majority
Late Majority
Laggards

(the “Majority” categories are often called “Late Adopters”)

I consider myself an Innovator in many areas, and an Early Adopter in most others. Usually money is the thing that holds me back :-) The interesting thing is that I always pounded my head against a wall when I found the best new way to do something yet no one would listen… but according to Rogers, the Majority and the Laggards (people who only change when they have no other choice) don’t respect innovators. They respect Early Adopters who have waited until they see an idea flourish that seems like its working. Innovators, however, seem too much like people that try things that are off the wall.

So I’m thinking: do we tell the majority “hey – you should see what other people are doing”? It seems like a white lie that will get change on its way.

Of course… Rogers also says that the Majority will only change once they see others using a new idea or method. Oh well… I guess there’s no changing everyone :-)