We didn't cover much history today, just some basic "learning theory" material that will help make the rest of the class make sense.
Here's the link to the Presidents song:
The first quiz of the year will be the lyrics to this song. I'll provide everything but the names. You fill in the blanks. You have until Tuesday, October 19 to complete this quiz for full credit.
If you like the learning theory material, read Prisoner of Trebekistan by Bob Harris. Some of the scenes may not be suitable for little brothers and sisters, but that's what makes them so memorable, right?
For parents checking in, here's a rundown of what we did today:
The Trebekistan Method Becoming Smarter Than You Ever Thought Possible In Eight Easy Steps
Step One: Pay Attention to the Obvious.
If something comes up over and over again, it's probably important.
Step Two: Let your feelings help you.
Learning is, at its core, an emotional process. We are emotional beings. Use that fact to your advantage.
Step Three: Create a setting for remembering.
Re-creating the environment in which you will eventually have to remember will help you recall the information when you need to.
Step Four: Better to do nothing than to do something dumb.
Consider the circumstance in which you've been asked to remember something. Know the price of being wrong.
Step Five: Remember how little you really know.
Much of memory hinges on confidence. It's not enough just to know, but to know you know.
Step Six: Everything connects to everything else.
Learning how the puzzle is framed helps you fill in the details.
Step Seven: You can only see what you think you'll see.
No matter how hard we try, we can only see the world from our own point of view.
Step Eight: Answer one question at a time.
Take learning and remembering one moment at a time. You can only do what's right in front of you, right now. The more you worry about what you can't control, the less control you'll have over what you can.
BONUS FOR WEBSITE VIEWERS: Embrace your inner weirdo.
One of my mentors growing up was a man we called Mr. Nick. He was the guy at church who always had candy in his pocket for the kids. One day I was wondering about being a preacher because I wasn't one of the popular kids. I made the comment that if the church was going to grow it needed somebody less weird representing it in the world of normal people.
I'll never forget what he told me. He said, "Ben, weird can be good." He went on to tell me that he saw a lot of his son in me, and instead of hiding my weirdness I should embrace it.
Turns out Mr. Nick knew a thing or two about cultivating weirdos into successful adults. Mr. Nick's only child was named Al.
You guessed it. Yankovic.
So let your freak flag fly, people. By the end of this class, we'll have enough freakiness for a parade.
If you're in LCHE US History, you've come to the right place.
Every week I will post my notes on this blog, then open it up for comments. I will also try to embed as many links as I can in the notes if you want to read further on any given topic.
At the end of the notes there will be three discussion questions to be discussed in the comments section.
What I expect of you:
1. Answer at least one of the DQ's each week. Answers should be at least 100 words, but no longer than the capacity of the comment box to hold.
2. If your comment generates a response or a question (from me or anybody else), post a response.
Three rules on this: 1 -- The original post should be the longest post in the discussion. 2 -- The original poster gets the last word. 3 -- Disagree without being disagreeable. Anybody who has seen cable news knows that meanness is the last refuge of the wrong-headed. Play nice, and don't stab.
OK, 3a. -- Don't freak out if you find out you hold a minority position. Disagreeing with me will get you bonus points, provided you can make a coherent case.
3. Post at least one response to something somebody else says. Indicate who you are addressing with an @ sign followed by the person's name, as in @JabbatheHut07. Keep your responses to a sentence or two, and phrase them in the form of a question the original poster can answer.
Your grade in the class will be 1/3 what we cover in class, and 2/3 what happens online. If you want extra credit, talk to me privately.
{C-Span Nerd} Self: Request unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. Chair: Without objection, so ordered. {/C-Span Nerd}
Learning stuff is not that hard.
Really, it's not.
You may be studying for a test in school, trying to do well on a game show, or simply expanding your horizons. Whatever the reason, or even if you don't really know the reason, you want this information to get into your head and stay there until you need it later.
The good news is you have help.
Anytime there is communication, there are two parties at work -- the one listening, and the one talking. And in normal communication, both parties have the same goal, namely to transfer information from one person to another. We both want the same result. So the communicator -- the teacher, the author, the movie director, the artist, whoever they might be -- has a vested interest in your learning what they want you to know. So, there are certain steps they are going to take to make sure that you get what they want you to have.
Unless their name is J. J. Abrams, in which case all bets are off. "Lost" is, after all, an apt description of what it's like to try to understand what's happening on that island.
As a student then, if you know what the teacher is trying to do and how they are trying to do it, you can pick up on certain clues the teacher is giving you about what she wants you to know. A capable teacher knows how to make the most important parts of the lesson the easiest to learn, and how to put them in front of the student over and over and over again.
It may seem blatantly obvious that that which is most important is what is going to be most frequently emphasized. It's also human nature. Placing a higher priority on something calls it to mind more often. As teachers, we just can't help ourselves.
But that's the point. The important stuff is supposed to be the easiest, because later on when we talk about connections we'll see how to use the obvious to teach us what is harder to see. But that's Step 6. We're not there yet.
Students, then, can make themselves "smarter" simply by noticing what comes up most frequently. Pay attention not only to what is said, but how and how often. Put yourself in the teacher's shoes and try to figure out what is front and center in his mind. If you're willing to be on the receiving end of the communication and simply pay attention, even if you don't understand or follow 95% of what's being, you'll get what the teacher thinks is important.
As a student, if you will make your education a team effort and cooperate with those who are trying to teach you, you can be smarter than you think.
In 2005, Bob Harris wrote a groundbreaking book on learning theory called Prisoner of Trebekistan.
OK, the learning theory part is only a few chapters early on. The rest of the book is how he used what he learned on Jeopardy. And some of the language is . . . well . . . let's say not what you'd want repeated at your church-based co-op. Millard Fillmore's middle name is especially colorful.
But it's also especially memorable. And that's exactly the point.
The Trebekistan method teaches how the mind prioritizes information and how to use that knowledge to make what you want to remember memorable. It's useful for test-taking, studying, and especially quick recall in high-pressure situations.
There are eight steps to the process. I'll treat each step as a separate blog post as I have a chance to write them.
I have never in my life constructed a PowerPoint presentation. Honestly, I've never had a reason to. True, I'm a preacher. But my preaching style is more literary than didactic, so it doesn't really lend itself to visuals. My theory is that preaching is oratory, and should uplift and inspire. If PowerPoint could make a message resonate more deeply with an audience, politicians and Presidential campaigns would have been using it already. The best orators in the world intentionally avoid PowerPoint, and I suspect for good reason.
And yes, I teach quiz bowl. I suppose there might be a use for it there. After all, I am not averse to showing music videos or projecting a crossword puzzle onto the screen for the class to solve together. But the lessons I've taught so far just haven't called for PowerPoint.
Tonight, though, the LCHE Christmas Party is featuring end-of-semester presentations. The Quiz Bowl class has been learning how to write questions. (After all, the best way to get good at answering questions is to get good at writing them.) So tonight we show off our work in a game of Parent Jeopardy.
The kids have some good stuff. The only question remaining is whether or not I can put a presentation together to properly show it off.
