To help encourage conversations and dialogue about the ways we make decisions and support our claims/beliefs, our topic/question for the dinner table is: What process do you use to make decisions? Naming the Evidence (Week of 11/3/19) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
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Hopefully the extra hour of sleep was taken advantage of and enjoyed by all this weekend - it sure was appreciated by all in our house! We have spent the days doing our best to be outside (such gorgeous weather!), amidst the kids’ activities, gardening, and ‘catching up’. It was fun to watch the Medfield-Holliston playoff game (one of the times I feel as though I should stand in the middle and not pick a team to root for), although it was a tough loss for the Medfield team. On Sunday evening we attended an annual Guy Fawkes party with our British friends - always a fun event! I want to extend a special thanks to all the staff members who chaperoned the 7th/8th grade dance on Friday evening, helping to provide a safe and fun night for our students: Cynthia McClelland, Deb Manning, Jillian Shaw, Kelly Campbell, Kelly Ruminski, Lisa Matthews, and Maura Batts.
This discussion pushed me a great deal, though, and it has stayed with me...Am I doing a good job listening? How will I know? How do I (should I, can I) distinguish between listening and agreeing? Do I listen enough in making decisions? And, from there the decision-making reflection began...What is my process for making decisions? Do I consider the evidence needed? How does time impact my decision-making? What evidence is used or employed in my own decision-making process? Is the process (or should it be) different for ‘easy’ decisions vs difficult decisions? Who decides what decisions are easy and what decisions are hard? How do my own beliefs inform my decisions?
As is now evident (if it was not evident before!), my own thinking tends to ‘spiral’ from time to time - and, I have learned to allow that to be part of my own learning. I am a worrier and tend to categorize myself as an ‘over-thinker’ - stating worries, projecting situations, reading into things - some based in fact and rationality and others based in myth and irrationality. I imagine I am not alone and often hear similar sentiments when talking with students, parents, and teachers - ‘I worry that (fill in the blank)...I’m not sure they understood the material...Am I reaching all of the students?...Are they making progress?...I’m frustrated and feeling a disconnect…’. In one of our workshops with Christi Barney several years ago, she shared the importance of asking oneself and others - ‘What evidence do you have this is true?’ It has proven to be an effective question - pushing me to slow down, reflect, determine evidence, name evidence, ‘listen’, and respond. It is a question that has helped me to keep an openness to my own beliefs and the beliefs of others, an openness to change, and a drive to listen a bit more to myself and others.
At the essence of this question - ‘What evidence do you have that this is true?’ - is the encouragement to be scientists of our learning and growth (citing the research, naming the evidence, and taking steps towards progress). Reading through a sampling of responses from last week’s topic/question, reflecting upon my own ‘worries, thoughts, and process for making decisions’, coupled with the post I have shared below have really helped me to articulate my own methods and processes for learning - affirming some and challenging me to rethink others. I hope that they may do the same for others - and, in turn, do the same for our students...
Topic/Question (Week of 10/27/19): What have you learned this year about yourself as a learner?
- I am a planner and a procrastinator, after making my plan, I need to create action steps to make sure I complete what I planned in a timely manner.
- I like efficient and substance over excess.
- I have learned this year that group assignments are much harder for me to accomplish than solo assignments
- I learned that I need to be really focused to get the job done.
- I work best in a quiet environment
- That I don’t work as well in groups as I do alone.
- I'm stubborn. I'm trying to move away from this by trying new things and taking risks.
- I can achieve things that I didn’t think I could do
- It is easier for me to learn when I rewrite something because I have to start understanding the words I’m writing down, even though it takes longer. But we don’t get to do that a lot in middle school.
- I love basketball
- I enjoy projects and teamwork.
Social Media Has Not Destroyed A Generation
by Lydia Denworth (@LydiaDenworth) in Scientific American
Social media comes up in almost every conversation I have about my own children or our students - even if it is not the subject of the conversation, it always trickles in. Although ‘positives’ are discussed, most of the talk is negative and I would by lying if I did not admit that I often can fall into that ‘trap’. Similar to the oft-expressed phrase of ‘kids these days’, this article speaks to the importance of slowing the determinations down, examining the evidence, and really talking things through. Denworth’s post summarizes Amy Orben, Andrew K. Przybylski, and Jeff Hancock’s research and work on the work, research, and analysis on the studies of social media. I look forward to the conversations that this article will foster for us.
The results to date have been mixed because the effects measured are themselves mixed...Przybylski and Orben measured the percent of variance in well-being that was explained by social media use and found that technology was no more associated with decreased well-being for teenagers than eating potatoes...this new research reveals serious limitations and shortcomings in the science of social media to date...Most have relied on self-reported use, a notoriously unreliable measure. Nearly all assess only frequency and duration of use rather than content or context.
To be clear, it is not that social media is never a problem. Heavy use is associated with potentially harmful effects on well-being. But effects from social media appear to depend on the user—age and mental health status are two important factors that make a difference. Also, cause and effect appear to go in both directions. “It’s a two-way street,” Hancock says.
Anxiety and panic over the effects of new technology date back to Socrates, who bemoaned the then new tradition of writing things down for fear it would diminish the power of memory. Thomas Hobbes and Thomas Jefferson both warned that communal relationships would suffer as industrial societies moved from rural to urban living...Radio, video games and even comic books have all caused consternation. Television was going to bring about the dumbing down of America.
“It’s ironic that in the end the real danger is not smartphones—it’s the level of misinformation that’s being directed at the public and at parents,” Odgers says. “It’s consuming so much of the airtime that it’s causing us to miss potentially some of the real threats and problems around digital spaces.” For her part, Odgers is far more worried about privacy and unequal access to technology for kids from families with lower socioeconomic status. She also suspects that some adolescents find much needed social support online and that adults should pay closer attention to what works in that regard.
The power of mindset serves as a reminder of the power of perspective. In the 1980s people were wringing their hands about the time kids spent staring mindlessly at television screens, says Gentzkow, who has studied that era. He imagines asking those worrywarts about new technologies that would allow kids to instead interact with one another by sharing messages, photographs and videos. “Anybody then would have said, ‘Wow, that would be amazing.’”
Making decisions will continue to be at the heart of our work - decisions for ourselves, our students, our curricula, and the list could go on and on. And, listening should truly always be the first step in this process of decision-making. I came across the words below from Isaac Newton and they really resonated - it is not to say that we can not (nor should not) make decisions quickly at times (for those times are called for) - rather, the mantra of ‘patient thought’ is one that I hope to embrace/live. It aligns with our mission and is one that I believe will serve us well, both individually and collectively.
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Enjoy the week and take care.
Nat