Learning

Often times, you learn the most when you're not actively trying to learn.  It's been shown that when you're having fun, you tend to pick up on lessons and learn through them.  One school has taken this theory and put it to the test by modeling their whole curriculum around interractive games. Quest To Learn is marketed as a "school for digital kids."

Their mission statement says that Q2L is "a community where students learn to see the world as composed of many different kinds of systems. It is a place to play, invent, grow, and explore."

The middle and high school students don't learn through lectures, worksheets, and tests.  Instead, the teachers develop games and use the principles behind them to teach lessons to students.  The school also believes the learning doesn't have to end once the student leaves the classroom.  One parent says when she and her son go to the grocery store, they play a game to see who can get closest to guessing the total. 

What do you think of playing games to learn?  When it comes to learning, what do you think is the best way?

I've been reading about reading. I need your help and wonder if you have time to read this and then send me something about yourself.

I'm trying to understand what it is about reading that helps us learn and be successful in school.  Lately, I've focused on "reading rate" or how fast someone reads. 

But this is not as simple as it may sound.  Here are some examples.

Did you know that:

• a person reads faster as they grow older, then it levels off about 20-35 years old, and then starts to slow down
• reading rates depend on the purpose
  • skimming is the fastest rate
  • reading for understanding is the average rate
  • reading for learning is the slowest rate
• it depends what you are reading, which one you would read faster:
  • an exciting mystery novel
  • a textbook
• reading silently is faster than reading out loud

I wondered how fast I read.  I found this web site that measured how fast I read:  http://myreadspeed.com/calculate/

Hum, that was interesting.  I never knew how fast I read. 

Now, I wonder how fast our Ashworth students and community members read, that is, how fast you read.  Can you help me with this by seeing how fast you read and send me some information. 

Here is my idea.  I'll ask you how fast you read and then:

• Go to the web site:  http://myreadspeed.com/calculate/
• Select either "Alice in Wonderland" or "Dracula"
• Press "Start Recording"
• Read the whole passage, then:
• Press "Stop Recording"

Then, send me this information by completing a survey at this link:  http://www.techedcr.com/SG-86.cfm

It's really short just asking some questions about:

• which passage you read, "Alice in Wonderland" or "Dracula"
• how old you are and your gender (if you don't mind, this is confidential and won't be shared individually with anyone)
• how fast you read
• if you think you were:  skimming, reading to understand, or reading to learn
• and let me know what you think about reading

I thought when I'm done, then I'll share what I learned about reading in the community with you.

Thanks for your great help!  I'm really curious to learn more about you, and about reading. 

Leslie

It started with a secretly recorded of a Presidential staff member.  In the recording, this staff member can be heard using the term "retarded".  Many people, including Sarah Palin, believe the use of this word is much like the "N" word - outdated, hurtful, and in need of being stopped.  Now the debate has gone viral and is being discussed on everything from "The View" to Facebook.

"I'm not saying that anyone who uses the word flippantly has something against people with special needs, but it is a demeaning word even if it's meant as a joke, because it spreads the idea that people who are cognitively impaired are either stupid or losers," said one mom who's child has special needs.

Will you be more cautious of what you say?

Today is a tremendous day to celebrate. 

Today we recognize Martin Luther King and celebrate his accomplishments.  Martin Luther King led the way in breaking down barriers to inequality and segregation, he tirelessly strived to create opportunity for equal access to civil liberties, and he was an advocate of non-violent activity to change the world. 

Ashworth’s mission is to provide accessible education to all people regardless of their background, affordable education to all people so they can graduate without debt, and flexible education to all people because each student has different needs and competing demands on time.  Some people can envision that education is a non-violent way to change our world, our student’s world.

Let's get active and change the world.

Let's educate and change our lives.

Thank you for choosing Ashworth College and James Madison High School to help change your world!

Dr. G

Learning never takes a break, no matter how old you are.  This is the lesson being taught by Jim Henry in his new book In A Fisherman's Language.  What's surprising about this book isn't that it's the autobiography of a 98-year-old man, rather this man didn't learn to read or write until he was 96.  Jim worked as a lobsterman for most of his life and kept his illiteracy a secret. 

It wasn't until he moved into an assisted living home that his desire to read came to fruition.  “As time went on and he lived here, he started talking about how he couldn’t read, he couldn’t write. And he opened up more to the residents, so that’s when it all came out and he took the initiative and wanted to learn to read and write. [He] started reading — initiated everything at 96. By 97, [he] was doing more and more, and then wrote the full-blown book at 98,” said Kellie Kulick, director of the senior home where Henry lives.

Just two years after learning to read, Jim published a 29 chapter book about his life. Jim said, “I tell you, I’m in a cloud. I can’t believe, it’s almost impossible to believe the way I feel. I’m the happiest man in the world."