Expeditionary Learning schools.

I really liked this quote from the Kurt Hahn School website, "the courses at our school are designed as real-world “learning expeditions” that give students opportunities to explore a single topic or issue in depth."

I thinks it can be very effective to learn one subject at a time instead of spreading yourself thin and struggling to learn 5-7 subjects at a time like how traditional high schools do. I's super exhausting.

I Also liked that they break into small groups, because as I learned while doing my own presentation, It's super effective for facilitating learning and building human connections.

I had trouble logging in to read the other article about expeditionary learning, but I'm very excited for this presentation.

Experiential Education in Law

While I found plenty on experiential education from different law schools around the internet, I couldn't find anything on education in trials or litigation.

I guess if I could try to facilitate the jury's ideas in a court (but I think something about that is illegal), or mentor a younger lawyer later in my career, I really have no idea how to go about implementing experiential education throughout my career (I have no intention of ever teaching law, it's not really my bag).

Final Project

For the final project in class I'm going to do the big question paper.

My Question is "what role does failure play in success/education?"

Dewey 4-6

While reading through on the different education approaches I ended up liking chapter 6, the meaning of purpose the most.

I did like the idea of social control from the get go. I agree with Dewey on how life is all about social structures, and I liked incorporating the teacher as a member of the group, just the most experience one.

I liked the chapter on freedom based on the title. I have found myself in accordance with Dewey has to say quite a bit, I still haven't formed many strong opinions on experiential education as of yet, so I'm pretty open about things that are said in text. After delving into the chapter i came to the conclusion that it would be extremely hard to teach a group with freedom. I liked how he said "Freedom of movement (as in a less rigid classroom) does not automatically create freedom of intelligence". And how as teachers, we should add some mental structure to help process events. "Impulses and desires need to be ordered by intelligence."

Which lead to chapter six ending up as my favorite of the reading. I really like the idea of a class where the students have an active role in planning what is happening (with some guidance from a teacher) therefore having more stock invested in their education. We have way too much dictation in school, or control I guess you could say, where I think we need more cooperative enterprise.

Educative & Miseducative

Educative: An educational experience that leads to growth and further understanding.

Miseducative: An educational experience that is static, don't contribute to a student's growth or don't lead students to understand or appreciate a future related experience.

Experience and Education Chapters 1-3

While reading through the first half of John Dewey's book, I found myself agreeing with most of what I read, with these two points sticking out to me first off in chapter one; How schools are an institution different from anything in society, how we cannot teach children using adult techniques.

I like the idea of teaching things simply and having quality experiences rather than pushing as many experiences into a child as humanly possibly every year, and expecting every kid in a school district will walk away with the same understandings after finishing a certain grade.

There's always the chance though, that I agree with everything I read about education reform because I look back at my early education and how unsatisfying it was to me at the time. We did too much work and didn't take enough time to play. And if we decided we wanted to play when it wasn't recess, we got in trouble. Of course when I say "we" I mean "I". I feel traditional school tried to stomp my spirit out and I guess I'm still a little bitter.

I like how in chapter three, Dewey takes on the system, saying just because things are a certain way, doesn't necessarily mean they should be that way.

Personal Learning Project

(I'm so sorry this write-up is late, I have been doing my project, I forgot this part)

For my personal learning project I will be learning how to crochet. My mother has always crocheted very well and I have always sort of wanted to learn how. I will be spending time with her to learn the basic principles of crocheting and hopefully, at the end of the semester, be able to present a finished item. I hope this will challenge me (not too much hopefully) to stretch myself and learn a new craft-hobby that I can use in the future. The only practical application I can think of is to be able to make wonderful (depending on how good I get) homemade gifts for my friends and family for the holidays. I also want to do this because I think it’s a good idea to learn how to make things for yourself, I feel in a way it’s a lost art in our society. I hope that through learning the basics of crocheting, I will later be able to cultivate my new talent and try at some point in my life to make a homemade sweater. That’s a little ambitious for our class, so I’m aiming a little lower for the purpose of this project.