“It turns out that even believing you are smart—one of the fixed mindset messages—is damaging, as students with this fixed mindset are less willing to try more challenging work or subjects because they are afraid of slipping up and no longer being seen as smart.”
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Schank is definitely a divergent thinker and this comes out in his innovative thoughts on the conventional system of education and his proposals for solutions. Instead of acquiring factual knowledge, he focuses on thinking. He proposes a high school program in which the students get a mentor in different areas and learn the ‘subjects’ in real life context instead of learning chemistry or physics just because. This book is an eye opener for those of us who grew up in the traditional educational system. He proposes what teaching should look…
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The harder we have to work to retrieve a memory, the greater the subsequent spike in retrieval and storage strength (learning). The Bjorks call this principle desirable difficulty, and its importance will become apparent in the coming pages.
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Classical education is, above all, systematic – in direct contrast to the scattered, unorganized nature of so much secondary education. Rigorous, systematic study has two purposes. Rigorous study develops virtue in the student: the ability to act in accordance to what one knows to be right. Virtuous men or women can force themselves to do what they know is right, even when it runs against their inclinations. Classical education continually asks a student to focus now on what is immediately pleasurable (another half hour of TV or computer game, for example) but on the steps needed to reach a future goal-mastery of vital academic skills.
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Taken together, all of these studies suggest that the path to a life of meaning and significance isn’t to “live in the present” as so many spiritual gurus have advised. It is to integrate our perspectives on time into a coherent whole, one that helps us comprehend who we are and why we’re here.
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In this book, Umm Muhemmed gives a beautiful peek into the family life of a mother who sacrificed her own career pursuit by taking a break, in order to focus on Quran memorization of her two children and herself. Ibrahim, a typical five year old boy who is also imaginative, active, and curious, embarks on the journey of Quran memorization. As is the norm with most young children who start to memorize, his journey begins with the memorization of the last Juz in the Quran, Juz Amma (Juz 30). What…
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The book is divided into three parts. The first part talks about how play has degenerated in today’s modern world, and how our society has succumbed to technology’s ‘toys’ thereby abandoning the natural environment that is our worldly playground. The second part expounds on the role of play in learning and development, and in the last section, Elkind ends the book with some lighthearted parenting tips. Reading Level: AdultGenre: Education, Non-Fiction, Parenting, Psychology, Teaching
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First of all, learning disabilities don’t mean that someone is stupid or has mental retardation. Hopefully, I made myself clear on this point, but rest assured: This point is important, and I state it over and over in the book. Perhaps, it will sink in. Second, there are many types of learning disabilities. There is dyslexia, dysnomia, dyscalculia, and a host of others, which I discuss in great length. You need to know what kind of learning disability you child has before you can help him or her.
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A must-have resource for educators! Replete with examples of situations in which to use the different techniques mentioned, in illustrations. Reading Level: AdultGenre: Education, Non-Fiction, TeachingIllustrated by Kimberly Ann Coe
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Dyslexia, or the dyslexic processing style, isn’t just a barrier to learning how to read and spell; it’s also a reflection of an entirely different pattern of brain organization and information processing – one that predisposes a person to important abilities along with the well-known challenges.
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