Friday, November 30, 2012

Of No Reputation

How many of us work at developing a good, solid reputation?  We want to be known as "somebody" worth knowing.  We look at opportunities that give us a chance to stand out and up above the crowd.  In leadership we want to be those who rush to the front to guide the troops to take the next hill.  But Paul says of Jesus that "he made himself a man of no reputation, taking on the very nature of a servant" (Phil. 2:7).  This is the theme behind Scott Rodin find article written ten years ago.  If you are a reader you may benefit from Rodin's five key points of where he failed as the President of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  It might even save you from failing in the same areas:  Down Load Here.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Brain Based Education

There is a revolution going on in education.  In the past 200 years teachers, researchers, and parents have been working hard to understand how to maximize education.  Education has been the key that has opened many doors to financial success and security.  Everyone wants their child to grow up with an excellent education and thus capable to making their way in the world.  Until recently most of the research has been based on a "black" box model of research.  Simply put, the black box is where things happen and the only way we know what is happening is to watch what goes in the box and what comes out (behavior).  Over the past twenty years that has changed dramatically.

We now have the ability to peer inside that box and watch what happens when different stimuli is presented to us.  We now can measure the effectiveness of our historical pedagogy and decide if it works.  At best we find that in "kind" of works.  But now our researchers, teachers and educational psychologists are able to study what is happening inside that box and begin designing strategies to be more effective.  These strategies are now finding their way in the main stream of education.  Check out: Click here  Using brain science teachers are aligning their teaching to how the brain actually learns.  In the next two decades progressive schools and progressive teaching will look very different from the information dump currently used.

Stay abreast of some of the latest outcomes of this type of learning at the ASCD Click Here