Getting Things Wrong

Emerson writes, “But this function of opening and feeding the human mind is not to be fulfilled by any mechanical or military method” (Emerson, 191). This quote explains how immediately providing students with the correct answers is almost unnatural and the least suitable way of retaining information.

In reading "Mistakes were Made but Not by me," multiple accounts are given of traits exhibited by humans that are displayed subconsciously. The authors, Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, begin by defining these traits and give readers the actual terminology to these characteristics. With various examples being provided to the reading audience they are then able to make a clear correlation between the behaviors displayed and how they may impact not only themselves but others around them. "Mistakes were Made but Not by me" has a theme which is centralized around the two key facets which are cognitive dissonance and self- justification.

There are a great number of things that can create problems for students in regards to their academics. One such issue is misunderstandings. There are some that are more common than others and will be identified in order to recognize potential problem areas and solutions. In addition, there are some misconceptions that are associated with particular content areas. One content area that will be under scrutiny will be the Social Studies classroom. These potentially problematic instances will be identified and methods will be devised using the “Backward Design” (Wiggins, & McTighe, 2005) approach in an attempt to reduce issues the teacher may face.

A important aspect in the book Mistakes were made (but not by me) is the pyramid of choice. The pyramid of choice would be defined as the process of making a decision when both choices have no clear advantages on either side. In the beginning, the choices that are present only seem a “millimeter apart.” Once a side is chosen however, the person will feel urgency to self-justify their decision. A trend of “entrapment” is created, which is the constant self-justification of an unclear choice made, making both sides of a decision miles apart. The authors of Mistakes were Made (but not by me), Tavris and Aronson, did prove the existence of such a pyramid when they gave multiple examples of entrapment throughout the text. One example of someone

Shall we go through the categories of classes? Alright, English class, with the countless papers written and the innumerable words read, one forgets the primary protocol that is taught over and over again: Don’t take everything literally; things often take on several meanings. This can hold true for the words I wrote in this paper, and to which you are reading now. Also, one can graciously note that every climax has a downfall, without a downfall there is no climax. Math contains its teachings in the same way, during the crude formulas and nauseating equations one forgets the basic idea the teachers unknowingly show us: check your answers and simplify the final product. Okay maybe the idea of checking your answers is not one that is too difficult to comprehend but do consider in real life there is no BOB (Back Of the Book) or a calculator to rely on, all your choices and resolutions are chance, so be sure to check if you first choice is best. Simplification is an awesome ideology; too, being that we live in such a complicated time simplifying may be our only way to survive. In the sciences we take, whether it be Physics, Biology, or Oceanography, the principle fact that our truths today maybe tomorrows fallacies is expressed. I mean people used to swear the world was flat, now we know the world is round. Perhaps forty-some hundred years from now people will look back and snicker at the fact that we swore we

103). My own educational experiences could attest to this fact, whether it was my outrageously sexist math teacher, my useless geography teacher, or my religious use of a scripted math program. The cycle would have continued until I consciously chose to stop it. Even if my students were to “resist, they often want, need, and expect the teacher to push them beyond their comfort zone, and the continue pushing despite their resistance” (Delpit, 2012, p.

Grinnell’s saying, “divorced from understanding” is the perfection wording to explain the loss of interest in students to learn subject matters. “A collection of facts,” as stated in Every Day Practice of Science, is basically just a bunch of things thrown at students to memorize and pass a test and not remember four hours after the test. There is a big difference between understanding and memorizing and I think this is where Grinnell is trying to get at. Textbooks and the education system are more focused on graduation rates and students passing exams instead of working towards building interest and understanding in subjects taught to the students.

Lipman states, "The conventional wisdom holds that teachers are supposed to tease knowledge out of students, rather than pound it into their heads." This is an example to some that may read this article, that could be anyone who is interested in our education system.

Teaching is not just about drilling a subject into the minds of those students you adorn the plastic seats in front of you each year;

Our teacher viewed the textbook and his specific way of thinking as the only valid source of information which in order to get a good grade, we, the students had to simply accept. Due to the fact that the class heavily favored a specific way of thinking, and types of information which were viewed as important it dampened the need to find novel ways of learning that suited individual students better, and limited the need to critically think about the subject which would have deepened comprehension. This system also gave students a disillusion that they understood the subject since they had a high grade in the class. My personal disillusion broke after I took my first collage bio assignment. The assignment was on a subject we covered in bio 2, and I vividly remember scoring well on that test, but to my surprise I struggled on the assignment. I came to the realization that I just “knew” facts about the subject, rather then actually understanding what was happening. The assignments asked questions which required a deep understanding of the actually processes in contrast to knowing where specific items were or what the definition of a term was. Unlike high school, in college I was given the freedom to learn any way which I saw fit so I decided to experiment with different ways of studying. I found that

The phrase “Socratic method” gets tossed around quite a bit during the course of a liberal arts education. One way of describing this method is teaching by means of asking. The thought is that by asking questions, a teacher may trigger some thought in the student’s mind which comes about more organically and effectively than by the means of traditional lecture. Employing the Socratic method allows a teacher to guide a student’s train of thought toward a particular goal, and use of the method requires on the part of the teacher both a keen understanding of psychology and a clear idea as to where the line of questioning is intended to lead. The latter part of that statement becomes

Like Dr.Jones' two students Jill and Jack, he meet them one by one, Jill said:" I had some trouble and couldn't keep up ,so I got a F. But I want you to know that that book we were discussing, really got me thinking. I finished reading it after the semester was over" that is what's she got, she got the knowledge for thinking but got a F grade. Another student Jack said:"I had your class last fall, got an A. I really need that A and a studied really hard. I'm glad i don't have to take your final today, because I don't think i'd get a single answer right" look at what's he got, it's just an A and nothing. For me, if I want to pass the physical class, only I need is just work out the question in book and remember the answer and method, I don’t have to know how the established law of physical work in our life. I do know the law in paper but I can’t use it. Which one is successful for the teacher? not me or Jack, is Jill. She" learning experience in the class and continued after the class was over, changed her understanding", what she got is the skill of learning but not the knowledge or some grade. Another simple example for the teacher’s teach in class, there is an apple in front of you with an axe, a knife and a mace, they will tell you direct the knife is the most easier tool for cut the apple, but not let you to try out it by yourself. What you learn is just the knowledge and the method but we don’t learn the

When a student walks into a classroom he already has a set of theories or beliefs that have been engrained in him since an early stage. Ironically, it is a misconception to believe that this prior knowledge can help enhance the student’s new information since research by Madhyastha and Tanimoto (2009) suggests that flawed knowledge can have a negative impact in the student’s learning. Teachers cannot assume that students come with the right knowledge to properly support the new information they are given. When a student learns, his information will often be unreliable and mistaken (Madhyastha & Tanimoto, 2009). For instance, a plethora of students tend to believe that heavier objects are bound to fall faster than

Teachers’ beliefs influenced different tasks such as: selecting and presenting learning activities, preparing students for new language and checking their understanding, monitoring students’ learning, giving feedback, among others (Richards & Lockhart, 1994). I agree completely with this perception, because it is something that I have noticed since this course started: in the videos of my classmates, in the classes of my teachers, and in my own classes.

Throughout the majority of my education, including college, I have felt like a passive member of the classroom. Teachers saw me as a clear slate that needed to be filled with information. I consumed countless facts, and memorized numerous processes, most of them not being my own. This approach to teaching has proven to be unsuccessful to the goals of education. Students are diverse, with their own learning styles and their own knowledge that they bring to the table, and these should be supported and expanded on in the classroom. The goal of education is to support learners and thinkers, and not to condition minds to all think the same ways.