Final Thoughts

“The ‘secret of a good memory’ is thus the secret of forming diverse and multiple associations with every fact we care to retain” 

William James, Talks to Teachers, p. 61

Activity 7.5

Although it was interesting that Gladwell (2008) referred to success as a “gift” (p. 267) and may not believe in a “recipe” for success, I believe it is possible to have a recipe for success. Similar to Gladwell, I would agree that success is not centered on ability, talent, or some other abstract ideas that are difficult to define, but the recipe would include key ingredients such as: creating and embracing opportunities, putting forth adequate effort, and possessing a desire that will motivate individuals to persist and work hard. Even though when some individuals think of a recipe they think of a set of rules that have to be followed in order to produce a desired product; it is important to acknowledge that alterations and changes can be made to the recipe to cater to each individual’s acquired taste.  Therefore, I believe it comes down to how individuals interpret success. As long as individuals have access to and possess those key components, they can add whatever other qualities or “ingredients” to the mix in order to produce a product they consider successful.

In the video, Gladwell makes a claim that individuals are not naturally motivated and they have to see that there work can receive a reward, which seems to parallel with aspects of Behaviorism. Gladwell’s view is also consistent with Constructivism. For instance, Bruner and Vygotsky spoke on the importance of culture in learning. Vygotsky emphasized that “Human learning cannot be understood independent of the social, historical, and cultural forces that influence individuals.” In his book, The Outlier, Gladwell paints a wonderful picture of how culture and cultural legacy shape individuals, their habits, and the opportunities they are exposed to. Furthermore, in his talk with Dan Pink, Gladwell claims “you must go back into history if you want to understand people’s success.” In addition to the role of culture fitting into the social cognitive framework, Gladwell discusses factors such as “being a beneficiary of lucky breaks” and the importance of persistence and effort, which also aligns with social cognitive theory.

One of Gladwell’s main points is that culture and cultural legacy can be very influential to shaping individuals’ mindset and behavior. Gladwell's second point is that success comes to those who have been given an opportunity and make great use of their opportunity through effort, persistence, and hard work. In both cases, I agree that Gladwell is correct. Whatever individuals witness within their environment or cultures, whether it is good or bad, will influence how they behave, their work ethic, their mindset, and the beliefs they will hold about themselves and the world around them. Furthermore, providing individuals with opportunities to foster success and showing them that hard work will always pay off will encourage individuals to reach for their full potential.

Activity 7.4

This video may sound a little shaky, so I apologize in advance!

Activity 7.3

                Bandura’s (2011) article, “But What About That Gigantic Elephant in the Room?” offered an enlightening perspective about the several misconceptions and other concepts regarding social cognitive theory. I was familiar with some of the ideas presented under this theory from previous psychology courses; however, one point that really sparked my interest was the idea of acknowledging the “fortuitous aspects of life.”

            This particular section was so intriguing to read about because it really got me thinking about the immense role chance could play in individuals’ lives. I always think about how various unplanned events have shaped me into the person I am today. For instance, the day my graduate school application was due I did not have any stamps for my envelops, the nearest stamps were in the book store across campus,  I was literally five minutes away from missing the outgoing mail, and I knew I was not going to be able to make it to the post office later that day. Out of all of the offices in the particular building and all the people who occupied those offices, no one seemed to have a stamp. The last place I tried was the Registrar’s office, and the first guy that I asked had a whole book of stamps to spare! Bandura (2011) stated that “most fortuitous events leave people untouched, others have some lasting effects, and still others branch people into new trajectories of life” (p. 9). To this very day, I attribute my attendance at the University of Kentucky to chance, and this fortuitous even has definitely sent me in a new direction in life.

            Bandura (2011) stated “fortuitous events may be unforeseeable but fortuity does not mean uncontrollability of it effects” (p. 9). I loved this statement, and it made me think about James’ talk about the will and the question, “Will you or won’t you have it so?”  Bandura’s (2011) statement suggests that individuals can have the authority choose what type of influence fortuitous events can have on their lives and can also influence the opportunities for fortuitous events to occur. After reading this article I am interested to know if James were to expand his chapter on The Will or create another chapter that speaks on fortuitous events, what type of advice would he give to teachers about the role fortuity could play in learning?

Activity 7.2

            Although I never considered myself the athletic type, in middle school and high school, I participated in various sports. My sophomore year of high school, one of my good friends persuaded me to try out for the track team. I had never run track before; the closest thing I had ever come to running track was racing my friends during recess or relay racing during gym class. Either way, I was excited to give it a try! My teammates and coaches were all very nice and fun to be around, but track practice was extremely intense, and I immediately became aware that I was nowhere near as competent as the majority of my teammates.

            Although the team was supportive and encouraging, I still felt a weak sense of self-efficacy. I was always the last one finished, felt like I was always extremely out of breathe, and one day I even pretended to be ill so I would not have to run. My self-efficacy beliefs about my track performance became even weaker the day I had to run the 3200 meter (2 miles) race.  I was extremely scared and anxious about running this race. Judging from previous mastery experiences, I was thinking I could not even run one full lap without getting winded; how was I supposed to run eight laps? Not only was I the last runner on the track, but I also stopped and started to walk on occasions. What made it worse is that some of the other runners that I knew from other schools made fun of me and brought the race up on several occasions.    

  

            Despite me feeling inadequate in regard to my track performance, I could not bring myself to quit. I had never been a quitter, but something else had also served as my inspiration. My coach pulled me aside one day and told me I was going a great job. She said, “You may not be the fastest runner, but I’ve noticed the effort you have been giving. I would put you out on the track before any of the other runners any day!” At the time, I was confused but very appreciative of her comment because it was very encouraging. Although, it was not until reading Parajares’s (2006) article that this comment really resonated with me. One of Parajares’s implications was to “praise effort and persistence, not ability,” and this is what my coach was doing and continued to do throughout the rest of the season. I already had intentions to stick out the rest of the season, but my coaches words gave me that extra push that I needed. I never became the “triathlon” runner that I pictured my other teammates to be, but I did build enough positive self-efficacy in order to participate in track and field my junior year.

            Although this particular scenario did not take place in an educational setting Parajares’s (2006) implication was still applicable and beneficial in improving self-efficacy. Generally, my interpretation of my mastery experiences in track led to low self-efficacy beliefs in my ability to perform adequately, but ironically, regardless of this belief I held, I refused to quit. Ultimately, there was an improvement in my low self-efficacy beliefs!

Activity 7.1

Behavior	Personal	Environmental
·         Punctuality ·         Responsibility ·         Learning how to use resources appropriately ·         Proper preparation and planning ·         Increasing and encouraging participation ·         Alleviating distractions ·         Fostering/ improving academic skills ·         Communication skills ·         Technological abilities	·         Learner’s attitude ·         Motivation ·         Optimism vs. Pessimism ·         Social relationships ·         Cognitive abilities ·         Ability to self-reflect ·         Mood	·         Sleep ·         Good eating habits ·         Supportive family ·         Parents’ attitudes  about education ·         Classroom atmosphere ·         Physical environment of school ·         Adequate resources ·         Home/ neighborhood atmosphere (e.g. Safety, SES,) ·         Connection to real world experiences ·         Method of teaching ·         Life changing events

Activity 6.4

The brief excerpt from Hamlet’s Blackberry speaks volume to this world today and to my life personally. Powers (2010) sheds a much needed light on the detriments of individuals being too connected to the world around them. He spends a considerable amount of attention on the topic of depth acknowledging that as life becomes frantic and rushed, we lose depth. I never thought about it this way before, but unfortunately, it is very true. Powers (2010) expressed that “the more connected we are, the more we depend on the world outside ourselves to tell us how to think and live” (p. 2). I believe this statement resonates with Kegan’s (1994) discussion on the ability to self-regulate.

Kegan (1994) speaks on the importance for adult learners to engage in self-directed learning, stressing on several occasions that higher education should not “ train adults to master a curriculum by focusing on skills and behaviors associated with mastery,” but should “ educate adults to enable the order of consciousness that enables those skills and behaviors” (p. 287). Self-directed learning involves the ability to seek depth with in the material being consumed. When individuals look to instructors to provide them with the specific knowledge or skills they believe are needed to succeed at these “practical, real-life demands” instead of learning how to make sense of what is being presented and construct their own meaning or rely too heavily on technology and their vast connection to the outside world, they limit their opportunities to embrace depth in life’s encounters. These individuals are merely scratching the surface of the benefits self-directed learning has to offer by relying on others to dictate to what they should know.

In regard to Power’s (2010) article, I am one of those individuals who creates busyness for myself and become too consumed with the frantic and rushed atmosphere I call life that I do not allow myself to truly engage in many of life’s experiences. For instance, my life is consumed with school, work, family, friends, and other extracurricular activities. Everything down to the very thoughts that I possess are so routine that I do not know how it feels to really stop, breathe, and take in what is really going on around me. Honestly, the thought of breaking my routines intimidates me. Fortunately from reading these articles, I am more aware that sometimes it is not about becoming completely disconnected from certain things, people, or life tasks but changing the relationship in which I connect with them. I believe my ability to embrace this concept and bring it to fruition could positively change the way that I engage life’s experiences, both social, as well as, solitary encounters.

Activity 6.3

The will represents the voluntary, conscious acts that individuals perform, as opposed to the habitual, or ideo-motor, actions that are ingrained within them. Acts of will are initiated when several ideas present themselves at the same time and a choice has to be made as to which idea will be acted upon. James noted that there are two types of will where either impulsion or inhibition will take precedence, and “man’s conduct appears as the mere resultant of all his various impulsions and inhibitions” (p. 86). Thus when conflicting ideas emerge and after deliberation takes place, one idea will be put into action and the other idea(s), being checked by the predominate one, will be inhibited.

James speaks of the “balky will,” where “certain children, if they do not succeed in doing a thing immediately, remain completely inhibited in regard to it” (p. 88). This brings to mind how rejections and failures can hinder individuals from moving forward. For instance, when I was in the 8^th grade, I had gone to a new school for the very first time in my life. I was persuaded to try out for the cheerleading team, something that I always wanted to do, but I did not make the team. From that very moment, this fear of failure developed inside of me, and my desire to avoid it made me become completely inhibited to situations that would produce the same type of results. James emphasized that “so long as the inhibitive sense of impossibility remains in the child’s mind, he will continue unable to get beyond the obstacle” (p. 89). I have found so much truth behind this statement and it has made me more aware as to why the fear of failing is one obstacle I have yet to overcome. In the chapter, James speaks of the teacher’s duty to make sure that “no habitual hesitancy or paralysis of the will ensues,” but I am curious to know whether individuals can overcome this hesitancy or paralysis independent of other people’s help.

The question “will you or won’t you have it so?” is relative to the topic of the will because to answer this question individuals are required to make a conscious decision about which action they will go along with. For example, as mentioned in the video, the decision to accept or not to accept reality, “even an ugly and unwanted reality.” It is as if acts of the will take precedence of habitual acts when it comes to deciding whether to “have it so.”  Furthermore, I concluded that exercising one will (impulsion) over the other (inhibition) is the same as performing an action that will result in some idea or goal being achieved and the other being avoided. 

Activity 6.2

Math classes are not the only courses that could use a makeover! I believe all academic fields could take a valuable lesson from Dan Meyer’s talk. Thinking back on the way that I was taught in grade school, and even looking at the way academic material is presented today, many students are being set up for failure. The teaching approaches used are not encouraging an effective use of critical thinking or problem solving skills because answers are readily supplied in some form or fashion.  For instance, Meyer acknowledged that many of the math textbooks provide examples and formulas for solving a problem, and these examples can be ineffective tools because it encourages “learning” through substitution instead of making connections that will allow the material to stick.

As an undergraduate I took Euclidean geometry, which consisted of solving proofs. I never mastered the concept of solving proofs, even though on several occasions I would perform the proofs in front of the class. The way the class was taught, students could resort to mere recitation of the steps required to solve the proofs and appear knowledgeable of the material. This way of teaching obviously proved ineffective. I honestly believe had the professor engaged in Dan Meyer’s concept of patient problem solving, getting students involved in the formulation of the proof instead of just providing us with the steps to solve the problem,  we would have been more engaged in learning how to understand the proofs and we might have retained more of the information.

The Marshmallow Challenge video was interesting because I have never heard of such a thing, but it had several relevant connections to that of problem solving. In the video, Tom noted that kindergarteners did better at constructing a design than most business students because business students are “trained to find the single right plan.” Pretz et al (2003) expressed that “multiple revisions of the problem representation may be necessary in order to find a path to a solution” (p. 4) and this resembled the kindergartens’ method of execution with their use of building different prototypes. Another relevant connection was the influence of social context in problem solving. When working together with others, each person will approach a problem differently based on their unique knowledge base. This could explain why certain groups (e.g. engineers and kindergarteners) were more successful than others (lawyers and business students) at building the design.

Activity 6.1

Problem solving is analogous to learning because each is a process where individuals use their prior experiences and familiar knowledge in order to make sense of new information they encounter, which eventually leads to a change in the individuals’ behavior or their capacity to behave in a future situation. James’ (1962) idea of the law of economy, which asserts that “in admitting a new body of experience, we instinctively seek to disturb as little as possible our pre-existing stock of ideas; we always try to name a new experience in some way that will assimilate it to what we already know” (p. 78) seems parallel to how most individuals initially attempt to solve a problem, by relying on previous experiences to some similar problem.  However, Pretz, Naples, and Sternberg (2003) acknowledged that the use of routine ways of thinking-trying to make new information familiar- can lead problem solvers to approach a problem with “incorrect or misleading expectations.” The process of learning involves the ability to recognize, define, and represent problems that occur as a result to new information that cannot be resolved with the use of routine, or familiar, thinking.  Thus, the idea is for individuals to escape their routine ways of thinking and engage in flexible thinking that will allow them to consider broader scopes and multiple path ways for solving a problem.

I would imagine that all learning requires problem solving. Even if individuals happen to unconsciously stumble upon some information that is not relevant to any problem they are currently trying to solve, that newly acquired (learned) information could be useful for solving some future problem they may encounter.  Considering the mutual component of both problem solving and learning-a change in behavior or the capacity to behave-the newly acquired knowledge has influenced a change in individuals’ capacity to behave, regardless of whether the new information is being applied to a current situation or will be applied later.

While thinking about a problem, the first thing that came to mind is composing an academic paper. Now, this may not seem like an ideal problem to most individuals, but scholarly writing has always been anxiety provoking, thus, creating a problem that needed to be solved.  A very important aspect of successful writing is picking a topic that is motivating and interesting. Nodding (2006) suggests that “you must find something that you really do want that requires your doing this thing that you would prefer avoid” (p.  19). Picking a topic that is of great interest to me will allow me to acquire knowledge relevant to something I desire to learn about while doing something I would rather avoid, but cannot avoid.  Furthermore, brainstorming, fractionation, and incubation are essential to my writing process as well.  The ability to write out ideas and discuss them with other individuals (brainstorm), break the ideas of the paper down in to smaller, manageable sections (fractionation), and  allow myself time away from the paper in order to think and allow other ideas to subconsciously form (incubation) contributes to a smoother writing process.