The Hammock Papers: Plan B

02 November 2010

Plan B

Nothing is as dangerous as an idea when it's the only one you have.
- Emile Chartier

The first area of study that we tackle in Mr. Firchau's 5th grade class is problem solving. We use it as the basis for much of what we explore throughout the year. I challenge my students nearly everyday to move outside their mind's sense of "normal" in order to innovate, analyze ... and expect more of themselves. It is my belief that this is what will not only inspire them to lead an enriched life of inquiry but also give them skills that sustain them in the good ol' "real" world.

This is another way to prove to the kids that, "If you think you can't ... your right."

We rely on the problem solving process while brainstorming in writing class, coming up with an hypothesis for the science fair, finding the solution to an economics project, ... even finding new friends (to which one student said, "If you don't, you should!").

Our classes problem solving process
1. Identify the problem ... literally ask, "What happened?" Be a detective.
2. Understand the problem ... teach yourself. Be an explorer.
3. Brainstorm solutions ... don't solve; ideate. Be an artist.
4. Analyze possibilities ... weigh the pluses and minuses. Be a scientist.
5. Implement the solution ... choose and do. Be a carpenter.
6. Determine the result's effectiveness ... critique. Be a judge.

We add a seventh step ...

7. Reflect ... what can be learned? Be a student.

As a teacher I started creating more meaningful lessons after I noticed how closely aligned the process of solving problems is with Bloom's Taxonomy. We began following the steps toward critical thinking to ask more of ourselves. I began to ask better questions, the root of learning, and expecting answers with "more meat on the bones," as we say.

Dr. Akpan used to remind me in his thick West African accent, "Mister Rob, teaching is preparation, preparation, preparation."

Yes, it is. "People don't plan to fail, ... ." The idea is to not get caught short. Ask not only, "What if it doesn't work?," but, "What if it does?" Be prepared for the next step ... the next opportunity.

Cultural Offering provides further inspiration here.

1 comment:

Unknown said...: Excellent post RDF and I have printed it and given it to several people I work with.

Tim; November 2, 2010 at 8:49 AM

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WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

"When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone and of good cheer – say travelling in a carriage or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep – it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence, and how, they come I know not ; nor can I force them. Those ideas that please me I retain in memory and am accustomed, as I have been told, to hum them to myself. If I continue in this way, it soon occurs to me how I may turn this dainty morsel to account, so as to make a good dish of it. That is to say, agreeable to the rules of counterpoint, to the peculiarities of various instruments etc. All this fires my soul, and, provided I am not disturbed, my subject enlarges itself, becomes methodised, and defined, and the whole, though it be long, stands almost complete and finished in my mind, so that I can survey it like a fine picture or a beautiful statue at a glance. Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts successively, but I hear them, as it were, all at once. What a delight this is, I cannot tell."

MARCUS AURELIUS

"Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and say, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into this world?' neither intolerable nor everlasting - if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination. Pain is either an evil to the body (then let the body say what it thinks of it!)-or to the soul. But it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility."

VINCENT van GOGH

"What am I in the eyes of most people? A nonentity or an oddity or a disagreeable person — someone who has and will have no position in society, in short a little lower than the lowest. Very well — assuming that everything is indeed like that, then through my work I’d like to show what there is in the heart of such an oddity, such a nobody. This is my ambition, which is based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Even though I’m often in a mess, inside me there’s still a calm, pure harmony and music. In the poorest little house, in the filthiest corner, I see paintings or drawings. And my mind turns in that direction as if with an irresistible urge. As time passes, other things are increasingly excluded, and the more they are the faster my eyes see the picturesque. Art demands persistent work, work in spite of everything, and unceasing observation."

DAN CAMPBELL