How to teach our children well is the quest we are all on by participating in the New York City Writing Project “Steal this Internet” Spring Technology Retreat. There is an underlying assumption that if we enter the exciting Web 2.0 world filled with such toys as Google Docs, del.icio.us, Bloglines, podcasting, wikis, blogs, and photo sharing tools like Flickr that we will use them, embrace them, and eventually integrate them into the classroom routines. There is so much to manage. As teachers we all need time out of time for our own growth–a kind of white space.
Sierra wrote: “[R]eal learning takes place between exposures to content! Long-term memory from learning happens after the training. The space between the lessons and practice is where the learning is made permanent. If we don’t leave that space, new content keeps rushing in to overwrite the previous content, before the learner’s brain has a chance to pause, reflect, and synthesize the proteins needed for long-term memory storage.”
There are implications here for school teachers like myself. I have tried to pack too much into my class periods, this I am guilty of. To restructure in order to find the places for the spaces is the challenge I continually face.
This afternoon I found myself with a small group of teachers and one former graduate who returned to hang out. We were relaxing eating lunch and swapping “war” stories about the first year of our school. We were laughing heartily and longing for the “good old days”—five years ago—when we had time to be together for learning, collaborating, and just plain enjoying each other’s company. Teachers need more “white space” in the day to enjoy each other’s company and also to digest the experiences of teaching.
Summary: http://trailfire.com/mbrownstone/trailview/36210
She wrote: "Newbie writers (like me) are taught that it's the words you cut out that matter most. We're told to edit until nothing else can be removed. That's great advice, and when I have time to edit (rare for a spare-time blog post, but required with a book), I start hacking off all those extra words. (Like, "off all those"). But removing words isn't enough. We must insert space. Space for the reader to become engaged.
Space for the reader to reflect, process, and co-create the meaning.
And they can't do that if we're filling all the space--pushing content out like a firehose.
Newbie teachers/trainers often make the same mistake. We fill in every available space, just like those first-time desktop publishers who "abhor a vacuum" and cram words and clip-art into every square millimeter of a flyer.
But real learning takes place between exposures to content! Long-term memory from learning happens after the training. The space between the lessons and practice is where the learning is made permanent. If we don't leave that space, new content keeps rushing in to overwrite the previous content, before the learner's brain has a chance to pause, reflect, and synthesize the proteins needed for long-term memory storage."
