CI5461: Entry 1.0 "Learning by Osmosis"

Well, after barely living through the first week of classes, involving what has been termed by some, "a Moby Dick/War and Peace amount of assigned reading," I know longer recall where I read any of the thought-nuggets that are sugar-plumming around in my head, but all this stuff is connected, right? So I'll just dig right in...

There was a moment in one of the texts that declared something like, "the activity is not the learning... the learning is the thoughtful reflection on the activity." The text went on to point out how many teachers sort of expect that, after a great activity is planned and executed, the learning is complete, something the authors referred to as "learning by osmosis." I underlined that phrase and wrote in the margin, "I think I do this." Education has taken a long time to come to the conclusion that passive memorization may not be a paradigm worth maintainind... it is also true and striking I think among all of the constructivist rhetoric we've been exposed to... to remember that even active participation in class activities isn't the end of the line.

And it makes sense when you think about it -- is meaningful reflection really something we do automatically? Another part of some reading that I did talked about the writing/reflecting as the experience itself... the idea that nothing is in fact real until we consciously make it into a meaningful experience. I think that this has been rue for me in the past, where I don't really realize I mean something until I put it on paper or say it out loud.

My cooperating teacher is cool in a lot of ways, but what I like best about her is her abrupt honesty. She told me frankly... "students typically really suck at personal reflection." Kudos. If there is really something to the idea that experience becomes meaningful through reflection, and if it is also true that our young people suck at it... what kind of meaning are they missing out on?