How to learn? From mistakes | Diana Laufenberg | TEDxMidAtlantic
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0:04 - 0:07Good afternoon, before I get started,
I first have to say, -
0:09 - 0:12hello, to all of my students
who let me be out of school today, -
0:12 - 0:14they're staying late at school
to watch the stream. -
0:14 - 0:17Hello to everybody out there
in Philadelphia, -
0:17 - 0:19I think they definitely deserve
a round of applause. -
0:19 - 0:22(Applause)
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0:27 - 0:30Today, I'm going to tell you
a couple of stories. -
0:30 - 0:33I know I have
a bit of a provocative title, -
0:33 - 0:36I'll get there, go with me.
-
0:36 - 0:38I have a story to tell you.
-
0:38 - 0:40I have been teaching for a long time,
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0:40 - 0:41and in doing so
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0:41 - 0:44have acquired a body of knowledge
about kids and learning -
0:45 - 0:48that I really wish more people
would understand -
0:48 - 0:50about the potential of students.
-
0:51 - 0:53In 1931, my grandmother -
-
0:53 - 0:56bottom left for you guys over here -
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0:56 - 0:58graduated from the eighth grade.
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0:58 - 1:00She went to school to get the information
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1:00 - 1:02because that's where
the information lived. -
1:02 - 1:04It was in the books;
it was inside the teacher's head; -
1:04 - 1:07and she needed to go there
to get the information, -
1:07 - 1:09because that's how you learned.
-
1:09 - 1:10Fast-forward a generation:
-
1:10 - 1:12this is the one-room
schoolhouse, Oak Grove, -
1:12 - 1:14just down the road from where I grew up,
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1:14 - 1:17where my father went
to a one-room schoolhouse. -
1:17 - 1:19And he again had to travel to the school
-
1:19 - 1:21to get the information from the teacher,
-
1:21 - 1:24stored it in the only portable memory
he has, which is inside his own head, -
1:24 - 1:25and take it with him,
-
1:25 - 1:28because that is how information
was being transported -
1:28 - 1:30from teacher to student
and then used in the world. -
1:31 - 1:32When I was a kid,
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1:32 - 1:34we had a set of encyclopedias at my house.
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1:34 - 1:37It was purchased the year I was born,
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1:37 - 1:39and it was extraordinary,
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1:39 - 1:42because I did not have to wait to go
to the library to get to the information. -
1:42 - 1:44The information was inside my house
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1:44 - 1:45and it was awesome.
-
1:45 - 1:47This was different
-
1:47 - 1:50than either generation
had experienced before, -
1:50 - 1:53and it changed the way
I interacted with information -
1:53 - 1:54even at just a small level.
-
1:54 - 1:56But the information was closer to me.
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1:56 - 1:58I could get access to it.
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1:58 - 2:00In the time that passes
-
2:00 - 2:02between when I was a kid in high school
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2:02 - 2:04and when I started teaching,
-
2:04 - 2:06as Steve Case pointed out this morning,
-
2:06 - 2:08we really see the advent of the Internet.
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2:08 - 2:10Right about the time
that the Internet gets going -
2:10 - 2:12as an educational tool,
-
2:12 - 2:13I take off from Wisconsin
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2:13 - 2:16and move to Kansas, small town Kansas,
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2:16 - 2:18where I had an opportunity to teach
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2:18 - 2:20in a lovely, small-town,
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2:20 - 2:23rural Kansas school district,
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2:23 - 2:25where I was teaching my favorite subject,
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2:25 - 2:26American government.
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2:26 - 2:30My first year - super gung-ho -
going to teach American government, -
2:30 - 2:32loved the political system.
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2:32 - 2:34Kids in the 12th grade:
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2:34 - 2:36not exactly all that enthusiastic
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2:36 - 2:38about the American government system.
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2:38 - 2:41Year two: learned a few things -
had to change my tactic. -
2:41 - 2:43And I put in front of them
an authentic experience -
2:43 - 2:46that allowed them to learn for themselves.
-
2:46 - 2:48I didn't tell them
what to do or how to do it. -
2:48 - 2:50I posed a problem in front of them,
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2:50 - 2:53which was to put on an election
forum for their own community. -
2:53 - 2:55They produced flyers. They called offices.
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2:55 - 2:58They checked schedules.
They were meeting with secretaries. -
2:58 - 3:00They produced an election forum booklet
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3:00 - 3:03for the entire town to learn more
about their candidates. -
3:03 - 3:05They invited everyone into the school
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3:05 - 3:06for an evening of conversation
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3:06 - 3:08about government and politics
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3:08 - 3:10and whether or not
the streets were done well, -
3:10 - 3:13and really had this robust
experiential learning. -
3:13 - 3:15The older teachers - more experienced -
-
3:15 - 3:17looked at me and went,
-
3:17 - 3:20"Oh, there she is. That's so cute.
She's trying to get that done." -
3:20 - 3:21(Laughter)
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3:21 - 3:23"She doesn't know what she's in for."
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3:23 - 3:25But I knew that the kids would show up,
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3:25 - 3:27and I believed it,
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3:27 - 3:30and I told them every week
what I expected out of them. -
3:31 - 3:33And that night, all 90 kids -
-
3:33 - 3:36dressed appropriately,
doing their job, owning it. -
3:36 - 3:37I had to just sit and watch.
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3:37 - 3:40It was theirs. It was experiential.
It was authentic. -
3:40 - 3:42It meant something to them.
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3:42 - 3:44And they will step up.
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3:44 - 3:47From Kansas, I moved on to lovely Arizona,
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3:47 - 3:50where I taught in Flagstaff
for a number of years, -
3:50 - 3:52this time with middle school students.
-
3:52 - 3:55Luckily, I didn't have to teach them
American government. -
3:55 - 3:58Could teach them the more
exciting topic of geography. -
3:58 - 4:01Again, "thrilled" to learn.
-
4:01 - 4:03But what was interesting
-
4:03 - 4:06about this position I found
myself in in Arizona, -
4:07 - 4:08was I had this really
-
4:08 - 4:11extraordinarily eclectic
group of kids to work with -
4:11 - 4:12in a truly public school,
-
4:13 - 4:16and we got to have these moments where
we would get these opportunities. -
4:16 - 4:17And one opportunity
-
4:17 - 4:20was we got to go and meet
Paul Rusesabagina, -
4:20 - 4:22which is the gentleman
-
4:22 - 4:25that the movie "Hotel Rwanda"
is based after. -
4:25 - 4:27And he was going to speak
at the high school next door to us. -
4:27 - 4:30We could walk there.
We didn't even have to pay for the buses. -
4:30 - 4:33There was no expense cost.
Perfect field trip. -
4:34 - 4:35The problem then becomes
-
4:35 - 4:37how do you take seventh-
and eighth-graders -
4:37 - 4:40to a talk about genocide
and deal with the subject in a way -
4:40 - 4:42that is responsible and respectful,
-
4:42 - 4:44and they know what to do with it.
-
4:44 - 4:46And so we chose to look
at Paul Rusesabagina -
4:46 - 4:48as an example of a gentleman
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4:48 - 4:51who singularly used his life
to do something positive. -
4:52 - 4:54I then challenged the kids to identify
-
4:54 - 4:57someone in their own life,
or in their own story, their own world, -
4:57 - 5:00that they could identify
that had done a similar thing. -
5:00 - 5:02I asked them to produce
a little movie about it. -
5:02 - 5:04It's the first time we'd done this.
-
5:04 - 5:07Nobody really knew how to make these
little movies on the computer, -
5:07 - 5:08but they were into it.
-
5:08 - 5:10And I asked them to put
their own voice over it. -
5:10 - 5:13It was the most awesome
moment of revelation -
5:13 - 5:16that when you ask kids
to use their own voice -
5:16 - 5:19and ask them to speak for themselves,
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5:19 - 5:21what they're willing to share.
-
5:21 - 5:23The last question of the assignment is:
-
5:23 - 5:25how do you plan to use your life
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5:25 - 5:27to positively impact other people?
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5:27 - 5:29The things that kids will say
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5:29 - 5:32when you ask them
and take the time to listen -
5:32 - 5:34is extraordinary.
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5:35 - 5:38Fast-forward to Pennsylvania,
where I find myself today - -
5:38 - 5:40the students that you all clapped for
at the beginning - -
5:40 - 5:43I teach at the Science Leadership Academy,
-
5:43 - 5:45which is a partnership school
between the Franklin Institute -
5:45 - 5:47and the school district of Philadelphia.
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5:47 - 5:50We are a nine through 12 public school,
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5:50 - 5:52but we do school quite differently.
-
5:53 - 5:55I moved there primarily
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5:55 - 5:57to be part of a learning environment
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5:57 - 5:59that validated the way
that I knew that kids learned, -
5:59 - 6:02and that really wanted to investigate
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6:02 - 6:03what was possible
-
6:03 - 6:05when you are willing to let go
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6:05 - 6:07of some of the paradigms of the past,
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6:07 - 6:10of information scarcity
when my grandmother was in school -
6:10 - 6:13and when my father was in school
and even when I was in school, -
6:13 - 6:15and to a moment when we have
information surplus. -
6:16 - 6:18So what do you do when
the information is all around you? -
6:18 - 6:20Why do you have kids come to school
-
6:20 - 6:23if they no longer have to come there
to get the information? -
6:23 - 6:26In Philadelphia we have
a one-to-one laptop program, -
6:26 - 6:29so the kids are bringing in
laptops with them everyday, -
6:29 - 6:32taking them home,
getting access to information. -
6:32 - 6:35And here's the thing that you
need to get comfortable with -
6:35 - 6:37when you've given the tool
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6:37 - 6:39to acquire information to students,
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6:39 - 6:41is that you have to be comfortable
with this idea -
6:41 - 6:43of allowing kids to fail
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6:43 - 6:45as part of the learning process.
-
6:46 - 6:48We deal right now
in the educational landscape -
6:48 - 6:50with an infatuation
-
6:50 - 6:52with the culture of one right answer
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6:52 - 6:55that can be properly bubbled
on the average multiple choice test, -
6:55 - 6:57and I am here to share with you:
-
6:57 - 6:59it is not learning.
-
6:59 - 7:02That is the absolute wrong thing to ask,
-
7:02 - 7:04to tell kids to never be wrong.
-
7:05 - 7:07To ask them to always have
the right answer -
7:07 - 7:09doesn't allow them to learn.
-
7:10 - 7:11So we did this project,
-
7:11 - 7:14and it's this very hilarious story
of how I ended up here, -
7:14 - 7:16and this is one of the artifacts
of the project. -
7:16 - 7:18I almost never show them off
-
7:18 - 7:20because of the issue
of the idea of failure. -
7:20 - 7:22My students produced these info-graphics
-
7:22 - 7:25as a result of a unit that we decided
to do at the end of the year -
7:25 - 7:27responding to the oil spill,
-
7:27 - 7:29topic we've heard about today a lot.
-
7:29 - 7:32I asked them to take
the examples that we were seeing -
7:32 - 7:34of the info-graphics that existed
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7:34 - 7:36in a lot of mass media,
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7:36 - 7:39and take a look at what were
the interesting components of it, -
7:39 - 7:40and produce one for themselves
-
7:41 - 7:43of a different man-made
disaster from American history. -
7:43 - 7:46And they had certain criteria to do it.
-
7:46 - 7:48They were a little uncomfortable with it,
-
7:48 - 7:51because we'd never done this before,
and they didn't know exactly how to do it. -
7:51 - 7:53They can talk - they're very smooth,
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7:53 - 7:55and they can write very, very well,
-
7:55 - 7:58but asking them to communicate
ideas in a different way -
7:58 - 7:59was a little uncomfortable for them.
-
7:59 - 8:02But I gave them the room
to just do the thing. -
8:02 - 8:04Go create. Go figure it out.
-
8:04 - 8:06Let's see what we can do.
-
8:06 - 8:08And the student that persistently
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8:08 - 8:11turns out the best visual product
did not disappoint. -
8:12 - 8:14This was done in like two or three days.
-
8:14 - 8:16And this is the work of the student
that consistently did it. -
8:16 - 8:20And when I sat the students down,
I said, "Who's got the best one?" -
8:20 - 8:22And they immediately went, "There it is."
-
8:22 - 8:24Didn't read anything. "There it is."
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8:24 - 8:26And I said, "Well what makes it great?"
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8:26 - 8:29And they're like, "Oh, the design's good,
and he's using good color. -
8:29 - 8:31And we processed out loud.
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8:31 - 8:32And I said, "Go read it."
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8:32 - 8:35And they're like, "Oh,
that one wasn't so awesome." -
8:35 - 8:37And then we went to another one -
-
8:37 - 8:40it didn't have great visuals,
but it had great information - -
8:40 - 8:43and spent an hour talking
about the learning process, -
8:43 - 8:45because it wasn't about whether or not
it was perfect, -
8:45 - 8:47or whether or not
it was what I could create. -
8:47 - 8:49It asked them to create for themselves,
-
8:49 - 8:51and it allowed them to fail,
-
8:51 - 8:53process, learn from.
-
8:53 - 8:56And when we do another round of this
in my class this year, -
8:56 - 8:58they will do better this time,
-
8:58 - 8:59because learning
-
9:00 - 9:02has to include an amount of failure,
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9:02 - 9:05because failure is instructional
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9:05 - 9:07in the process.
-
9:08 - 9:11There are a million pictures
-
9:11 - 9:13that I could click through here,
-
9:13 - 9:16and had to choose carefully -
this is one of my favorites - -
9:16 - 9:17of students learning,
-
9:17 - 9:19of what learning can look like
-
9:19 - 9:22in a landscape where we let go of the idea
-
9:22 - 9:25that kids have to come to school
to get the information, -
9:25 - 9:27but instead, ask them
what they can do with it. -
9:27 - 9:29Ask them really interesting questions.
-
9:29 - 9:31They will not disappoint.
-
9:31 - 9:33Ask them to go to places,
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9:33 - 9:35to see things for themselves,
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9:35 - 9:37to actually experience the learning,
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9:37 - 9:38to play,
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9:40 - 9:42to inquire.
-
9:43 - 9:45This is one of my favorite photos,
-
9:45 - 9:47because this was taken on Tuesday,
-
9:47 - 9:49when I asked the students
to go to the polls. -
9:49 - 9:52This is Robbie,
and this was his first day of voting, -
9:52 - 9:55and he wanted to share that
with everybody and do that. -
9:55 - 9:56But this is learning too,
-
9:56 - 9:59because we asked them to go
out into real spaces. -
10:02 - 10:04The main point
-
10:04 - 10:07is that, if we continue
to look at education -
10:08 - 10:10as if it's about coming to school
-
10:11 - 10:12to get the information
-
10:12 - 10:15and not about experiential learning,
-
10:15 - 10:17empowering student voice
and embracing failure, -
10:17 - 10:19we're missing the mark.
-
10:19 - 10:22And everything that everybody
is talking about today -
10:22 - 10:25isn't possible if we keep having
an educational system -
10:25 - 10:27that does not value these qualities,
-
10:27 - 10:29because we won't get there
with a standardized test, -
10:29 - 10:32and we won't get there
with a culture of one right answer. -
10:32 - 10:34We know how to do this better,
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10:34 - 10:35and it's time to do better.
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10:35 - 10:38(Applause)
- Title:
- How to learn? From mistakes | Diana Laufenberg | TEDxMidAtlantic
- Description:
-
Diana Laufenberg shares 3 surprising things she has learned about teaching - including a key insight about learning from mistakes.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 10:53
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Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for How to learn? From mistakes | Diana Laufenberg | TEDxMidAtlantic | ||
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TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for How to learn? From mistakes | Diana Laufenberg | TEDxMidAtlantic | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for How to learn? From mistakes | Diana Laufenberg | TEDxMidAtlantic | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for How to learn? From mistakes | Diana Laufenberg | TEDxMidAtlantic |