∞

#BookReview: Teach Like Socrates #mgshare

Review

“Think Like Socrates” is an inspiring guide to using Socratic questioning in the classroom. Peeples shares relatable stories that show how this method sparks curiosity and empathy. She makes a strong case for prioritizing authentic dialogue over rote learning. The book’s best parts explore how Socratic seminars build vital social-emotional skills.

Peeples offers troubleshooting tips for common challenges. Her infectious passion will energize teachers to revitalize their practice with the power of questioning. Whether you’re new to Socratic seminars or a veteran, this concise, readable book is a valuable resource to transform your teaching.

Honoring Students' Experiences

Over the last few days, I’ve been huddled up with Shanna Peeples’ book, Think Like Socrates. The book jacket a la Amazon advertises it in this way:

Socrates believed in the power of questions rather than lecturing his students. But how did we get so far away from his method of inquiry? Shanna Peeples, 2015 National Teacher of the Year, will show you how teachers can create an engaging atmosphere that encourages student questions and honors their experiences.

What I Hoped For From This Book

Since I’ve been reading a bit about Socrates, Stoics, Philosophy, etc., my hope was that this book would be a re-introduction of critical thinking, the dialogic method into modern classrooms. Today, there is a fundamental desire to strip classrooms down to bare bones, dumping a lot of the ways things have been done in the recent past, to get back to…well…basics of teaching and learning. Of course, to do that without also throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Unfortunately, Peeples' book gave off strong writing workshop vibes (and it referenced writing workshop several times). I recognized it from my own efforts at writing workshop. She drops beautiful statements that capture the reader’s attention a la social justice. It is an authentic telling, very social and emotional learning friendly with echoes of culturally responsive teaching. That said, the title is off. I wouldn’t have called this readable, conversational text “Think Like Socrates.”

Quoting Peebles

You can easily tell Peebles was a journalist, and an English teacher. She will occasionally drop these amazing statements into the text that make you sit up and take notice. This book could have been condensed to a few pages of these engaging statements, and the lesson protocols she includes.

Here are Peebles' amazing statements:

Our students need to ask questions now more than ever. To shield them from thinking and questioning in a mistaken fear of “pulling them off task” is at best wasted effort and at worst an isolation from what truly makes us human.

In a world increasingly uncomfortable with the changes wrought by technology, we seek out authoritarian figures to tell us what to do and how to think.

Questioning, therefore is good citizenship. It is the anti-tyranny vaccine.

Or, consider this one:

One of our basic human drives is connection. We become smarter by participating in social learning

You just know Peebles is taking aim those restrictive efforts in schools that try to silence children. I love this quote:

We can’t order, threaten or guilt people to innovate. We can be systematic in creating the conditions and systems for innovation to regularly happen.

These are ideas that echo and rise above the title and confines of the book. They scream out for more attention. Here are a few more:

  • Maybe what students really want is for us to listen to them and trust the intellectual power inside them.
  • Writing is a way to be present with your own experiences.

The book, with it’s authentic writing, hits the mark on SEL and building safe learning environments, teacher-student relationships, but…I kept hoping for more practical suggestions on Socratic thinking than what Peebles offered in the included lesson protocols. I may have misunderstood what Peeples set out to do…I guess I wanted more Socrates, more on Socratic circles, and critical thinking. This text tried to cover too much, and ended up with a field of coal with a few gems throughout. I would have encouraged a more concise volume.

That misunderstanding aside, a fantastic read, well worth the time to seek out the diamonds Peebles scatters amidst the ideas in the book.

Quotable Quotes

These are quotes that Peeples included in her book. I liked some of them, so they appear here out of context.

  • “The biggest problem growing up today is not actually stress; it’s meaninglessness.” - William Damon, Professor
  • “True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” –Leo Tolstoy
  • “We learn an art by doing that which we wish to do when we have learned of it; we become builders by building, and harpers by harping. And so by doing just acts we become just, and by doing acts of temperance and courage, we become temperate and courageous.” - Aristotle
  • “To believe that one can teach respect through coercion is to confuse respect with obedience.” Larry Brendtro and Nicholas Long, Reclaiming Children and Youth
  • “The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and like Teflon for positive ones.” -Rick Hanson
  • “The task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees.” -Arthur Schopenhauer
  • “Don’t be afraid of philosophy–it has been spreading love and advancing human ideas for centuries. Be afraid of a world without philosophy. Be afraid of what you will become if you turn your back on the beautiful possibilities it has to offer.” - Sharon Kaye
  • “We can’t teach science as a bunch of facts. We have to teach them how to ask good questions and think like a scientist.” Randolph ?
  • “Men have no more ready corrective of conduct than knowledge of the past.” -Polybius

My Notes

  • When we make a space for students to ask their own questions, we validate them as meaning-makers and honor the hardwired capacity for inquiry that is in each of us.
  • Socrates believed that inviting people to question what they think they know, rather than telling them would result in deeper understanding.
  • The dialectic method compels one to think through a problem to a logical conclusion…it involves using questions to help students draw from the well of what they know, match it against what they have learned, interrogate it, and build deeper understanding.

Chapter 1

  • An opening for professional development sessions with teachers is: What do you struggle with the most as a teacher?"
  • When we encourage natural social behaviors, we are making ourselves and our learning experiences necessary.
  • The fastest way to engage people’s brains is to ask it a question.
  • When students make predictions about content, even content they don’t know, they must have an answer. If teachers set up students' questions in a way that points toward the content they need to teach, teachers enlist students' natural tendency to find answers to deeper learning experiences. These experiences allow them to develop their vocabulary, speaking, listening, writing, reading, and critical thinking skills.
  • One of our basic human drives is connection. We become smarter by participating in social learning, according to Vygotsky’s social development theory.
  • The theory emphasizes the importance of the learning environment in determining how children think and what they think about.
  • An opening to a session by the author:

I accept that bad things happen to good people. What I can’t accept is when good things happen to bad people. Why do some people ‘get away with it?’ It’s a question that haunts me. What about you? What are the questions that haunt you? Or make you sad? or make you angry? Or just confuse you no matter how much you try to think about it? I’ve asked your teachers to give everyone a piece of paper. I’d love to know what your questions are. What are the things you’ve kept inside you that you’ve been afraid to ask? Would you mind sharing them with me? If you want to, please write them on the paper.

  • Maybe what students really want is for us to listen to them and trust the intellectual power inside them.

Chapter 2

  • We can’t order, threaten or guilt people to innovate. We can be systematic in creating the conditions and systems for innovation to regularly happen.
  • Design thinking is a continual action always in search of newer and better ways to solve problems. It uses analysis to separate a problem into pieces as in….
  • Divergent thinking creates multiple perspectives and generates many kinds of solutions. An easy way to start is to use cubing. A question (a total of six) goes on each side of the cube.
  • After cubing, use convergent thinking that brings together all of the information gleaned from cubing or other brainstorming exercises to focus on the most promising ideas.
  • If we want kids to connect with the heart of learning, we have to risk the messiness of it. The risk is the reward.

Cubing Design Strategy

  • Describe it, Think about it, Try it
  • Compare/Contrast It, Think About it, Try it
  • Associate it….
  • Analyze it…
  • Apply it…
  • Argue for or against it…

Chapter 3

  • This stance–teaching from who we are and connecting to those who are in front of us–is what raises teaching from a set of discrete skills into the realm of something only humans can do.
  • It calls on us to be unguarded, empathetic, authentic, and brave.
  • When you find five similarities with your students, Harvard researchers found, the relationship between teachers and students improves by over 60%.

Chapter 4

  • The process of writing in short burst is easy, but committing to it as a daily practice is more difficult.
  • ==Writing is a way to be present with your own experiences.==
  • A set of sentence stems to use includes:
  • What I’m feeling right now…
  • I hate/ I love
  • What I wish people understood is…
  • What I’m wondering about is…
  • Talk less; ask more questions
  • A magic phrase for beginning difficult conversations is, ==“What’s going on that I need to know? What do you need me to understand? Can you say more about that?"==

Miscellaneous Notes from Subsequent Chapters

Some additional items from my notes and the book, but there’s a lot more to consider that would take a lot more time than I have:

  • In my class, there are a few questions that I ask all the time: “1) What is this telling us? 2) How does it connect to what we already know? 3) Why does that matter to us as citizens and us as individuals?” - Nate Bowling
  • Asking questions, defining problems, and engaging in argument from evidence are core practices.
  • When engaging in inquiry, students describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test those explanations, against current scientific knowledge, and communicate their ideas to others.
  • Students identify their assumptions, use critical and logical thinking and consider alternative explanations. In this way, students actively develop their understanding of science by combining scientific knowledge with reasoning and thinking skills.
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Go Lyrical

So fun to see one’s work through another’s eyes. I was playing with words, as writers do, and whipped this up late one evening before sleeping. As I read it now, again, I see the driftwood of my past mixing with the incoming tide of change. 🤣 Too much fun. 🤓

In responding to my original comment (Doug did a comment hoist of the comment I left on his I miss snow post), Doug Johnson writes:

As all good writing should do, Miguel’s clever, mystical response to my post made me reflect, made me think about things I might not otherwise have considered. I was, quite frankly, a bit mesmorized.

Being mesmerized certainly is a wonderful reaction to anything one writes, but it was this next part that made me go, “Hmm….” See what Doug writes below:

Why don’t we respond lyrically more often? Would we be more convincing, more sympathetic? Might others pay more attention to us if the style of the message was as interesting as the content?

You know, going “lyrical” doesn’t sound like a bad thing. Sure, you wouldn’t do it in the workplace except as a stunt, but on personal blogs like Another Think Coming, it sounds like a wonderful thing to do.

Lyrical Version of This Blog Post

Courtesy of AI, here’s a lyrical version of the words in this blog post:

Here’s an attempt to capture the essence of your comment in a whimsical, lyrical format without reproducing any copyrighted lyrics:

Lyrical Musings

Verse 1: Words dance upon the page, a writer’s play Driftwood memories mingle with the changing tide Clever musings take shape, mystical in their sway Inviting one to ponder, reflect, and abide

Chorus: Why don’t we respond with lyrical grace? Let melodies convey our truth and feeling Perhaps if wrapped in music’s warm embrace Our messages would find a deeper meaning

Verse 2: In this space to freely write and roam Might lyrical blogs be a wondrous trail? A personal verse, a metaphoric home Where sympathetic lines could set sail

Chorus: Why don’t we respond with lyrical grace? Let melodies convey our truth and feeling Perhaps if wrapped in music’s warm embrace Our messages would find a deeper meaning

Bridge: Workplaces may frown on such whimsical stunts But in our own realms, let words take flight Soaring high on poetry’s uplifting currents Illuminating thoughts with lyrical light

I’ve tried to capture the sense of playfully considering a more lyrical writing style, especially in personal spaces, while avoiding any copyrighted material. The lyrics imagine the potential for deeper meaning and connection through a lyrical approach. Let me know if you’d like me to modify or expand on this lyrical response in any way.

∞

3-2-1: School Shootings and Licensed To Carry

Are you licensed to carry? I often reflect that it’s better to stay home and not go out given the Wild West scenario. But you know what? The Wild West wasn’t this crazy. Schoolhouses were respected.

After Sandy Hook, and several other school shootings, it became evident that “thoughts and prayers” approach to this topic wasn’t getting the job done. What’s more, the gun lobby’s considerable influence and money encouraged politicians from doing the right thing (banning assault weapons for purchase).

After Uvalde’s school shooting, I thought that there had been enough young lives, not to mention the lives of educators, sacrificed on the altar of protecting against school shooting. I hoped that substantive change might result. But it appears the gun lobby, the politicians allied with them, continue to soldier on.

As a result, many educators I know decided to arm themselves, to ensure that they would have some way to defend their children, even if it meant defying the law to carry in school buildings. One of them, a deputy superintendent (now retired), said to me, “I’m ready to defend myself and others if somebody comes in here to harm us.” And, looking in the eyes of that silver-haired grandmother, I believed her.

3 Ideas

I.

“The debate over arming teachers versus enhancing security measures reflects a deeper societal need to address the root causes of violence, including mental health support and community engagement.”

II.

“Effective school safety strategies may require a multi-faceted approach that combines physical security measures with a strong emphasis on creating a supportive school culture that can identify and address potential threats early.”

III.

“Preventative measures, such as conflict resolution education and anti-bullying programs, are essential components of a comprehensive school safety plan that goes beyond the immediate response to potential threats.”

2 Quotes From Others

I. Dewey Cornell, a forensic clinical psychologist and education professor:

“We should be investing in mental health services and in training for school staff and students in how to prevent violence. We can prevent these shootings, but we have to have a different mindset, which is not how we can fortify our schools, but how we can make our schools a healthier place where we are less likely to have a shooting.”

II. Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers:

“Teachers should be teaching, not acting as armed security guards. We need to listen to the educators and school staff who know our students, not arm them with weapons.”

1 Question For You

How can we balance the immediate need to protect students and staff from school shootings with the long-term goal of cultivating a safe and nurturing educational environment that addresses the underlying causes of violence?

∞

The Problem with Anecdotes #CriticalThinking #Prevagen

Awhile back, I wrote the following about Prevagen, that memory drug commercial. They keep running it when I’m watching television, and it irritates me to no end. No doubt, I’m suffering from frequency illusion, or Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

After you read this blog entry, you will suffer it, too! ;-)

Vocabulary Clarification - Frequency Illusion

When you learn something new, it stays fresh in your mind. You start paying more attention to it than other things since your brain has decided this is important. Then, confirmation bias (ugh!) kicks in, and your mind searches for this newly learned information to confirm your new knowledge. You notice every instance of it, but the reality is, it’s not appearing more…you are noticing it more.

A fun trick might be to teach someone something new, then see if that’s all they focus on for the next hour. Too much fun. Anyways, you can imagine what a pain it is to become aware of how bad anecdotes are, then have to put up with television commercials that appeal to you using anecdotes.

Back To Prevagen

Every time I see Prevagen commercial on television, I’m intrigued. Wouldn’t it be neat to have a drug that could magically restore my memory? No longer would I reach for a word and have it just out of grasp. However, the scientific consensus reveals this miracle memory restorer leaves a lot to be desired.

These Prevagen commercials, like others that appear on television, are an appeal via anecdotes. It’s the old trick of getting a dentist to advertise toothpaste, or a pharmacist to recommend an over the counter drug that may not be effective at all.

Personal Experience Can Lead You Astray

Today, I ran into Melanie Trecek-King’s Facebook post (be sure to check out the comments, too), where she writes:

As critical thinkers, our goal is to use evidence to decide what to believe. And as such, we need to be skeptical of anecdotal evidence for several reasons.

The article she lists is worth reading, Four Ways Your Personal Experience Can Lead You Astray. In the article she writes:

Anecdotes are personal experiences that are used as evidence for a claim. Our brains jump to conclusions and assume the experience is a good indicator of what’s typical and even that events are due to causation. Vivid and emotional stories are often particularly convincing and memorable.

Many people think that anecdotes are a sure-fire way of knowing what’s true. Indeed, it can be quite difficult to convince someone that they might be wrong.

But anecdotes are infamously unreliable.

Confirmation Bias

How do you push back against confirmation bias? How do you stop it from hijacking your brain? Here are a few ideas I found interesting:

  • Question your motivations. This is a great one that reminds me of Crucial Confrontations. Why are you doing this? What’s motivating you? Are you emotionally invested?
  • Consider Opposite POVs. What’s an opposite point of view, and what’s the reasoning behind it? I remember hearing the guest on the Thinking Clearly podcast recently explore this idea. Their guest shares how they do it at the Army War College, which involves writing five bullet points torpedoing their perspective. Dig deeper into opposing perspectives and write them out.
  • Get feedback from others. Be transparent about your thinking process and what conclusions you came up with. Sure, you may look stupid, but better to look stupid to a few folks than to the world. Of course, if you’re a blogger, being transparent (and wrong) is part of the fun…one of the reasons people don’t really blog, they just “publish” information and pieces that people agree with (or not).
  • Engage in systematic disconfirmation. You may have read this blog entry I wrote systematic disconfirmation but if you haven’t, check it out. You are on the hunt to find credible evidence and data that goes against your existing belief. Since confirmation bias is about finding information that supports your belief, this process is the exact opposite.

Prevagen

You know, I want there to be a memory-enhancing drug. Like almost everyone I know, when I reach for a word sometimes, it doesn’t show up or appear right away. I’ll be sitting on the couch or exercising, and “Wham!” the word I was reaching for in a conversation shows up with a jolly “I’m here! Aren’t you happy?” But the truth is, I’m NOT happy.


Source: BGR.com

Can you imagine if Thor stuck his hand out for Mjolnir (the hammer) and it didn’t show up right away?

∞

UT at Austin Lays Off #DEI Employees #Texas #fascism

This is unbelievable but oh so bad. Vote them out isn’t working.

The University of Texas at Austin has laid off dozens employees who used to work in diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The university fired about 60 people and some the offices where they worked are expected to close by May 31…. via Texas Tribune

I don’t know about you, but when government tries to legislate religion, beliefs, and stamp out diversity, equity, and inclusion in PUBLIC universities…well, it makes me very nervous.

Fascism and Higher Education

I found this read in The Atlantic (1939) quite eye-opening. The opening paragraph serves as a powerful reminder:

The early Americans were determined that education should be free from political control. Being liberals in the original and true sense of the term, they believed in the integrity of the individual as opposed to the despotism of the state.

This integrity or dignity of the individual was, of course, basic in democracy.

Among other things, it implied the right of the citizenry to think independently, to seek truth honestly, and to determine without political interference what should constitute the education of their children.

What’s really interesting in The Atlantic article is this section outlining the real purpose of schooling. I hear echoes of these words in today’s complaints about schools and teachers who aren’t allowed to teach certain subjects or broach certain topics:

We renounce international science. We renounce the international republic of learning. W e renounce research for its own sake. We teach and learn medicine, not to increase the num ber of known microbes, but to keep the German people strong and healthy. We teach and learn history, not to say how things actually happened, b u t to instruct the German people from the past. We teach and learn the sciences, not to discover abstract laws, but to sharpen the implements of the German people in their competition with other peoples.

The conclusion seems inevitable that state support of the German universities prepared the way for their immediate use by the totalitarian state, and that the universities were consequently of little value in maintaining the privileges of democracy or the rights of constitutional government. This was equally true in Italy and Russia.

Imagine if this were written for today. It’s not that hard, is it?

A Texas Version

The following is suggested by the current culture in Texas. It’s an experiment, using AI, to reflect our current state of affairs. How well do you think this experiment reflects reality in Texas today, 2024?

We renounce liberal indoctrination. We renounce the teaching of critical race theory. We renounce social agendas in the classroom.

We teach and learn history, not to make students feel guilt or shame, but to promote the positive aspects of the United States and Texas.

We teach and learn social studies, not to focus on America’s flaws, but to foster patriotism, citizenship and respect for our founding principles.

We teach and learn the sciences, not to push political ideologies, but to provide students the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, while respecting the right of parents to direct the moral upbringing of their children.

The revisions aim to capture the sentiment expressed by Texas political leaders that schools should avoid “indoctrinating” students with perceived liberal viewpoints and instead focus curriculum on instilling pride in Texas and American history and values, while giving parents more say over sensitive topics.[5][17] Recent laws have sought to ban the teaching of “critical race theory” and limit how issues like racism are discussed in classrooms.[13][16] The State Board of Education is currently in the process of revising social studies standards, with some arguing for more emphasis on the positive aspects of U.S. history and “American exceptionalism."[13][17]. Note: Citations appear at the end of this post.

How Fascism Will Come

Consider Terry Ehret’s poem quoted below:

How Fascism Will Come

“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” —attributed to Sinclair Lewis

When fascism comes, it will greet us with a smile. It will get down on its knees to pray. It will praise Main Street and Wall Street. It will cheer for the home team. It will clap from the bleachers when the uninsured are left to die on the street. It will rally on the Washington Mall. It will raise monuments to its heroes and weep for them and place bouquets at their stone feet and trace with their fingers the names engraved on the granite wall and go on sending soldiers to die in the mountains of Afghanistan, in the deserts of Iraq. It will send doves to pluck out the eyes of its enemies, having no hawks to spare.

When fascism comes, it will sit down for tea with the governor of Texas. It will pee in the mosques from California to Tennessee, chanting, “Wake up America, the enemy is here.” It will sing the anthems of corporatization, privatization, demonization, monopolization. It will be interviewed, lovingly, on talk radio. It’ll have talking points and a Facebook page and a disdain for big words or hard consonants. It won’t bother to read. It will shred all its books. It will lambast the teachers and outlaw the unions.

When fascism comes, it will look good. It will have big hair, pressed suits, lapel pins. It will control all the channels. It will ride in on Swift Boats. It will sit on the Supreme Court. It will court us with fear. It will woo us with hope. When fascism comes, it will sell shares of itself on the stock market. It will get rich, then it will get obscenely rich, then it will stop paying taxes. It will leave us in the dust. It will kick our ass. It won’t have to break a sweat to fool us twice. It will be too big to fail.

When fascism comes to America, it will enter on the winds of our silence and indifference and complacency. And on that day, one hundred thousand poets will gather. In book stores and libraries, bars and cafes, in their houses and apartments, in schools and on street corners, they will gather. In Albania, Bangladesh, Botswana, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Finland, Guatemala, Hungary, Macedonia, Malawi, Qatar, crying, laughing, screaming. They will wrap the sad music of humanity in bits of word cloth and hang them, like prayers, on the tree of life. via Poetry Flash

Fighting Fascism

How do you fight fascism? It’s unthinkable to imagine that any American would need to know how in their own country or state. Some suggest the steps might be as “easy” as:

  • Identify and confront fascist movements early.
  • Build broad coalitions against fascism that cross political and social lines.
  • Engage in direct action and counter-protests to disrupt fascist organizing.
  • Promote anti-fascist education to inoculate the public against fascist ideas.
  • Address the underlying social and economic conditions that fuel fascism’s rise, like economic insecurity, social atomization and distrust in institutions.
  • Avoid appealing to the government or state to restrict fascists' free speech rights, as these tools are often turned against the left. Instead, anti-fascists should use their own free speech to counter fascist arguments and organize grassroots opposition.

I don’t know about you, but all of those approaches give me cause for concern. It’s like watching a rash grow. But imagine you can’t stop it’s growth, there’s no one else to tell you what to do, and it’s late Sunday evening, and you know Monday (and relief) is a long way off. Maybe gangrene is a better analogy.

How many of us are “fair-weather Americans?” You know, Americans until the going gets fascist?

Citations for Texas Version

Please find the citations for the assertions above. Honestly, I’m concerned at how easy it was to generate this.

  1. texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/re…
  2. oese.ed.gov/texas-sta…
  3. tea.texas.gov/about-tea…
  4. tea.texas.gov/academics…
  5. tea.texas.gov/about-tea…
  6. www.kut.org/education…
  7. texasscorecard.com/state/tex…
  8. abc13.com/houston-i…
  9. tea.texas.gov/about-tea…/sboe-rules-tac/proposed-state-board-of-education-rules
  10. texaseducatorsvote.com/blog/who-…
  11. www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/…
  12. tea.texas.gov/about-tea…/sboe-rules-tac
  13. www.k12dive.com/news/as-t…
  14. sboe.texas.gov
  15. www.kxan.com/news/texa…
  16. texasprojectfirst.org/en/curric…
  17. www.texastribune.org/2022/08/3…
  18. www.texasmonthly.com/news-poli…
  19. www.texastribune.org/2023/09/0…
  20. www.fox7austin.com/news/texa…
∞

Interrogate Your Anger

“How do you stay so calm?” It’s a question I get often. The truth is, there are times when I have to master my temper before it results in something bad. Staying in better shape, being more in touch with my emotions, helps me do that. It’s gotten better over time, but these days, I ask myself the question, “Why did THIS make you angry?” I keep asking questions of myself until I understand why I’ve “almost” lost my temper. I’m not saint, though. It takes me a long time to get angry, and I have to have evidence you’re out to get me for whatever the reason. I suppose that I can’t abide liars, people who don’t do what they said they would do. Of course, I suffer from those faults myself. Everyone does, no? But we have to work at improving ourselves.

In Crucial Conversations or Confrontations, the authors point out that the path many follow. Something happens, they tell themselves a story about that (“You jerk, you are out to screw me over!"), then act on it…only to find out, to their chagrin, that they’ve got it all wrong. That the other person wasn’t to blame or even involved.

I often remind others of Hanlon’s Razor:

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

That’s one I have often run afoul of, so I keep it in mind when working with others.

Embrace Curiosity

Getting ahold of yourself is about changing your reaction. The best way, as the authors suggest and I agree from my own experience, is to get curious. Get curious about what’s happening. Do your best to engage in System II thinking that is slower and more methodical.

Asking Questions

Melanie Trecek-King suggests one way to challenge our beliefs (often formed at the instant we perceive a hurt or pain) about a situation. She says:

  1. Ask yourself, “What would it take to prove my belief wrong?”
  2. If your belief is falsifiable, actively look for evidence to prove yourself wrong. If the belief is true, it will withstand scrutiny. If not true, evidence will disprove it.
  3. Accept the evidence.
  4. Change your mind

I love that last item, Change Your Mind. It’s not so easy, especially when you’ve invested your emotions into your belief.

An Example

I like to think of it this way:

You have a pain. You do some web searches and discover symptoms match the pain you have. You start to look for more information that confirms your belief that suffer from that malady you self-diagnosed yourself with.

You start to feel horrible. By the time you get to the doctor, and they send you off for blood tests, you’re convinced you’re going to die.

Then, the blood tests come back. You read the tests and they confirm what you knew all along–death is at your door. Then, you visit the doctor.

The diagnosis they have for you doesn’t match your’s. You let your fears tumble out (or worse, you hide them from the doctor) and you cite your internet searches.

The doctor confirms you have something, but it’s not life threatening.

Since the news is good, you laugh in relief, then change your mind.

Look for Evidence

The same thing happens when someone ticks you off at work, in the drive through, on your way to work in the car, etc. Except, there’s little evidence as to their mal intent except that you know they are working to hurt you.

A Quote

In those cases, keep this quote in mind from Marcus Aurelius:

“You shouldn’t give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don’t care at all.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.38

∞

#DailyHaikuPrompt - Silkworm

Source: Britannica Encyclopedia

Bred to spin your thread

Mindless Imprisonment, yes,

Tireless toil defines you

#DailyHaikuPrompt 04/01/2024 - Silkworm

∞

The First Story

Transcription:

Quote “Most people will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are more inclined to accept the first story they hear. Source: Thucydides

Reflection Often, this quote has described my own beliefs, fed to me by loving parents, well-meaning teachers, and printed in history books. The process of awakening is that of casting it all away to walk unaided into revelation.

Of course, I could write a lot more about this quote. I could detail examples of the information that was erroneous, fictional, and fantastical shared with me as gospel. I could share how I passed this on to my own children in the hopes of doing for them what had been done for me, an acculturation so profound that I may as well have been protected by an invisible force field that made me feel special and treasured all my life.

But now, I know the truth. There was no force field. It was all a game of pretend that I learned to play better than anyone else, like a child who believes in Santa Claus through adulthood, in spite of the evidence.

Too Long for the Memo Pad

There’s another quote that I almost settled on today. It’s from Isaac Asimov, but I thought, “This is too long for my little memo pad.”

Asimov’s words are:

“I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.

What do you believe without evidence? What truths do you adhere to that, like Thucydides says, are merely the first story you heard, perhaps in your mother’s arms, in the pew, or occupying a pupil’s desk?

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Systematic Disconfirmation: Smartphones in Schools

This is an AI-generated post that applies the process of systematic disconfirmation to smartphones in schools. Mainly, the claim that smartphones enhance rather than detract from learning in the classroom.

Applying Systematic Disconfirmation to Smartphone Bans in Schools

Identify: Determine the Theory or Belief to be Tested

The belief to be tested is that banning smartphones in schools improves student performance and reduces distractions.

Hypothesize: Formulate Expectations

  • Expectation 1: Banning smartphones will lead to improved academic performance.
  • Expectation 2: Banning smartphones will reduce distractions in the classroom.
  • Expectation 3: Banning smartphones will negatively impact tech literacy among students.

Collect: Gather Evidence or Data Relevant to the Belief

Evidence from various studies and articles provides insights into the impact of smartphone bans in schools:

  • A study found that students whose smartphones were physically removed during class had higher levels of course comprehension, lower levels of anxiety, and higher levels of mindfulness than the control group[1].
  • Another study concluded that banning smartphones had a negligible effect on student performance, suggesting that such bans should not be expected to produce substantial gains in student performance[2].
  • Research highlights the potential for technology to improve educational outcomes by understanding and leveraging student motivation and engagement, moving beyond political debates on cellphone bans[2].
  • Information literacy skills are crucial for individuals and societies to combat modern issues like misinformation across social channels, and banning smartphones could hinder the development of these skills[3].
  • A study found that the high smartphone use group academically outperformed the low smartphone use group, indicating that smartphone accessibility constitutes a potential inequality in the learning opportunities of elementary school students[4].

Compare: Contrast Evidence Against Initial Expectations

  • Expectation 1 is partially disconfirmed by evidence showing mixed results on academic performance with some studies indicating no significant improvement[2][4].
  • Expectation 2 is supported by evidence showing reduced distractions when smartphones are removed[1].
  • Expectation 3 is confirmed by evidence highlighting the importance of tech literacy and the potential negative impact of bans on developing these skills[3][4].

Disconfirm: Identify Evidence That Contradicts or Challenges the Initial Belief or Theory

  • The evidence from [2] and [4] contradicts the belief that banning smartphones universally leads to improved academic performance.
  • The importance of tech literacy and the potential for smartphones to enhance learning when used appropriately challenges the initial belief[3][4].

Analyze: Examine the Disconfirming Evidence to Understand Its Implications

The disconfirming evidence suggests that a blanket ban on smartphones may not be the most effective solution. Instead, a nuanced approach that balances the benefits of technology use with the need to minimize distractions could be more beneficial. This approach could involve educating students on responsible technology use and integrating smartphones into the learning process in a controlled manner.

Adjust: Modify the Original Belief or Theory Based on the Analysis of Disconfirming Evidence

Given the mixed results and the importance of tech literacy, the belief should be adjusted to consider a more balanced approach. This could involve implementing policies that restrict recreational use while allowing for educational use, and providing education on responsible technology use.

Repeat: Continue the Process Iteratively to Refine the Belief or Theory Further

Further research and analysis are needed to refine the approach to smartphone use in schools. This could involve conducting more studies on the impact of balanced policies and the effectiveness of educational programs aimed at promoting responsible technology use.

Citations:

[1] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic… [2] www.focusbear.io/blog-post… [3] infolit.org.uk/dont-call… [4] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic… [5] stockton.edu/ctld/docu…

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Banishing the Specter of Personalization

Image Source: Amazon Books

Over at The Corridor of Uncertainty, Alastair Creelman highlights the problem of mass personalization. For him, all this personalization comes about as a result of algorithms that offer up what we have chosen in the past. “Today we feel used and manipulated by algorithm-driven recommendations that are now extremely commercialised. If you keep getting fed music or literature that you already like you’ll never discover anything new,” he says.

Tonight, while exercising on the stepper, I found myself wanting to listen to a particular song. I like the song because the beat and music allow me to get lost in the moment. I usually put the song on repeat and that’s my whole exercise routine right there for an hour and a half. But, trying to do that via Amazon Alexa, it wouldn’t allow me to listen to one song on repeat. I had to listen to a stream. After arguing with Alexa for a few minutes, I unplugged it. I resolved to get rid of Amazon Prime services since they keep charging more and more for what once was basic functionality. Instead, I played the music on my phone, that I had saved previously.

Everywhere I go online, the specter of mass personalization appears. On the one hand, I like seeing books I like to read pop up. But after reading one LitRPG, I have read dozens because those are all that are recommended. I’m now switching to other sources of books, including print, to escape the algorithm that keeps recommending these types of stories. When I login, I buy what I’ve already decided is good…not what is recommended.

Alastair makes this point:

Google frequently suggested my own blog posts or articles whereas I can hardly find them with Duckduckgo! I’ve stopped using TripAdvisor since since reviews can be written by bots or trolls. I don’t use Amazon anymore and my use of Spotify is sinking to the point where I don’t think I want to subscribe anymore. We don’t need to go completely offline but treat the big tech platforms with extreme care and suspicion. There are alternatives out there.

Sure, I get it. It’s time to disconnect from the commercialized algorithms that simply want to exploit us for financial gain. As my father would say, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” That’s one of the reasons I’ve been eliminating online services, and why I’m here at Micro blog. With one monthly fee, I get multiple services that would otherwise cost a lot more.

But how do you dismantle this system of personalization algorithms and still get the benefits?

Update: Feedback from Tane Piper

Tane Piper shares this comment via Mastodon:

@mguhlin A while back we did this demo of personalisation - as we called it “non-creepy” - it’s something I think a lot about just now, as someone who also hates what the algorithm has become View video of demo (starts at 22m)

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A Nightcafe creation

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MyNotes: Teach Like Socrates

I loved this quote from Shanna Peeples’ Think Like Socrates:

Our students need to ask questions now more than ever. To shield them from thinking and questioning in a mistaken fear of “pulling them off task” is at best wasted effort and at worst an isolation from what truly makes us human.

In a world increasingly uncomfortable with the changes wrought by technology, we seek out authoritarian figures to tell us what to do and how to think.

Questioning, therefore is good citizenship. It is the antityranny vaccine.

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Tapestry of Thought

In I miss snow, Doug Johnson laments the absence of snow, an old companion and giver of work. He writes of the nerve-wracking snow that plagued his days, longing for it:

I now realize that despite its nuisance, I miss snow. . .And even a light cover of snow can give an ethereal beauty to the most common-place…I recognize the loveliness of the snow….Sometimes it takes the absence of thing before you really appreciate it. I miss snow.

Reflecting on absence, I think of all the ideas I held with passionate fervor, that kept me away from family and friends, that kept me churning ceaselessly to keep me busy. I remember the countless evenings where I rushed through dinner, driven to learn, share, and do. Now, they are gone, those things I hurried after and I can’t help but wonder, “Was that my snow, that thing I really appreciate now that it’s gone?”

It’s not, I realize, the absence of the thing. It is the quiet peace that fills the space left, like a fat man who keeps looking for the mass that isn’t there anymore, to reassure himself, “Yes, it’s gone.” It’s the quiet solitude without comfortable ideas, passions, and lies you were taught, lying over the mundane reality of your life. To see things as they are, uncovered at long last by the tapestry of thoughts not your own.

I miss not the snow, but the feeling of fullness, of purpose, of being an instrument of destiny. But then, a part of me is glad. I’m only missing something that I didn’t really need, fictions and falsehoods. The snow served a purpose, its absence a portent of climate change.

For me, to let go of the past, the absence of false friends…it signals change…on a winter day, is it better to have a thin blanket of lies or the truth?

Another Response

I left the following response on Doug’s blog last night:

I miss the snow, too. Having grown up in Panama, I miss the idea of it. I miss the blizzard where evil dwells, the snow flurries that obscure my vision, the slip and slide of wheels on an uncertain path. I miss the snowplows making their way up the avenue, the snowmen gathered on the lawn. I miss the snowflakes, one and all, like a banker misses his coin.

But then, when sadness gathers six feet deep at my door, my tears forming crystals on my cheeks, I remember, I grew up in the summer humid heat of Panama. Snow is but a dream, where mosquitoes are unborn, iguanas wouldn’t be caught dead without a borrowed fur coat. I remember that dark rainstorms, drops so large they can kill a baby frog, renew the pools where tadpoles spawn, form the ocean waves. I see them once more, those summer days, bereft of snow, and I miss the sun of my youth.

Now that the chill is gone, I wonder what I will dream for tomorrow. A day without sun in another land, a grey overcast day without a blanket of snow. I wonder what I will dream of, the future or the past, or will I have a dreamless sleep, empty of expectation and sun and snow, and all that men dream when the earth wraps its arms around them.

Let the snow go, friend, and ask instead, “Where are your dreams gone?”

An AI-Generated Poem

Bare branches reach out Longing for winter’s white cloak Absence fills the air

My Poem

Bright sunlight appears With gentle grace, the snow melts A cruel silence sings

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HW #2: Silence or Absence

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HW #1: Sacred Space #handwritten

My first attempt at a handwriting a blog entry…instead of typing it. Follow this category (or not) for future posts without this typed introduction.

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Privacy and Encryption Tips

Although it’s often out of our hands due to various services suffering data breaches or compromising our confidential, personally identifiable information, you can still protect yourself to some degree.

Here are a few of the things I do:

Banking and Credit

Get alerts via your bank mobile app for all transactions and password all transactions.

I love knowing when funds come out of my bank account. Add a password or pin# to all bank account transactions. It takes an instant, but without it, it may be difficult for folks to access your accounts. And, of course, change these.

Move away from debit cards.

Switch from debit cards to protected credit cards, or use Paypal as an intermediary account. Make a decision to NOT use your debit card or write print checks with your routing and account # on them. 

Freeze your credit reports to prevent new accounts. 

It prevents others from opening new accounts in my name unless they have my special PIN#. These approaches aren’t foolproof but they do help. Credit Freeze sites:

Online Social Security account.

Create the account before the bad guys do. Problem is, if you froze your credit reports, you’ll have to go in person to the Social Security Admin building.

File tax return early.

If you don’t do it, they will. If sending confidential documents via email, use a service like BitWarden Send.

Check your credit frequently.**

One way to do that is to use Annual Credit Reports. It provides a free service, but you may need to pay to get that more often.

Sign up for Identity Theft Alert

Fill out this form to notify the credit agencies of potential identity theft.

File and Folder Encryption on USB External Drives

Everyone I know relies on USB external drives, as well as cloud storage. For cloud storage, only store documents that you are collaborating with others about and do not reveal sensitive data. For other documents, encrypt your data at rest on your computer/device hard drive or when it’s stored on USB external drives. You can also encrypt data and put it in the cloud, if that’s what you want to do.

I also recommend the following:

  • Setup an encrypted email (e.g. ProtonMail) for financial accounts.

  • Setup 2-factor authentication using an Authenticator app for all email, cloud storage, digital accounts.

  • Use secure passwords. I like to use secure password generator then add my own twist to it. I end up with a secure password that I keep track of using a password manager (e.g. Keepass, BitWarden).

  • Get more than one form of ID, such as passport, passport card, and driver’s license. You never know when you will have to prove you are who you say you are.

  • Encrypt confidential data documents you have saved in cloud storage (e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox), as well as when they are “at rest” on your laptop or USB external drives. Some free tools include:

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Hasta la vista, Documents app #iOS #app #skyjos #readdle

Over the last few YEARS, I’ve kept Readdle Documents app on my iOS phone. It’s been a handy app to have and I started using it when it was free. Unfortunately, they’ve switched to a subscription model that is $9.99 a month with recurring billing.

While a part of me feels bad about using their app for years at no cost, paying $9.99 a month with recurring billing is not something I want to do. After all, there are only so many cups of coffee one can give up (and hey, I don’t drink Starbucks) or other stuff to cover the expenses.

Documents is gone now. Farewell, old friend.

Alas, I know I’m old-fashioned. I want to pay once for an app, and it stays bought. It’s totally unreasonable I know, but I had no problem paying for $4.99 one-time fee for an app that I won’t have to renew. In the meantime, I’ll try to find a way to eliminate the need for that kind of app.

Update

FE File Explorer has turned out to me MUCH easier to use and navigate than Readdle’s Documents app. One of the main reasons I kept Documents around, aside from its ability to view ePubs (ebooks) and play audio/video, was the ease of transferring files. Documents relied on DocsTransfer.com website, rather than arcane FTP/HTTP links that you could use. However, switching back to FTP/HTTP links was easy…it eliminated having to connect the two devices, except via a web browser.

The biggest surprise, though, was migrating gigabytes of data from Documents to FE File Explorer. Instead of uploading it to my computer, as I feared I would need to do, I was able to simply SHARE entire folders from one app to the other. Transfer was instantaneous, and in a matter of 2-3 minutes, I was done. After verifying files transferred successfully, I was able to remove the Readdle Documents app from my device.

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Quote: Take the Rest as It Comes #stoicism

These are great suggestions to adopt:

Rejoice in what you have, cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of your will, make the best of what is in your power and take the rest as it comes.

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3-2-1: SEL and Critical Race Theory (CRT)

Anyone who watched a teacher work through the pandemic, facilitating remote learning, knows how important teacher-student relationships are. There are people out there, though, who think kids are being indoctrinated at school. Unfortunately, some see SEL as a problem:

“What’s clear is that there is a segment of the public that has conflated the SEL goal of ‘working well with others’ to mean something other than supporting a student’s learning,” even though SEL programs are not focused on diversity and equity, said Tammy Hughes, PhD, a professor of school psychology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and past president of APA’s Division 16 (School Psychology).

Hmm. Do you think SEL is indoctrination?

Building Teacher-Student Relationships with SEL and Mental Well-Being

3 Ideas

I.

“Integrating Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into the curriculum is not just an educational strategy; it’s a vital foundation for fostering resilience, empathy, and mental well-being among students.”

II.

“SEL and mental health support in schools can act as early intervention tools, identifying and addressing emotional and social challenges before they escalate into more serious issues.”

III.

“Creating a school culture that prioritizes SEL and mental health not only benefits students but also supports teachers and staff, leading to a more compassionate, understanding, and productive educational environment.”

2 Quotes From Others

I. Linda Darling-Hammond, President of the Learning Policy Institute:

“Social and emotional learning skills are foundational to doing well in school, in the community, and in the workplace. They are also critical for mental health and well-being, enabling children to succeed not just academically, but in life.”

II. Dan Goleman, psychologist and author of “Emotional Intelligence”:

“If we want our children to thrive, teaching them to read and write is not enough. They must also be taught to understand their emotions, to be empathetic, and to manage their relationships constructively.”

1 Question For You

How can schools and communities work together to ensure that every student has access to comprehensive SEL and mental health support, recognizing these as essential for academic and life success?

via Perplexity.ai

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MyNotes: Three signs You’re a Scientific Thinker

I often think that I will be learning about and how to apply critical thinking for the rest of my life. 🤣

3 Signs You’re a Scientific Thinker

  1. You follow the evidence. Philosopher David Hume stated, “A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.”
  2. You know which evidence is trustworthy and which is not. Scientific thinkers are selective in which information is heavily weighed when forming an opinion.
  3. You acknowledge your susceptibility to biases and fallacies. In practicing intellectual humility, scientific thinkers acknowledge the many biases and fallacies they may fall for and work to reduce their influence

via Psychology Today