CHANGING THE YARDSTICK

Posted on 01 October 2011 by LearningGuy

Einstein was considered a genius. We often  refer to someone who has talent or a gift as an “Einstein”. Yet, growing up there was no distinct display of his gifts.. As a college student he wasn’t head of his class. After college, he worked as a patent clerk. He couldn’t even get a teaching job at a college!

There were no tests, or assessments to measure Albert’s brain or way of thinking. On the surface he was a “fish out of water.”

We have no way to measure a person’s heart. What makes us think that we can measure his or her head?

A young Albert Einstein today would be evaluated with a learning disability. His career path would probably point him to mediocrity and obscurity. Einstein was not practical. He was a day dreamer. His experiments took place in this thoughts.

Divergent Thinking

In the 1960’s George Land did a study with 1,600 children. These five year olds were measured for divergent thinking (creative thinking). Divergent thinking displays multiple ways of thinking and problem solving. This is the opposite of convergent thinking where there is only one right answer. Convergent thinking is taught and tested in our schools.

98% of these children tested for divergent thinking. Land tested them again five years later. This time 30% indicated different ways of problem solving. Another five years later and a mere 12% still thought beyond one right answer. Before school, 98 out of 100 children answered with many answers to one question. After ten years in school only 12 out of 100 could still think. What happened to the other 88?

Neil Postman once said, “We start out as a question mark and end up as a period.”

My brother Tobey while teaching first grade was literaly amazed at the use of color by his students. He commented on their creative use of color to a veteran teacher who responded, “That is because they haven’t been dumbed down by the system yet.”

Einstein never fit the system. His genius and contribution is self evident now. How many geniuses are we missing because of our current obsession with standardized testing. No child left behind? Left behind in what?

What If?

To quote Albert again, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. And, “What if we changed the yardstick?”

What if we changed the yardstick? What kind of brilliance is waiting to be discovered?

What then?

 

THE 5 T’S OF LEARNING

Posted on 10 September 2011 by LearningGuy

THE 5 T’S OF LEARNING

TEN MINUTES A DAY: The average adult brain attention span. Take your learning in slower and more manageable bites of 10 minutes at a time.

As a mom or dad, build a learning practice with your baby for 10 minutes a day. The average attention span for a child is 1 minute per year. E.g. you son is 2, he will pay attention for about 2 minutes. Your intentional and uninterrupted 10 minutes intersects with his 2 minutes. He is happy and you are happy.

TEACHABLE MOMENTS: Teachable moments are spontaneous and occur naturally all during the day. These every day moments can be easily folded into your schedule. What we give away is what we keep.

Let the events themselves guide you into the play, talk, listen, read, love opportunities. During the day, grab a moment feeding, wiping, burping, drinking,etc

TEN THOUSAND HOURS: The master journey requires practice over approximately 10 years or approximately 10,000 hours (1,000 practice hours/year). Your choice begins with the first step to practice and all the repeated steps that follow.

As your child grows and develops, he or she will show interests and talents. Let those interests and talents guide you to nurture those within in the child. Give chances and choices to learn and practice. One dancing class doesn’t make a professional dancer. A successful little league season may not make a major league baseball player. Some skills and talents take longer to be discovered. What’s the rush? Allow your child to explore and discover those areas that match him or her.

TOYS: You are the child’s first “Big Toy”. The best toy is 90% the child’s imagination and 10% the object. A cardboard box with imagination becomes a canoe, fort, store, hiding place or ….

TOOLS: Support the learning for everyone. You don’t have to be a master carpenter to use a hammer. The right tools include resources and references that pertain to a particular area of learning and development. These include books, dvd’s, websites, seminars,etc.

PARENTING, IS IT WORTH IT?

Posted on 01 July 2011 by LearningGuy

Why would anyone take on the job of being a parent? “There are wonderful moments, but the essence of the contract is simply: They take. You give. This career comes with no sick days or vacation time, and it puts you permanently on call nights and weekends. It’s successful execution will probably turn you into a lifelong worrywart. Yet thousands say yes to this job.” (John Media, “Brain Rules for Baby”).

Time is the biggest challenge and constraint for most of us. This is true for moms and dads. A sense of overwhelm might be the norm. So much to learn, to do and it seems you can never keep up.

There is no owner manual, PDF to download or plug-and-play attachments and accessories for the daily challenges of being a mom or dad. The love for your child is there, but the time never is enough. Setting priorities is a shifting constant and a moving target. We do the best we can with what we have.

My Story

“He’s got his mother’s nose,” I thought as I gazed on Judson Pfeiffer, our first son. Pink, wrinkled, hairy, he was whole and healthy. The size and shape of his nose was more a point of reference. After the long and difficult pregnancy and delivery, he and his mother being alive and healthy was the most important thing.

For the next two days I drove to the hospital to visit Marie and marvel at our son. I couldn’t wait till all three of us could be together. That day came. I drove the car to the assigned place in front of the hospital. Marie and Judson were sitting a wheel car. I helped Marie get in the car and handed her the baby. As we drove away, I smiled and thought, “good, now I have my own family.”

Judson is grown and has 4 sons and a step daughter. Marchem our younger son had his first son in 2010. The family continues. I am grateful that our sons and wives and children are healthy. As a grandpa I can never the 5 grandchildren enough. For me, it is God’s way of giving me a second chance. What a joy! What a blessing!

TIME MANAGEMENT GOD’S WAY

Posted on 24 June 2011 by LearningGuy

“If you’re too busy for God, then you’re too busy” I read in a book that I don’t have anymore and don’t recall the author. Being too busy seems to be the problem for everyone believer and unbeliever. I am currently reading “The 24 Hour Customer” by Adrian C. Ott. This book written in 2010 addresses the challenge of competing information and items attempting to gain attention. Ott writes, “We are in an era of too many choices competing for too little time.” And, “The challenge of gaining customer time and attention has been exacerbated by the development of technology that gives consumers more control over the information they see and how they see it.” Examples include TiVo, Hulu, satellite radio, RSS feeds,etc. While, “the use of iPods, tablets, Nintendo DSs, and smartphones has decreased the amount of time when attention is not diluted by some form of media. It’s not just teenagers that are texting while watching TV, or talking on the cell phone at the dinner table. No doubt, our society is connected and addicted.”

The book goes on about how the products and services offered are out of sync with the cadence and rhythm of our lives. Ott captures the challenge of company and customer by saying, “When we have a spare moment, do we use it to buy new pet supplies online, play with our children, log in to a social network to see what’s new with our friends, search for research to support a project at work, or check out that new YouTube video a colleague just sent in an email? Or all of the above?

Brave new world is our world today. Technology time savers became time wasters when we have to charge the devices every day or worse they don’t work or we can’t find connectivity. As Adrian Ott says, “we are connected and addicted.”

“Redeeming the time for the days are evil” the Aposlle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:16. The sense of redeeming the time is seizing every favorable opportunity as it relates to our walk in Christ. Time as we experience it is always related to God’s creation “and there was evening and there was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5) and God’s purpose “for everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Time is for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. How we manage time is in direct proportion to how much we are aligned with the purpose of God. The psalmist asks, “Teach me to number my days, the measure of my life.” Living with the view and understanding that each day is an opportunity to know God and to fuflfill His purpose alters the focus and attention of our time and energy.

There is a quote that is in front of me as I write. It says, “This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important because I’m exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it.”

Witness Lee regularly prayed, “Lord grant me today’s portion of grace”. Grace is the supply to live one spirit with Him and walk in Him today. Then and only then does this day count before God.

ALL OUR CHILDREN

Posted on 22 June 2011 by LearningGuy

“Slow down and chew your food,” I said to the boy sitting next to me.

“Is he your son? “ the young man from Brazil asked.

“No, I treat all children like they’re mine!”

Growing up in South Bend, IN the neighbors looked out for each other and their children. Mrs. Sharp would let me have it verbally and sometimes physically when I was misbehaving. Sometimes, the report went to my parents and I heard about it again. Behavior in our home and outside became important.

I am suspicious of politicians and their kind, when they speak of the village raising a child. It smells and feels like 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 in one sentence. We may be citizens of the world, but the people in our home and the neighborhood are the ones we see and touch. The future of the community depends on how the children are taught and guided. The responsibility begins in the home and is supported by the rest.

“Thank you for doing that!” Tammy said. I looked at her to make sure she meant it in a good way. She did.

Faith, the 3 year daughter had bit me on the hand. I responded with “Oh, yeah, let’s see how you like it when I do that to you!” It was a in the heat of the battle response. Surprised, Faith didn’t cry, she only stared at me. The good news is she stopped biting her brother and others.

“Who are the children in your life?” Emily says when demonstrating Discovery Toys. Emily never assumes. This way she includes grandparents, uncles and aunts, step-parents and family friends. The village raising a child fits.

Learning to ride a bicycle for me was more about competing with Tobey my younger brother. We both got our first bicycles, used ones, on the same day. I was 5 and Tobey was 4. He figured out balance and braking quickly. I could handle the balance part and I struggled with braking. I would drag my bare left foot to ensure stopping and not falling down. My foot got bloody until Mr. Wall, our neighbor four doors down spoke to me.

“If you learn how to stop with both feet in a week, I will give you a model airplane” I took the challenge and succeeded in 3 days. “Look Mr. Wall, I can do it!” He smiled and told me how proud he was that I had succeeded. A week later, he presented me with a model of several small airplanes mounted on a stand. It was my first trophy.

A few years ago, while walking in our neighborhood I watched a boy struggle to ride his bicycle for more than a few feet before crashing. I came up behind him, held the seat and ran behind him. “You’re doing it. Good job!” I said and let him go. He kept riding for few houses before he fell down. We tried it again. I then left him to ride on his own. Mr. Wall’s encouragement was paid forward to this boy.

The more people I meet and the older I get, my village grows. Recently, I drove 1.5 hours to Toledo,OH to participate in the first annual Father Walk. I met parents with young children and some with teenagers.

“Do you have to read the book (“1984”)?” I asked the young man.

He nodded and said it was for a summer reading program. “Have you read “Brave New World”, he hadn’t and Fahrenheit 451 he had. His mother encouraged him to write the titles down. I shared how only Fahrenheit 451 gives hope because Bible verses are memorized by Montag, the main character. Also, that you can destroy the printed page but you can’t destroy the imprint on the heart and mind of the reader.

Later, I walked side by side with Brandy, whose teenage son is a on a traveling basketball team. The team prays, plays and mentors. This team was started by another mother.

“The program is unfunded and all done by volunteers,” Brandy said. “There is such a need for similar programs. I agreed. At least this local village is caring for its own.

THE LOGIC OF LEARNING

Posted on 21 January 2011 by LearningGuy


Sidewalks are more than a walkway. They become a playground and neighborhood game. HopScotch is a game hand drawn with chalk that combines number sequencing, one foot and two feet balance and agility. Growing up in South Bend, In at age 10, I was the neighborhood champ. There was a simple order to our home made games. The joy of movement as we watched each other take a turn. Our respective mirror neurons jumping internally as the person moved up and down the board.

Land the pebble piece on the first square and hop over it and back and pick it up and move onto the next square. Each square was more challenging to land the pebble on and to jump over the same square and pick it up on the way back. Numbers became a game to challenge ourselves and our friends. We didn’t have to worry about repetitious school drills and homework practice. Now, the numbers became our roadmap and floor plan to more exciting adventures.

Connecting the dots was one of my favorite playful uses of numbers. I always felt I couldn’t draw well. At least I never had much positive feedback from teachers. My first outside our home art critic was a well meaning Sunday School teacher. We were all asked to draw a picture. The reward for the “best” picture was the privilege of collecting our pennies and nickels offering. At age 5 I was drawing some nice fluffy clouds. “Can you draw anything else,” the teacher asked. I said, “no” and kept drawing my clouds. My picture still won. I think it was because I was the brand new kid.

Connecting the dots made sense to me. I knew my numbers in order. I could recite them, write them and now I could connect them! My pencil leaped from number 1 to number 2, 3, and upwards. Soon all the lines drawn connected all those dots. Voila! A picture of a clown or a horse or whatever appeared on the page. Oh! The magic of following the order and sequence to create my own picture that I could now color with crayons.

“Connect the dots” is a favorite phrase of mine. In my brain the neurons do an instant recall of those glorious days of dot connecting and picture making. The mental model helps me put order to chaos by ordering and sequencing any and all information. The magic never dies.

LEARNING IS CHOICE

Posted on 20 January 2011 by LearningGuy


Lessons are what we learn from our own experience. Any subject taught may have various sections or lessons to it but if it doesn’t have value to me, I won’t learn much. The class becomes a chore that I endure to get a passing grade. Growing up most of our learning was not by choice. Handed or forced might be more accurate. Our parents stressed certain behaviors and topics. Our teachers put into us required subjects. I barely remember what we were learned in 3rd grade or 8th grade and even high school. I remember the fights: the ones won, others lost and the ones I wished I hadn’t started. There is the lingering sting of rejection a certain 6th grade girl provided by her saying no to going with me to the Spring Festival. I will always treasure the satisfaction of learning all my lines and performing well as the male lead in a high school play.

It is said that knowledge is power. If that were really true then the person who knows the most would be the most powerful. So far, I haven’t seen that theory as a practical reality. To me, the conversion of information into practical wisdom is where the real power is. I have always hated courses or books that only convey the theory and dry facts with little or no real world application. I majored in Accounting for my undergraduate degree. I used to bristle when the theory never seemed to make sense or I couldn’t translate it into practice since I wasn’t an Accountant yet. While working as an Accountant most of the theory I forget but the experience and practice I remember.

Value clarification was one of several exercises in an online course I took about two years ago. I’ve done value clarification myself and with coaching clients over the years. What was interesting and challenging was the question of why that particular value was important to me. The instructor said that usually we choose things in order to move away from them. For example, I value honesty because most people are not honest. The logic is that you only value something if is important to you and has nothing to do with whether anyone else values it. I discovered through that exercise that one of my core values is learning. I receive joy and satisfaction when I am learning something new.

Learning requires a choice made and paying attention to the lessons learned correlates to what we truly value. The choice of that learning is determined by what I value. Since, I want to learn about the brain and learning so I can educate, equip and empower moms and dads I will always choose to attend one more seminar, class, purchase the book to help me learn more to reach more families.. My fundamental and primary choice is governed by the fact that my learning will eventually benefit others.

The contribution I make today and the legacy I leave behind are also part of my hard wiring and core values. My choices must be congruent with what is important to me. Those choices when aligned with my values to learn, contribute and leave a legacy open new opportunities and brain cell connections. This makes my brain and heart happy!

SKILL TODAY, NO BRAINER TOMORROW

Posted on 19 January 2011 by LearningGuy


Velcro to fasten shoes has ruined the challenge and skill building of tying shoes. This strap sticks to that and these shoes are ready for walking. Now, where is the fun in that?

I learned how to tie my shoelaces one lace at a time one shoe at a time from my mother. “This lace goes together with the other one,” my mother would say. “Then you make a loop and tie a knot” the lesson continued. Mom had to take the time to teach me and I needed to watch and listen and then practice. All key components of learning a new skill.

I always wanted my mother to hurry up with the instructions so I could try. I wanted to be able to do this all by myself. When I did try it wasn’t as easy as Mom made it look. Each time I put my shoes on to go out to play or to go to school, I got more practice. I don’t remember how much my mother made suggestions or gave encouragement. I am sure she did her part. I do remember keeping at it till I could do it all myself. Now, I could wear and walk in my own shoes that I myself had tied.

My next skill level in shoe tying was to be able to close my eyes. After that it was onto tying them with my eyes closed fast. I mastered that skill level rather quickly. The challenges of tying my shoes no longer got my competitive juices going. So, I moved onto riding a bicycle.

Today, all my shoes have shoelaces except for my slippers. I think that is why they call them slippers because you can slip them on. My combined snow and hiking boots have four levels on holes with three more levels that require lacing each time I put the boots on. Tying them with eyes closed and fast doesn’t help much. I still have to wrap the lace over each hook till I can tie the boots. Once done, these boots are made for walking again.

Jacob, our 6 year old grandson is still learning how to tie his shoes. I have showed him how to tie his once or twice. For some reason, I forgot how challenging learning this skill is. It’s interesting to observe how something so long ago was challenging and is now a no brainer. I have to remind myself that the no brainer for me is not a no brainer right now for Jacob. The family tradition continues of tying one another’s shoes till each person  can do it all by themselves.

WONDER & WOW OF LEARNING

Posted on 18 January 2011 by LearningGuy

Wonder-full barely comes close to the excitement of learning something new. I look forward to the wows when they come from some novel point of view. In college and since I make sure to sit in the front of the class. I am a visual learner and love to see the teacher and board in living color. The hands on kinesthetic learner in me feeds on the energy of the room. There are new brain cell connections happening in real time. My brain is happy.

Learning to me is life long. It happens every day, moment by moment. Learning isn’t limited to four walls in a school building. As Mark Twain once said, “I never let school get in the way of my education.” I want to learn every day up to my last day. I want my brain sharp and happy. New learning and new activities help do that.

Writing my own name was the first combined skill I mastered. My mother taught me the basics of the alphabet. I had some knowledge and recall of the various letters. My pencil would slowly print out the individual letters on wide lined paper. One line might be filled with several big letter A’s. I got pretty good at writing the letter A. Good thing I did since my first name Anthony begins with an A. After the A comes a small n, then a small t, h, o, n, and finally a small y.

I don’t remember the number of times I practiced but I did practice. By the time I got to kindergarten I could write Anthony in pencil good enough for Mrs. Tuesing to recognize it on the back of classroom papers.

A few weeks ago I started learning the Hebrew alphabet. Each day I attempt to learn and copy one Hebrew letter onto lined notebook paper. I alternate colored pencils for this exercise. I slowly mark the page with black letters. The next day a new letter and the new words might be orange. I am learning something new and writing in pencil again. This time in living color. Too bad my mother is not alive to help me practice.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Posted on 07 December 2010 by admin



 The strength of the family determines the strength of society. The family has been underminded and eroded for years. The fantasy of a “normal” family from stories and early TV may not exist but the family as defined by God in His Word, The Bible does.

The family is a man and a woman joined together by God in God as one. Their relationship of love, trust and intimacy reproduces children as a continuation of human beings for God’s purpose.

The joining of a man and woman in marriage is holy and needs to be honored. Begetting a child needs to be celebrated and kept sacred. One of the ten commandments states we need to honor our parents. Honoring our parents honors their source of past parents, and ultimately the true source of all: God the Father.

All human beings are made in the image and according to the likeness of God. (Genesis 1:26) God made man’s body from the dust of the ground. The spirit was formed when God breathed into man the breath of life. Man became a living soul through the interaction of the spirit and the body. We are material conscious through our body with its five senses. The psychological consciousness comes from the soul with the mind, emotion and will. The human spirit gives us spiritual consciousness through conscience, intuition and fellowship.

The foundation of personal knowledge and awareness must come from the knowledge and wisdom of God communicated in The Bible. The Bible must return to its place of being the primary source of all wisdom and teaching. We start with our experience of God as the Spirit communciating in our human spirit. The Bible is the means to train us in the way we should go so we can train up the next generation in the same way. Our understanding of ourselves is based on God’s viewpoint and personal information that provides insight for us to apply and contribute our talents and learning for our family and the community.

Included in the Bible instructions of raising children is the matter of training and paying it foward to future generations. Train up a child according to the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). Make known to your children and to your grandchildren (Deut. 4:9). It is clear that God wants us to teach and learn the spiritual principles and practical ways in our home as a family.

My vision is that each parent is educated, equipped and empowered to learn as a person, together in partnership with their spouse and side by side as parents with their children. Mom and Dad each identify who they are as a person and a learner. They then support one another in the development of their uniqueness. As the children are born, they are welcome into a loving and nurturing environment. One that understands that one size doesn’t fit all in person or in learning.

Then mom and dad and their children have the proper foundation of “know-who” and “know-how” to live and learn together life-long.