Howard didn’t believe in IQ tests and instead thought of education in a broader way. Diane thought kids needed to fail sometimes in order to learn. She said teachers have an infatuation with having one right answer such as multiple choice tests. Mike Rose also didn’t agree with teachers/people that believed that a bad test scores or poor performance meant intellectual failure. These three people all agree that education shouldn’t be measured through tests but rather experiential learning. 

The bottom mindmap is of the new and future school system that both Diane Laufenberg and Mike Rose dream of. The “flow” of this mindmap is students (who have different brains and personalities) go to school. The schools recognize that students have different personalities and ways of thinking so they come up with new and effective ways of teaching/learning to accommodate that. Due to this change, students actually understand the information they are being taught, which leads them to being eager to learn more. Lastly, since they are eager to learn, they gain knowledge of the information. Laufenberg in her TedTalk mentioned how if schools taught in a way that made the students think outside of the box and made the experience more fun/meaningful, students would learn better. Ways they could do that is by incorporating different approaches of learning that tap into people’s different intelligences. Some people work/learn better visually (carpenter that Mike Rose worked with), while others might work/learn better tactically. If schools realized this, they would be much more effective and students would actually gain the proper knowledge.

 

Failure is something that both Mike Rose and Diana Laufenberg put a big emphasis on. Mike Rose talks about how we assume that low test scores can tell if a student is not able or not smart. But Mike Rose talks about how that is so far from true and that because we think good test scores are the only way to create success but with that one track mind we are not seeing or looking for all the ability and potential that these students have. Diana Laufenberg also talks a lot about failure. It is the first step in success and students need that failure to then do better the next time. Diana Laufenberg also makes a great point that school is no longer where students go to get the information but rather where students come to learn how to use the information. That takes time and we need to accept that failure is not failing it is learning. Which reminds me of something that my sociology 101 professor said which has stuck with me since my first year all the way to my senior year and that is that F.A.I.L is First Attempt in Learning. Diana Laufenberg really was about to explain to us how true this really is.

 

Creative thinking is an important aspect of education and Diana Laufenberg, as I talked about previously, talks about how students no longer need to come to school to get the information. Think about Google. But what students do need is a place to learn how to use all the information they have already inquire. Therefore, just giving students tests as a bench marker is not supporting their creative thinking and school needs to be a place to foster creative thinking which will not only make the biggest impact in the student’s education but the students future endeavors. If education cannot be a catalyst for creative thinking, then we are doing something wrong.

 

Opportunities and chances connect more to Mike Rose when he talked about how we cannot write kids off as less than or “damaged” if they are not presented with the same opportunities and chances. Schools and education need to be a place that not only offers students opportunities and chances but equals the playing field so all students can be successful.

 

Ability for all students is not the same and the way in which they show their ability is not the same. Mike Rose talked a lot about the working mind and working hands. And the why in which students show their ability is dependent on who they are as an individual. Again, their test performance is not a good marker of student’s ability and students should be able to showcase their ability and understanding in a creative way. This also reminds me of a time I was in 8th grade History. I failed a test, and I was so upset. But the teacher knew that I knew the information so she asked me if I would come sit with her during lunch. Without me knowing she asked me each question on the test, and I was able to verbally answer each question correctly. I was just as able as all my classmates. I just needed to express my knowledge and ability in a different way. Mike Rose explained that ability can be seen in a form of storytelling, student’s voices, writing, and hands on work. Tests are not the only factor in students' ability.

 

Experiential learning is something that Diana Laufenberg talked a lot about in her Ted Talk. Diana Laufenberg talked a lot about learning because students no longer need to come to school to get the information so learning really needs to take place in real places in the world. Diana Laufenberg also talked about the oil spill project and that education needs to not only give the students experience but it needs to mean something to the student. Diana Laufenberg explained, If we keep looking at education as it is the place we go for the information and not about experiential learning empowering student voices and embracing failure, we’re missing the mark” (Diana Laufenberg). I think thinking about education as experiential learning is how we are going to change the future of education.

 

 

Process is something that Diana Laufenberg explains that school needs to be a place that students come to process all the information in school in which they have gathered therefore the work which is assigned in school needs to allow kids to go and figure out the process. As well as part of the process is failing, and the education system needs to foster that and allow the failure in the process. 

 

Overall, you can see that each section is connected to each other and that each of these sections are interconnected and a catalyst for each other section. Both Mike Rose and Diana Laufenberg bring to light the important aspects of education that are often overlooked by parents and educators. I think the fact that we no longer go to school to get the information but to learn how to use it is so important for us to realize as well as the importance of failure which both Mike Rose and Diana Laufenberg touched on.

The next is a failure. Although failure is seen as a negative thing, it is essential to note that it is not always negative. This can be something that both authors say is important to learn from. They record, and it is essential to learn from the past and the failure you encounter. I see this within testing, we see a bad grade as a negative thing, but most teachers do not allow students to do test corrections from their mistakes. So, society is questioning how we learn from our failures if we are not allowed to correct this failure for a better grade? I feel this is important with the road to success to learn from our failures; we need to have the ability to work towards that future because we would not know if we were doing something wrong if it was not for failure. Both authors state this is important to education, and there needs to be a failure to succeed. 

The next one comes from Gardner's five minds. Discipline is essential within the educational field because there needs to be a fine line of specialization to keep students in check to become successful. There needs to be discipline within the classroom and home life from the parents. You learn from having your classroom rules and the standards your parents will hold you to considering grades wise. 

 

The first thing I did was summarize the message each person was trying to get through in either the book or video. I started by connecting the ideas of Diane Laufenberg to Mike Rose. They both agree that failure is not a bad thing. Mike Rose finds potential in students who fail because they think outside of the box. Laufenberg shares that learning comes with failure and that is instructional. Next, I compared Mike Rose to Five Minds for the Future and found a common theme of creativity. The five minds that are talked about all come together to make an overall better student. I connected this with Rose talking about how students have more depth to their thinking than just standardized tests. Lastly, I talked about the similarities between Five Minds for the Future and Laufenberg, and you need to develop your minds with experience. Laufenberg says you need to inquire and experience which made me think about how three of the minds are cognitive and two deal with human relations. You can’t just rely on one answer or one mind to find success in education.