Well, I really did enjoy reading this book. It had a lot of insightful ideas and revelations. I found myself both cheering along with the author on some points, and then thinking he was crazy on other points! I guess that's what made it an interesting read.
One of the key concepts for me is from Chapter 8. The main idea of that chapter is that 'intelligence can changed through sustained hard work.' As a classroom teacher, I really like the thought of that. The book makes the point that if teachers focus on the effort of each individual student, and not ability of those students, then we are doing things right (as far as this concept is concerned).
It seems that every year when I am doing parent-teacher conferences, one or two of my parents will ask my opinion on 'paying their children for good grades.' I have always had a problem with that, because of the innate differences between children. Like the author writes in the book...'some students are simply brighter than others', and I've never been comfortable with parents paying a student who gets good grades. The thing I have always said to the parents in this situation is that if they insist on monetary reward for grades, then do it for the 'Effort' grade for each subject. That levels the playing field for all students...they're all able to work hard, if they choose. So, according to this author...I guess I have been doing the right thing all these years!
That aside, I never considered that acknowledging effort of students would have a positive impact on their actual 'intelligence'. I really didn't think there was much an educator could do to raise a student's I.Q. After reading this book (and this chapter, in particular), I definitely have a new outlook on what individual students can strive for, and achieve, in relation to their overall intelligence.
I was a big fan of the author's assertion that intelligence could be increased through hard work. I'm sure it can be decreased through being lazy. I think that when students don't put some effort into their education they lose skills and IQ points.
ReplyDeleteI like hearing about how you respond to parents who want to pay their children for good grades. I think it is a very good way to handle this situation. When I was growing up, we never even considered the idea of being paid for good grades, so that has always been a difficult concept for me to grasp. I have always thought it took away the "joy of learning". Paying children for the effort they put in at least rewards the effort and hard work, not the grade.
ReplyDelete