Dr. Tae was a Grad student working on his PhD in Physics when
he says he learned one of the hardest things I had been trying to learn for a
very long time. He said it didn’t take place inside of a classroom or a
chemistry lab, but outside of an elementary school. It was there that he had
successfully landed the 360 flip on a skateboard. He said this was something
that he had been trying to do for a very long time but could never accomplish.
It took him years before he finally landed it. Why did he finally land it? It
was because he never gave up on landing it and always tried it. Now it is one
of his most consistent tricks and he almost always lands it now. In his
presentation he goes on to talk about how skateboarding and public schools are
much different in terms of how you learn. In skateboarding, you try a certain
trick over and over until you finally get it. In school, you do homework and
take test and those are what are used to determine how well you have learned
something and they give you a grade for it. Dr. Tae states that some things
going on outside school, like learning how to skateboard, show just how broad
the spectrum of learning really is.
It is obvious that skateboarding is much different than
going to school. When you start skate boarding the first thing you do after you
learn how to ride it is try out different tricks. You do these over and over
until you finally get it. School is not the same way at all. You are taught
something and given homework over it and then finally, you are tested over it.
Then you are given a grade from a teacher that is “real-time meaningful
feedback” and this is what teachers add to the learning environment according
to Dr. Tae. Failure is normal in skateboarding but in school it is not. You are
not given grades in skateboarding you just finally land the trick after failing
to do so many times. The two learning environments are much different and what
I got from the video was that learning is all around us in many different forms
and that we learn things not just in the classroom. (391 words)
Hey Kylan how are you doing? I agree with your point that his main reason for successfully doing the 360 flip was that he never gave up and quit. Also that he didn't take his eye off the main prize because I really do respect people that set goals for themselves and do whatever it takes to accomplish that feat. I also like the point that using grades as the only source of telling how well or badly you did isn't right. Well like Dr. Tae said you can't really grade on how close you get to land something either you do it or you don't. A teacher wouldn't aid you at all for that its basically you, technique, and determination. Tae really does open the mind that learning is far more than just the book and paper method. It also is making mistakes at trying to do something and work towards fixing those mistakes until you don't make them anymore.
ReplyDeleteHello Kylan :). I thought Dr. Tae's video was very eye opening and I think you began to discuss this in your post as well. He found the setting where he landed his first 360 flip ironic because it was in front of a school. School is normally what comes to mind when we think of learning lessons but here he was learning outside of school on his own. I enjoyed his analysis of the role of the teacher. Skateboarding is the provider of immediate feedback while in the classroom the teacher provides the feedback. I had never really thought of the true role of a teacher in a class room besides that a teacher is there to teach us lessons. Something else that is interesting to think about is why would children want to do something that you fail regularly at. While kids are in school, even if they do well in school, they still do not want to be there. As Dr. Tae said learning is not fun and is not meant to be. I agree with this but I think what keeps kids from not wanting to quit skateboarding is that skateboarding creates an environment where you can talk to your friends, laugh and learn at the same time. While school is where you can talk only at lunch break, as for hands on activities I rarely did a lab or anything with my friends while in high school. So there is little chance to have good memories with learning.
ReplyDelete-Ashley Kocanda
-253