Call me, Pigheaded!

If it takes David eight minutes to wash one car and it takes Genet 6 minutes to wash one car, how long does it take David and Genet working together to wash seven cars? Please submit your answers to Ms, Allison Brown's Algebra II class.

Over the first two weeks of class, I have been able to do what I consider the best part of my job, visit classrooms! It is not they I do not like my office, in fact my office staff make it a pleasant place to be. However, I love to learn and watch others learn. Therefore, the best place to be is in the classroom. There I can observe students and teachers all in the process of building skill, habits and knowledge. It is a great way to understand our students better and observe the quality effort being put into their education.

Ms. Brown stumped with me with that last question and I was reminded about the value of struggle and failure in learning. Both are opportunities for real learning and should be encouraged rather than avoided. We value more that with which we struggle and failure is a path to learning that provides feedback toward success. Let's encourage our students and children to reflect on the value of struggle and failure.

In Mr. Hathaway's IB Biology class, I also saw the students and teacher struggle with the dissection of fetal pigs. It was fascinating to see our students express and overcome their squeamishness and succeed at identifying significant biological systems common to mammals. At the same time Mr. Hathaway made it very clear that he was not interested in dissecting the brain. However, when the time came he explicitly overcame his preference put the students' curiosity first and assisted in the brain dissection. It lead to several levels of success and possibly a new yearbook cover for 2011.