Bring Back Old, Old School, School! (our kids may need it!) tagged: hackedu TWISI

There was a time when education was the role of clan fathers (or mothers in many cultures). These Educators were not the lowest paid, under-respected, part time community members that today's teachers are. The clan matriarch / patriarch was the social, political, and economic leader of the entire tribe.
"I can personally teach fractions, geometry, and even algebra to a seven year old. I want our kid's teachers to also know how."
When, they taught, it was from experience. Teaching from experience enables one to teach to experience. They taught upon a child's pre-existing experiences. And children learned immediately.
They inspired and challenged the kids. Now, without the challenge or inspiration, our kids are restless. And our school systems are just medicating them (see Generation RX).
Strattera, a more novel, non-stimulant medication used to treat ADHD is required by the FDA to display a black box warning label. The label warns of suicidal thoughts as potential side-effects.
http://rhymenlearn.com/2009/05/31/food-learning-and-adhd/
I personally learned long multiplication, fractions, algebra, geometry, algebra 2, and trigonometry in the first half of my 3rd grade. It was all taught to me over 30minutes per day at lunch. This is how:
Did you notice that we used sticks. Find me a kid who has never piled sticks on top of other. Find me a kid whose never drawn an "X," and I'll show you a kid who needs a different method of teaching multiplication.
Before setting out to teach, there are two primary considerations to always, well, consider. You've heard of Mazlow's Heirchy? Well,
1. There is a heirchy of learnability. From hardest to remember to easiest:
A. a number (like 298477640242976572974)
B. a letter (like within "Apt 4D")
C. alpha numeric mixed combinations (like your license plate)
D. a word (like that super fast talker guy's name)
E. a sentence (Quick, what's the third line of the American pledge of allegiance WITHOUT reciting the whole thing from the start!)
F. musical lyrics (like the ABC song)
2. Teach Nothing By Rote
G. a visual symb
ol (how many line segments in the VolksWagen Logo?)
H. a face (that same fast talker guy from #D)
I. music
J. a smell (like you remember everything when you get the most fleeting whiff of that one scent)
What this means for your children's education is that in order to teach how to learn A, you use B. You use an EASIER modality of comprehension to teach a HARDER one. Ironically, our neurology and senses are understand and remember more complex inputs far more readily than simple ones. (What's your spouse's birthday? vs. Where were you when you last felt intoxicated by their scent?) "You cannot solve a problem at the same level of mind that created it!" - Einstein then Me.
So how would I teach numbers? Like THIS:
How do you teach literacy? How do you teach the alphabet in less than five minutes? We are talking about teaching "#B," you'd use "#G" like this:
Why? Think of all the mind power you could hand down to your children. Now, look around. They may need it.
So how do you use B (language) to teach A (numbers) and if you do, can your kids be as smart as the MatheMagician (Ted video)? Yes! practice writing all numbers this way from now on (link is for subscribers only - see bottom)!
OK, now with a little practice, you'll be able to memorize credit card, bank account, and social security numbers as if they were today's news paper headlines. Or you can teach this to your children to learn how to memorize the atomic weights of each element in the periodic table of elements in one hour.

Now that we've gotten numbers out of the way, how do you teach seemingly random letters (like FE stands for Iron)? Worse yet, how do you teach absolute flawless memorization of 114 single or double letter combinations (like the entire periodic table of 114 elements above) in 5, five, cinco, cinq, oh, cuig minutes? Easy. You'd use "D" like this:
Now that you're starting to see a pattern I'll admit that yes, it is absolutely possible to teach a baby who cant walk to read. To teach the challenging nature of "D" you'd skip ahead and use "H." Now you know how Daniel Tammet, the autistic savant calculates endless streams of prime numbers.
No. I'm not going to demonstrate this process. I've got too much work to do. And I want your help.
Help me get this information in BoingBoing, Lifehacker, TED, @fredwilson then ultimately in front of Arne Duncan, Obama just gave him $100,000,000,000 (100 billion). Most importantly, please email or facebook or twitter this to a parent. I think "old old school school" just may make that American investment pay out big.
PS. My 3rd grade teacher, nope. He didn't have a fu-man-chu or mastery of the five-point-heart-stopping-palm-strike-of-death. What he had was a speach impediment from a car accident, a limp from the same, and mastery of the most powerful chi sorcery: love. (Thank you Mr. C!) - Wan Qi Kim. Friend me on FACEBOOK
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