Carrying on with Constructivism, I would like to talk about John Dewey now. You see, after Vigotsky, many other experts continued working on Constructivism in education. Dewey was an American psychologist, educator and philosopher who was born in Vermont in 1859. Born to a wealthy family, he lived through a civil war later on in his life. He graduated from university of Vermont in 1879. Later on he received a doctorate on philosophy from John Hopkins University. (Train of thought based on the principle that usefulness, practicality, etc. of ideas, policies, and proposals are the criteria of their merit). He believed that the traditional method of learning, trammeled not only the freedom, but also the creativity of students. Moreover, we can see why common lectures did not work. Listening to a professor uttering a litany of facts during his lecture would  just bore them. Thus, to him the best way to learn a subject matter was through unique experience in the field. For instance, if a learner wanted to know about boats, he should be at the harbor. Dewey, also believed that teachers were in the classroom to set up an activity, talk their students through its instructions, and monitor. Active learning happens when students are engaged into the learning experiences. Besides, Dewey inveighed against rote learning. Passive absorption would make students forget what they had learned eventually. Again, to him, experience was the key to transmission of knowledge. Especially experience that leads to growth. One of his master pieces is ¨Experience & Education¨, which he wrote in 1938. This particular book summed up Dewey´s work in a few pages. This book focused on progressive education as well. By the end of the 19th century, this approach began to gain importance. It emphasized learning by doing and social interaction among students. Since callow youths are more capable to learn any subject in a faster way. That is why as we all know, age plays an crucial role in the learner educational experience. Ergo, I would say that we should ascribe great importance to all these approaches.

The Art (& Science) of Great Teaching: Sam Chaltain at TEDxYouth@BFS

Teaching... the core of my program. Nowadays, formal education obviously works a lot differently than it did back in the day. Traditional teaching has been by approaches such as the CLT, Constructivism, Cognitivism, among others. Before, students felt trammeled by a teacher centered  system. Conversely, today, classes are student centered. Teachers are merely guides and facilitators.

For instance, when we talk about Progressivism, we know this: Students should construct their own learning by using schema (previous knowledge), social interaction, methods such as Scaffolding, etc.

If we go on with the educational views of Vigotsky, who not only was the first expert to study Progressivism, but also came up with theories such as ¨The more knowledgeable other¨ and ¨Zone of proximal development¨. In one students need the assistance of a more capable individual (MKO) to learn a subject matter; whereas, in ZPD, students can begin constructing their own learning. Notwithstanding, if they get stuck, they can get help either from a teacher or a peer. Anyhow, this time I came across Sam Chaltain´s speech. This history professor and author has lots of stuff to say about ¨The art of teaching¨. He explains how the job of schools is to adjust to students. That is why traditional teaching methods did not work. Students would lose focus and get bored during a common lecture. This even could cause them to flout the rules. Due to this, considerable changes in education were made ever since the late 60´s. Besides, Chaltain´s talks about The scientific method. This works well because as we all know, students must recognize a problem, gather data,  formulate a hypothesis, and even experiment. Moreover, Sam talked about Constructivism from the point of view of John Dewey, who believed learning happened through meaningful experience. Chaltain even mentioned that scientists are developing a skin bracelet, that measures the level of students´ engagement based on the perspiration of the skin. Lack of motivation can preclude learners meaningful knowledge acquisition. Further, it could even make educators less helpful. Ergo, it is crucial to not only apply, but to take as much advantage as we can of these innovative teaching approaches. Nobody said that revolutionizing education was going to be as easy as bobbling a stupid ball. Nonetheless, measures have to be taken to improve this situation. Sam Chaltain works alongside school-boards and gives speeches throughout the US on how to create better learning environments. Perhaps we do not need to create knowledge gourmands, but innovative individuals. 

Friedrich Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human [FULL DOCUMENTARY]

Nietzche, even though he lived a short time, he was a genius philosopher. Why did I decided to talk about him?. Well, let us say that I have a presentation about his theories in my philosophy class today. Anyhow, this German philosopher was mainly debased in his time. Despite the fact that he introduced concepts such as ¨The over-man¨ and ¨The death of God¨, his thoughts were considered as immoral. Orthodox religious beliefs from people at that time (XIX century), prevented them from understanding the essence of Nietzche´s theories. In his young adult years, Nietzche transferred to the university of Leipzig to major in philosophy; after taking a year of a theology program at university of Bonn. Nietzche grew up in a Christian family, and had a religious education. However, he realized that the nature of man, was beyond than what religions could tell you about him. For instance, in his theory of ¨The death of God¨, Nietzche believed the existence of God was not exactly connected with practice of moral values. Besides, he mentioned that each man was a god unto himself in his theory ¨The over-man¨. Nonetheless, this can only be seen after man has reached that state. According to Nietzche, a man who wants to become an over-man, needs reach the limits of his own self. The over-man is confident and proactive, and is able to master any discipline. All of these skills of course have the limitations of humanity. Many may have thought that Nietzsche was one more of those preachers who used recherché words and meaningless theories. Notwithstanding, he was the opposite of that.    

People are usually befogged by some of the stupidities their religions tell them. Ergo, they do not use common sense.  Inquisitive individuals such as Nietzsche, are often criticized, for trying to find out more about things than people usually know. Besides being a breakthrough thinker, Nietzsche had to deal with the vicissitudes of life from an early age. Not because of the fact that he was poor, but because he suffered from conditions such a severe myopia since he was a little boy. Apart from that, he contracted syphilis in his youth years because of not being prudent. Not to mention that he got hurt while serving the army in the Prussian war. Anyhow, we may be arrided by the orthodox religious thoughts of the people of the XIX century. Be that as it may, still today, some have strong unreasonable beliefs. In fact, Nietzsche made sure that dichotomy of the definitions of ¨good¨ and ¨bad¨¨ was well explained in his theories. He even  stated that religious fanaticism  was part of his idea of what is bad. Anyway, if I told you to consider Nietzsche´s philosophy, I would not want to be a Dionysian idiot. Rather, I´d like you to be a free thinker and a circumspect explorer. Finally I would say the following: One of the beatitudes of Jesus was this: ¨Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness´ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven¨. What if there was no heaven though?.

Voice Lesson: How To Sing From The Diaphragm (Part 1)

Yesterday, I started taking singing lessons. Even though it is kind of hard to getting used to this course, it is fun. I mean it is the first time I´m actually learning how to read scores. Not only did I passed my first test, but also this class uplifted me a bit. My confidence may have not treble, though I´ll get there soon enough. Besides,  there a lot more to music than I had thought. I am lucky that the course I am taking does not consider extraneous topics. By no means do they wander off the point. Conversely, the staff shows you the ropes from day one. If you knew me, you would not see an overzealous expression in my face right now. However, I am excited about what it is to come. Despite the fact that the setbacks I have to go through regarding this course do not render me in extremis, they are still annoying. For instance, getting to the college in they offer this class is kind of hard. Considering my implacable hatred for Lima´s crappy buses and the fact that the school is a little far. Notwithstanding, that is the price I have to pay if I want to improve my singing skills. Moreover, my classmates have been very supportive. Even though, I am not a student at their college. Anyhow, it seems my needs to learn about classical music have overshadowed my interest in flirting. Be that as it may, I will be back in the game before the cock crows twice tonight. I just hope that after trying to achieve all my plans I do not end up such as an ungainly teenager. Can I be sure about one thing though, all this drudgery will pay off eventually. Anyhow, this particularly punchy style of writing has not let me express more content. For now, I am just going to snip off my worries, and not let anything impede my chances of success.