Reflection

A quiet place to think about your day.

Reflection is an activity often ignored in our busy world. The closest many of us come to reflecting on our lives is in the minutes before we fall asleep. You know, those moments when we review our day, pulling up all of the negative conversations, happenstances, and images of our immediate past. Not a good idea.

If we listen to Carmen Simon in Impossible to Ignore, reflection supports long-term memory. Do we really need to remember all the insignificant, but emotionally-charged,pains of the day? Just to kick ourselves again for our behavior. Absolutely not. Unless, perhaps, we are working on ways to re/act differently next time.

We'd be better off if we use reflection to encode strategies and processes into our long-term memory. For example, over the weekend I made a blueberry pie with a new recipe. The pie was flavorful but far too juicy. The cooked blueberries tumbled out of the pie along with all of the juice. As I reflected on the process of making the pie. I realized that the recipe didn't include any thickener. Rather than lament on how poorly the pie held together, I reflected on the process and what to do in the future. I made notes in the recipe for future reference.

This same reflective process can be used for any action that we want to make accessible in our long-term memory. How does this work? Reflection is abut elaboration - connecting to the past, adding features, and identifying examples. The point is to build bridges and links in the brain so that we have more hooks in our brain to more easily retrieve or get information out of our brain. 

Reflection--thinking deeply about things--allows us the opportunity to build these synapses and strengthen retrieval. So, we need to take the time to think about the things we really want to remember, those things that will truly impact our future, rather than the negative moments.

Just before you fall asleep tonight, celebrate your successes and enhance the processes and strategies you want saved into your long-term memory.

Consumption is not enough

"You go outside without clothes, you get arrested," Karl stated emphatically. To clarify Karl's point, Jesse added, "Arrested for not following social norms."

These summary comments were delivered after a brief discussion about three key ideas posed in Douglas Rushkoff's book Present Shock (2013): restlessness with anything that isn't "right now," balancing between virtual and physical worlds simultaneously, and skimming surfaces to make inaccurate connections.

Our conversation continued with the idea that society has many expectations. Most recently, this expectation seems to include that all of us must be effective and efficient users of technology. 

The question: "Can you use a computer?" takes on a completely new meaning these days. Being a passive consumer, like checking email or reading online news, is no longer enough.

We are expected to be producers. On the one end, we must pull together other people's ideas and share it with our "social set." On the other end, we must actively seek out information, share it with others, and add new and original thought that, even if for only a moment, grabs and engages the attention of other people. 

What have you produced today that will engage my attention?

"Milkshake" Theory of Literacy

What role does adult literacy
education play in learners' lives?

Clay Shirky in Cognitive Surplus (2010) states that we shouldn't set up a media campaign to promote "milkshake" purchases by just focusing on the qualities of the milkshake - sweetness, coldness, etc. If we do, he says we will be misled.

Why? We'd be looking at the milkshake in isolation. Instead, we need to look at the bigger picture. What role does the milkshake fill for the people buying the milkshakes - alone at 8 AM, never consuming them in the store, or buying anything else.

Shirky suggests that these milkshakes are purchased as sources of sustenance and amusement for morning commutes. This insight produces an extremely different basis for any potential media campaign.

How does this idea of consumption of milkshakes play out in the delivery - or consumption - of adult literacy instruction? What role does literacy instruction play in our learners' lives? Is the role different depending on the time of day? What's the impact of the person's perceived support system (inside and outside of our center)?

What other questions should we be exploring to get a more complete picture?