Learner´s Log

            Mental models Teaching has the potential of making us think a lot about identity. What makes me,me? To my mind, our beliefs and values  make us what we are. At times, they make us proud, at others they disappoint us. Be that as it may, everything we think,say and do respond largely to them. But where do these ideas come from? They are not immanent. Some of them we choose in the course of our lives but we are actually born into them and the roots of these pre-existing  "frames" go deep . It sounds pretty gloomy and pessimistic but it is not. Fortunately, sooner or later these frames are challenged. Someone says or does something that clashes head-on with our neatly-shaped world and the security net is gone. We are left speechless and disoriented. Times like these are crucial for deep learning. Being critical of oneself is of the essence if we want to shift our default thinking models. Being critical means ...

A critical incident Just the other day, several of my students were complaining about the huge load of work they had in front of them and the many things they had to study in high school. I have been in that very same situation so I wanted to hear what they had to say.   One student wished to speak first and he did. Actually, he asked me a question: Why do I have to study English?   I have been asked this question many times before and I myself as a high school student have asked the same thing but in reference to math. These kind of questions are asked all the time by all students in reference to at least one subject in the curriculum and now that I am teaching I understand how important it is to deal with these matters. So when this particular student asked why he had to study English I quickly responded that learning English was an excellent tool for today's highly competitive labour market.   One nano-second later, I realized that should not have been my...