The Learning Code

We're seemingly losing faith in each other, and that is very dangerous for so many reasons that do not fit in this description. In education, nearly 50% of teachers leave the profession after 5 years, because when a child does poorly on the exam, the assumption is that the teacher is at fault: not the out-dated curriculum, lack of resources, or the fact that they have to be responsible for 100+ students per term. Suspend your assumptions about others, and seek authentic connections with others for yourself, and for everyone else.

"Contrary to the impression that you might get from the news, the curves show that humanity has been getting better, that we are living longer, we are fighting fewer wars, and fewer people are being killed in the wars. Our rate of homicide is down. Violence against women is down. More children are going to school, girls included. More of the world is literate. We have more leisure time than our ancestors did. Famines are becoming rarer, so virtually anything that you could measure that you'd want to call human well-being has improved over the last 2 centuries, but also over the last couple of decades" - Steve Pinker's book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, where he tackles assumptions head-on - of our fears that the world is getting less safe, less predictable, less hospitable... 

https://youtu.be/UhVvWUfDjs4

Last several months have been challenging and painful given the pandemic and its immeasurable impact on vulnerable communities - compounded with the social unrest that has augmented the agonizing history of systemic racism, ongoing inequity, and injustices in our country toward people with less power & privilege. To TLCode community and their families being inequitably impacted by all of these challenges,  we continue to be in awe of your perseverance as well as the dedication toward your learning & education. Carry On Blackbirds 

Blackbird Beatles cover by Thunderstorm Artis

https://youtu.be/cq54QS22qBk

Intro the origin and meanings of the song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_(Beatles_song)

Seek Truth Through Genuine Friendship

https://youtu.be/vkby-58VyZA

when the party's over

Billie Eilish

UMG (on behalf of Darkroom); Kobalt Music Publishing, AMRA, UMPI, and 10 Music Rights Societies

Thank you for this beautiful cover Freya... your voice and art is directly related to our academic adversities 

This song is dedicated to all my friends, students, and The Learning Code Community,

who have been labeled: less than, put in the box of not smart enough, flagged with a learning disability, stamped with academic dishonesty, or that we don’t belong.

While this song is written in the context of love, I invite you to think about education or learning

NOT ending when we’re out of school... often, that’s when it begins

https://youtu.be/GjEjg9_u_kU

Fade

Lewis Capaldi

UMG (on behalf of Vertigo Berlin); LatinAutor, LatinAutor - PeerMusic, BMG Rights Management (US), LLC, ARESA, CMRRA, ASCAP, and 10 Music Rights Societies

00:00 Steve’s 1 week trip to Utah + Vegas

02:05 Steve taking Math Course instruction time mathematical thinking “for fun” and to gear up for undergrad + grad school

4:23 Steve’s planned educational leave

5:40 “Getting what you came for” book for grad school + document camera gift 🎁 for content creation

7:20 Case study featuring Optimize.me

12:30 what to learn from Optimize by Brian to TLCode

13:25 Henry's check in Fall 20'

14:30 What Henry has done well what is he struggling with - going too deep in technical questions during office hours *

16:18 Balance Breathe vs Depth in Office Hours

17:25 Jeff's experience working w his Advisor - teacher student hierarchy - information asymmetry - social power w power differential

19:49 Whiteboard Strategy to Self Advocate and stay focused during Office Hours

21:32 prep 14+ pages of notes in addition to whiteboard to counter

23:05 How to Navigate the Education and what are Goals that we have

25:18 Henry's recap to previous meeting on being overwhelmed

26:30 We are productive vs our past

27:00 Forgive ourselves - heal

29:26 Up to us to navigate & UpWard Manage conversations

31:46 What Steve wants out of his degree and PhD - wants B.S. to lead to a PhD - write your goals down!

33:55 Henry's perspective of PhD

35:54 "The Student Makes the School, the School Does not Make the Student" a ton of knowledge exists that school to help solve our problem on our Goals List

39:39 Steve's interpretation & preception of upward management

41:04 Write Down Large Goals so you can Begin Kindling - Anderson

41:47 "I miss doing Math" - Steve. You are a top performer!

42:40 Ask your professor why they became a professor and why we're interested in education

43:48 Assimilating to the system we perpetuate the system when professors focus on grades that cause problems, but... *

45:20 System Transformation vs. System Navigation (surviving in classes) - progression on skills Newport - can you imagine getting straight A's by working for 5 hours a day. *

48:20 Must navigate the system FIRST... despite the deficiencies

50:38 Youtube first and foremost is a search platform 90% of youtube searches are to answer questions but what about

53:08 In order to create a career that I love... I have to navigate the system first!

54:45 reflection on Conquering College (system navigation) vs. Student-Centered Pedagogy from Jeff (system transformation)

56:18 We just mimic what we experience

57:15 Young Tenured Professors the system tells them nothing needs to change - instead, they need healing so that when they meet people that are different from them they are just as valuable

59:22 TLCode focus system navigation - ignorance is bliss

1:00:20 "Do No Harm", we'll teach you how to get a 4.0s to get into those spaces to save people. 4.0s are necessary. but not sufficient

1:02:29 Traumatized by the System - heal for ourselves and future generation of students

1:04:21 Humility from Lived Experience - TBContinued. weave in humanity to TLCode grade pursuits

1:07:30 No one talks about their failures

1:08:50 Counter: failures are fundamental to learning brain activity during a failure vs when you are doing something right

1:11:55 Steve Silva is well on his way of becoming Michael Jordan of math

1:14:20 Consistent Blog Post Systems - minimum deep reading and writing habits

1:18:00 Writing is the most valuable skill that Jeff's developed for knowledge work

2020_09_15_TheLearningCode_Meeting_4

http://www.appliedlinearalgebra.com/resources/study-skills-playlists/conquering-college

https://thelearningcode.school.blog/

Youtube Link to this Episode: https://youtu.be/dJvlNQEx6B4

00:00 Where Henry is at in his education

00:38 Earn Grades to Develop Hope & Grit

01:27 Henry Speaks with Himself about earning straight A's in STEM courses

02:15 "Can I" (we) get the Grades I want to get? 

03:03 Henry's goals for Fall 2020 @ SJSU

04:39 Write down Specific Grades & Goals

06:58 How Grades can be Useful - Designed for Study Skills Improvements

08:01 Time Boxing to Revisit Lecture Draft 1

08:39 Invest in Understanding Lecture Draft 2

09:06 Three goals: 2 hours per Lecture, 1 hours of OH per class per week, Focus on the learning

09:39 Pain firing because of Grades - "fictitious measurements" Anderson

10:38 Earn Grades with Integrity - Write down the Grade and use as Guiding principle to realign the effort 

https://thelearningcode.school.blog/

Meeting #3 Tues Sep 8, 2020 

Meeting Agenda & Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12d3PZMQ_7SsYAlNXfuPYo7upsQlL3l2ZPjvleJ-5YS4/edit?usp=sharing

Written by Cal Newport here: https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-bad-at-working-and-heres-what-to-do-about-it/

Link to our Youtube Video for this Episode: https://youtu.be/HiSYWqBOdx4 

00:00 we study: research-based strategic deep learning routines that accelerate progress  

00:50 be strategic to frame our identity and education : Jeff 01:53 a focus on Deep Learning : Jeff 

02:10 research-based mechanism vs. anecdotes : Jeff 03:10 meta cognitive identities in our journey of learning : Jeff 

04:23 why we are researching and focusing on the learning : Steve  

05:43 does strategic need to go before deep? : Henry 

06:47 leverage deeper thinking : Henry 

07:26 how to make complex ideas plain? : Henry 

08:10 get grades? Or get an ‘education’? : Steve  

09:20 deep learning math concepts with strategic mechanisms & routine for studying : Jeff 

11:47 distributed practice by construct myelin : Jeff 

12:18 interleaved practice then weave them together : Jeff 

13:16 bring awareness to these study routines & techniques : Jeff 

14:14 Why We Research? : Jeff 15:03 distributed practice & diligence anecdote : Steve  

16:07 uncover the concept images by going deep while strategically : Henry 

18:00 +1% small & steady growth to isolate study routines! : Jeff 

18:52 Deliberate Practice - Daniel Coyle - Andres Ericsson : Jeff 

19:38 A kart full of fruit - rotten fruit = bad study skills : Jeff 

20:27 Henry's Melons, Water Melons are the best Melon's Jeff has ever seen (LOL) : Jeff 

21:38 Not understanding the Why or How has serious consequences & ramifications : Henry 

23:07 Apply preservatives on your lecture notes : Henry   R.I.P. Andres Ericsson Author of Peak:  Big Ideas from Peak  1) The Gift - You have it. I do. We All Do  2) Practice - Naive. Purposeful. Deliberate  3) Adaptability - Using homeostasis to our Benefit 4) Mental Representations - What we are building - we only "know" what we build 5) 10,000 Rule? - not all experience makes us better!  6) Homo Exercens - We are what we Practice  

We do not assume you understand the words that came out of our mouths, therefore we will expand on the topics of our talk with concept images: verbal, visual, symbolic, algorithmic, logical, modeling, digital in our website here: https://thelearningcode.school.blog/2020/08/09/our-mission-the-learning-code/  

Anything we can do, you can do better. We encourage you to create a free electronic portfolio through WordPress - highlighting 1 project or concept in each of your courses to help your own understanding while modeling for your fellow peers what learning could look like.  

Thank you viewers for the blessings and allyship - we would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!  Henry Fan TLC 8/25/20 Meeting # 2

https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-body-keeps-the-score-summary/

https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-body-keeps-the-score-summary/