tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071719252136968205.post1198919263573093234..comments2024-03-19T01:01:56.845-07:00Comments on Following Learning: I close my eyes and see...Simon Gregghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751362728185120933noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071719252136968205.post-31414775821702458952017-02-24T13:48:03.484-08:002017-02-24T13:48:03.484-08:00Michele, you're right. Thank you so much for y...Michele, you're right. Thank you so much for your comment. I wasn't going in this direction originally, but this has all reminded me about visualisation and its potential in the classroom. I like what you say about it bridging from using concrete materials and working mentally. I'm going to be on the lookout for opportunities to weave mental images into our routines...Simon Gregghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751362728185120933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071719252136968205.post-5440998029538307512017-02-23T12:04:54.559-08:002017-02-23T12:04:54.559-08:00I pictured a flock of seagulls at the beach. I lov...I pictured a flock of seagulls at the beach. I love the beach. There were too many to count and, as you pointed out in the previous reply, birds typically fly around a lot - definitely at the beach. <br /><br />Mind is an incredible thing. I noticed that after I'd read the article it was impossible to just imagine "some birds" without trying to manipulate the image to a countable number - they could no long just be birds. Birds on a wire was easier since I see them all the time outside my kitchen window and they are usually no more than 4 at a time. I think this is important to the teaching context where we are encouraging students to "image" quantities, not just subitizing, but picturing material demonstrations that use structured materials. <br /><br />Tens frames are one of my favourite pieces of equipment for such an activity, but also place value blocks, 100s boards, bead strings, almost anything really. Demonstrate a couple of times, for example, what counting on is and how it's used to solve an addition problem with materials, then set up the next problem and ask, "what will I do next?", or cover the materials with a cloth and ask, "what does it look like?". It doesn't take long for them to be able to visualise the whole process without materials. <br /><br />My experience has been that very few teachers know how (and why) to teach children to image a process or operation but your article shows how simple it can be. Creating a bias, a physical experience by way of demonstration, students can quickly picture the materials and manipulate them appropriately to solve simple problems. Some repeated practice of the thinking sequence with guidance enables the student to form useful internal pictures that lead to facility with mental calculations. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16748229359986007277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071719252136968205.post-29693091770010874722017-02-22T13:35:32.712-08:002017-02-22T13:35:32.712-08:00A few thoughts occur to me sparked by this, and Jo...A few thoughts occur to me sparked by this, and John's comment. Our imagination is really fed by our recent experience. If you've been walking on the beach or seen birds that day, it's going to come easier, more vividly.<br /><br />And maybe imagining birds is harder than other things becuase they typically move around so much.<br /><br />I'll have to check out the Gattegno book!Simon Gregghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751362728185120933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071719252136968205.post-20920957429918614742017-02-22T12:55:45.444-08:002017-02-22T12:55:45.444-08:00I pictured a reasonably large flock of birds sitti...I pictured a reasonably large flock of birds sitting on a wire, probably somewhere around 20 of them. It was the first image that came to mind, a re-construction of what I saw on a recent walk. <br /><br />What is interesting is that I wasn't really interested in counting them, I was using all of my energy creating the image to be as vivid as possible as this is something I find difficult. <br /><br />In a Gattegno seminar on awareness I have just been reading, John Mason talked of 'entering into' an image, and I was taking the opportunity to practice doing that. <br /><br />I was reasonably successful - it was fleeting but I brought more energy into the imagining - and with this came some of the other aspects of the experience - the fact that this group of birds was one of a number of flocks on a number of wires, it was a dark day by a beach, they were very noisy, I was walking with my daughter - a really experience to re-count, thanks for providing the exercise. <br /><br />Gattegno suggests that imagination has the function of 'supplying a future for the present', and as such is vital in meeting the 'descending future'. We learn how to do it when we sleep. <br /><br />“As babies we soon discover that recognition is possible because we can complete the evocation of a fraction of the perception of anything and can trigger a trail of images made from different senses associated with this perception. We cannot fail to notice that associations are many and diverse and that the content of our consciousness is made of images, perceptions, feelings, impacts from the outside, and also a presence of our self in all. Nor can we fail to observe that this stuff is labile and held together from moment to moment by subtle links that can consist of any of the elements on which the self particularly dwells for its own reasons.”<br /><br />Excerpt From: Caleb Gattegno. “The Mind Teaches the Brain.” <br /><br />Danny Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15089495743937432593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071719252136968205.post-8783610058639262262017-02-22T12:31:41.125-08:002017-02-22T12:31:41.125-08:00Thanks. I had to look up what a grackle is!
I get...Thanks. I had to look up what a grackle is!<br /><br />I get the impression that visualising shapes is easier for students than numbers of birds. This might be a good way to go, also building up some talking about shape language.Simon Gregghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751362728185120933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071719252136968205.post-37724205757197608972017-02-22T11:42:53.090-08:002017-02-22T11:42:53.090-08:00I saw 7 birds. This morning on the way to work a s...I saw 7 birds. This morning on the way to work a small group of grackles flew down from a wire in a group. I couldn't decide then 7 or 8, but visualizing 7 made me realize it was eight. <br /><br />Love your students images and wide variety of numbers. I'm wondering what it would be like to have them describe their vision to another student and have them draw it.John Goldenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com