Coyote Counselling » Learning Cycle

Intro to the Circle

collinsd — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:55:51 +0000

The two of us sat at the fire pit. I could feel myself getting anxious. We had been sitting for about ten minutes. The students, playing on the grass, finished lunch about thirty minutes ago. Certainly, they had enough free time.

Brain Research

collinsd — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:20:27 +0000

As an administrator I have been to workshops about effective evaluation and how to identify effective teachers. We have discussed leadership traits. We have set goals. We have developed and refined policy. Through this all we remind ourselves that we are doing to this because it is the student that matters. I began to wonder when we are going to learn more about our students. What are we missing? What can research tell us about our "clients"? Brain research is not a new field but it seems to be slow in coming to education. My first dive into several articles is summarized here.

Working Through Frustration

collinsd — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:15:50 +0000

The transition from East to South in the learning cycle is where I see many students get stuck. In between these two is Southeast. This is the place where the person is trying to find a way to move from the feeling of initiative to getting the work done. I’ve looked for strategies to assist this transition. Part of the problem is trying to understand why the person is stuck.

During a presentation at a recent Outreach Conference I heard Cameron Buchanan speak.

A Different Exam Anxiety

collinsd — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:52:07 +0000

Most of the students have had very limited academic success. At my school they find hope as they work through their courses and realize that they are capable. Despite this success during the year, I fully expected the students to suffer high anxiety at test time. Yesterday, at the first diploma exam of the year, the anxiety was high but it was of a very different sort.

Reluctant Learners

collinsd — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:58:52 +0000

In the Coyote’s Guide on pages 178-179 the Learning Cycle is discussed with areas that people can held up. I read this an quickly saw many different students I’ve worked with over the years. I want to take a moment and go through the ideas in the book and how that looks to a teacher. Please share your ideas.