8. Heroic Learning
What does learning look like to you?
Failure is not a problem for him, like failure is actually kind of apparently fun.
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- Michael Wesch
Although not one of Wesch's challenges, this challenge, as evidenced below, has been inspired by his work.
Lesson
School and learning are not always synonymous. And unfortunately, when we struggle learning in a specific classroom, we're often labeled as the villain. When that happens, we tend to think we're not smart or we're just lazy. But what happens if we flip that narrative and position ourselves as the hero in our learning journey?
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TEDx Talk "What Baby George Taught Me About Learning" by Michael Wesch
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Challenge
Your challenge is to write your own learning story that positions you as the hero and teaches your teachers about learning.
Step 1: Make a t-chart on a piece of paper. On the left, list things you are good at. It might include hitting a baseball, playing a video game, or even counseling your friends' through their relationships. On the right, jot down how you learned these things. What did it look like the first time you tried? What did it look like along the way? How does it look now? What did you do? Who helped you? How did they help you? What tools helped you get better?
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Step 2: Choose one of the items from your list and analyze it even more closely. What can your list of how you learned teach you and others about learning? Think about baby George. He kept falling down those steps, but he kept getting back up with a smile--that would be one lesson he could present about learning.
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Step 3: Teach us what your heroic learning journey looks like. Create a video--animated or live-action--or captioned photo story that teaches us what you know about learning based upon your experiences with this item.
Step 4: Post your heroic story to Instagram or your blog. Use the hashtags #teachwhys #teachwhyschallenge8.​​
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