To be aware. And from that awareness to choose how we respond. In the nine-minute video below, David Foster Wallace convicted me that such lives at the heart of education. (H/T to my wife for sharing this incredible piece with me.)

THIS IS WATER – By David Foster Wallace

= = =

Also related:

Fundamental Attribution Error, which I learned about in college psychology courses but didn’t really dig into until I read and re-read and studied Switch, by the Heath Brothers
Krista Tippett’s December 2012 interview with Jon Kabat-Zinn about the science of mindfulness – “Opening to Our Lives”

On Wednesday, June 13, Bo Adams and Jill Gough are facilitating a session at The Martin Institute’s 2012 Conference (#MICON12 on Twitter) on formative assessment entitled Leading Learners to Level Up.

Leveled formative assessment that offers learners the ability to calibrate understanding with expectations and, at the same time, shows the path to the next level will improve learning and teaching. Use assessment to inform learners where they are on the learning spectrum, where the targets are, and how to level up.

Leading Learners to Level Up (Framework plans) [50 minutes]

Formative Assessment presentation [15 minutes]
Examples of Leveled Formative assessments
1. Algebra: Linear Functions, Slope [5 minutes]
2. Synergy: Essential Learnings, Observation Journals [5 minutes]
3. SMART Goals and other PLC examples [5 minutes]
Use PollEverywhere to decide the next step: many individual/pair workshopped rubrics or mini individual workshopped rubric to then share out to whole group (like faculty web presence; group work – engaged participation) [5 minutes]
Participant workshop time to develop leveled assessment for use with learners [10 minutes + 10 minutes to share out & wrap up]