USU Pedagogy 3630 - F23

 I find myself feeling hopeful at the conclusion of this book. understanding the process of skill building, for me, has helped de-mystify the talent I see in others and that I want to develop in myself. The example about the reading wars was particularly impactful to me. I have heard about this conflict before and had previously dismissed whole language theory as a tested, and faulty philosophy in pedagogy. Approaching it with this new perspective on myelination and skill building helps me to see that it was not a faulty theory as I had supposed, but an important addition to a functional yet imperfect system. Neither ignition nor deep practice can be treated as less significant. Ignition creates a forum where intrinsic motivation and self-discipline can power through any barrier. Without deep practice, however, it will not have the ability to reach it's full potential in any reasonable timeframe. Ignition and deep practice, overseen by master coaching, is an inspirational attainabl...

 First of all, I think it was very clever to apply the entire theme and topic of this book to other important and applicable aspects of the readers lives. It's a very interesting point that all those basic expectations of living are neural circuits to be myelinated. Not very many people consider the fact that parenting is a skill to be learned, practiced, and improved (which is terrifying and causes a lot of hurt in children, but I won't get into that), preferably BEFORE having kids. There was only one spot that I had a hard time clicking and agreeing with. As a psych minor, I am no stranger to cognitive behavioral therapy and its benefits to the scene of mental health. However, on page 213, Ellis's ideas being inspired by the philosopher Epictetus is discussed and Epictetus is quoted: "It's not events, but our opinions about them, which cause us suffering." In my behavior class (and in many of my other past psychology classes), it's taught that human beha...

 I am very excited to continue studying this textbook, I have been wanting to learn how to critically listen to voices, and to know what is causing the sound qualities that I hear. The main vocabulary used in chapter one includes qualitative descriptors of voice sound quality such as: clear/breathy, clean/raspy, forward/back, nasal/non-nasal, bright/dark, vibrant/straight, etc. I like how the text emphasizes that these words are strictly qualitative rather than quantitative. If the quality is considered appropriate depends on the style of the repertoire being sung. There is not one quality that is better than the other.  However, while I do agree that there is not one quality that is better than the other, there are tone qualities that are healthier and more sustainable for the voice. A recent example of tone quality that eventually led to vocal damage is contemporary pop singer Brandon Urie. He has been famous for years for his extremely bright, straight-tone, raspy tone qual...

 Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It has helped me look at learning and mistakes in a new light. I have found myself not fearing mistakes as much as I used to, and I am excited to say that. In the epilogue, I like how the author emphasized in his story about the Reading War, that both the Whole Reading and Phonics Reading methods needed to be used together to achieve reading greatness in young students. With the myelin method, there is no one right way to do things. It only requires a spark of interest or motivation, a good coach to guide and motivate, and environments and experiences that challenge the learner to fire circuits and myelinate those circuits to build new skills.  Because my husband is a psychology major, I had his read the section on the epilogue labled "psychology" and asked him to give his opinion on it. He told me, "This is why I am going into psychology. This is the kind of treatment that I like and want to do in my own practice. People need to und...

 In my lesson this week we worked on finalizing my repertoire for my senior recital, reading through jury sheets, and working on applying some critiques mentioned in my jury sheets. Some things mentioned were my "ee" vowels. I got multiple comments that my "ee" vowels stuck out because they were brighter than the rest of the vowels in each of my pieces. I agree with this, and as a result, we worked on applying a tongue placement that isn't as far forward as we did some vocal leases and worked a bit on my piece, "Someone is Sending Me Flowers."  For Vocal Recital Hour, I really enjoyed Mallory McAlister's performance. She did a musical theatre piece that included a lot of low, speech-like passages. I think she sang these passages really well; her resonance was forward and could be heard even in the lower part of her range, and the lyrics came across as conversational. She accomplished this without sounding too nasally, while still being forward and ...

 This week's voice lesson was very effective. Odd as it may seem, I recorded my lesson for the first time ever, and I will say that it makes a HUGE difference! As I practice the exercises done in the most recent lesson, I get the same reminders as I did during lesson (open the mouth, etc): it's like Wooden is coaching me every day! I think I am slowly making improvements on the exercises that we practiced in lessons. I have also started working on my songs for the semester, and despite the fact that some of them seem intimidating, I am eager to see what progress Thomas and I can make!

 This section of Coyle’s “The Talent Code” was about applying the general model of building skill to various fields, such as Education, Business, and Psychology. Coyle then ends the book with a wrap-up of the myelin mindset: “Skill is insulation that wraps neural circuits and grows according to certain signals.” We should not take small cues from children as indicative of what they are destined to become: rather, we should understand that skill and talent come by growing myelin through deep practice. I thought this section of the book was interesting. When Coyle discusses education, I think it’s enlightening what some people had to say about the Finnish education system: they understood that quality education boils down, in large part, to quality teachers. I also found the example of the business manager a Toyota to be interesting: despite his bragging, the higher managers genuinely wanted him to talk about the problems he was having so that they could address them. Overall, I th...