#paloma noyola bueno

[thecurvycritic]

Eugenio Derbez is Radical in True Tale of Inspiration

#EugenioDerbez is so amazingly gifted and it has never been more apparent than through his performance in #radical https://wp.me/p2v8yf-6bi

It’s always amazing to me how little attention is paid to children and communities that are deemed as less than.  In the Mexican border town of Matamoros, plagued by neglect, corruption and violence, a frustrated Sergio (Eugenio Derbez) tries a radical new method to unleash the curiosity and potential of his students…and sometimes even their genius. Based on a true story, “Radical” is proof it…

[nataliesnews]

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My letters 4.12.2022

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Fwd: Mount Herzl, Yaak cooks, a movie about a different way of education, a family from Kfar Aza in tears. rabbis and soldiers 30.12.2023

I

It hits you in the guts every time you go past Mount Herzl and see the car park packed and also the parking at the  hill itself. Private cars, buses and the ambulance. Day or night. The last months. And our prime minister? Sits safely with his two ..... I wish I had a word for them and his blonde bitch.ut oje 

I have invited Irit and Yaakov to go with me to a concert of which the proceeds will go to the evacuated families of the various kibbutzim.  Irit told us Yaakov went to buy a new pot in which to cook and he took it because  In addition to koshering, many new dishes and utensils require immersion in a Mikvah before being used. I was surprised as they are not that religious but he is cooking for families who are. He also checked if there are vegetarians, etc. or people who are sensitive to various additions. A pity the government is not as giving as the people. When his butcher heard why he was buying such a large amount of meat he told him there was no charge and the same with the man from whom he buys the herbs and Gindi gave one time boxes, etc.  Don't.  know why this came out in blue

An amazing movie I saw was Radical about a teacher who comes to a tiny town in Mexico and applied an experimental teaching method which he saw online from Su gata Mitra, an Indian professor. The students had been  amongst the worst in Mexico. One of  his students was Paloma Noyola Bueno...her father scavenged scrap metal for a living. Check this out. The teacher knew she had potential but only realised it when her father wanted her to leave school as  he said that she must realise she had no chance in life and came out to bring the teacher a telescope which he thought she had taken from the school and she had made it herself. Go on , read it, it will give you a break from my usual letter. 

https://latintrends.com/is-paloma-noyola-bueno-the-next-steve-jobs/ No wonder Israeli Arabs are so careful of what they say nowadays but not only they.....read underneath the PDF why a Jewish teacher is being suspended. She is lucky she was not called in by the police and taken to the police station, blindfolded and handcuffed. 

There is a gigantic cover up for the soldiers who shot and killed three kidnapped victims who had escaped.......the army states man should turn red as he explains how this sort of thing  can happen......even when the battalion commander shouts at the soldiers not to fire! All the spokesmen forget the basic law which is often more honoured by being ignored....that you do not shoot an unarmed soldier....and we also know that this happened in the 1948 war. We criticize when this happens in other wars and nations but we are evidently given a dispensation to do as we wish. First the Arabs, now the kidnapped and the next in line will probably be one of the demonstrators......and...there too it will be easy to find the excuses.

How an Israeli airstrike on a Hamas commander also killed scores of civilians - The Wall Street Journal.  My cousins sent it to me and it makes horrible reading. But so does and unlike those who try to deny this took place, many of the incidents were seen by those hidingWhat did the newsreport of the way women were raped and burnt alie? I do not want to send the report as it is just too awful. Soldiers are being killed every day. We read of the death too in Gaza. Friends write to me about Dresden and Hirsoshima. You are to remain humane. But all of this comes back to Netanyahu and our own hubris that terrible day. And no end in sight. One day there is going to be a debate about the hostages. The next day they are at the end of the list and I have put in a PDF about Gaza so that you can know the depths of hell the other side is going through. 

Yesterday a four rday march ‘Everyone! Now!’: Kfar Aza teens march to Jerusalem, calling for hostage deal....they were given little publicity and the post in Times of Israel did not do justice when they wrote of a "group" 

��I had difficulty getting through the crowd so that I could see but people are very helpful. I found myself next to a woman with three small children who asked me to move slightly so that the children could see their mother on the stage. I asked where  they were from ...Kfar Aza. At first they were composed but then the littlest one started crying and they all did and were crouched on the ground holding one another and I stood there with my two sticks crying with them. Amazing that after what had happened to them they were able to host such an event. All along youth groups joined  them. How can we have such an autistic government? 

We hear that many of the ultra orthodox have now been trying to join the army. Well read this about what their rabbis call our soldiers....garbage. No Israeli soldier is ...... What I would like to know is how many of our fascist leaders in the government have children and close family members in the war. 

So yesterday I saw Elaine and family and in the evening went to Chana Stein and family which was a pleasant break. 

[genidma]

Learning on your own

I was about to leave the library and I noticed a young girl being tutored by this individual. 

The tutor’s facial expressions were not so great. There was this stern look on the tutor’s face. Not the kind of facial expressions that would want the student to become interested in the subject.

Plus the tone of (the tutor’s) voice was making it seem like the student was not getting it. Which is an indirect way of unconsciously suggesting to the student that you are not smart enough. 

Over the years I have learned to mind my own business. But, I thought to myself, this tutor may end up damaging the student’s confidence. 

The library was going to close in 5 minutes and I was already packing my things away. That’s how I noticed this interaction in the first place, as these individuals were sitting right behind me. 

And I so proceeded towards the water cooler and filled up my water bottle. Once outside, I inquired with at least one person who I assumed may be connected to the student inside the library. That wasn’t the case. 

Next, I noticed the student, their parents, the tutor heading out of the library. They were all walking together and co-incidentally their cars were parked next to each other. So, it didn’t seem prudent to intervene. 

6 years ago, I was kind of like this tutor. I would talk to my nieces and share resources with them. We would talk about Khan Academy, measuring life in spreadsheets and a variety of other resources. But, the mistakes that I was making were that:

I did not seek to understand. The approach was pretty much this one sided narrative, with me sharing resources with my nieces.

I wasn’t thinking about further developing my relationship with my nieces. Which is necessary for trust to be established. I don’t reckon I built up on that conversation, past asking my niece(s) what her/their favourite subject was.

In such a reality, the audience (in this case my niece or my nieces) wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about the subject that was being discussed. Which is a problem, because we do not want the child to think that Mathematics or personal development isn’t important. The student may equate the mechanism via which the message was being delivered with the actual subject itself. 

How we deliver a message to a child can either help develop interest in the subject or to the contrary. 

During my drive, I started asking myself what are the core/fundamental resources that we need for learning. Here is a preliminary list that I thought of, in my mind. In random order, I think a student needs:

A computer or a tablet. (Ipod screens are too small)

An internet connection.

Good course material. (With the right incentive structures built in: Repetitions, practice every day, quiz yourself at least once a day, some gamification + +)

A resource for delivering the course material. Meaning, a really good teacher teaching the course online or through some other electronic (recorded) medium.

Ability to be able to have questions answered. Because there will be a time when you find yourself stuck. 

Paper and pencil. Because sometimes you want to draw/sketch things out on your own, in order to improve your understanding. 

I think that’s pretty much it. 

I don’t think that you need a teacher in order to be able to educate yourself. Or to be more succinct, you do not need a teacher in flesh and blood to be present nearby.  

All of my experiences, to date lead me to believe that given the right set of resources, a student can learn on their own. Irrespective of how old that individual is. Okay, mostly for students 6 years old and above. Provided, that the preliminary set of needs have been provided. 

At this point I am reminded of these experiments that a gentleman by the name of Sugata Mitra started conducting in the late 90′s. It seems like Mitra has been thinking of this idea of ‘minimally invasive education’ going as far back as the 80′s. 

Then he finally took action and started creating stations whereby kids and other students could converge and basically start educating themselves. 

And so, Mitra started this project that is known as ‘hole in the wall’ (HIW). He carved a hole in the wall, placed a computer that could be accessed by anyone and placed some course material on the machine. 

According to the HIW website, this is what the very first learning station looked like when it was being developed. 

Note: All the images are from the HIW website: the http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/ website. I am sure that they won’t mind me making use of images from their website. 

Then the MVP was launched and the first set of customers appeared. 

Next, it looks like the designs were improved upon and the model is beginning to scale. 

Here is an image of one of the 11th Presidents of India, checking out what this project is all about. 

I was actually wondering what Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s thought of this idea. Turns out that there is a transcripts from one of his speech(es) from 2005, where he talks about HIW and also talks to the local population about the idea and they share their feedback. http://abdulkalam.nic.in/sp060705-7.html

Since the early 2000′s, the HIW (Hole in wall) project has been implemented in various parts of the world in slightly different settings. 

I am trying to recall from memory, but students from different age groups have been able to teach themselves across a multitude of subjects. From mathematics, to English, to 9 year olds learning about the basics of genetics to a whole lot of other subjects. 

Mitra has given 3 Ted Talks and was the winner of the 2013 (overall) Ted Prize. Links below:

Here is a link to Mitra’s profile via TED: https://www.ted.com/speakers/sugata_mitra

His 2008 talk covers a lot more details with respect to his findings via his experiments. 

Now, on Wikipedia’s HIW page you may also notice some criticism for this project. But, I don’t think that the HIW set of experiments are about:

Dumping hardware at a given location and see what happens. 

The point about the 'long-term sustainability of the kiosk system’ is important. A plan can indeed be put in place in order to perform the necessary software and hardware related updates. As well, have something built within the framework of the municipal code so that the problems can be reported and are machines are repaired. 

How best to prevent older boys hogging up the space and time. 

Restricting the machines so that only a variety of websites can be accessed. Like Khan Academy, other MOOCs. 

In terms of success stories, Sergio Juarez Correa (a grade 5 teacher in Mexico) tapped into the potential of his students and asked them what they wanted to learn. Correa had been researching online and he stumbled across the experiments that Mitra had been conducting.  It looks like Correa started applying some of Mitra’s findings in his classroom. The rest, as they say is history.

Paloma Noyola Bueno was one of the students in Sergio Correa’s classroom. To quote from Wikipedia Paloma Bueno, ‘who lived in a Mexican slum, topped the all Mexico Maths exam after her school teacher , Sergio Juarez Correa, implemented Mitra's teaching method in the classroom.’

In 2013, Paloma Bueno was on the cover of Wired Magazine. https://www.latintimes.com/wired-magazine-names-12-year-old-mexican-paloma-noyola-bueno-next-steve-jobs-cover-story-132087

Also to quote from Wikipedia: ‘It was also suggested that her class went from 0 to 63 per cent in the excellent category on the Maths exam while failing scores went from 45 percent down to 7 per cent and may have improved on other parts of the test.’

Co-incidence?

Also, I don’t even think that Correa (the teacher) leveraged a lot of tech in the classroom. 

There is definitely something here that can and should be leveraged. Specially today, with technology evolving in unique and interesting ways. 

I’m going to try and get a hold of Sergio Juárez Correa. I want to ask him, how did he adopt Mitra’s teachings. Was it as simple as letting students educate themselves and pursue subjects that they found interesting. 

Going back to the actual example that I started with. I wish there was a way for me to intervene in the situation that I had encountered. 

You don’t need a teacher that makes you feel as if you are supposed to know the answers in a finite amount of time. This is not the way to encourage students to perform at the best of their abilities.

You don’t need a teacher in the classroom in order to learn. For children, we need caregivers and someone who helps maintain the discipline. But we should implement more experiments like HIW and encourage students to take ownership of their own learning.

I’d love to see the further evolution of the designs that Mitra pioneered. Soon we will see the avatars and also conversational AIs go mainstream. Plus, computation keeps getting cheaper. There are lot of ways to incentivize the students today and in the future. Decoupling the in-person teacher model from teaching is one of the routes to go. 

[ohfalada]

Students in Matamoros, Mexico weren't getting much out of school -- until a radical new teaching method unlocked their potential.

[artistsintheclassroom5]

By Joshua Davis

"...Juárez Correa didn’t know it yet, but he had happened on an emerging educational philosophy, one that applies the logic of the digital age to the classroom. That logic is inexorable: Access to a world of infinite information has changed how we communicate, process information, and think. Decentralized systems have proven to be more productive and agile than rigid, top-down ones. Innovation, creativity, and independent thinking are increasingly crucial to the global economy..." “..If you put a computer in front of children and remove all other adult restrictions, they will self-organize around it,” Mitra says, “like bees around a flower...”