Episode 58: Figure It Out

In this episode, Kelly and Sean dive into the topic of teaching kids to “Figure it out,” a phrase we love to use in class. This year, we seek specific skills that help us teach reluctant learners, techniques for figuring things out, and understanding how different teachers support this skill in their classrooms. In this episode, we ask some of our colleagues to share their experiences on how they as adults solve problems and how they teach their students this critical life long skill.

Special Guests: Jessica Gilbert and Roslynn Jackson.

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Links:

• High Expectations Teaching: How We Persuade Students to Believe and Act on "Smart Is Something You Can Get": Saphier, Jon: 9781506356792: Amazon.com: Books — For all the productive conversation around "mindsets," what’s missing are the details of how to convince our discouraged and underperforming students that "smart is something you can get." Until now.

  With the publication of High-Expectations Teaching, Jon Saphier reveals once and for all evidence that the bell curve of ability is plain wrong―that ability is something that can be grown significantly if we can first help students to believe in themselves.

• Cultivating the Skill of Figuring Things Out | Scott H Young — There’s a skill I’ve noticed some people possess which, for lack of a better term, I’ll call the ability to figure things out.

  Some people are really good at figuring things out. Give them an ambiguous problem and they’ll investigate, try things out, push through frustration and solve it.

• People Learn Better When They Figure Things Out For Themselves | by Thomas Oppong | Mind Cafe | Medium — We all are our own teachers for the school of life. Taking advice is not as effective as direct perception and participation — it’s one of the best ways to cultivate more of what we like about ourselves as opposed to listening to advice or gathering lessons from others.
• What Is Problem Solving? - Problem Solving Skills from MindTools.com — Having good, strong problem solving skills can make a huge difference to your career.

  Problems are at the center of what many people do at work every day. Whether you're solving a problem for a client (internal or external), supporting those who are solving problems, or discovering new problems to solve, the problems you face can be large or small, simple or complex, and easy or difficult.