If it wasn't Spring Break, I likely would not have read this book. However, it wasn't a long one so I soldiered on. I am very interested in mindfulness and so was curious about her take. The preface started on about the problems with assessment, which is what caused me to not want to continue. However, in the space of mindfulness, I can see what the author was saying. Sometimes it was light and easy reading and sometimes I got quite bogged down in the details of studies she cites and my interest would wane. Overall, I can see that this would be a good topic for an education degree and she had some good things to consider. Many times, however, I disagreed with some of her assertions because of experiences I've had with good teaching....for example: Wrote learning. I have found that my students can learn math facts by repeated practice and a bit of searching for patterns, which is a small leap from wrote memory. If I can get them to do that prior to doing our multiplication unit which focuses a lot on the why's of multiplication and methods for figuring it out, they learn it much quicker. If they have those facts already in their head, suddenly the why makes sense.
There were many other topics in here I had a "Ya but...." comment that would be interesting to discuss with the author. However, time to move on to something that will absorb my interest as a reader!
Goodreads says:
Radical in its implications, this original and important work may change forever the views we hold about the nature of learning. In The Power of Mindful Learning, Ellen Langer uses her innovative theory of mindulness, introduced in her influential earlier book, to dramatically enhance the way we learn. In business, sports, laboratories, or at home, our learning is hobbled by certain antiquated and pervasive misconceptions. In this pithy, liberating, and delightful book she gives us a fresh, new view of learning in the broadest sense. Such familiar notions as delayed gratification, ”the basics”, or even ”right answers”, are all incapacitating myths which Langer explodes one by one. She replaces them with her concept of mindful or conditional learning which she demonstrates, with fascinating examples from her research, to be extraordinarily effective. Mindful learning takes place with an awareness of context and of the ever-changing nature of information. Learning without this awareness, as Langer shows convincingly, has severely limited uses and often sets on up for failure.With stunning applications to skills as diverse as paying attention, CPR, investment analysis, psychotherapy, or playing a musical instrument, The Power of Mindful Learning is for all who are curious and intellectually adventurous.