Peabloggy

Thinking about corporate training these past few weeks reminded me of one of my childhood’s curious encounters: Hamburger U.

During my middle schools years, I lived in a suburb of Chicago that was also close to McDonald’s corporate training headquarters. In fact, our schools were used by the McDonald’s guys to test new toys before they were put into Happy Meals. It was a great diversion from class, needless to say.

What always was funny to me was the fact that on this campus stood a place to learn the McDonald’s way. Of course, in my ignorance of talent management, I thought that was where you went to learn to flip burgers and deep fry potatoes. Their Web site (and my now more open eyes to the world of corporate training) present a different story.

More than  5,000 students a year attend Hamburger U.  There are regional training centers.  Fourty-six credits offered at HU are considered by the American Council on Education as college credit.  There are 19 full-time professors and there is the ability to learn in 28 languages. And, there are four named tracks: Crew Development, Restaurant Managers, Mid-Management and Exec. Development.

All of this is based on  founder Ray Kroc quote, “If we are going to go anywhere, we’ve got to have talent. And, I’m going to put my money in talent.”

Has anyone else ever heard of this?  Or other corporate training programs this extensive?

~Kristen Hayner

Karl Dean was elected Nashville’s 6th mayor by a narrow but uncontested margin, with just over a quarter of Nashville’s registered voters turning up at the polls, according to the Tennessean. Read full coverage here.

Dean’s campaign focused on improving public education in Davidson County, a platform that apparently resonated with voters. Any thoughts on what this might mean for Metro schools?

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On a personal note, this election was my first experience voting for someone who actually won. (Conclude what you will about my political/philosophical tendencies.) It’s a nice feeling.

- Rachel Bowers

If you haven’t seen this great clip from “Father Guido Sarducci” , it’s a must watch for educators. Of course, it was shared in class this weekend prior to a discussion on memorization and learning. Have fun!

~Kristen Hayner

Teresa Cambria has an interesting take at InsideVandy on the Commons Center, newly opened on the Peabody campus:

The structure is impressive, but it lacks the Vanderbilt spirit. The students and buildings on this campus make Vanderbilt stand out. That’s why we love it here. I felt none of myself in that building, and I suddenly felt irrelevant to my own campus.

I’d be interested in hearing others’ thoughts about the Commons Center or campus architecture in general.

–Kurt Brobeck

It is a beautiful thing when assigned reading for a class becomes a joy to accomplish. That’s how I felt yesterday reading Peter Smagorinsky’s Teaching English Through Principled Practice (2002). I’m a nerd, I admit it.

Smagorinsky advocates for the use of conceptual units in the teaching of English - centering each three-four week unit of study around a central theme, question, historical period or other cohesive subject, and then developing assignments that allow students to engage that theme or question in a variety of ways. Not brain surgery, but he offers practical insight gained through years of in-the-trenches experience.

He also suggests that teachers spend significant energy considering the ways in which student interests differ from their own. In other words, most of our students won’t be book-loving nerds like us. Again, not brain surgery, but it’s easy to gloss over this fact instead of spending time to understand what it will take to engage student interest in reading.

I found one of Smagorinsky’s questions especially useful. He asks, “What do you think makes something literary?…What do your students think makes something literary?”

As an avid reader (I just finished Khaled Hosseini’s Ten Thousand Splendid Suns and am now in the middle of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen), I tend to abide by the “I know it when I see it” mentality. But as I sit with Smagorinsky’s question, I’m realizing it’s an important one to consider before I dare suggest that my students read anything in particular.

Any thoughts on what makes for a work of literary merit?

- Rachel Bowers

With the last week of summer quickly approaching an end (I know it’s only Saturday, but I know the end is near), I find myself preparing for my one class (the plight of a professional student who will take years to complete this degree). I’ll be taking Learning and Performance in Organizations from Janet Eyler.

I am spending the weekend with several educators in my family– one of which is an choral and orchestral teacher. I wrote about my experiences learning from him in my last post. He noticed one of the texts for Eyler’s class, Understanding by Design, and mentioned that he was very familiar with the concept as a similar format has been practiced for several years in the region where he teaches most. In fact, he said that my understanding of this material will probably be quite intuitive and reminiscent of his teaching style from when I was his student.

Another reading for the first class focuses on learning transfer (Halpern & Hakel, “Applying the Science of Learning to the University and Beyond”). One specific idea included the benefits of spaced practice vs. mass practice of skill. The idea rattled around in my brain throughout the week — evidence of its effectiveness on memory, too — as I found myself both intentionally and unintentionally successfully remembering the points even while simply driving to and from work.

So, as I focus on this one class intensely this semester (the blessing of taking a slow approach to school which I assume will be a curse come comprehensive exam time in a few years), I look forward to these practical lessons.

~Kristen Hayner