Sunday, June 29, 2008

Wny I Ask My Students to Memorize?

I am really blessed to have met a professor who taught me the value of accuracy and deep understanding. In fact, it was her methods and techniques that partly form the foundation of my teaching techniques. I recall her saying "It is better to ask your students to memorize good poetry or verse because that will open the flood gates of possibilities.They may dislike it at first but it's up to you to deliver the needed push so that they fall off the cliff toward greater and more profound learning based on solid facts."

Memorization in present day educational setting has somewhat received a rather negative reputation. Memorization is frowned upon not only by students but by a considerable number of teachers, as well. If you ask students to memorize a poem or some lines of verse, the next thing you here is an uproar of complaints. And I do not blame them for doing that because it is, so to speak, "normal" these days for they live in an age of disillusioned love for liberty and have-it-your-way mentality. They should not be blamed for feeling that way likewise because memorizing is such a tedious task and human nature (particularly that of today's)tells you that most people just don't have that much liking to do tasks like that. "The easier to accomplish something the better" is a conviction that has reached dogmatic proportions.

But, memorization if treated as the end all and be all of learning is not good. My belief is that memorization or remembering is the starting point of any other kinds of learning. The bone of my contention is this: How would you be able to apply, analyze, synthesize or even evaluate things without having solid data on which these thinking skills will be based on, in the first place? It is really impossible to gain "any" higher form of thinking without accomplishing the basic step--remembering raw data, that is.

Now, I'd like to enumerate what research and authorities have to say about memorization and remembering.

I
"The memorization and recitation of the classic utterances of poets and statesmen form part of a tradition of learning that stretches back to classical antiquity, when the Greeks discovered that words and sounds—and the rhythmic patterns by which they were bound together in poetry—awakened the mind and shaped character. They made poetry the foundation of their pedagogy. Athenian schoolboys learned by heart the poetry of Homer, through which they gained mastery of their language and their culture. They memorized as well, in versified form, the civic pronouncements of Solon, the founder of the Athenian political tradition."
--In Defense of Memorization,Michael Knox Beran

II
"Just like learning to walk before you can run, learning multiplication and memorizing the times tables are building blocks for other math topics taught in school - higher learning such as division, long multiplication, fractions and algebra."
--The Importance Of Memorizing The Times Tables
Susan Jarema

III
"The most important quality of being a good scholar is a trained and retentive memory."
--Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the
Christian Faith, Marvin R. Wilson

IV
"First, at the base of the pyramid (Bloom's Taxonomy) is memorization. Every student must memorize in order to have a firm foundation. The base of the pyramid has the widest expanse which indicates the importance of memorization."
--The Need for Memorization, Drill, and
Excellence, Donna Garner

V
"Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You”. The Word of God is precious book to the Christian; it is our guide and manual for daily living. Because it is so valuable to us as Christians, the psalmist stresses the importance of memorizing it."
--Milford Bible Church

VI
"Why, then, do so many middle-class Americans now act as if education is nothing more than a 'game'? . . . Along with any serious commitment to subjects like English and History, the idea of education as a way to sharpen mental discipline, to cultivate higher cultural interests, or to teach civic principles has simply disappeared."
--Ready Or Not: What Happens When We Treat
Children as Small Adults,Kay Hymowitz

VII
"To learn "by rote," according to Webster's dictionary, is to learn "by memory alone, without understanding or thought." ...Plant precepts in small children's heads, and you'll shape their thinking and their actions as they grow.

But not all memorization is learning by rote. To commit something to memory isn't necessarily to learn it "without understanding or thought."
--The Difference Between Thinking and Knowing
(Memorization doesn't deserve its bad
name),Claudia Winkler


The space for this post is not enough to lay down all proofs and arguments in favor of memorization. What has been presented here is just a short list--a very small tip of an iceberg, indeed.

Memorization or remembering is not just like mushrooms that emerged from nowhere. Rather, it emerged from a long line of tradition the effectiveness of which has been tested throughout the ages. And thus, the derogatory notion about it is totally uncalled for and unfounded.



NOTA BENE: This post may be reproduced or republished provided proper and complete author citation and link back to this blog is given.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

When Eros Strikes

Relationship is an art of blending
In relationships and magnets, opposites attract. A rather timid man gets hooked with an out-going, sparkling woman while an out-going man is dazzled by a timid, reflective woman.
Men and women are like magnets and they have different temperament. And making the somewhat clashing differences blend with one another is a key to maintaining a lasting relationship. A man or a woman's failure to understand the temperament of the other may often lead to stand-off and word-war.
Relationships call for mutual adjustment. Men and women in relationships have to acknowledge and appreciate the emotional needs of one another. In this regard, a “give and take” attitude will definitely be helpful in attaining a healthy relationship.
As a rule of thumb, we should not aim to change the temperament of our partner; but we should aim to channel that temperament to blend with our own and vice-versa. Opening the line of communication and spending more quality time with each other will greatly boost this process of blending.
Relationships, indeed, call for opposites that blend.

Falling in love is magic!

Falling in love and the term love per se are two very distinct emotions. Falling in love is such an exciting feeling that sweeps a person head over heels. It can be a flash of weird, spine-tingling sensations or a first of the many steps to find true love.

Falling in love is a powerful instinctive, emotional attraction of one toward the opposite sex or of the same sex, in certain cases. And fortunately, when the feeling is mutual, meaning one falls in love with another and the other reciprocates the feeling, this act of mutual falling in love can grow into a beautiful love affair.
Falling in love, in my case, was a truly an inspiring experience. It touched the very heart of me that I could not possibly get myself the focus I need to do things that I had to do then. There were moments of immense daydreaming…The sudden weakness I felt in the knees and increase in bodily temperature whenever I saw her was to me the most exciting of all moments when I fell in love.
Falling in love is not so strange a phenomenon. You don’t have to search for it; it just happens. And when you fall in love, you can’t do anything to stop it. It haunts you day and night. Like a patriot missile, it follows you wherever you are. Certainly, it is so mysterious.
When you fall in love, the feelings you have are not always pleasant. I bet that for people who have experienced this powerful potion of Eros, they felt a total mix of emotions--excitement, doubts, overpowering attention on one’s self-image, and even extreme jealousy.
Falling in love is nature’s way of showing how fragile and delicate men and women are. It is likewise nature’s way of telling us that there are cases beyond our control. Definitely and for most cases, people who fall in love lose control. It’s the time in our lives that the heart overpowers the mind, decisively. It makes brave men and women go “chicken” and it makes the most brilliant the dumbest of all creation!
Many of us think that falling in love is all about sex. I beg to disagree. Sex may be an inescapable aspect of it in the long run; but, that is not the “end all and be all” of falling in love. Sex is but a mere outward manifestation of surrendering ourselves to the dictates of the most overwhelming of all human emotions—love. But, sex can never be the object of true and unconditional love.

Falling in love is one of the essential steps on finding our lifetime partner. Being attracted to another person is the most basic part of settling down. In this regard, falling in love as a stage in our lives is significant.
I always tell my students to be careful when you fall in love. But I know deep inside that this is an irony. Why? Simple…It’s because as I said earlier, falling in love is usually that time in a person’s life when the heart takes control.
Many of my students ask me “what is love?” and when I explain, I end up first explaining “how do you know that you have fallen in love?” then, proceed with their question. Almost always, my explanation would be like this—love is… falling in love with the person over and over again… every second of the minute, every minute of the hour, every hour of the day and everyday of your life.
Falling in love is really one of the best experiences that any person can ever have. It’s compelling. It’s wonderful. It’s magic.

"Favorite Love Quotes"
"Love makes the world go round" so goes the song. Imagine a world without love, that's probably the worst of situations--yeah, a loveless world is indeed a lifeless one. As for me, I have always been living for love's sake. I laugh, I cry, I breathe because of love.

The term love has many meanings. Millions have tried to explain love. Some have even tried to calculate love. But almost always, they end up trying. And, that is no surprise because love is mysterious. I guess this blog is to end in the same way the others did. But, who cares anyway!

The love verses below are some of my favorites. The list contains some of my original quotations on love, too. As you read them, take time to suck the juice out of magical words of few of the world's romantics and feel the rush of passion into your veins; think of that very special someone you would rather spend your life until this world is no more....

----o0o----

"Life is but a world torn in shreds and the world--a row of flesh crushed in bitterness, without love." -Joel M. Santos

"The true meaning of religion is thus not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion." -Mathew Arnold

"Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself." -Mahatma Gandhi

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,Old Time is still aflying,And this same flower that smiles today,Tomorow will be dying." -Robert Herrick

"Oh, my luve’s like a red, red rose,That ’s newly sprung in June;Oh, my luve’s like the melodieThat’s sweetly played in tune." -Robert Burns

"If I must die, let me... in love's blade." -Joel M. Santos

"If this be error an upon me prove, I never writ nor no man ever loved." -Shakespeare

"The greatest irony of life is to love your enemy better than yourself." - Joel M. Santos

" Roses are red and violets are blue, And all the sweetest flowers that in the forrest grew." -Edmund Spenser

" If there ever comes a day When we cant be together keep me in your heart, Ill stay there forever." -Winnie the Pooh

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go.Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same."
-Flavia Weedn

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter." -John Keats

"I've never been so condemned in my life, I've never been so wretch'd, so damn'd, and miserable. But all these I shall happily endure for a minute shared with you." -Joel M. Santos

"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." -Franklin P. Jones

"At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet." -Plato

"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."
-Robert Frost

"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence."
-Henry Louis Mencken

"Love is a friendship set to music."
-E. Joseph Cossman

"They do not love that do not show their love. The course of true love never did run smooth. Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love."
-William Shakespeare

"And she wrote my name on a piece of flesh and my soul flew upon the universe."
-Joel M. Santos

"Love is eternal - the aspect may change, but not the essence. There is the same difference in a person before and after he is in love as there is in an unlighted lamp and one that is burning. The lamp was there and was a good lamp, but now it is shedding light too, and that is its real function. And love makes one calmer about many things, and that way, one is more fit for one's work. " -Vincent Van Gogh

"One is very crazy when in love." -Sigmund Freud
"You can't blame gravity for falling in love. "
-Sheetal
"How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
-Albert Einstein
"A man falls in love through his eyes, a woman through her ears. "
-Woodrow Wyatt
"Thought cannot avoid the ethical or reverence and love for all life. It will abandon the old confined systems of ethics and be forced to recognize the ethics that knows no bounds. But on the other hand, those who believe in love for all creation must realize clearly the difficulties involved in the problem of a boundless ethic and must be resolved not to veil from [humankind] the conflicts which this ethic will involve [us], but allow [us] really to experience them. To think out in every implication the ethic of love for all creation -- this is the difficult task which confronts our age." -Albert Schweitzer

“You will never know love unless you surrender to it.” -movie quote from”Fools Rush In"

“kisses are a better fate than wisdom.” -e.e. cummings

"True love stories never have endings.” -Richard Bach

"Love is falling in love over and over again and true love is to be in love every second."
-Joel M. Santos

" I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

" When love is not madness, it is not love." -Pedro Calderon de la Barca

" Let me lie,
let me die on thy snow-covered bosom,
I would eat of thy flesh as a delicate fruit,
I am drunk of its smell, and the scent
of thy tresses
Is a flame that devours."
-George Moore

" The simple lack of her is more to me than others' presence."
-Edward Thomas

"All the world is but a dying ember without your presence."
-Joel M. Santos

"My heart to you is given:
Oh, do give yours to me;
We'll lock them up together,
And throw away the key."
-Frederick Saunders

"In law, not all love is legal.
But in love, it doesn't really matter."
-Joel M. Santos

"See! the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea: -
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?"
-Percy Bysshe Shelley

"To die is even blissful... when you're the reason."- Joel M. Santos