User talk:Boofaf/sandbox

Bethany,
I see that you are working on your expansion of Holt. I need to to shift where you are working from the Main space on Holt to your Sandbox. All expansion work is done in your sandbox until I clear you to move it to the Main space. This protects your work from the edits of other Wikipedians until I have seen and recorded your effort.

What say yee on Holt? What aspects of his work make for a good expansion? Let's have a discussion right here in your sandbox talk page.PsycTeacher (talk) 17:47, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Boofaf I cannot see where you are making progress, are you still working in the main article? Let's sort this out right away. Thanks PsycTeacher (talk) 19:28, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

I cannot see where you are making progress, are you still working in the main article? Let's sort this out right away. Thanks PsycTeacher (talk) 14:46, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

I still do not see anything in your Sandbox. Time is almost gone for this project. Let's sort this out right away. Thanks PsycTeacher (talk) 17:13, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

I have switched from Edwin Holt to John Holt. Please let me know if this is the correct theorist. I plan on reviewing the articles and resources you provided to me and adding to the section on his effects on education that has been started. Thanks!

John Holt
I sent you a couple of pages from theories of learning text. After reading your start, that focused on his unschooling perspective, I thought the ideas on these pages might be useful in focusing your work.

The Gestalt perspective is about patterns, and the mind seeking to organize sensory information to make meaning. These theorists argue that the mind organizes and presents answers before we think about them. If the mind cannot make a suitable answer, it is naturally motivated to learn. Motivation in Gestalt theory has similarities to other theories that saw disequilibrium (Piaget), or dissatisfying states (Thorndike) as motivation generators.

The unschooling movement was about allowing the mind to learn naturally, rather than forcing it to perform a preset curriculum. To a Gestalt theorist, learning rules and memorizing will often lead to making foolish mistakes, rather than true understanding. PsycTeacher (talk) 14:17, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

Good progress! Your material is substantially biographical. Much of your content may exist in the basic article on Holt. Be sure you are expanding the article with a section titled Holt on Education.

Can you include at least one documented applied element of Holt's work in education? You mention he thought schools made kids stupid and that schools could be changed to teach kids to learn. What is the most salient thing a school should do to reform? Is there empirical evidence for that change?

More importantly, your material is largely undocumented. You need to cite your sources. Use the citation tool on the Editing bar to add citations for your sources. These will not apply APA style, but are appropriate for this medium. Also, be sure to sign your work each time using four tildes at the end of the passage and to add an edit summary to help track your work. PsycTeacher (talk) 15:21, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Hi Mr. Welch. Thanks for the feedback! My idea was to put thoughts down, then go through the entire Wikipedia page and remove anything that is repetitive or out of place. The base of the article vaguely mentions a few things, so if I repeat it it would be with more detail. There is already a section titled "Effects on Education" on John Holt's page. Would you like me to add a new one, change that one, or work within it? It seemed like having two sections on his impact on education might look strange, but if you'd prefer a whole new heading that's fine with me. Thus far I've only worked from one source and have not quite finished it, so I will be citing my sources once that's done.

Hi Mr. Welch, I've been looking for evidence or information on Holt's applied work in education. Thus far I've only found three articles that appear to be okay, but haven't had time to really look at them: Tinkering Change vs. System Change by Russ Hubbard, Reformaphobia by Anatolii Pinskii, and John Holt and the Origins of Contemporary Homeschooling by Patrick Farenga

If you know of any other leads I'd greatly appreciate your insight. I've tried Google scholar searches as well as EbscoHost, but there's so much out there it's hard to weed through it all. Thanks!

Hi Mr. Welch. I believe I've done about as much as I can do. I wasn't able to find the evidence you suggested, but instead focused more in his publications and how what they've meant to the homeschooling genre. Please let me know if I'm goo to do for moving it into the main article. Boofaf (talk) 05:36, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

Final Review
I appreciate your effort to pull this together. The Gestalt perspective is a tough one because it goes against the grain of much in traditional education. That is precisely why it is important to include it in this course. I am fine with your approach, in this case, and the development of an annotated bibliography. Your content is fine. Your references and citations are good. Your writing style is a bit wordy. Work on breaking ideas into smaller bites. You are READY to move your content into the main article. Thanks for the hard work. PsycTeacher (talk) 13:20, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

Just letting you know that I've added my section to the main article. Boofaf (talk) 04:19, 24 July 2015 (UTC)