Hannah+Edwards


 * Hannah's Page**

Tell us a little bit about yourself, include why you are taking this class, what your major is, what you think you might do after completing your studies, your favorite article of clothing, last movie you saw, a place you always wanted to travel to or anything else you might want to add. After you finish, click on someone else's link, read their statement and make a comment.

Hola! I'm Hannah Edwards. I'm studying Spanish because my high school Spanish teachers were a.m.a.z.i.n.g. One studied in beautiful southern Spain and happily stayed after class talking to me many times about the subjunctive or the imperfect tense. One of my teachers learned Spanish by just hopping on his motorcycle one day and going from Virginia all the way through South America and back (kind of Motorcycle Diaries style). They were basically my coolest teachers... and Spanish turned out to be my best subject! So now I'm here at BYU trying to learn how to speak the language, despite not having been on a mission.

I've been to Europe several times and each time was incredible, but I would love to get south of the U.S. Career plans are still up in the air. I'm just having a great time studying at BYU right now and still trying to figure things out. It's an adventure.

Hi, I like how you are enjoying life. You are very friendly. You are doing very well in Spanish. Chao, chao. Migue

Look at the Che Guevarra reference, good work. BYU does rock. -Landon


 * __READING RESPONSE__**

I was struck that this article hit on some themes that we are taught in a religious setting. At BYU, we are encouraged at the start of each semester by our professors to be not just students, but life-long-learners. To me, this is similar to learning to progressively problem solve because I don’t envision a life-long-learner as someone who just picks up a new textbook every year and learns about a new subject. I picture that person as one who is constantly trying new things, and improving themselves, applying the good that they learn. To continue with the religious idea, I really do think that progressive-problem-solving is a bit like preparing for eternal life. It’s like enduring to the end in academic terms. We know that the phrase “enduring to the end” does not mean that there really is a finish line that we reach where we will sit down and stop progressing. Learning to endure to the end is like learning to be an expert in any field. You never really arrive, you keep pushing yourself.

As we learn to handle certain problems, our responses become automatic. This could make us seem like we are approaching expertise in some area, but many eventually stop once they’ve reached an acceptable level of performance, relying on automaticity to get them through. Through automatizing(?) their performance, they have freed up all sorts of mental resources though that could be re-invested in what they are doing. One way to do this is to welcome new problems that require unfamiliar skills, another way is to re-evaluate an old problem and see if you can improve the way you solve it. I loved reading about the teacher, Margot, who did this. Whereas at the beginning of her career she would deal with a certain type of student in a particular way (because she had many other tasks on her mind), now that she has better control of her classroom and teaching, she is re-assessing how she deals with that type of student to see if she can improve on what she has done in the past.

One final thought: I liked the idea of FLOW being a reason why people pursue excellence. The description sounded exactly like people getting high off the process of becoming experts. Watching “flow” in action is kind of cool. I have a younger brother who is not as academically minded as other people in my family, but I almost consider him the smartest one in the family. When he wants to learn something, he learns it //really// well. One summer, he decided to learn to rock-climb and no one thought much of it. He got videos, books, put a wall-board up in his room to work on his strength…and before we knew it, he was really good at climbing. And it wasn’t just that he was strong, he was dang good with his technique. He climbs as often as he can, and is constantly trying things that are more and more difficult. He obviously experiences some kind of “flow,” because he gets excited just watching instructional rock-climbing videos on YouTube. Everywhere we go, people seem to know him as the rock-climbing-guy, even when he doesn’t know their names. He definitely knows something of progressive-problem-solving and becoming an expert in his own way.

Hannah: Me agrada mucho la relación que haces de estudiantes permanentes. Es verdad, así como en cualquier ámbito de la vida, los profesores no se detienen aprendiendo. Y esto no quiere decir, que deban estar tomando clases y más clases de perfeccionamiento, o leyendo cientos de libros. Sino que quiere decir que sean capaces de aplicar lo que han aprendido. Respecto a tu hermano; él es un buen ejemplo de preparación, y de que no nacemos sabiendo todo, pero sí de que podemos lograr todo aquello que nos proponemos, a través de mucha preparación y perseverancia.

Chao,

Miguelina

Hannah, I liked how you referred to the Gospel aspect of the article. Even though there was nothing particularly religious about the article, for BYU students we have a deeper understanding of life and the purpose of it. We can see the importance of trying to "push ourselves" as you put it. Doing our best is what we are trying to achieve and not just getting by. Also I agree with you about the "Flow". Experts in any field get in some kind of groove that propels them to keep reaching for more and challenging themselves to improve. - Mark

Hannah: Although I discussed a differnet aspect of the article in my response, I agree with you. I think the church is a 2nd order establishment that encourages us to become experts in the gospel and all aspects of our lives. I see new moms start with one child and they are overwhelmes and soon they have 5 kids, and serve as the relief society president and still strive to imprve themselves. It becomes automatic. I also agree that FLOW is the motivator. Not everyone makes the money, but they feel good about the improvement.

Randy