A lesson from Jack about motivation

The new dog is helping the old girl learn new tricks about motivation and its connection to learning. (The new dog is Jack who is growing by leaps and bounds; the old girl is yours truly.)

In case you hadn't noticed, it's hot outside. We have now learned that Jack doesn't much like the heat (smart dog, that Jack!) I'm juggling, trying to keep the air conditioning bill under control and the number of "accidents" on the carpets to a minimum. We have a dog door, but the old dog hasn't been doing a very good job mentoring, and Jack has been reluctant to try it on his own. But he really gets very (ah) jacked out of shape (tee hee) when he can't find Roxy in all the usual places.

This morning, I really couldn't bear leaving the sliding door open so Jack could head out to the yard on his own, so I let him out and then closed the door. Lo and behold! Jack finished his toilette and then dashed back into the cool clime of the bedroom -- whoosh, right through the dog door without a pause. Good dog, Jack!

Somewhat later, he saw Roxy out in the grass, and the next thing I know, he's streaking out through the dog door to join her. Wow! That's a new one! The dog door swings both ways. Good dog, Jack! He seems just so damned pleased with himself, now that he's figured this out. Not as much as we are, you can be sure.

While we've been talking up play, we've also noticed that participation in 23 Things has waned a bit this week. Maybe it's because of the heat, or maybe everyone's hitting the road on vacation, or hauling out the flags and the bunting for next week's celebrations, but it may be also that we need a little jolt, a kick of motivation that doesn't depend just on play.

So Jack's learned a new skill that gives him greater independence, and he's really pleased with himself. (Of course, I've been effusive in my praise too, but I don't think he's going in and out of the dog door for me.) I just hope other 23-Things players are learning too, and getting personal satisfaction out of it, but it would be nice to be able to add some yummy cookies to those wagons! Share!

An old dog can learn new tricks!

All she needs is a new dog (preferably a puppy) to teach her.

We've had a breakthrough. Just as I was trying to create a shareable slideshow illustrating the idea of detente, we moved right along to cavorting, tug-of-war, and other games. Jack is the teacher, and Browser is newly energized, alert and playful. She's also learned tolerance and patience, although every now and again she snaps at the puppy as if to say, "That's just too far!" Each day they learn a new way to play.

I think we're really going to like having Jack crate-trained because it gives both of them protection from the other. Jack now knows that he can find his favorite toys in his crate, that there's often water there, and that it's a comfy place to nap.

It's nice to know that young'uns can teach us old folks a thing or two. I'll have to remember that this fall as I greet a new group of students (mostly 18 or so, a few even younger.)

I took this picture with my MotoQ (PDA/cell phone), emailed it to myself, cropped it in Picture Manager, uploaded it to the Cartooner in Fd's Flickr Toys to add the balloons (thanks, Christine, for this neat tool), saved it to my PC, and then uploaded it to this blog to share with you. Wow! I can see great ways to use this! I'm looking at my pictures in a whole new way.

Jack in the Box

We dropped some money last week on a number of toys for Jack. Squeezy things that make noise when he chews them or tosses them about. But which one do you think he likes best? Yup. A box. Isn't that always the case? Sometimes he gets in the box, but mostly he's chewing it up. I'll try to take more pictures of Jack in the box.

This is my first post from Flickr, and I think Christine's instructions are great! I've tagged all my photos with KTS07 (that's 07 as in 2007) so I can be able to find them easily. I was able to post from Flickr to this blog, so now I'm going to try to upload photos from my cell phone and from my MotoQ. So much to learn about these devices!

Now I'm off to see if anyone else has a dog who likes to play in a box. I know that a box, preferably a refrigerator box, was the absolutely best toy for our kids, so it doesn't surprise me that the puppy likes them too.

The power of play

We are learning about the power of play to build friendships. Well, we aren't learning that. Jack and Browser are. I don't have any pictures yet of them cavorting in the yard together, but we had a big breakthrough this evening, actual play (rather than just tolerance) with tails wagging and some silly toy-swiping. (Don't you admire our restraint in not calling this puppy Spot?)

So we know that play is a great way of learning, but I think we're also learning that playing together is a great way of forming those supportive friendships that allow us to make mistakes -- which is one of the things that happens when we really learn. I think it is sad that playfulness, a key part of experimentation, is missing from a lot of learning, and I've been thinking about how I can get some of it back into my writing classes. What I really want is for students to have fun, play around, and then ZAPPO . . . suddenly realize that they've learned something useful and important. Something more for me to chew on . . .

By the way, I have three or four other ideas cooking based on other posts I have read. I'm going to start them and save them without posting so I can go back and work on them over the next few days. It took me a while to understand the difference between those two buttons below the compose window. I have to remember to read the screen :-)

You don't know Jack

I'm learning a lot these days about learning. Yesterday we added Jack to our household. He's a 9-week-old mix of yellow Labrador and Australian Shepherd (so they say). He's very cute, but I think this is really Learning-point-five, and it's unclear who's the learner and who's the teacher.

So some of this is kill-and-drill (pee in the yard, not in the house); some of it is curiosity (he sniffs everything and takes an exploratory chew of most, including lamp cords and shoes). There's a lot of trial-and-error learning here too; he's learning the difference between the part of the sliding door that is glass and the part that is open, and yesterday afternoon he tumbled into the pool, just not looking where he was going. Last night, he was (not very successfully) learning to go to sleep.

Jack is the back-up dog; the main dog, Browser, moved to her exalted status last year when the former main dog died. She's learning too, mainly that this small piece of energy is just a pain, and she heads off in the other direction whenever she can. If anything, she looks at this novice with annoyance, making her comfortable life much less secure and predictable. Where's the mentoring, I wonder? The big dog teaching the small dog the way through the dog door, the best places in the yard, which sounds mean fun and which mean food? Browser isn't being a responsible mentor. Maybe eventually she'll grow into it and become the big sister Jack needs in order to learn to be a member of this family.

Granted, Jack's a dog, and a very young one at that, but I can't help think that I learn through drill, curiosity, exploration, play, trial-and-error, observation and habit. All of those are effective learning strategies, and I know how wonderful it is to have mentors.

I'll just have to chew on these ideas a bit. That's allowed, isn't it?