Cartoon Satire of Apparent Effort
In an independent research-based class, there’s a lot of free time, presumably to do work. For many kids in our class, working is an unattractive option. The other day I looked around me in Age of Ex to see a kid on my right playing “Rubber Ninjas” and the guy on my left watching South Park. I wonder why they put so little effort into things and make them look presentable, making a sub-par final result that had potential to be a ton better if they actually worked on it.
“The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.” ~Author Unknown
We’re starting a project on Political Theory in the 1600s, and we were supposed to read a 16-page excerpt from a book by Anthony Upton. It took three class periods and about an hour or so at home to finally finish it, so it’s no wonder that some people didn’t. Mike gave us about a week to do it; out of the 18 kids in our class, a couple didn’t even start it, probably around 60% of us finished it, and only a few of us took notes or really understood it much. Somehow, the loose knowledge of the reading didn’t negatively affect our class discussion. One kid who claimed he didn’t do the reading actually contributed some useful points to the discussion. When people started catching on to the main points, they contributed ideas that people who did the whole reading never thought of.
I’m not saying that my classmates and I didn’t understand the information; learning without doing the work seems to be what we’re best at. In our last project, on the Reformation, people who played games, watched TV, or constantly checked Facebook during class for the first few weeks of the project. When the final few days of the project rolled around, they sped-read some websites, slapped together a blog post or presentation, and somehow managed to make it look decent. Some of the papers I read were actually very good and insightful, although I knew they did it all in just a few days when we were given almost a month. Do distant deadlines make people more diligent about doing work on their own schedule, or just better at “winging it?” Could all my hard work be going to waste, seeming identical to that which took half the effort? I don’t think so.
I’ll admit I’m not the perfect hard-working student. Everyone needs to take breaks, let their brain rest to be able to come back to something and tackle it differently.
“I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” ~Larry Bird
Larry has it partially right, but my classmates bring up another point. If you give 100 percent some of the time, things will work out pretty well too.
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Picture Cited:
hardly_working_3.jpeg, http://lobodecoded.blogspot.com/2010/11/indian-workforce-hard-working-or-hardly.html
The Age of Exploration Blog 
arjun198
December 8, 2011
Spencer,
The last line is super deep! In any case, I find your ideas interesting about how you don’t have to go all out all the time in order to have a good final project. Considering this, do you think this will change the way you work on these projects in the future?
spencer111
December 8, 2011
Thanks Arjun,
I think I’m going to keep attacking my projects the way I’ve been doing. I guess I could be able to slap something together pretty quickly, but I think that would undermine the whole point of the project. I want to work for learning, not just to get a good grade. It’s true that breaks and rest from working too hard are great, but I’m going to use the relatively short 50 minutes we have in class every day to put together some quality.
Spencer
claretab
December 8, 2011
Hi Spencer!
I liked reading your post, what you wrote is so true! Sometimes I wonder if working really hard pays off, too, but I always come up with the same answer: yes. I agree that we need breaks, and I think that if we pushed ourselves to do our best all the time, the result would be not as good because we’d be too tired. I think there are different ways to get the content of the readings–Do you find that finishing the readings and taking notes on them is helpful for you? Or is it more productive to skim them and think of some questions to ask in class discussions? How do you plan to spend your time working on the next project?
Thanks for voicing your opinions on this topic, I liked that you acknowledge that working hard is good but that breaks are also important.
Good luck with this project!
-Clare
spencer111
December 11, 2011
Thanks Clare,
I like to finish the readings pretty thoroughly to absorb as much information as I can, but skimming it then actually thinking about the reading definitely would work out well too. A nice balance in between skimming and carefully reading would allow you to get all the information, but be able to think about it in your own words without just thinking the words of the author. Good luck with this project yourself!
Spencer
Christina
December 9, 2011
It’s frustrating to be the one who’s doing what’s right. It’s irritating to be in a group… infuriating… to be in a group where you’re doing all the work, the others are chit chatting, and they mooch off you.
As a much younger teacher, there was another teacher who was the epitome of slacker. Many of us would complain that this person was bringing down the quality, and why should we be exceptional when this person was getting away with mediocrity? We were told not to worry about other people, but to be the best we can be. I can’t tell you that, even as an adult, I took that advice well, but ultimately, I have to put MY best to get the outcomes that I want, regardless of what or how others around me are doing.
spencer111
December 11, 2011
Thanks for the comment Christina,
It’s not really “infuriating” to me when other people aren’t doing work, but I see how it could be. If my classmates don’t want to put in their best effort, that’s fine by me. A lot of people do do a great job, however, and it’s those people who should get the recognition; it’s not that those not doing a great job should get any blame.
Spencer
Mike Gwaltney
December 11, 2011
Spencer, thank you for this thoughtful, honest post. I appreciate your willingness to be transparent about your experience with our class.
Age of Ex is built on the philosophical premise (at least in my mind) that students gain more from a course that allows them to explore on their own, rather than follow instructions from the teacher. The idea is that history is more engaging when it’s more like detective work than prescriptive/linear steps toward a predetermined, standardized end. Furthermore, there are some important skill-based goals for learning (time-management, self-direction, etc.) the strategies for which allow much more latitude for how people use class time. It is hoped that over the course of the year the lessons will be learned, even if it appears to happen at different rates.
Of course, as in any class, I expect that the level of commitment varies. I suspect that has been your experience in other courses, yes? That the time and effort students put into work spans a spectrum, despite assignments, reminders, structure, etc., yes? For example, on the Reformation projects you referenced, it is obvious to me that the level of effort and analysis varied.
As Christina did in her reply, I want to encourage you to continue to use your time wisely. You’ll experience time and again over your life this phenomena of people seemingly putting in less effort and still succeeding, or appearing to succeed, if only temporarily. I can tell you though that those who are diligent seem to benefit in the end.
Keep up the good work blogging, and in Age of Ex in general, Spencer.
Mike
Rebecca Stees
December 12, 2011
Hello Spencer,
Have you ever heard of Gladwell’s 10,000-Hour Rule?
Studies suggest that the key to success in any field has nothing to do with talent. It’s simply practice, 10,000 hours of it — 20 hours a week for 10 years.
The more you practice the luckier you get.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858880,00.html#ixzz1gLCBXMvz
spencer111
December 12, 2011
Thanks for the interesting article, Rebecca;
The 10,000 hour rule makes it seem like it’s not too hard (if you put in a lot of time) to become an “expert” at something, but for me that presents a conundrum. If you can only be successful at something by devoting all your time to it, then it becomes a lot harder to become great at more than one thing, and even harder to become great at three or more things. For someone who’s interested in everything, these choices are hard.
Spencer
Mike Gwaltney
December 12, 2011
Let me put in a plug for “Outliers” – the Gladwell book in which he provides examples of the 10,000 hour rule. If you do the math, that’s A LOT of hours, days, weeks, years, if you plan to also sleep, eat, have a life… But not so many that you can’t become expert at a few or more things, Spencer. The book is worth a read:
Rebecca Stees
December 12, 2011
Dear Spencer,
What are the two or three things that might interest you?
Have you ever read about the qualities of a “scanner”?
http://getmotivation.com/articlelib/articles/barbara_sher_scanner.html
…..
It might be that you are the person in the world that bridges two or three concepts that gives birth to a new innovation.
Keep an open mind but keep practicing.
Rebecca Stees
December 12, 2011
An innate gift and a certain amount of intelligence are important, but what really pays is ordinary experience. Bill Gates is successful largely because he had the good fortune to attend a school that gave him the opportunity to spend an enormous amount of time programming computers-more than 10,000 hours, in fact, before he ever started his own company. He was also born at a time when that experience was extremely rare, which set him apart. The Beatles had a musical gift, but what made them the Beatles was a random invitation to play in Hamburg, Germany, where they performed live as much as five hours a night, seven days a week. That early opportunity for practice made them shine. Talented? Absolutely. But they also simply put in more hours than anyone else. – Ibid pg 38-39.
“Sometimes constraints actually create success. Not being able to swim made me run. And running taught me the discipline I needed as a writer.” – Ibid pg 38.
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
The Beatles probably had a few talents: Playing instruments, writing songs, performing, marketing, business, philosophy, religion, making artwork, building friendships…..
rockteacher50
December 27, 2011
Spencer,
I really enjoyed your post. I can relate to the struggle between ongoing effort of some people and the last minute push that works for others (or seems to). I think that if you work hard and try your best that you really appreciate those times when you can take it a little bit easier. I also used to dread group work because there are always those who appear to do less and I am always such a keener. I’ve learned to appreciate the differences (it’s the nature of humans, after all) and try not to sweat the small stuff…easier said than done.
spencer111
January 3, 2012
Thanks for the comment, rockteacher50. I think I may have made it sound in my post like I dislike how other people can seem to do so little, but really it was just a small observation. As they say all the time in Australia, “no worries, mate.” If they don’t want to do any work, that’s their problem. If I’m in a group with them, though, I’ll definitely try to pull them along.
Spencer
MakotoRen
December 28, 2011
I really enjoyed reading your post. I think you raise some very good questions and I think your last line around the idea that giving 100% sometimes can work out really well is insightful.
I would expand on this idea. Hard work certainly pays off. But how are we defining hard work? Is it only when we are actively studying the article or research? Is learning something that we turn on and off? When we’re doing the teacher’s assignment we are working hard at our studies, but when we are playing does learning stop?
I raise these questions because, admittedly, my own learning habits drive some other people I know a bit crazy. I am the type of person who will get an assignment. Read it. Think about it a few days. Read the related articles. Do some research. And then, to an outsiders view, I do nothing. I work. I play. About two nights (sometimes the night before) the paper is due, I sit down and I write and write and write for several hours. I reread, revise, finalize… often all at once over the span of 3 – 8 hours (depending how long the assignment is). I turn the assignment in on time and generally do well. But I would say the key to my success is that, during the period when people thought I was “doing nothing”, the assignment was in my head. The articles and research were mixing in my thoughts. Deliberately or not, I use this time to find connections between the topic and my daily life — internet, play, work — and so the paper takes shape in my mind first as I think deeply, plan and reflect. In the end, this space makes my “speed writing” possible because, by the time I put my thoughts to words I already have a very good idea what I want to say and how I want my voice to be heard.
I firmly believe through hard work all things are possible. I think, sometimes, that the way people define “hard work” is rigid and limited. The opportunity to learn and reflect is always there with us 100% of our day, whether we actively seek to learn or not. Connecting our learning to our life is, in my opinion, the way new learning stays with us longest.
And blogging helps. Writing down what we learn helps us remember it and reflect more deeply as we tie new learning to old learning through review of our old writings. We learn, then forget and relearn. It’s certainly a cycle. 🙂
spencer111
January 3, 2012
Thanks, MakotoRen. I often find that during these long Age of Ex projects, I sit around reading articles and thinking about things for the majority of the time. When I decide I’m ready to write, I surprise myself at how fast I can finish writing a paper. Although in the original blog post I said working at 100% some of the time works, working at something more like 5% ALL the time is very effective too. I suppose to some of my classmates, it may seem that I’m not doing much either. It could look like I just go on my computer and read random articles, but when it comes time to finish the job, all that time spent reading and thinking pays off.
Spencer
hayley220
January 11, 2012
Hi Spencer!
Your blog voiced all the thoughts I’ve been having during our Age of Ex class. I find it interesting how different people choose to manage their workload, and I’ve noticed that as project due dates loom closer, people suddenly become much more diligent in their research. This class seems as much a history course as it is an investigation of peoples’ learning and research styles.
Thank you for your insightful and truthful post!
-Hayley