Josh Eyler, and Bonni Stachowiak talk about lessons in teaching from Pixar.

PODCAST NOTES

#065: Teaching lessons from Pixar

Guest:

Dr. Joshua Eyler, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rice University

• Former guest on episode #016, Biology, the Brain, and Learning
• Josh Eyler’s Blog
• Josh Eyler on Twitter

Josh’s Pixar course

• The hero’s journey
• Loss in children’s media
• WallE – environmental messages, religious messages/themes

Student-taught teaching, supported by Rice’s Center for Teaching Excellence

Heard on Twitter: Pixar favorites

Brian Croxall – Toy Story 2

https://twitter.com/briancroxall/status/641298742843441152

Shyama – Finding Nemo and The Incredibles

https://twitter.com/MedievalPhDemon/status/641254627082641408

Edna Mode

https://twitter.com/MedievalPhDemon/status/641258572383428608

Sandie Morgan

Monsters Inc.

https://twitter.com/sandiemorgan/status/641327082807672833

Cautionary note

Funny episode of Very Bad Wizards where they discuss the criticisms of the Inside Out movie, when it should have been clear to everyone that the movie wasn’t intended to actually represent how the brain works…

Opportunities to learn from our students are abundant

Finding Nemo

“If we only focus on [our role of imparting wisdom], we miss out on those moments when students can share something with us that opens our eyes to the material in a way we have never seen it before.” – Josh Eyler

Bonni shared about making assumptions on episode 63

Great teaching begins with a boundless passion for our subject

Ratatouille

Great teaching begins with a boundless passion for our subject

“Passion is sometimes an underrated part of what we do as teachers that can be really effective in reaching our students.” – Josh Eyler

Gradually reducing coaching helps students learn

Finding Nemo

David Merrill’s advice on instructional design: Instructional guidance should be gradually reduced

“In order to learn anything, we need to confront the failure of faulty knowledge, of faulty mental models. Students aren’t given enough opportunity to do that and when they are, the stakes are way too high for them.” – Josh Eyler

Mindset matters and so does proximal development

Toy Story

• Mindset on episode #062 with Rebecca Campbell
• James Lang on Mindset in The Chronicle
• More than mindset: Josh’s writing on Vygotsky

“Understanding our intellectual development in more complex terms can help students wrap their minds around the learning process.” – Josh Eyler

The pursuit of knowledge can be heightened through curiosity

Constructivism

“Curiosity is one of our most deeply rooted mechanisms by which human beings learn.” – Josh Eyler

“It’s that curiosity – that desire to know – that we need to be cultivating in our classrooms.” Josh Eyler

The knife that solves the butter problem

Learning happens everywhere

Up

“The reality is that learning is a very big idea and it happens everywhere.” – Josh Eyler

“My wife has been very sick for the last year and I’ve learned quite a bit about courage from her. I learn so much from my three year-old daughter about how to tackle life with a toddler’s zeal.” – Josh Eyler

RECOMMENDATIONS

Bonni recommends:

Josh’s essays:

• The Grief of Pain (mentioned on Vulnerability in Our Teaching)
• Just Keep Swimming: A Semester of Teaching Pixar

Josh recommends:

• The Pixar Theory
• The Pixar Theory book

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