The Excellent Conversation (with Wes & Amie)

Wes Carroll & Amie Dorsey
  • 5.0 (2)
  • EDUCATION

Pro tutors Wes Carroll and Amie Dorsey share insider views on American high-school education... and more. We gab, we gripe, and sometimes we even get to work solving the real problems affecting all of us and our kids. // See the conversation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXO0u6vZhrFyu9h0Z11h31Q

  1. 09/22/2021 · BONUS

    WATEC misses you! (WATEC #012.5)

    WATEC is taking a summer break. Looking forward to seeing you next month!

    28 sec

  2. 07/28/2021

    Not a Fair Fight—Individual instruction squares off against classroom learning. (WATEC #012)

    Wes and Ted debate individual vs group instruction. Why is individual instruction so much better? The person you're teaching is always more complicated than the subject you're discussing. https://tutorted.com​ | https://wescarroll.com 00:37 Casual introduction of Wes and Ted and what has been going on lately 06:15 How can I tell if Ted's class would be the best option for me? 09:00 Chaos's role in creativity 10:20 Choosing your own methods of organization and learning styles 19:50 WC: A teacher's ability to go wherever the student wants is limited only by the teacher's ability to follow 20:45 Personal responsibility of the student and the ways in which either encouraged or discouraged at the systemic level 22:40 Embodied cognition vs. our reinforced cultural model that all thinking happens in the brain 30:44 WC: Individual variation means maybe I use it as my go-to and maybe someone else uses it like once in a blue moon - it exists but used in different frequencies 32:05 WC: When the stars align, we learn like sponges. 33:35 Advantages of being the only learner in the room 34:26 TD: Is an effective teacher essentially the same as an effective pastor/faith leader? 38:45 Ineffective teachers 47:07 A teacher's role: building the systems and the incentives that lead to good student outcomes 51:10 The extreme value of feedback, especially negative 55:20 "Narrate your thought process." 56:50 Metathinking - awareness of one's own thinking 58:25 Jeremy Wolfe (and the McCullough effect) 1:02:51 Why did that lecture matter?

    1h 8m

  3. 06/23/2021

    Plato vs Modern Education—What does it take to transmit wisdom? (WATEC #011)

    "Plato scratched things in the dirt." Wes and Ted unpack that very cryptic quote that's been sitting on our planning spreadsheet since the beginning. https://tutorted.com​ | https://wescarroll.com

    1h 6m

  4. 06/02/2021

    Parenting—How do parenting and tutoring overlap? (WATEC #010)

    Wes and Ted don't parent their students, do they? Tutor Ted knows that he connects with students in a way that a parent typically cannot. Wes, both a tutor and a parent, weighs the similarities between tutoring and parenting... and the differences that everyone can learn from. What can parents do that tutors can't... and vice-versa? https://tutorted.com​  |  https://wescarroll.com

    1 hr

  5. 05/26/2021

    The Post-Zoom Classroom—What have we learned from the pandemic? (WATEC #009​)

    Wes and Ted have been thinking about how changes to the traditional school structure affects students—in bad ways and in good. Today they venture (eventually!) into a chat about what specific aspects of school under pandemic might help us as we exit our quarantine—and hope these changes make education even better. https://tutorted.com​  |  https://wescarroll.com

    1h 15m

  6. 05/19/2021

    Excellence, pt. 2—What is the true value of excellence? (WATEC #008)

    Wes and Ted answer deeper questions about excellence. If we agree that excellence should not be an end goal, what should be? Does excellence represent craftsmanship rather than artistry? Is Bill Gates excellent? Is Mark Zuckerberg excellent, or something else? If excellence travels along a linear path (from, say, inept-to-adequate-to-good-to-excellent), what does that imply about the flexibility and utility of it? Is excellence an end-state or a waypoint? https://tutorted.com​​  |  https://wescarroll.com​ 00:01​ Random discussion about excellence and introduction of Wes and Ted 03:45​ There's a lot of nuance in the word excellence 04:22​ Excellence is an artful juggling of different mental frameworks 07:15​ Excellence is being an accomplished or skilled craftsperson 10:55​ Comfort being the enemy of fulfillment 12:32​ Is excellence built to your psyche a helpful tool? 16:53​ We're behaving as though we live in a one-dimensional world 21:39​ Excellence is between 2 or 3 standard deviations above the mean 24:44​ You shouldn't make excellence your stopping point 27:00​ Move into a realm where you are defining what a better direction is 35:10​ Attempting to achieve excellence in a certain stage of cultural human development 38:00​ What is the thing that you want to get? 42:14​ Situated Cognition 48:40​ Mark Zuckerberg aimed for excellence and kept going in that direction even after achieving it instead of noting that there's a pivot point 50:35​ Excellence is achievable and after achieving it, take a pivot 54:30​ Excellence earns you a seat at the table and what you do with the seat at the table is up to you 58:36​ Part of what makes it beautiful is that you recognize it's a path along a presumably twisty path

    1h 3m

  7. 05/12/2021

    Excellence, pt. 1—What is excellence? And why am I chasing it? (WATEC #007)

    Wes and Ted discuss their old frenemy "excellence," and come to some surprising conclusions. Among them: Ted is not sure he endorses the pursuit of it. Why do we pursue it? What are we really after? Wes and Ted offer practical steps for achieving excellence (in case they haven't talked you out of pursuing it). https://tutorted.com​​  |  https://wescarroll.com​ 01:20​ Intro 06:50​ Topic of the day: Excellence (or burritos?) 10:20​ Excellence was part of the set of expectations in general 11:10​ Is there a standard for assessing, vetting or judging excellence? 13:47​ Framing excellence as being better than someone else 18:41​ By focusing on excellence you lose sight of other greater goals 23:42​ Regret - feeling a lost opportunity 28:16​ Many of success-oriented influencers agree that the most important thing is to be kind 30:10​ Kindness is good for your self-actualization. Self-actualization is good for your life span. 34:43​ Scientists have an obligation of being morally aware 35:54​ Motivation behind pursuing excellence is the rationalization of the energy spent 39:47​ Is excellence an end zone? 44:15​ Becoming cogs in an extremely powerful and successful innovation and value generation machine 46:14​ You are not limited to only pursuing excellence 46:44​ Excellent is not the word you use for someone who does something brand new 50:21​ If you want to achieve some goal, you have to spend a third of your time and energy 51:53​ We forget the part of the work of experts is to help us define the path 59:44​ We all ought to strive to be the best we can be 1:00:08​ We're getting into the long tail versus winner takes all phenomenon 1:02:53​ Pursuing every goal with personal passion 1:06:47​ Big part of excelling is knowing what step you're

    1h 9m

  8. 05/05/2021

    Subject Tests—The SAT Subject Tests are no more (WATEC #006)

    While Wes mourns the loss of the problem-solving of the Math Level 2 Subject Test, Ted kicks dirt on the grave of the tests he considers completely pointless. https://tutorted.com​​  |  https://wescarroll.com​ 00:12​ News on this day, January 20, 2021 01:12​ https://wescarroll.com/poignant/​ 05:00​ Who are Wes and Ted? 13:15​ Puzzle hunts 15:15​ Getting past brick walls 20:37​ Why solve puzzles? 22:15​ QAnon as a puzzle hunt 24:12​ Humans are natural problem solvers 25:20​ SAT Subject Tests are cancelled 26:43​ Wes & Ted argue over whether the test was good 28:20​ If I'm going to be tested on a thing, it's only fair that I'd be taught the thing 29:22​ Why you learn math in high school 30:40​ What you learn in one field applies to other fields 35:45​ What do the symbols of math really mean? 41:02​ What's the "right amount" of abstract thinking? 42:50​ Out of what you've learned, what parts do you want to keep? 47:53​ What is the ACT really testing? 49:09​ What is the SAT really testing? 49:55​ Marketing the SAT 53:48​ Get good at the game. (*Any* game.) 55:15​ But also, get good at making new games! 57:36​ The AMC is going to get more important 58:06​ How we agree: critical and creative thinking

    1h 12m
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About

Pro tutors Wes Carroll and Amie Dorsey share insider views on American high-school education... and more. We gab, we gripe, and sometimes we even get to work solving the real problems affecting all of us and our kids. // See the conversation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXO0u6vZhrFyu9h0Z11h31Q

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