Faq Reference Data Information

Recently, I noticed that another new national initiative has emerged within our communities – Reading is Fundamental. Yes, reading is absolutely fundamental, but reading is not the only way we learn. Howard Gardner in his theory of multiple-intelligences has demonstrated that many human beings learn differently.

Years ago when I was a young child, I observed a distant family member who had an ear for music. As I grew older, I experienced others who had such a gift including my mother-in-law. Both could not read sheet music, however this lack of reading did not impede their performance. Sometimes we hear of individuals who demonstrate performance in the arts without any formalized training. I believe Grandma Moses was one of those individuals.

While we need to embrace reading or literacy for all of our citizens, we should not forget the desired end result. performance is everything because in life learning is fundamental for everyone or what I call the P.I.E. of L.I.F.F.E. I believe it is our continued performance as human beings that has allowed us to grow and evolve into the 21st century.

During the last several years while sharing performance improvement strategies with individuals, educational institutions and businesses, I have come to believe that many of us equate learning with performance. These two words are distinctly unique and most definitely related, but should not be considered or implied as synonyms. When these terms are used interchangeably, I believe this may help to explain the lack of sustainable change.

I would ask you to consider the following two simplified definitions for learning and performance. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge while performance is the application of knowledge. In school, we learn specific knowledge and skills. This learning usually is accompanied by textbooks that we read and why reading is fundamental within our educational structure.

For example, we learn that a simple complete sentence has a subject, verb and object. We also learn that an essay has a beginning, middle and conclusion. Performance is where we apply knowledge such as complete sentences to complete an essay with 3 parts. Unfortunately, application is where many students demonstrate a perceived lack of learning especially with regards to the numerous accountability tools such as state educational exams, IOWA Basic, etc.

To better understand the distinction between learning and performance, I employ a graphic tool called the

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