TED Community » Joseph Espinosa

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• A comment on Talk: Susan Cain: The power of introverts

  Mar 19 2012: I enjoyed the presentation. I am considered an extrovert when required and an introvert when needed. Which means I can get the party started or I can just the hell up and listen. I've found in our (American) society is in "make the sale, get that money" mode. The perverted examples of being successful are the ones where it's superficial selfish promotion that generates money. Those examples are the ones that our youth have embraced and being an introvert is not celebrated. Everyone knows Snooki, and Jersey Shore, who Payton Manning is, what TMZ is, who Steve Jobs is all because of constant bombardment of promotion which in turn yields greater exposure. My personal vibe from the lecture is "Hey, we are introverts and important too, guys come on be nice to us". Yes you are, but to quote Les Brown "The saddest place on the planet is grave yard, for there you will find ideas, visions and dreams that were never achieved". It's important that introverts speak up and share with us and not be afraid! Introverts and not speaking up, give off a fear vibe. Scared to say something, scared to stand up. You have to forced to finally take action, just like Rosa Parks, Gahndi, etc.. I was always taught when you argue with someone, if your point/side is strong enough, you can whisper and win the argument. However, you still have to be brave enough to open your mouth and engage.

• A reply on Talk: William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer?

  Feb 24 2012: Just like the beginning stages of cancer is still not cancer (sarcasm)

• A reply on Conversation: What are the advantages/disadvantages of learning models that exist outside of traditional educational institutions?

  Feb 15 2012: I think this concept was solidified when the first "Little Professor" Texas Instrument calculator came out.
  
  What the "gaming" concept provides is the a sense of (level) accomplishment instead of just a letter grade. I think the Leap Pad and other electronics companies have seen vast improvement when learning is turned into a video game. I'm concerned about the bastardization of it when it's tied into corporate characters (such as Disney and Pokemon, etc..). However, it's a catch-22, it's those character that allow the child to be open to learning and using that particular video game because of the cartoon character affiliation. That is what worries me a bit. But if it's Micky, Piccachu, Batman, or any character, if it does a better job teach my kids math, science, literature, or english, then i could care less about the presentation as long as the goal of learning is achieved.
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  A comment on Conversation: What are the advantages/disadvantages of learning models that exist outside of traditional educational institutions?

  Feb 15 2012: I think just like different teachers teach different ways, so goes the system of education. We all learn things different ways. Some can grasp concepts by reading then doing, others by doing making a mistake and then understanding why that mistake occurred thus learning that way. I think classroom teaching is good for general overall topic discussions and presentations. However, I feel with so many flavors of learning, how can we judge a child by not grasping onto a concept or lesson taught in a way that's not suited to their comprehension style? I have a 7 year old, and I find that children love the concept of learning on computers, but most of their state and district comprehension tests occur with paper and pencil. We've found that the concepts are learned, but presenting what they have learned in a different format affects their outcome. (Translation: Kids are learning by computer, but testing is done with pencil and paper over the same thing but they are failing because the question and testing is presented differently.) Same thing occured when kids had to count using money. On paper, they could do math with drawn images of money and make change. But if you gave them real money and asked them do the same thing, they freak out because the presentation is different. I'd like to hear other people's thoughts. Hopefully, I'm not off topic here.

• A comment on Conversation: Why is visual literacy discouraged in most cultures & WHAT CAN WE DO to change that?

  Oct 31 2011: I thought historically (back in the day), not using visual elements for education was a sign of being a rich and educated. If you couldn't read, it was probably because you didn't go to school and if you didn't go to school it probably meant you were not rich enough to do so. I see reading as just another input mechanism to the mind so that you can take textual data, convert it into visual data. Come to think of it, visual elements are the way we learn. There is something to say about emotional elements as well, but that's for another conversation. I think the trend is changing, if the overall objective is to get a person to learn about "A", does the mechanism for teaching that concept really matter? Heck, O'Riley's "Head Start" series is focused on displaying programming elements and methods through the use of visual examples. I don't think it disappears, I just don't think enough of visual teaching is being performed.