What's in a Name?

Learning, thinking, knowing and understanding are significantly enhanced when one is provided with opportunities for 'talking one's way to meaning'.

Brian Cambourne

I decided to blog after a discussion with a colleague in GVSU's College of Education. He explained that blogging gave him a platform to share those ideas that he found himself repeating in class after class. I could relate since I, too, have my favorite "stories" and "sayings" that I share every semester. Being a mathematician, I liked the efficiency associated with this approach to blogging. As I thought more about it, however, I realized that it offered more than that. A blog would provide me the chance to write my way to understanding.

That is where Scape comes from in my blog's name. I want to try to understand the educational landscape. I agree with Cambourne that trying to share my perspective with others consolidates my thinking and enhances my understanding. This blog is not intended to change the reader's thinking, just the writer's. (Here is an example.)

And that is where Delta comes in. Delta is the mathematical symbol for change. (It is also the Greek d, as in David - some things aren't that deep.) I am in the habit of beginning each class by apologizing to my learners. I'll teach the class better next time because of what I learn from my interactions with them and from their feedback. I remind them that they are free to take the class next year - when it is improved. No one takes me up on that, but it sets the tone that I expect to grow as an educator.

So that is why I chose Delta Scape as the name for my blog. Writing it will hopefully sharpen (and change) my perspective of teaching and learning. Feel free to peek in to see what I've learned. Or wait until next year, when I'm sure it will be better.