Lesson Report:
Title
Wisdom vs. Education: Reflective Writing, Debate, and Tagore’s “The Parrot’s Training�
Synopsis: This session explored distinctions among being smart, educated, and wise, with an emphasis on ethics, decision-making, and personal development. Students completed brief free-writes, engaged in a structured share-out and debate, and analyzed Rabindranath Tagore’s short story “The Parrot’s Training� as a critique of rote, performative schooling. The objectives were to deepen students’ conceptual vocabulary about education, interrogate assumptions about success and wisdom, and prepare for group literary analysis.
Attendance
– Students explicitly mentioned absent: 0
– Note: Instructor and students referenced ongoing electricity issues; participation may have been affected.
Topics Covered (chronological, with activity names)
1) Opening Adjustment: Portfolio Sharing Opt-Out
– Instructor gauged interest via thumbs-up; majority preferred not to publicly share portfolios.
– Decision: Skip live portfolio sharing for this session; proceed to main activity.
– Logistics: Student (Muhammad Jawad) asked about portfolio submission; instructor approved submitting final portfolios via personal email.
2) Framing the Session: Education as Near-Term Future
– Context-setting: Linking students’ past to their near future; university (UAF) education framed as both opportunity and challenge.
– Acknowledgment of constraints: Electricity outage mentioned; instructor at 8% battery; encouraged attendance but expressed understanding for those unable to join.
3) Concept Primer Discussion: “Smart� vs. “Wise�
– Prompt: What’s the difference between being smart and being wise?
– Key student contributions:
– Sara: Wisdom linked to maturity/experience; smart = cleverness; wise = maturity in speech/behavior.
– Umra: Smart = high IQ/knowing facts; wise = using knowledge for good decisions (application).
– Zahra: Smart = quick problem-solving and knowledge; wise = deeper use of knowledge + timing/judgment (knowing what, how, and when).
– Mariam (chat): “Every wise person is smart; not all smart people are wise.â€� Instructor flagged for later analysis.
– Instructor move: Withheld judgment; promised to return after further activities.
4) Free-Write 1 (3 minutes): “What is true education?�
– Instructions: Individual notebook response; jot key ideas.
5) Free-Write 2 (3 minutes): “What is the difference between being educated and being wise?�
– Instructions: Individual notebook response; prepare to share either prompt.
6) Share-Out and Guided Debate: Education, Wisdom, and Success
– Umani: True education must align with ethics; social conduct matters; degrees without ethical behavior garner little respect. Claimed wisdom is a gift given to a few; not simply learned.
– Katayoun: Education = learning available content; wisdom = deep understanding that must accompany learning; classroom learning alone is insufficient.
– Sara: True education includes self-knowledge, character work, and critical thinking; educated ≠necessarily loved/respected; wise people are often respected for good decisions.
– Nargis: Education has clear pathways/timelines (e.g., 12 years of school); wisdom develops over longer, less linear timelines and is reflected in behavior and analytical thinking; certification ≠respect.
– Abdulbayaz: Educated = can answer questions; wise = developed through experience and learning from decisions. Raised question: Are successful people necessarily wise?
– Umra (response): Many successful figures lack formal education yet demonstrate wisdom via decision-making; education is one path to wisdom, not the only one (example: Steve Jobs).
– Abdulbayaz (follow-up): Success ≠wisdom; cited public figures (e.g., Trump, Netanyahu, Musk) to challenge equating success with wisdom; framed wisdom as personal growth, not fame/wealth.
– Instructor: Added consideration of privilege/parental wealth as a predictor of “successâ€�; invited scrutiny of success metrics.
– Satara: True education = knowing/respecting self and society; elders without formal schooling can be “educatedâ€� in conduct and widely respected.
– Mariam: True education should satisfy both intellect and emotion (brain and heart). Posed the pivotal question: What are we doing to become wiser, not just educated?
– Sara (final share): Wisdom as innate/talent (God-given); used her mother’s life decisions as evidence of wisdom beyond formal schooling.
– Emergent themes:
– Wisdom as applied knowledge, judgment, timing, ethics, and social respect.
– Education vs. certification; formal learning vs. deeper understanding/self-knowledge.
– Disagreement on whether wisdom is innate (gift) or developed (experience).
– Success vs. wisdom; role of luck/privilege in outcomes.
7) Literary Anchor: Read-Aloud of Tagore’s “The Parrot’s Training�
– Materials: PDF shared in chat and Google Spaces; instructor screen-shared and read aloud to conserve time; noted popcorn reading will occur in the final session.
– Story highlights as framed for students:
– Raja commissions education of a bird; pundits prescribe a golden cage and torrents of copied texts; bureaucracy flourishes.
– Spectacle of “educationâ€� (noise, ceremonies) overshadows the learner; the bird’s throat is stuffed with book-leaves; natural behaviors suppressed; chains forged; wings clipped.
– Outcome: The bird dies; officials declare “education completedâ€�; only rustling of book-leaves remains inside the bird.
– Implicit critique: Systems that value appearances, accumulation of texts, and control over authentic learning, curiosity, and freedom.
8) Individual Analysis (5 minutes): Three Guiding Questions
– Instructions to write short responses:
1) What does the golden cage represent?
2) What do the “book leaves inside the bird� represent?
3) What is Tagore trying to tell us about education?
– Time management: ~5 minutes of individual jotting; planned to move to groups.
9) Preview of Group Work and Break
– Plan: 10-minute break, then small-group discussion to tackle main interpretive questions (inferred to include tying the story’s symbols to the earlier smart/educated/wise debate and to students’ own schooling experiences).
– Forward reference: More popcorn reading practice promised for next session.
Actionable Items
Immediate (before next class)
– Collect analysis responses:
– Gather students’ written answers to the three Tagore questions (accept photos or typed responses due to power issues).
– Re-post materials and confirm access:
– Share the story PDF again in LMS/Spaces; provide an offline-access version and a plain-text backup.
– Clarify portfolio submission:
– Confirm submission deadline, acceptable formats, and the instructor’s email (in response to Muhammad Jawad’s question); send reminder to entire class.
– Group work setup:
– Publish group assignments and the specific discussion prompts for the post-break/next session activity.
Next session
– Debrief Tagore:
– Facilitate small-group then whole-class synthesis on symbolism (golden cage, book leaves, spectacle) and implications for humane education.
– Revisit unresolved debates:
– Practical pathways to becoming wiser (habits, reflection, mentorship, ethical practice).
– Distinguish “successâ€� from wisdom; interrogate the role of privilege/luck.
– Consolidate definitions of smart vs. educated vs. wise; aim for class-generated criteria.
– Popcorn reading:
– Implement the promised fluency activity; prepare short, leveled passages.
Longer-term / course-level
– Design application task:
– Have students map Tagore’s characters/institutions (Raja, pundits, goldsmiths, supervisors, cage, chains) onto real educational practices they’ve experienced; propose reforms that foster wisdom.
– Equity/contingency planning:
– Given recurring electricity issues, prepare low-bandwidth backups: downloadable texts, audio-only dial-in, and flexible deadlines.
– Participation tracking:
– Note active contributors (e.g., Sara, Mariam, Umra, Zahra, Katayoun, Nargis, Abdulbayaz, Satara, Umani) and invite quieter students to lead pieces of next discussion.
Homework Instructions:
NO HOMEWORK
Because the class focused entirely on in-class activities (free writes on “true education� and “educated vs. wise,� a teacher-read short story, and answering three questions before group work after a 10-minute break), and the only assignment-related mention—“Should we send our final portfolio to your personal email?� “Yes, that’s totally fine.�—simply confirmed a previously assigned task without giving new take-home work.