Made to Stick and Thinking Fast and Slow

These two books shifted the way that I think about presenting ideas to students. Made to Stick, written by Chip and Dan Heath, has a clear way to think about how to make ideas "sticky" so that they resonate with listeners/viewers. The six principles for sticky ideas create the acronym, SUCCESs:

• Simple--prioritizing and finding the key message or core idea
  
• Unexpected--surprising people in a variety of ways, including challenging assumptions
  
• Concrete--using real-world, sensory images to convey messages or complex ideas
  
• Credible--creating a way for people to "test drive" the message and judge for themselves
  
• Emotional--finding the right emotions to evoke in order to share an idea/ message
  
• Story--creating a "mental flight simulator" so that people can understand ideas
  

This is my first year of teaching a Sophomore English class, and I consistently find that my "aha" lessons are based on these core principles. The "zzz" lessons are when I lecture or ask them find answers to questions about the text. The students respond when I surprise them or when I create an emotionally charged way to share the material (such as comparing two movie versions of Hamlet, focusing on the ways in which the directors manipulate the text and the emotions of the audience.) They respond when I use concrete methods, such as responding to a post by student in another state using an online forum. It is a struggle to challenge myself to think of ways to teach using these principles, since I am very new to this subject area. When I get frustrated, the Made to Stick book can usually spark some new ideas to try in class.

I have just started reading the book, Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. I am now thinking about mental processes in a very different way. Kahneman describes two types of mental systems that we depend on to make judgements and decisions. "System 1 is fast, intuitive and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative and more logical." I feel like my students are operating mostly with their System 1 thinking, making snap judgments and tuning out when their emotions are not engaged. As an English major, I would love to see my students enjoy an immersion in System 2 thinking, in which they wrestle with ideas and challenge their assumptions about the world. I plan to post more thoughts about this book as I read more...I hope that this reading will help me to understand the "screenager" mentality, since I live with 2 teens who would love to spend most of their lives glued to a screen. They interact with friends and virtual friends in an online world dominated by rich fantasy games. How can they find balance between the real and virtual worlds when the online world inspires addictive behaviors? How can they use their System 2 thinking to see this addictive side of their fantasy world?