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Peel the Banana Before Eating It

by Chen Wei last modified 2009-06-19 15:30

It is common sense that we eat bananas after peeling the bananas. But once, there was a lazy monkey who always ate bananas with the peel. He had kept this habit for many years. He was too lazy to peel bananas after picking them off the tree. Though it did not taste good, those bananas could feed his stomach up. Then many years later, he happened to have a sight of people. They first peel the bananas and then eat them. After that, human beings throw the peel away. The monkey mimicked human beings and found out that bananas tastes sweet after being peeled. 


 The fable implies that we should try new things and maybe sometimes rack our brains. It is never enough to only say, “no, this won't work.” without trying different ways. Having tried, sometimes many times, then can we realize that bananas without peel taste much better.  


 One of my biology teachers used to be fond of using ready-made teaching materials to make courseware and thus the courseware was dull and not attractive. My team members and I encouraged him to look at other teachers’ course ware and he was quite surprised how affluent the contents are. Then, he noticed his colleagues surfing the internet for teaching materials. After that, he decided to try and asked us to help with his personal learning project. We fixed several mal-performing skills he used to have and added search engines on his computer. Before long, he started searching for teaching materials such as pictures, texts, videos, etc. He also compared course wares written by teachers from other schools and uploaded on the internet as well as by his colleagues with the ones written by him. Gradually, his courseware contents expanded and became more attractive and lively. Since then, he was very enthusiastic about learning computer skills and started asking our team all kinds of computer questions. 

Sometimes we have to show teachers the correct ways to search for information before they realize how convenient internet really can be.

 

The peels versus the taste

Posted by Henry Nyandiko at 2009-06-22 07:13
Hello Bubble,
I was just wondering whether what an informed monkey would choose between the option of being full in the stomach or a sweet taste in the mouth!
But then the analogy is very original, education is a matter of quality not quantity, and to get the quality so desired one needs to invest time and resources without which the quality is compromised. May I congratulate you for your good works because you have not only made the work of teaching easy and fun but also created an impact on quality of education to be received by generations to come.
DOT China truely impacting the community.

Congratulations!

Posted by Chao Yang at 2009-06-23 07:23
Once teachers realize the power of technology, they will surely love it.
If technology can be really useful and helpful in their teaching, they will embrace it !
You’ve made this teacher taste the sweetness of technology. Congratulations,Bubble!

I was shocked by your spirit

Posted by Yan Zhai at 2009-06-24 02:26
Yeah, what‘s a good story. I was shocked by your spirit. And for all the time, you are so concentrated on training. You set a good example for us. And I also believe that our project will succeed and have a good harvest.

I was shocked by your spirit

Posted by Yan Zhai at 2009-06-24 02:26
Yeah, what‘s a good story. I was shocked by your spirit. And for all the time, you are so concentrated on training. You set a good example for us. And I also believe that our project will succeed and have a good harvest.

Going Bananas

Posted by Anne G. Williams at 2009-06-25 17:09
Hi Wei Chan, in English, there is a phrase "Going Bananas". It has two meanings: Going Crazy, or Getting Really Excited about Something. I am Going Bananas (the second meaning!!!) about your story. It is a great description of educational transformation.
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