Hi all! Please see below for the first discussion thread for Module/Week 4. This is based on the reading: Rose, M. (2005). “Chapter 1: Working Life of a Waitress” The Mind at Work. New York: Penguin. Please note that the first paragraph in both discussion threads are the same, but the content and questions that follow differ. The focus of this thread is to elaborate on the influence of work/labour on “thinking” during the learning process.
In the first chapter of Rose (2005), the author challenges the common misconception that the work involved in waitressing is “low-skilled”. He illustrates, through a biography of his mother’s vast experiences in the restaurant business, the complex intersections of cognition and emotion that are consistently demanded in the role of a waitress, and are developed through informal learning and practice. “One of the things that strikes me about my mother’s report is the number of techniques it contains, the mix of strategies and processes: imagistic, spatial, verbal, and the role of emotion.” (p. 12). “My mother mixed observation and practice, got some pointers … monitored her performance, and developed competence.” (pp. 9-10). I find it interesting how Rose (2005) has synthesized various working experiences of a waitress into developing and practicing important and lifelong skills (e.g., time management, prioritization, strategic thinking, memory, attention, and relationship building). I also find it useful in emphasizing the significant outcomes of the informal and non-formal dimensions of education.
Further, the chapter considers aspects of “thinking” during the learning process through his mother’s work experience. In focusing on what made his mother, Rose Emily Rose, a successful waitress, the author nods to the heightened skills of a goal-directed memory and the attention to detail that she developed. Clearly, there is a constant use of interactive strategies and emotional aids used to remember orders, customers, relative seating, and duration of a meal, all while determining how to prioritize tasks and maintain satisfaction.
Discuss the questions below
What does this chapter tell us about the influence of a workplace or labour on how we think and learn? In what ways does reading about the experiences of a waitress challenge or broaden how we understanding different dimensions of the learning process? And, how does this relate your own experiences in learning while in a workplace? Specifically, what is the role of memory and attention in how you think while learning? And how does emotion influence this learning process?
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