A view from the edge

Stephanie Pace MarshallWe live in an increasingly uncertain world and it is during such times that successful individuals need to have the confidence to try thing even if they don’t know what to do. It is this attitude of mind that will get them into the future. Unfortunately our schools, particularly our secondary schools, were developed with old industrial aged minds and unless they change dramatically such schools will not be able to cope with the needs of their increasingly diverse students. A fragmented mass one size fits all system cannot transform itself in a personalized learning community without upsetting the status quo. Tinkering will not do. The growing number of disengaged students will force change on schools whether they like...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Creative teaching,Integrated Learning,Personalized Learning,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

National's 'populist' Standards

John Key a master at populist and rear vision thinking: imposing National Standards – is this the best we can do in the 21stC?An image that sticks in my mind before last years election was the then Leader of the opposition Mr Key driving in a car looking over his shoulder and saying, ‘vote for me and I will ensure all students leave literate and numerate’.It now seems an appropriate metaphor for the proposed reactionary backward looking literacy and numeracy standards his government plans to impose.As part of John Key’s ‘crusade’ ‘national standards will be set in literacy and numeracy; every primary and intermediate student will be assessed regularly against National Standards; and every…school will report to parents in plain English.’ Proposed...

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Posted in: Assessment,Big Picture,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,national standards,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

Checking out your class, or school, for quality learning.

Is your classroom a quality learning environment where students are able to 'seek, use and create their own knowledge' as it states in the 'new' New Zealand Curriculum?Here are some questions to focus on.1 Are your students self managing able to set and achieve their own goals, or plans, and able to show continual quality improvement in all they do ( in Japan this incremental growth is called 'kaizen').2 Do you 'negotiate' ( to ensure 'ownership') with the students what is expected in any learning task and demonstrate these expectations by 'focused teaching', 'scaffolding' ( giving temporary help), modelling, demonstrating or 'thinking aloud'?3 Do you make use of literacy time to teach 'seeking , using and creating' skills needed to work independently...

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Posted in: Assessment,School Vision,teaching and learning

Reflection on my teaching beliefs

Reflection of Mamaku fern frond in a lake.Recently I read an article by educationalist Andy Hargreaves who wrote about 'Four Ways' of educational change since the 1960s. His thoughts reflected many of the thoughts about educational changes that have concerned me over the years. It is obvious that what 'officially counts' in education is driven by forces beyond the classroom. The creativity of the 60s that 'emerged' out of decade of security following the Second World War, is a good example and was when my education journey, or story , began. The creative education arising out of this era is Hargreaves 'First Way'.This is worth thinking about for there are many, including myself, that believe we are now entering a new age of creativity - some...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Creative Schools,Creative teaching,Creativity,Integrated Learning,Leadership,Personalized Learning,project based learning,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning

What do we all need to be life long learners?

We are all born with an innate need to learn so as to make sense of, and learn from, our experiences. The question is why do so many students lose this natural disposition? While the government is determined to introduce national standards in literacy and numeracy the bigger question is to ask is, 'why so many students are currently failing in our schools'? To load it all on to a perceived lack of standards in literacy and numeracy is just to simplistic.The danger is while schools place their focus on the implications of national testing they may lose focus on what education is all about. The government is placing far too much on our schools to solve problems more often caused beyond the gates of the school. Worse still national standards...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Creative Schools,Personalized Learning,Rants and Raves,teaching and learning