Let's have some real creativity!

Too many teachers and principals have become sidetracked by data collection and compliance requirements - some even believe in them. All this has created a surveillance risk averse culture, all about conformity, compromise and being controlled and is nothing to do with creativity. Too many principals have become unwittingly part of the problem.Lets be honest, there never was that much creativity in our schools. They have aways been more conservative than innovative and this includes many so called child-centred primary teachers. Creativity is seen when students and teacher diversity is appreciated, experiential learning valued, and where students complete powerful personal 'products' following up their own ideas in: in depth research, poetic...

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Posted in: Big Picture,Creative teaching,Creativity,Personalized Learning,Talent Development,teaching and learning

Authentic Assessment.

Students in school I loved to visit have found a wasps nest in the school grounds. After local expertise was used to destroy the nest, and with the teachers help, the students set about to study wasps and how they organise themselves. They sorted out their questions , worked out what they already knew and involved themselves in , as the revised curriculum says, 'seeking, using and creating their own knowledge'. They took the nest a part , drew what they saw, completed drawing of the various stages in the wasps life cycle and read all about wasp 'culture' to answer their questions in their own words. All their research work was presented using charts each one representing individual children's thoughts and drawings. They also painted what they...

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Posted in: Action Plans and Lessons,Assessment,Creative teaching,inquiry learning,Integrated Learning,Personalized Learning,project based learning,teaching and learning

Jamie Oliver - educator!

Jamie Oliver, the enthusiastic TV chef is a man on a mission. He is on a crusade to encourage young people to eat healthy food. After trying to improve UK school dinners he is now in the heart of the US, the centre of fast foods eating, trying to encourage schools to provide healthy school dinners.I just happened to switch on to watching Jamie Oliver last night and it was an enlightening experience.Jamie had evidently upset a town in Virginia but suggesting that the local were eating unhealthily. I think he must have inferred that they were eating the wrong foods and putting their lives,and the lives of their children, at risk.All to do with obesity. Pretty brave for a pom ,and a cockney at that, telling the Americans how to eat!In the programme...

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Posted in: Action Plans and Lessons,Creative teaching,Integrated Learning,teaching and learning

Creative emergence or planning studies

Can life be planned or, in an ever evolving world, do we need to be equipped with the confidence and the dispositions to learn from whatever experiences we encounter? Traditional school people seem to believe that, without teacher planning, their students would learn little. In contrast creative educators believe that it is all about creating the conditions necessary for students to develop their innate talents. The teachers who hold the second view, of course, do need to have considerable knowledge ( or know where to point their students ) to ensure their students potential is realized.The very young and adult artists and scientists have the attributes of 'life long learners' - to be 'seekers, users and creators of the own knowledge' as the...

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Posted in: Creative teaching,inquiry learning,Integrated Learning,Ministry NZCurric,Personalized Learning,project based learning,teaching and learning

Plant a native garden

I have just been helping plan and plant a small native garden.The idea of developing small native garden in the school grounds makes an ideal integrated inquiry study. And the time and weather is right for the task.The ideal garden could feature mainly smaller alpine natives as there are a wonderful range of plants to choose from.If you are interested first find a suitable site - open and sunny is the best. Measure it up to work out how many square metres you have.Then start your research. What plants might be suitable? Who could help you? There are a a number of suitable books with good photos and information to get ideas from. Another idea is to look around your environment to see similar gardens and capture their ideas with a digital camera....

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Environmental Awareness

A collection of rewarewa leaves and flowers -and a ceramic tui. Tuis feed off the rewarewa, commonly called for this very reason honeysuckle . From such collection an interesting painting could evolve.As I wander around my garden, or as I walk down the driveway to a school, I am always on the lookout for ideas to share with young people - trouble is these days I don't have a class or a school to share such ideas with.I was pleased, while visiting a local school, when a teacher on seeing me, rushed over to ask me to visit her classroom. She wanted to show me the results of a kowhai study that she had based on one of my recent blogs.This time of the year the Rewarewa ( or Honeysuckle) is in flower and around their base you can pick up flowers...

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Posted in: Action Plans and Lessons,inquiry learning,teaching and learning

What messages does your school pass on to students?

This students' mural of going to school in the 'olden days' gives pretty clear 'message' about what was important in such times. The green lipped backboards is central and, along the walls, the olden days equivalent of laptops . The clock stands front centre representing the importance of the timetable and a 'special needs ' corner complete with dunces hat. I am not sure that they were ever used in New Zealand? Spot the mistakes. The students are facing away from the board .In earlier days desks were screwed to the floor - no moving around allowed. And the teacher ought to be immense as she, or he, ruled supreme. In her hand is a cane or, in my time a length of supplejack, or leather strap. Note the ceramic ink wells in the desks.What school...

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