Beginning the School Year 3

Beginning teaching - or starting a new year Robert Fried is worth reading. Another of his books is called the 'Passionate Teacher'. In his book the 'Game of School' he writes about how students learn to play the game of school to get along. I remember one of his anecdotes was about a grade one student coming home and being asked by his anxious mother what he had learnt during the day? He told his mum he learnt that their were two kind of kids. Good ones who did as the teacher asked of them and bad kids who didn't. Conformists and non conformists. Kids learn quick. Fried's book outlines several groups of students from those who work to please the teacher, those who work because they love learning , and others who get their satisfaction by confronting...

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

Beginning the School Year :2

Beginning the school year - some activities My previous blog had ideas about beginning teaching and some links to articles with ideas to to think about. This blog just adds a few more.Teaching is one profession where there is no shallow end. From day one you are presented with up to thirty plus young individuals for you to shape into a learning community; and every class community will be different. Even experienced teachers have second thoughts about starting a new class as at the end of the year they will have left students who have learnt to work with each other and their teacher.Developing this learning community is the real challenge for any teacher. Good schools will provide structures, organisations and curriculum guidance to assist...

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

Beginning the School Year :1

Beginning the school year - 'keeping the end in mind'. If you want a book to inspire you to become aware of the possibilities of your environment this is the book for you.Ideal for any adult wanting to expand their awareness but for teachers a most valuable classroom resource. Full of practical ideas to use with your class to help them retain ( or regain) their natural curiosity. Very creatively and visually presented. A fun book. Not written by a curriculum consultant which makes it even more valuable.Check link for more info.Business philosopher Stephen Covey, in his book 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People', writes that it is important to ' keep the end in mind'. It is too easy to get bogged down in the present just trying to get...

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

Education - still firmly stuck in the 20th C ( or 19th)!

This small picture book points out the futility of trying to 'tinker' education into the 21stC - after trying several well known reforms it suggests what is required is a total transformation - 'a new horse' ( in the book a car!) -  not improving a faulty/failing system.The other day I was talking to a young teacher who was starting to think what she might do with her class when the term starts. We had a good discussion but it was soon clear to me that the advice I wanted to give would clash with what it was expected she would have to do. There is not much room for my thoughts these days and so my decision to keep clear of schools a good one. All the more sensible as schools will increasingly focused  on collecting...

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Posted in: change,Creative Schools,Creative teaching,inquiry learning,Integrated Learning,Ministry NZCurric,Personalized Learning,teaching and learning

Education to realize the talents of all - students and teachers.

This book by educational researcher Helen Timperley published 2011, is all about tapping the power of teachers to enable all students to succeed. It is about helping teachers learn rather than telling them what to do; about putting student learning at the heart of the educational process; about developing a explicit inquiry approach to learning for teachers, students and principals;  about engagement not compliance. It seems like common sense -  but well researched common sense.It seems their is a new consensus emerging - one that places empowering teachers as central to educational change. For many Timperley's book simply confirms beliefs many of us have held for years -  that it is the teachers professionalism...

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Posted in: Big Picture,change,Creative Schools,Creative teaching Educationalists,inquiry learning,Leadership,Ministry NZCurric,teaching and learning

Educational Quotes 9: Classroom Management

Creative classrooms need to be flexible enough for a wide range of individuals to feel at home, able to express their particular personalities , learning styles, and particular range of talents and gifts.Creative class management is the art, or craft, of creating the conditions that provide students with enough security and structure for them to take the learning risks to  required to develop personalised learning. Too much chaos leads to disorder - too much structure reduces the learners ability to make decisions and choices. Most current classroom management procedures are determined by unquestioned routines and habits that reflect a past age.'If there is any other situations fraught with danger for mental health...

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Posted in: Educational Quotes,Personalized Learning,teaching and learning

Educational Quotes 8: Curriculum

Schools have been trying to implement impossible curriculums based on a technocratic accountability model. The future demands students who retain a love of learning - students with their talents, dreams and passions developed. To achieve these demands a new appreciation of what a curriculum for the future should be.     'If we don't encourage others to find their own meaning, their own voice, we will never be able to sustain our own. Freedom comes from following you own voice not following another's' Peter Block   'If we wish to present ourselves to the wider world as New Zealanders then we must be able to listen to our own voices, and trace our own footsteps; we must have our own heroes and heroines inspire us; we must persist...

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