By Allan Alach
I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it
to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.
This week’s homework!
The fetishization of international test scores
Yet another excellent
posting by Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post.
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| Standardised testing! |
‘First of all, judging just about anything important on
the sole basis of test scores is never a good idea. That’s not just me talking;
assessment experts say it over and over and over.’
What is developmentally appropriate in learning?
Another gem from
Valerie Strauss, featuring an article by Daniel Willingham:
‘In sum, I don’t think developmental psychology is a good
guide to what children should learn; it provides some help in thinking about
how children learn. The best guide to “what” is what children know now, and
where you want their learning to head.’
Genuine
vs. sham accountability
I don’t always agree with Grant Wiggins;
however here is an exception.
‘Accountability is ‘responsibility for’ and
‘responsiveness to’ results, as the dictionary reminds us. Teachers who are
sometimes deemed unwilling by the public to be held accountable are the same
educators who serve as athletic coaches and teachers in the performing and
vocational arts – where they are happy to be held responsible for
performance results, since the tasks are worthy, the scores are valid and (over
time) reliable, and the whole system is public and fair.’
Subverting the System: Student and Teacher as Equals
The sad part of this
article is that it is presented as a new idea.....
‘So instead, he presented problems for the students to
solve: He challenged them to learn about physics by analyzing how children
interact with toys and playground equipment, and to learn about the world of
design firms by designing a playground for a real group of third-graders.’
Accountability,
Privatization, and the Devaluation of the Career Educator
‘During
the past 30 years, a variety of political, economic, and social forces have
shaped the current landscape of public education, a landscape defined by
increasing accountability and privatization. Simultaneously, those same forces
have contributed to the devaluation of the "career educator" and have
produced a leadership vacuum at the local, state, and national levels.’
The
education of Christopher Pyne
This article is about the current Australian
Minister of Education, but the points made are relevant all over.
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‘Standardised
testing.The Minister proposes to strengthen NAPLAN and place it on line.
Standardised testing has been a feature of the 'reforms' in the US and its
effects have been carefully analysed. At its extreme the tests are justified by
advocates as parents' democratic right to know the quality of their child's
school. The main argument is that the tests help improve student achievement.
Unequivocally they do not! ‘
‘The butterfly effect’ in schools.
‘With the complexity of a
school environment, teeming with diversity and life, like a veritable
rainforest, it is likely you cannot guide the butterflies in any
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direction.
People in schools: teachers and students, are maddeningly similar. Flying in
formation never really occurs as we intend it to, no matter how rigid the
top-down leadership. We can but develop and maintain the conditions for our
particular ‘butterflies‘ to thrive. This will likely happen from the bottom up
– like those small but powerful butterfly wings freely beating their haphazard,
seemingly chaotic pattern.’
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Lectures Didn't Work in 1350—and They Still Don't Work
Today
A
conversation with David Thornburg about designing a better classroom
‘In his
latest book, From the Campfire to the Holodeck: Creating Engaging and
Powerful 21st Century Learning Environments, Thornburg outlines
four learning models: the traditional “campfire,” or lecture-based design; the
“watering hole,” or social learning; the “cave,” a place to quietly reflect;
and “life”—where ideas are tested.’
This week’s contributions from Bruce
Hammonds:
Henry
Pluckrose - creative educator
Another ‘blast from the past’ article by
Bruce.
‘Henry knew that the means to solve the problem of the
long tail of underachievement by facing up to underlying poverty of the
'failing' children and the need to develop and share the creative capacity of
schools and teachers. He would be keen, as I am, to replace the 'state theory
of learning' with an emphasis on sharing the ways we know how children learn;
powerful pedagogy rather than recipe and prescription. He would want teachers
to move away from mere 'delivery' and compliance and to place more attention to
engaging students in realistic contexts.’
Transforming
schools through Project Based Learning (PBL) .
Bruce writes:
‘
American educationalist Thom Markham is an enthusiast
for Project Based Learning (PBL) and believes that the most important
innovation schools can implement is high quality project based learning.He
provides seven important design principles for teachers to ensure project based
learning is of the highest quality.’
How
to Get High-Quality Student Work in PBL
‘Things
can appear to be going smoothly — students have been engaged by the project,
they’ve been learning content and skills, they’ve been busy and meeting
deadlines — but their thinking is not as in-depth and their final products not
as polished as they should be. If this is your experience, it’s time to ask
yourself some questions.’
Too
much, too young: Should schooling start at age 7?
‘
This
would bring it in line with the overwhelming evidence showing that starting
school later is best, and the practice in many countries, such as Sweden and
Finland. These countries have better academic achievement and child well-being,
despite children not starting school until age 7.’
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| Let's not stifle creativity |
To
Look Closely
Bruce’s comments about this book: ‘The book
blurb reminds of us what we were once good at!’
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| A world to explore .Durer |
‘Whether
it's a trickling stream, a grassy slope, or an abandoned rail line, the natural
world offers teachers a wonderful resource around which to center creative,
inquiry-based learning throughout the year. Nobody knows this better than
veteran teacher Laurie Rubin. In To Look Closely:
Science and Literacy in the Natural World,
she demonstrates how nature study can help students become careful, intentional
observers of all they see, growing into stronger readers, writers,
mathematicians, and scientists in the process.’
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