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| Our readings compiler is now holidaying in Arles |
By Allan Alach - bonjour from Arles
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!
Creativity is rejected: teachers and bosses don’t value out-of-the-box thinking.
“It’s ironic that even as children are taught the accomplishments of the
world’s most innovative minds, their
own creativity is being squelched.”
Poverty and the Moral Imperative of Education
An important article by Peter Greene,
dismantling the neoliberal claim that education is the cure to poverty.
“This
is the "education fixes poverty" mantra. If we get everybody through
high school
prepared for a good job (defined in many PD sessions as "a job
with an above-the-poverty-line" wage) then nobody will be poor and
everybody will be healthy and happy and successful. There are two huge problems
with this argument.”
“Failing
school does not cause poverty. And it's not even right to say poverty causes
failing school. The high level of failure among students living in poverty is a
sign that our schools are not meeting the needs of those students.”
Sweden’s School Choice Disaster
Neolibs - take careful note…
“Advocates
for choice-based solutions should take a look at what’s happened to schools in Sweden, where parents and educators would
be thrilled to trade their country’s steep drop in PISA
scores over the past 10 years for America’s middling but consistent
results. What’s caused the recent crisis in Swedish education? Researchers and
policy analysts are increasingly pointing the finger at many of the choice-oriented
reforms that are being championed as the way forward for American schools.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean that adding
more accountability and discipline to American schools would be a bad thing, it
does hint at the many headaches that can come from trying to do so by
aggressively introducing marketlike competition to education.”
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| Crisis in education |
Great technology requires an understanding of the humans who use it.
“MIT
BLOSSOMS, one of the most exciting and effective uses of educational technology
to help high school students learn math and science, doesn’t boast the latest in artificial intelligence or adaptive
algorithms. Its secret weapon is, rather, a canny understanding of human
psychology—both students’ and teachers’. Technologically speaking, its basic model could be executed with
an old television and VCR.”
How can schools feed student appetites for sourcing sustainable
produce?
“Thankfully
the workshop leaders were undaunted by the challenge of slowly unpicking the
jargon to help students understand why it's important to think about how their
meals
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got to their plates. From food miles and Fairtrade to the environmental
and health benefits of becoming a vegetarian, no aspect of the journey from
soil to supermarket shelf was unexplored. At the end of the class, the penny
finally dropped. Asked what they can do to source more sustainably, the
response from pupils was emphatic: "Grow my own vegetables," shouted
one girl. "Buy foods locally," offered another.”
This week’s contributions from
Transforming School Culture Through Mutual Respect
Bruce: “Importance
of valuing mutual respect.”
“A
pivotal aspect of fostering mutual respect among teachers, students and staff
is adhering to the following eight expectations, which I’ve witnessed fundamentally change the way schools function.”
Study: Too Many Structured Activities May Hinder Children’s Executive Functioning
Bruce: “Over
structuring results in students missing out on social skills – is this happening in
NZ classrooms?”
“When
children spend more time in structured activities, they get worse at working
toward goals, making decisions, and regulating their behavior, according to a
new study.
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| Freedom to learn vital |
Instead, kids might learn more when they have the responsibility to
decide for themselves what they’re going to do with
their time. Psychologists at the University of Colorado and the University of
Denver studied the schedules of 70 six-year olds, and they found that the
kids who spent more time in less-structured activities had more
highly-developed self-directed executive function.”
From Bruce’s oldies but goodies file:
The transformative Power of Interest : Annie Murphy Paul - Dan Pink
and Carol Dweck
Bruce’s
comment: “I really like the
message of this blog. There has been a recent
Education Review Office Report on
Secondary school achievement saying the most impressive school was one where
the school tailored the curriculum to students’ interests
e.g. linking maths to information technology. Seems obvious to me. Personalised
learning is the pedagogy of relationships. We need to focus on what students are
thinking – they are too often a neglected resource ignored by teachers to busy
teaching to listen to student ‘voice’..The blog below is
about the transformative power of interest.
The future is about learning not education. Education is what someone gives to you – learning is what you do yourself. We need to focus on ‘teaching’ students ‘how to learn’ – to ‘seek, use and create their own knowledge’ as it says in the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum.
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| Ann Murphy Paul |
The future is about learning not education. Education is what someone gives to you – learning is what you do yourself. We need to focus on ‘teaching’ students ‘how to learn’ – to ‘seek, use and create their own knowledge’ as it says in the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum.
Children as scientists
Bruce: “An
oldie – something written in 1947 which is reflected in 2007 New Zealand
Curriculum”
“I
recently came across an extract from an article called 'Children are
Scientists' written in 1947 by Herbert Zim. That we haven't yet created schools
based on assisting students research their own questions and concerns just goes
to show how much 'our' curriculums, what 'we' think is important for them to
learn, has ignored the source of real motivation for students to learn.”
More 'Magic' of Teaching
Bruce: “Evolution
of computer use in classrooms by a creative South Island
principal”
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| Mike is now Princ at Waimari |
“It
would seem to me that if we want to develop a creative education system, able
to develop the talents of all students, then we need to listen more to those
teachers who have gifts they could share with others. All too often 'we' think
that all good ideas come from 'on high' but hopefully this myth is losing its
power as current curriculums are being found wanting - ironically by the very
people who introduced them.”
The killing of creativity by the technocrats.
In this posting Bruce references an article by
Kelvin Smythe about “St” John Hattie. This is a must read, as Hattie and others of
his ilk threaten true holistic child centred education.
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| Hattie:Peddling meta research |
This week’s contributions from
Phil Cullen
Want to improve teaching? Ask a teacher
“The
media has been full of complaints about poor-quality teachers. But does the
answer really lie in choosing teachers with better academic marks? Teacher
Chris Fotinopoulos is not convinced.”
There are many ways of being smart... Headteacher writes to pupils
saying not to worry about exams
“You
might hope that every school would want pupils to work their very hardest – and
pass any exams with flying colours.
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Headmistress Rachel Tomlinson and her head of year six, Amy Birkett,
told children that there are ‘many ways of being smart’ in the message, which was included with their Key Stage Two results.
They asked the 11-year-old pupils to remember that the scores ‘will
tell you something, but they will not tell you everything’.”
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