Education Readings
By Allan Alach
I welcome suggested articles, so if you come
across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz
This week’s homework!
What Started Treehorn?
This article by former Queensland Director of
Primary Education Phil Cullen should be a must read for all primary teachers
all over.
“Justice for kids is not on anyone’s agenda. “We ‘Care For Kids’” is expressed more often with tongue in cheek. Expressions about children’s learning has been replaced by plenty of talk about about test
results; and it hurts as you wonder if the kind of former
great people who once ran our schools, have been replaced by others, who,
wonderful people though they are, seem to have lost the plot and now work hard
for a sad purpose. It hurts because one believes in
the enormous dignity and importance of primary schooling and there are now too
many operatives who don’t seem to care.”
Over-focus on exams causing mental health problems and self-harm
among pupils, study finds
Contributed by Phil Cullen:
‘“Parents
confide that the children cry at the thought of coming to school and are often
exhausted due to the stress of learning,” one anonymous
primary school teacher who took part in a survey said.’
Why Math?
“Why
math? Why math class? Because math class can be the place where students
discuss the most important and thought-provoking questions that face us as a
species.”
Discursive or recursive? The fractal nature of education
Thought provoking article by Steve Wheeler:
 |
| What do you know about fractals? |
National curriculum is damaging children's creative writing, say
authors
This is an inevitable outcome of teaching by
standards; equating to paint by numbers “art.”
 |
| How is writing assessed? |
Are primary schools teaching un-creative writing?
On the same theme:
“The
very essence of writing is that it is an expressive and personal outlet, so
should we really be limiting it at all? Some argue that a child’s creativity is stimulated by the exploration of advanced
vocabulary, but there really is a difference in being allowed to delve into the
world of fancy words, and being forced to use them.”
The Trouble with Rubrics
Alfie Kohn:
“My
growing doubts about rubrics in particular were prompted by the assumptions on
which this technique rested and also the criteria by which they (and assessment
itself) were typically judged. These doubts were stoked not only by
murmurs of dissent I heard from thoughtful educators but by the case made for this technique by its enthusiastic proponents. For example, I read in one article that “rubrics
make assessing student work quick and efficient, and they help teachers to
justify to parents and others the grades that they assign to students.” To
which the only appropriate response is: Uh-oh.”
Lessons that Matter: What should we learn from Asia’s school systems?
Yong Zhao:
“The
lessons from Asian education systems do not relate to what helped them achieve
their high scores on international comparative tests, but to the efforts they
have engaged in over the past few decades to transform their educational
practices. These efforts are often mistaken for policies and practices designed
to produce the high academic performances indicated by international tests,
while in reality they are intended to create a different kind of education, an
education deemed necessary for cultivating citizens in the twenty-first
century.”
This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:
Old school or new? Math teachers debate
best methods as Canadian scores fall
Old way or new way?If maths scores are
falling what's the answer?
“Don’t get math teachers started on
best teaching practices.The discussions are emotional, heated and they don’t agree on much – except that Canadian kids are falling
behind their peers in other countries, and there’s no clear solution.There are generally two camps: those in favour
of the old-school method to lecture kids with a “drill-and-kill” format
that preaches practice, and another, ever-growing group that believes a more
creative approach is needed to engage students.”
Which approach develops positive attitudes
towards maths?
The Stereotypes That Distort How
Americans Teach and Learn Math
 |
| Jo Boaler |
“I have spent years conducting research on students who study
mathematics through different teaching approaches—in
England and in the U.S. All of my research studies have shown
that when mathematics is opened up and broader math is taught—math
that includes problem solving, reasoning, representing ideas in multiple forms,
and question asking—students perform at higher levels.”
100 Percent Is Overrated
Making mistakes in maths in style – growth
mindsets count! More from Jo Boaler.
“Boaler notes that at least a small part of the forebrain called the
thalamus can appreciably grow after periods of the sort of cognitive
stimulation involved in mistake-making. What matters for improving performance
is that a person is challenged, which requires a mindset that is receptive to
being challenged—if not actively seeking out challenge and
failure. And that may be the most important thing a teacher can impart.”
What Do We Do When Students Don’t Like School
“How do we respond to students who don’t want to come to school? I’ve seen many different responses to such a question. “It’s the parents’ fault,” “The child
just doesn’t want to learn,” “There
is a personality conflict with the teacher,” “Kids in the
class are mean”.
Excuses don’t help the child want to come back to school. In fact, it makes it harder. Instead
we should think of what we are currently doing that is not working.”
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
Putting the
heart back into teaching
“Learning is
about relationships. Relationships with content and with people who help us
acquire it. It is about having mind changing experiences that tap into our
desire to make meaning and express what we know.To be attracted to an area of
learning relates to what attracts our attention and whether or not we want to
put in the energy in to learn more. Curiosity is at the basis of all learning.”
Learning
styles
A common sense
approach:
 |
| Four styles |
The killing of
creativity by the technocrats.
The killing of
creativity by John Hattie and similar educational technocrats and accountants.
 |
| Anti creativity ? |
Time for some
heresy?
A need for some
heretical thoughts in education
“If we want to develop 21st C education
systems then we will have no choice but to re-imagine education dramatically.
We need to implement some heretical alternative thoughts to transform
current
systems with their genesis in an industrial age an age well past its use by
date. Strangely enough none of the idea being considered are new it is just
that few school have put them all together. School are inherently conservative
and some schools seem impervious to change. Those that transform themselves
will be leading the way; the others will remain, like dinosaurs, relics of past
thinking. Increasingly students, with access to powerful information technology
will simply bi-pass schools that do not have the capability to transform
themselves.”
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| It's not easy being a heretic |
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