Compiled by
Allan Alach
I welcome suggested articles, so if you come
across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz
Writing Junk
‘Mediocre writing starts with the wrong questions, and a focus on a
set, proscribed structure and process encourages students to ask the wrong
questions. Hammer them with writing templates, and
students start to see an
essay as a slightly more involved fill in the blank exercise. "I have to
have five paragraphs-- what can I use to fill up the five paragraph-sized
blanks?" "I need three sentences to make a paragraph-- what can I use
to fill in the the three sentence-shaped empty spaces." This gets you
junk.’
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| Junk writing |
Why We Need to Move Away from SMART Goals and Towards New Forms of
Classroom Assessment
Use SMART goals? Maybe you should read this
article.
‘We need to align our purpose. We can’t continue to restrict student
assessments to a simplified, out-dated system and expect to prepare them for an
ever-changing employment environment of complexity and “abundance.”’
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| It is hard to assess what really matters - we need new ways of assessment |
Stop asking whether laptops improve learning outcomes
‘Simply having students using laptops for learning is not enough. It
is the type of activities that are being used and the depth of learning that
occurs that is important. The laptop is simply a window to the learning. If the
“view” is poor, the results will be poor. If the view is rich and
meaningful, the results will be rich and meaningful.’
What Makes an ‘Extreme Learner’?
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| A passion to learn |
‘Cueva-Dabkoski is considered an “Extreme Learner,” a
designation applied to just 12 individuals by the Institute for the Future, for
her radical and gutsy approach to learning. Extreme Learners are self-directed,
wide-ranging in their interests, comfortable with technology, and adept at
building communities around their interests.’
Hands-Off Teaching Cultivates Metacognition
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| Kids teaching kids |
‘All that thought goes into a lesson, and still there are students
spacing out during class or seeming to fall behind. Working so hard and still
not reaching every student can be frustrating. And you have no one to blame but
yourself -- you're hogging all the best learning in your classroom.’
Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:
When We Listen to Students
‘As you are beginning to think about returning to school, I have a
suggestion that can drastically impact your year (and it's simple): brainstorm
questions to ask your students.
The kids right in front of us often have the most useful information
within them -- information that can help us reach and teach them, help us
engage them, and that can help us have a fantastic year together.’
3 Challenges As Hands-On, DIY Culture Moves Into Schools
‘This hands-on, DIY culture of inventors, tinkerers and hackers is
inspiring adults and children alike to design and build everything from
sailboats and apps to solar cars.And this fall, more of these chaotic
workspaces, stocked with glue guns, drills and hammers, will be popping up in
schools, too.But the maker movement faces some big hurdles as it pushes into
classrooms.’
Using STEAM to reverse teacher-directed mindsets
‘Integrating content isn’t a new idea. Integrating STEAM, on the
other hand, can take educators into uncharted territory while they work to
master “learning by doing.” Teachers are more apt to teach the way they were
taught, which means roughly 80% of teachers typically use a teacher-directed
approach while introducing one subject matter at a time.
The first step to reversing a teacher-directed approach is to change
this mindset from the top down:’
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
The killing of creativity by the technocrats.
 |
| Meta man |
‘I have become increasingly concerned about the use of a number of
strategies as defined by John Hattie and promulgated by the contracted advisers
spreading the word about his 'best practices'.Somehow, just because Hattie has
amalgamated every piece of 'school effectiveness' research available ( mainly
it seems from the USA) his findings, it seems, ought to be taken for read. The
opposite ought to be the case - we need to be very wary of such so called 'meta
research.'. More worrying however is that the approaches he is peddling is
pushing into the background the home grown innovative creative learning centred
philosophy that was once an important element in many classrooms.’
An idea whose time has come; schools and teachers working together
‘Principals who can share leadership with their teachers and then
with other schools will be seen as the real future leaders. Crowther calls this
'parallel leadership' - connecting principals and teachers through mutual
respect. Up until now, Hargreaves states, teachers have been marginalised but
we all know a school is only as good as its teachers.’
What do good learners do?
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| A young Einstein |
What do good students do? Be worth asking your
students for their thoughts.
‘Postman and Weingartner in their book ‘Teaching as a Subversive
Activity’ gives an excellent outline of a good learner.First, good learners
have the confidence in their ability to learn. This does not mean they are not
sometimes frustrated and discouraged. They are …..but they have a profound
faith that they are capable of solving problems, and if they fail at one problem
they are not incapacitated in confronting another.’
Messages about education.
‘I have been reading an article on the web about the pressures being
placed on young children and their teachers in the United States to achieve
expectations set by standardized tests. In the process teachers have had to
narrow their curriculum to ensure their school does well when results are
published. And as well, I guess, they would be worried about their tenure?’
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| Current formulaic teaching. |
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