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
What are our students doing 400 minutes a day?
‘If you are a parent you may wonder every now and then what your
kids are doing all day in school. But, as an educator, teacher, and
administrator (oh yeah, and I’m a parent), I’ve wondered out loud what a typical day-in-the-life
of our students looks like.
In an effort to make this as visually appropriate as possible, I’m
sharing with you the 100 block theory of learning.’
Children should be starting preschool at 3, Victoria University
study says
Another link from Phil Cullen, who comments:
Paul Wildman describes this as the ‘end of
childhood’. It also gives testucators the opportunity to condition the
very young to NAPLAN preparation as a cultural imperative. Its feral nature
makes it easy. Sandal-makers should welcome this move with open arms.
Down the gurgler we continue to go………
"We think it could be manageable and we think that the
long-term benefits of that investment mean that the returns absolutely outweigh
the costs.
"It means children are much more ready when they start school,
they start school on a much more equal footing, it has flow on impacts to their
NAPLAN scores, to their rates of Year 12 graduation.”
Report debunks ‘earlier
is better’ academic instruction for young children
On the other hand …
‘Katz writes that longitudinal studies of the effects of different
kinds of preschool curriculum models debunk the seemingly common-sense notion
that “earlier is better” in terms of academic instruction. While “formal
instruction produces good test results in the short term,” she says, preschool
curriculum and teaching methods that emphasize children’s interactive roles and
initiative may be “not so impressive in the short run” but “yield better school
achievement in the long term.”’
Why Daydreaming is Critical to Effective Learning
‘Most kids have cellphones, use social media, play games, watch TV
and are generally more “plugged in” than ever before. This cultural shift means
that in addition to helping students gain the transferable skills and knowledge
they’ll need later in life, teachers may have to start helping them
tune out
the constant buzz in order to get their message across. It’s never too early to
learn smart strategies to focus in on priorities and tune out what’s not
immediately necessary. Many people believe they are skilled multitaskers, but
they’re wrong. Neuroscience has shown that multitasking — the process of doing
more than one thing at the same time — doesn’t exist.’
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| Time to daydream |
The Culture of Childhood: We’ve Almost Destroyed It
‘Children are biologically designed to pay attention to the other
children in their lives, to try to fit in with them, to be able to do what they
do, to know what they know. Through most of human history, that’s how
children became educated, and that’s still largely how children become educated
today, despite our misguided attempts to stop it and turn the educating
job over to adults.’
The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement
 |
| Thinking about thinking |
‘Metacognition, simply put, is the process of thinking about
thinking. It is important in every aspect of school and life, since it
involves self-reflection on one’s current position, future goals, potential actions
and strategies, and results. At its core, it is a basic survival strategy, and
has been shown to be present even in rats. Perhaps the most important
reason for developing metacognition is that it can improve the application
of knowledge, skills, and character qualities in realms beyond the immediate
context in which they were learned.’
Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:
Great expectations: how to help your students fulfil their potential
‘When you believe in your pupils, they will believe in themselves.
Here’s how to create a culture of positivity in your classes. In the 1960s, a
pair of researchers ran an experiment that changed the way the world thinks
about expectations. Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson told a group of
teachers that some of their students had been identified as having the
potential to become very high achievers and that these students would bloom
over the course of the year. These pupils were, in fact, chosen completely at
random. But when the researchers returned at the end of the year, they found
that the chosen students had, on average, made significantly more progress than
their peers.’
Getting Restless At The Head Of The Class
‘They read a book quietly under their desks, pester the teacher for
extra credit, or, perhaps, they simply check out and act up. Every classroom
has a few overachievers who perform above their grade level and don't feel
challenged by the status quo. A new report suggests they are surprisingly
common — in some cases, nearly half of all students in a given grade.’
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
Who dares wins!
‘Are you an innovative thinker?
If you fire off ad hoc answers, hate timetables and resent authority you
are a potential winner according to research on potential innovative thinkers
by Dr Fiona Patterson, an occupational psychologist at Nottingham University.’
The source of school failure
‘One in five Melbourne four-year-olds have difficulty using or
understanding language, a new study has found, putting them at risk of
long-term learning difficulties. The study of 1900 children, published today in
the journal Pediatrics, found that social disadvantage played a major role in
the language outcomes of four-year-olds - despite having little effect at age
two.’
Looking back
A look back to the days when New Zealand had a
real visionary in charge of education.
‘Dr Beeby believed in a creative role for education. He reminded
those present in 1983 that the most important thing realized about education in
the previous decades had been the discovery of the individual child. It is not
that individuality wasn't appreciated earlier but that the school system was
based on a mass education vision which made realizing such an idea impossible.
A system, developed in the 1870s, couldn't conceive of individualising
learning.’
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| Power of print |
The rebirth of education - a real Renaissance
‘There are some who say we are now entering a new age -'A Creative
Age', or a 'Second Renaissance'. Our current institutions, shaped by
Industrial Age thinking, are no longer able to cope - they are all well past
their 'use by date'. We now need new minds for the new millennium. New minds
will be shaped by the new communication mediums - where ideas can from anyone,
anywhere, any time. An age of inter connectivity and creativity - a new Renaissance.If
we are to revitalize our schools so as to engage all our students, and
ultimately save our planet, it will require the death of education and its
rebirth.’
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