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| Time to think out of the box |
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
Taking the PISA
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| Leaning tower of PISA |
New Zealand teacher Mike Boon (aka Boonman)
‘Well, friends, today was PISA day. The day when all media outlets
around the world breathlessly pronounce their education system is either “plummeting”
down the tables, or, through some miraculous miracle, soaring to new
educational heights.
Three years ago I ranted about this
nonsensical test, run by the OECD, which tests hundreds of thousands of 15 year
olds around the world on reading, maths and science. I’m listening to Garbage
on the Spotify at the moment and that is an incredibly apt word.’
Academics Worldwide call for the end to PISA tests
‘In education policy, Pisa, with its three-year assessment cycle,
has caused a shift of attention to short-term fixes designed to help a country
quickly climb the rankings, despite research showing that enduring changes in
education practice take decades, not a few years, to come to fruition. For
example, we know that the status of teachers and the prestige of teaching as a
profession have a strong influence on the quality of instruction, but that
status varies strongly across cultures and is not easily influenced by
short-term policy.’
Why Americans should not panic about
international test results
Applicable to other countries as well.
‘Unlike elections, one cannot definitively prove PISA predictions to
be wrong since student success
“Data is the wrong driver”
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| Phil Cullen |
Thanks to Phil Cullen for this article about
Queensland, Australia, which can be adapted for other similar educationally
afflicted countries.
‘To comply with the current curriculum benchmarks, you cannot
do justice to children or their learning. It is not practical to run a
play-based curriculum AND meet the standards. If a child finds a caterpillar
outside, it if far more engaging and meaningful to talk about butterflies and
write and explore that, than to read a proscribed book and ask children about
how a character can change or what we could do differently.’
Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:
End of Year Student Survey: Student feedback to implement next year.
Bruce’s latest article.
‘At the end of the school year it is a good idea to gather
information from the students you are passing on. Not only is this a chance for
you to get some insight about your teaching but it is also a great way to value
the ‘voice’ of your students. You might also like to think about developing a
similar survey for the beginning of next year to give some insight into student’s
attitudes that they bring with them to your class. You could include the
various learning areas, what they are expecting to gain from the year with you,
and what questions they would like to find out more about. You might be able to
work the later into a negotiated curriculum?’
Responding to Defiance in the Moment: Why Do Children Defy
Authority?
‘Children who defy us often get to the core of our fears as
teachers. They make us question our abilities and provoke feelings of
insignificance. But when we rise above our own feelings and find
developmentally appropriate ways to respond to these students, we offer them a
path to success and a model of how to get along in the world.’
Teaching Without Rewards
‘Children build on their strengths, and to do that building—to grow
academically and socially—they need us to recognize and encourage their
positive efforts. But what’s the best way to offer that recognition and
encouragement?’
When Students Need More: Taking the Long View
‘A reality of teaching that all teachers know well is that no matter
how effectively we teach, no matter how hard students try, and no matter how
many good days the class has together, students will sometimes need more—more
direction, more support, more teaching, more time.’
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
Why schools don't educate.
‘Notes taken from John Taylor Gatto’s acceptance speech as New York
Teacher of the Year 1990.Gatto was recognized in Tom Peter’s (the business ‘guru’)
in his book ‘Re-Imagine’ published 2003 as an important future orientated
educator.‘We live in a time of great school crises, Gatto began his
presentation, ‘and we need to define and redefine endlessly what the word
education should mean. Something is wrong. Our school crisis is a reflection of
a wider social crisis – a society that lives in the constant present, based on
narcotic consumption’
A future Vision for Education
‘We need to move beyond, ‘correcting past mistakes and attempting to
improve the quality and productivity of a quasi industrial form of production
in which children come in one end, are worked on by professionals and then exit
at the other end with the requisite skills and qualifications’.If it only
worked for all students there would not be any urgency to change but it is
becoming obvious that too many students fail –and even those that ‘succeed’ leave
without all their talents appreciated.’
Robert Fried on Seymour Sarason
‘One of Sarason’s forty odd books has a name that reflects his
lifetime theme ‘The Predictable Failure of School Reform’. He retired in 1989
as professor of clinical psychology at Yale University.Fried calls Sarason
a ‘cautious radical’ and a pragmatic idealist
who staunchly defends classroom
teachers in one breathe and scolds them (and policy makers) in another for
their failure to make schools interesting places for teachers and children.’
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| Robert Fried |
Does your classroom have the 'wow' factor?
‘The first sign of ‘wow’ is the overall first impression the room
gives you. The feeling you get is that you are indeed in special place. There
is a feeling of positive relationships between teacher and learners and often
parents are to be seen quietly helping students. Other students seem to be
working without supervision. A quick look around the walls, covered with
students creativity gives an impression that this is a room dedicated to the
students themselves.’
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| Some classrooms are a world of difference |
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