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 Australia can learn from Finland's forested classrooms
‘Children's brains work better when they are moving, the master
teacher explains. Not only do they concentrate better in class, but they are
more successful at "negotiating, socialising, building teams and
friendships together".
Finland leads the world in its discovery that play is the most
fundamental engine and efficiency-booster of children's learning.’
Mainstream schools need to take back responsibility for educating
disengaged students
Thanks to Phil Cullen for this article.
‘Exclusion from school places makes vulnerable young people at
greater risk of long term unemployment, dependence on welfare, mental health
issues and social isolation.
Young people unable to attend mainstream education then need to look
for an educational alternative that addresses the complexity of their lives and
needs.’
Our crisis of democracy is a crisis of education
‘I think the challenge is that we have an education system,
globally, and very much so in the western world, which is geared towards things
that we can measure: particularly 'academic subjects’ – maths, science, and
English. Because these are taught and tested in a way that is eminently
measurable. The problem with standardisation is that you end up narrowing the
curriculum and narrowing the tuition, so that we can measure success through a
quite restrictive testing regime.’
Rescuing Education Reform from Decades of Post-Truth
‘For those of us involved in education and the education reform
movement, however, the negative consequences of post-truth discourse have been
around for more than a century—and during the past three decades, a harbinger
of what the Trump phenomenon has brought to the U.S.’
A High School Math Teacher’s First Experience Teaching Elementary
School
‘At a workshop in Alameda County last month, I made my standard request
for classroom teachers to help me make good on my New Year’s resolution. I
assumed all the teachers there taught middle- or high-school so I said yes to
every teacher who invited me. Later, I’d find out that one of them taught
fourth grade.
As a former high school math teacher, this was NIGHTMARE MATERIAL, Y’ALL.’
Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:
The way we teach our children is truly crazy
Education in Australia is crazy - a parent’s
view
‘Now I can say it. With my youngest
child having safely fled the school system, I can finally say, without fear of
jinx or reprisal, that how we educate our kids is insane. It's not the
teachers, who show the normal human range from fine to feeble. Not the
particular schools, which included public and private, selective and
non-selective. What's insane is the system and – feeding it, as fear feeds war –
an intensifying cultural madness. Not theirs. Ours.’
Want to be a great parent? Let your
children be bored
‘From books, arts and sports classes to
iPads and television, many parents do everything in their power to entertain
and educate their children. But what would happen if children were just left to
be bored from time to time? How would it affect their development?’
'An education in the arts is limited to
the economically privileged. It is an unjust waste of national talent’
 |
| The author |
‘A good education should be a preparation
for life. It requires the development of the whole child, not merely their
intellect. It necessitates students becoming intrinsic learners with
self-discipline and a genuine thirst for knowledge, rather than being goaded or
corralled, which is what students may become with a single-minded focus on exam
results.’
Stress Literally Shrinks Your Brain (7
Ways To Reverse The Damage)
Here’s an article for teachers:
‘It's not impossible to reduce your
stress levels; you just need to make managing stress a higher priority if you
want to reverse this effect. The sooner you start managing your stress
effectively, the easier it will be to keep unexpected stress from causing
damage in the future.’
Teacher: A one-size-fits-all approach to
instruction is stifling our classrooms
‘Everyone has an opinion about what’s
wrong with American education. Classrooms are overcrowded. Funding is
misallocated. Segregation persists. Politicians, principals, and academics have
rancorous debates over how to best fix our schools. On at least one issue,
however, everyone agrees: Students deserve great teachers. But how can we
attract — let alone retain — them?’
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
Don't touch the bananas!!!!
What monkeys and bananas can teach us
“It is always amazing to see how exposure to an environment, or
culture, can change how we think without us even knowing – I guess this is
called conditioning. New ideas always rely on those individuals who can see
reality without the blinkers.The truth however is not always welcome and it is
always easier to go along. As Oscar Wilde once said, ‘The truth makes you very
unpopular at the club.’”
Tapping into the student's world
‘Every student brings with them memories and ideas gained from the
experiences they have had. All too often this personal form of motivation is
overlooked by teachers who seem to think they have better ideas to use - their
own. It is as if students come to school as blank slates (tabula rosa) when
instead they come with a wealth of ideas to share but to do their ideas need to
be valued.’
Teachers' key role in fostering creativity.
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