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| We need to value the questions, thoughts and concerns of students Time to personalize learning. |
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
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| Need to standardize walkingh |
A Provisional Curriculum For When Walking Is Taught At School
Kelvin Smythe wrote a similar satire over 25
years ago - coincidence? Good read all
the same.
‘To secure the quality and consistency of walking skills in
forthcoming generations, it is anticipated that walking will soon be taught by
professional teachers in properly equipped educational facilities. The
following curriculum has been designed to achieve optimum results.’
Discipline, Punishment and Mental Health
‘In the past 25 years rates of depression and anxiety among
teenagers in the UK have increased by
Kids Don’t Fail, Schools Fail Kids: Sir Ken Robinson on the ‘Learning
Revolution’
‘Robinson delivered a keynote address in which he spoke to the “learning
revolution,” arguing that the shift to personalized learning is a
non-negotiable in the United States if education is prepared students for the
future, instead of simply the “now.”So, why then is personalized learning a non-negotiable?’
Dear Friend About to Leave Teaching…
‘As another school year comes to a close, I am once again surrounded
by teachers who are ready to
‘Before you give up and leave teaching, please consider these three
things …’
Children need art and stories and poems and music as much as they
need love and food and fresh air and play.
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| Phillip Pullman -author |
‘But if you don’t give a child art and stories and poems and music,
the damage is not so easy to see. It’s there, though. Their bodies are healthy
enough; they can run and jump and swim and eat hungrily and make lots of noise,
as children have always done, but something is missing.’
Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:
Responsibility
and Inner Discipline
We hear so much
about children's behaviour in schools . This short PDF based on the work
of Barbara Coloroso would make a good basis for a staff meeting.
‘A major goal
of education is to teach students to conduct themselves in an acceptable
manner. To do so, students must acquire an inner sense of responsibility and
self-control.’
The problem with tests that are not
standardized
Alfie Kohn.
‘Many of us rail against standardized
tests not only because of the harmful uses to which they’re put but because
they’re imposed on us. It’s more unsettling to acknowledge that the tests we
come up with ourselves can also be damaging. The good news is that far superior
alternatives are available.’
Why dividing us by age in school doesn’t
make sense
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| Why do schools ability group? |
‘Dividing children by age in schools doesn’t
make sense. After few seconds of skepticism, I took his argument seriously and
I realized that the idea of grouping students by age was an assumption I had
never challenged before.What we take for granted and see as “how things are“,
is often just “how things have been done lately“. The fact that we grow up
doing things in a certain way tend to install in us the assumption that that’s
the unique way to do them, and that humans have always been doing them that
way.’
Be The Change
You Want to See By Shifting Traditional High School
‘Great ideas
and extraordinary teaching happen in public school classrooms all over the
country, but these pockets of innovation often don’t get the attention they deserve.
More often the schools held up as models for the future of learning started
with a carefully articulated vision around change, a hand-picked staff, and
even some startup capital. Changing the traditional approaches to teaching and
learning that have been in place for decades within an existing school is
extremely difficult work.But passionate teachers and leaders are doing just
that.’
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
Integrated learning at its best!
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| Parent at open day |
Flexible thinking in a traditional school – you
don't need flexible learning environments
‘It seems that modern schools require Flexible Learning Environments
(FLEs) when what is more important is flexible or innovative thinking. Opunake
Primary is one such innovative school whichmakes use of James Beane’s
democratic ideas to empower kids linked with a powerful inquiry
learning model and mixed age teaching. Add to this their emphasis on presenting
student findings through displays, exhibitions, models’ demonstrations and a
range of modern media and you have a school worth emulating.’
Creativity – its place in education
An oldie written by Wayne Morris
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| Wayne Morris |
‘Is it important to our futures that creativity be taught?What place
should creativity have in our education systems?Should we teach creatively or
teach for creativity?“By providing rich and varied contexts for pupils to
acquire, develop and apply a broad range of knowledge, understanding and
skills, the curriculum should enable pupils to think creatively and critically,
to solve problems and to make a difference for the better. It should give them
the opportunity to become creative, innovative, enterprising and capable of
leadership to equip them for their future lives as workers and citizens. It
should enable pupils to respond positively to opportunities, challenges and
responsibilities, to manage risk and cope with change and adversity.”Source: UK
National Curriculum Handbook [p 11-12]:’
Superkids; the hurried generation!
‘This hurrying is understandable in an age of increasing speed and
insecurity and there is a growing industry ready to provide whatever any
parents requires to give their child an academic advantage, non the least the
computer industry! Parents often feel guilty if they aren’t providing all they
can.Unfortunately most of what is being provided goes against what we know as
age appropriate learning.’
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