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| Time to refresh your energy |
Education Readings
Every week Bruce Hammonds and I collect articles
to share with teachers to encourage a creative approach to teaching and
learning. I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it
to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz
Time for art and history to rhyme
Peter O’Connor:
‘The international evidence is crystal
clear on the value of the arts in education. Children in arts rich
schools do better academically across all areas of the curriculum. They are
more engaged and motivated to come to school. Children who play musical
instruments do better at maths, children who do drama are better at writing.
Children who have access to the arts begin to understand and value the power of
the imagination.'
School walls are oozing with unhelpful
growth
‘Get these slogans blown up and laminated
and plaster your corridors and walls in them… Bingo! Go Growth Mindset.
What’s it all for? Here’s my hunch:
You could replace all of these posters and slogans with pictures of cute cats
or Harry Styles and it would have the same effect: No effect.’
Is The Big Standardized Test A Big
Standardized Flop?
‘After almost two decades of its use,
we've raised an entire generation of students around the notion of test-based
accountability, and yet the fruits ofthat seem.... well, elusive. Where are
the waves of students now arriving on college campuses super-prepared? Where
are the businesses proclaiming that today's grads are the most awesome in
history? Where is the increase in citizens with great-paying jobs? Where are
any visible signs that the test-based accountability system has worked?’
How Genius Hour Helps Kids Connect What They’re Learning
“'It bothers me that I am not learning
things in school that will help me become what I want to be.” This is the most
sobering and common response to one of three questions I ask my students before
we start Genius Hour: What bothers you? What do you love? What do you wonder
about?'
Designing a Public School from Scratch
‘The offer sounded too good to pass up—a
paid year off from teaching to create a new public school with a mission to “change
the way we do school The opportunity to build the school they had always
dreamed of, working alongside educators who shared a commitment to innovation.’
Education research is great but never
forget teaching is a complex art form
'Research, research, research. Everyone
is talking about education research. The movement for
Get Creative – Find the artist inside
“Every child is an artist. The problem is
how to remain an artist once we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso“When we are involved in creativity, we
feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.” – Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi We are all creative beings, but like
anything the less we use it the harder it is to access it.’
Teach Kids When They’re Ready
‘A new book for parents on developing
their kids’ sense of autonomy has some useful insights for teachers as well. We
now teach reading to 5-year-olds even though evidence shows it’s more efficient
to teach them to read at age 7, and that any advantage gained by kids who learn
to read early washes out later in childhood.’
Opinion | Charter schools have done more
harm than good
‘Why is it that every time I chat with a
charter school cheerleader (such as privatization, school choice, competition, school closings, vouchers, teacher tenure, funding,
regulations, testing) , they are unable to muster a defense of those
policies.’
What do I need to know about Reggio?
‘So why is ‘everyone’ talking about
Reggio Emilia? Probably because ‘it’ was identified by Newsweek magazine in
1991 as ‘the best’ early childhood education in the world – or at least a
noteworthy form of excellence catching the attention of some senior American
educators.’
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
The Interactive inquiry - Learning in Science Project (LISP)
‘In the 80s a university physics professor became worried that the
knowledge he thought his students ought to have been taught seemed to be
missing in his classes. He found that it had been 'taught' , but that the
students had been taught in way that their 'prior ideas' had not been changed
in the process, or that they did not have the confidence to use what they
'knew' in practical situations. Some call this 'fragile' learning and it exists
throughout the curriculum.’
Developing a powerful school vision
‘All schools these days have Visions, Missions and Strategy Plans
but all too often few people can articulate them let alone say what they really
mean in action. No matter how well they are drawn up if no one knows what they
mean they are not worth the paper they are written on. For all this I still
believe that a vision, properly developed with all involved, is a powerful
idea. There is no more important work than the development of an inspiring
vision that provides a clear sense of mission for the staff.’
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