Teach critical thinking / reading too soon?/ need to trust teachers / anxious students

Pink Floyd - 'we don't want no education'

Education Readings

 By Allan Alach

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

When Should We Teach Critical Thinking to Kids?

‘As a media educator, I engage in critical thinking and questioning every day. For me it first started when I heard Elizabeth Thoman, the founder of the Center for Media Literacy, say: “Media literacy is not just about asking questions, it’s about asking the RIGHT questions.”'

http://bit.ly/2ETLd7T

The ‘Lawnmower Parent’ Is Destroying Future Generations

Also known as the snowplough parent…

‘Their goal: To ‘mow down’ every obstacle in their kids’ way so they’ll go through life without experiencing anything remotely unpleasant.’

http://bit.ly/2zeIWOo

Why Children Aren't Behaving, And What You Can Do About It

‘"We face a crisis of self-regulation," Lewis writes. And by "we," she means parents and teachers

who struggle daily with difficult behavior from the children in their lives. Lewis, a journalist, certified parent educator and mother of three, asks why so many kids today are having trouble managing their behavior and emotions.’

http://bit.ly/2P3o3As

50 Ways To Measure Understanding

Thanks to Tony Gurr.

‘By dictating exactly what every student will ‘understand’ ahead of time, certain assessment forms become ideal. It also becomes much more likely that students will fail. If students can learn anything, then they only fail if they fail to learn anything at all or fail to demonstrate learning anything at all.’

http://bit.ly/2OhBBmP

Reading too soon…

‘There is a widely held belief in this country (and many others) that if we start teaching children to

read, write, and spell in preschool and kindergarten that they will be ahead of the game (and their peers) by first grade. We think that pushing our kids to start early will make them better and give them the edge.

But it doesn’t work that way, in fact it can be detrimental.’

http://bit.ly/2Ron5LW

We Need to Trust Teachers to Innovate

‘If we want to see innovation happening in our schools, we need to trust, encourage, and empower

teachers to transform their practice. Too often, teachers are forced to teach inside the box and it can feel frustrating. What’s getting in the way, and what we can do about it.’

http://bit.ly/2kIbcVv

The Decline of Play and Rise in Children's Mental Disorders

‘Rates of depression and anxiety among young people in America have been increasing steadily for the past 50 to 70 years. There is a reason kids are more anxious and depressed than ever.’

http://bit.ly/2JsAjEu

From Australia – prioritise capabilities in education

‘Things like critical thinking, creativity, resilience and communication skills have been found to help young children prepare to learn, improve outcomes in school and increase lifelong wellbeing and job success.’

http://bit.ly/2AEy8v5

From Australia – how to implement the capabilities.

‘The general capabilities - critical and creative thinking, social and emotional capability, ethical understanding and intercultural understanding - were introduced into the Australian Curriculum as a way of turning this powerful vision into reality.’

http://bit.ly/2zifoiR

The Problem Finders – The Design Thinking School

‘The Design Thinking School, a pedagogical framework that borrows from enquiry-based learning and problem-solving curricula to bring new meaning and relevance to students, and we’re finding that such a framework works regardless of curriculum, country, culture or language.’

http://bit.ly/2JsGzvZ

From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

Why schools don’t educate – John Gatto

We live in a time of great school crisis', 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.'

.

http://bit.ly/2RvvQEb

Pink Floyd – ‘teacher leave that child alone’. The difference between education and schooling

‘‘We don’t want no education’, sang Pink Floyd but it would more accurate to have said ‘we don’t want no schooling’, because education and schooling are not always the same thing. And schooling wouldn’t have fitted into the tune so well.’

http://bit.ly/2Qagd4z