Educational Readings - Scott McLeod / Sir Michael Barber!!/ Jamie McKenzie /PISA/Dianne Khan and Bruce Hammonds

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

To Foster Your Creativity, Don't Learn To Code; Learn To Paint

And if you want to foster those creative, problem solving skills, the solution isn’t learning to code – it’s learning to paint. Or play an instrument. Or write poetry. Or sculpt. The field doesn’t matter: the key thing is that if you want to foster your own innovative creativity, the best way to do it is to seriously pursue an artistic endeavor.”

http://onforb.es/1hDMYiH

‘Closed’ v. ‘open’ systems of knowing   Scott McLeod:

“To fully prepare most students for life – and, arguably, to reengage many of them in the learning, not just social, aspects of their schooling – they need greater immersion in open systems of learning where questions are raised, answers aren’t fixed, and solutions are often contextual. This is true for all grade levels, not just secondary. So far most schools don’t do a great job with this.”

http://bit.ly/1duD9B9

Pearson's Vision for the World

Real scary stuff Welcome to Sir Michael Barber’s version of Huxley’s “Brave New World.” Warning to teachers, everywhere

‘The "digital ocean" that this paper introduces is coming. Just as "big data" is transforming other industries such as insurance, finance, retail, and professional sport, in time, it will transform education. And when it does, it will resolve long-standing dilemmas for educators and enable that long-term aspiration for evidence-informed policy at every level, from classroom to the whole system, to be realized.’

http://bit.ly/1mkfImc

What have we done?

US educator Jamie McKenzie reflecting on 20 years of the internet in classrooms

“The Internet came to schools with much fanfare in 1994-95, as browsers converted the previously text-based World Wide Web into something far more user-friendly and attractive. Some of us felt these information technologies might transform schools in dramatic ways as students would have wide open access to information much richer than what was available previously. We hoped the Internet would foster independent thinking and originality. Two decades later, how many of these

possibilities came true?”

http://bit.ly/1lXSNdm

Lessons from Disney Pixar on how creativity leads to more summative success

Ewan McIntosh:

“Pixar, since it was purchased by Disney, gives off an air of resilient creative and commercial success, but the journey is rarely that smooth. In fact, the more creative the output, the more commercially successful it is, for Pixar at least, and the processes used by the teams is remarkably close to what we see in highly effective classrooms.”

http://bit.ly/NASOI6

How Does PISA Put the World at Risk (Part 3): Creating Illusory Models of Excellence

Part 3 of Zong Zhao’s series on PISA.

“The product of most public value, the national league tables, are based on so many weak links that they should be abandoned right away. If only a few of the methodological issues raised in this volume are on target, the league tables depend on assumptions about the validity and reliability which are unattainable.”

http://bit.ly/1fSFfLh

Not choice, bro – I want to opt out

A tale from New Zealand mother (and very active anti-GERM campaigner) Dianne Khan, about her son who has just started school.

“He has been allocated a National Student Number to track him throughout his education.  His results, standards, and lord knows what else is being stored against this number. I can’t opt him out of this – trust me I have asked.  He and every child in or entering the system as of the 2014 school year is in the system, and god only knows what they are recording about him.”

http://bit.ly/Q5S6Vq

This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

Like a Wood Duck: Finding Peace in the Classroom

“After a hard day of teaching, I often plop down on my desk chair at home and gaze up at a framed drawing hanging on the wall above my desk that a dear friend of mine gave me. It is a detailed

A Wood duck

d

Concerns about Use of Standardized Tests a Constant over the Years

Bruce’s comment: “Politicians determining education –shades of TVs House of Cards!!!!”

“I think we can generally agree that standardized tests don’t have a good reputation today — and that some of the criticism is merited,” said U.S. secretary of Education Arne Duncan last April during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). “Policymakers and researchers have to listen very carefully — and take very seriously the concerns of educators, parents, and students about assessment.”

http://bit.ly/1nKWSX6

New School Year - what has been achieved ?

Bruce’s reflections after visiting classrooms six weeks into the 2014 New Zealand school year — what was to be seen? Care to make a guess?

“I wasn't expecting miracles on my visits. I was just hoping for the early signs of the beginning of quality learning – the beginning of the class being a home for mutual studies by teachers and their students. Students as 'seekers, users and creators of their own knowledge'. ( New Zealand Curriculum, 2007)”

http://bit.ly/1kZumMM\\

   Check out this blog.  Just to prove Bruce wrong!!!!   

What’s Your Learning Disposition? How to Foster Students’ Mindsets

“Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s work on growth mindsets has dominated much of the attention around how students can influence their own learning. But there are other ways to help students tap into their own motivation, too. Here are a few other important mindsets to consider.”

http://bit.ly/1m6SQDQ

New School Year - what has been achieved ?

It is now six weeks into the new school year - what is to be seen?

I have had the opportunity to look around a number of classrooms. I have to say I was disappointed with what I saw – or rather what I didn't see.

Many years ago the group of innovative teachers I worked with, teachers  used to believe that a glimpse of any classroom, the work on display and student book-work, could instantly tell you about what the teacher felt important.

This ‘blink’ approach has been well written about by Malcolm Gladwell – such insight however only applied if the observer (or wine taster!) had long experience to call on. 

The impression I got from my flying visits indicated that teachers were simply doing what is currently being expected.

I suppose many were also just coming to terms with their new classes –we used to believe that really excellent work appeared in Term Three when a culture of high expectations was well established. Teaching is one career where there is no shallow end!

I appreciate that I am no longer in a position to give advice but my past has experience provided me with useful ideas that I can't resist sharing.

In the late 60s (after a decade of being an adviser in science) I took my first class in the UK.  My first position was in very formal streamed school in South London where as long as my students kept out of trouble no one seemed to care.  For me, survival was the name of the game.

Creative English junior schools of the 60s.

My second school in the UK was a complete contrast – a wonderful child centred school like nothing I had ever seen in New Zealand. I did my best to learn by doing the approach expected by this school. I was lucky to be able to gain help with an exciting group of creative teachers.  Essentially their programmes were based around four rotating groups – mathematics (based mainly on activity often integrated with the current study); language (reading instruction, as I knew it  in NZ, was a bit light so this was mainly language experiences); art and craft and topic. The current study topic, drawing heavily on the immediate environment was the unifying element. Work in all areas was integrated by teacher arranged displays these (and the classroom walls) featured the finished work of the students as completed.  Displaying of student work was a real feature.

Quality work by a 10 year old ( by slowing pace)

Slow pace of work - do fewer things well.

A phase I absorbed was the need to ‘slow the pace’ of student workand the need to ‘come alongside the child’ if quality thinking, language and maths was to result ( today known as feedback). Also the idea of doing ‘fewer thing well’.  Depth rather coverage.At this time there were no national curricula to 'deliver'. The educational scene in the UK has changed dramatically with a National Curriculums, targets, tests and league tables and, in the process, the baby was thrown out with the bathwater.

In the 60s there were creative teachers in New Zealand, mainly in rural schools, who were developing similar creative programmes - the most well known being Elwyn Richardson.

Elwyn Richardson

Taranaki quality teaching approach.

In the 70s/80s I worked closely with a small group of local teachers in Taranaki introducing some of the ideas that impressed me – close observational drawing ( NZ teachers at their time were well ahead of UK teachers I observed when it came to creative art); introducing studies through displays; well-presented wall displays of student work; integrated studies; making use of the immediate environment and a rotary way of working but limited to current studies. Language and maths were integrated as much as possible.

In the late 70s I taught a class  ( it is a good lesson for advisers to return to the classroom) and applied idea learnt from my UK experience and from creative New Zealand teachers I had worked with. I refused to use ability grouping and integrated all learning as best I could.. I had a lot to prove and after a very tiring first term felt I had done well but I had the support of teachers I had worked with.

Study booklets from my class

When, as principal in the 80s/90s I did my best to introduce similar  ideas gained across a school. Other local principals worked along similar whole school  lines.

Unfortunately most of the ideas we implemented have all but been lost – as confirmed by my recent class visits.

Since the late 80s NZ has gone down the same top down compliance technocratic lines as the UK.

Back to my recent classroom ‘flying visits ‘and what I would've liked to have seen.

I would've liked to have seen:

Evidence of a simple environmental study - based on students’ questions, valuing their ‘prior ideas’ including some observational drawings, language work and creative art. To ensure quality teachers need to teach simple presentation techniques/’scaffolds’.

I would've liked to have seen the above work well displayed with appropriate captions.

I would've also liked to have seen some focused personal writing about something the students’’ had experienced during their holidays. I would have liked to have seen these displayed well along with portraits or drawing featuring some aspect of the experience. To ensure students achieve best results teachers need to teach their students some simple presentation skills.

First weeks difficult settling in time.

Teaching is not easy!!

I do appreciate that the first few weeks can be a difficult settling in time for both teacher and students. As mentioned there is no shallow end!

At the beginning of the year it is important to establish routines to give both teacher and students a sense of security.  I have always liked the advice that wing walkers used when balancing on the wings of ex WW1 planes  at air shows after the war , ‘Never let go of anything until  you have got hold of something else’.

I also believe it is important to accept students as they are and then to slowly set about helping them achieve better work – to slowly develop a sense of personal quality. It is my experience that many students will not have gained this appreciation from their previous classes.

Teaching is the 'canny art of intellectual temptation'.

I believe strongly in the idea ‘people get good at what they get good at’ (Jerome Bruner) and that ‘teaching is the canny art of intellectual temptation’. If students are given tasks that think are reasonable, and if students are given all the help required (the concept of ‘scaffolding’), then they are all  capable of improvement – even in the first term of the year. Some students may take a long time to show improvement – but with time and support they will surprise themselves. Some students, in my experience, will only show dramatic growth if they continue with the teacher for a second year.

Importance of respectful relationships.

Achieving quality learning depends on positive respectful relationships, interesting relevant things to become involved in and teachers working really hard to help each learner improve. In some cases, for mutual survival, it will be necessary to do things because ‘we have to’ – students will understand this.

I wasn't expecting miracles - maybe I visited too early!

I wasn't expecting miracles on my visits. I was just hoping for the early signs of the beginning of quality learning – the beginning of the class being a home for mutual studies by teachers and their students. Students as 'seekers, users and creators of their own knowledge'. ( NZC 2007)

Anyway – what would I know!

It’s not too late to start the quality journey.

Here are some practical links;

A cicada lesson
ANZAC Day study
Flax Study
Eels and wall display
Wild plants ( summer weeds)

Inquiry approach - see co-constructivist model below

Co-constructivist teaching model  More on the approach

Personal writing

Observational Drawing

Completing a portrait

Simple study booklet guidelines
Quality presentation

Room environment

Wall display ideas.


Just to prove me wrong!!!!  Take look at this great blog!

Educational Readings: Maths Wars, Creativity, PISA (education at risk), 'true grit' and language deficit!

By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

Return of the Math Wars

Great blog on constructivist mathematics by Canadian teacher Joe Bower: ‘If I had to distill the math wars down to a simple idea, I would probably say that constructivist math calls for an increase emphasis on understanding while simultaneously calling

Maths project

for a decrease emphasis on direct instruction of facts and algorithms. The math wars get heated when critics come to see these changes to mean an elimination of basic skills and precise answers.’

http://bit.ly/Okf0qw

18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently. Don’t expect school reform to foster these! "Inspiration and ideas often arise seemingly out of nowhere and then fail to show up when we most need them, and creative thinking requires complex cognition yet is completely distinct from the thinking process.”

http://bit.ly/1gys2HX



Leaning tower of PISA

How Does PISA Put the World at Risk (Part 2): Glorifying Educational Authoritarianism. Part 2 of Zong Zhao’s series on PISA.“Because some authoritarian education systems seem to generate better PISA rankings, it has been concluded that educational authoritarianism, the systemic arrangements designed to enforce government-prescribed, uniform standards upon all children, should be emulated by the rest

of the world.”

And:

“First, national standards and national curriculum—enforced by high stakes testing—can at best teach students what is prescribed by the curriculum and expected by the standards. This system fails to expose students to content and skills in other areas. As a result, students talented in other areas never have the opportunity to discover those talents. Students with broader interests are discouraged, not rewarded. The system results in a population with similar skills in a narrow spectrum of talents.”

http://bit.ly/OmLZuV

50 Crazy Ideas To Change Education



What do you think of these? Which ones do you agree/disagree

Value creativity

with? What changes would you make?

“Below are 50 ideas for a new education. Note, most of these are about education as a system rather than learning itself, but that’s okay. It’s often the infrastructure of learning that obscures anyway. Few of them may work; even fewer would work together, and that’s okay too. As long as we’re dreaming anyway, let’s get a little crazy.”

http://bit.ly/1icb4ml

Teachers: life inside the exam factory

A story from England that will start to ring true in New Zealand and probably elsewhere if present GERM based policies are fully implemented.“As a lot of teachers see it, they are the focus of bitter hostility from ministers and educational high-ups, and the victims of an increasingly oppressive machine. Schools are swamping their pupils and staff in data and targets,leaving no room for the kind of human values that were once at the centre of what teachers did. These aspects of education, teachers say, also distort their priorities, so filling in spreadsheets sometimes takes precedence over actually teaching kids.”

http://bit.ly/1iWYmvd

The Long Death of Creative Teaching

An article for USA readers but as usual applicable all over.

‘Imagine your brain surgeon having to "follow the book" while operating on you or lose his job. While you are on the table, he discovers an unforeseen problem that, because of his experience and practical wisdom, calls for a spontaneous change of plan, yet he can't do what he knows will work. You die on the table. So have students. He retires early, frustrated with conditions. So have the best teachers.’

http://bit.ly/1kEi7VW

The DNA of GREAT Teachers – 3 “listicles” you have to read!

“What does the ‘DNA” of a great teacher look like?”

http://bit.ly/1lM5qbt

This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

New Problems, New Approaches: The Rise of the Generalist

Bruce’s comment: I like the ideas of the gifted generalist (dot joiner) as against the narrow specialist. Kind of secondary versus primary thinking?“The new Generalist is in fact a master of their trade. They bring expertise and experience in several areas, fueled by insatiable curiosity and the ability to “hyper-learn” new concepts and ideas. They practice empathy to fully understand and break down the nature of complex problems and collaboratively engage specialists in reframing the problem in order to arrive at potential solutions.”

http://bit.ly/1d5McxK

Teachers at risk!!!!

25 Tricks to Stop Teacher Burnout

“There’s a reason why teachers receive a sad, knowing nod from others at a dinner party or when meeting new people. The profession kicks us around and often kicks hardest when we’re down. We teach for the pleasure of sharing a subject or skill that we love and hope to infuse a passion in someone else. We don’t teach for the pounding headaches or the late nights grading. We don’t teach because we like low pay and instability. So, in the light of how teachers are treated, it’s only natural to see teachers burnout more quickly than in any other profession. That’s why we need to take steps to protect ourselves from the inevitable because it can be prevented and controlled.”

http://bit.ly/PKl64Z

Does Teaching Kids To Get 'Gritty' Help Them Get Ahead?

“Around the nation, schools are beginning to see grit as key to students' success — and just as

important to teach as reading and math. Experts define grit as persistence, determination and resilience; it's that je ne sais quoi that drives one kid to practice trumpet or study Spanish for hours — or years — on end, while another quits after the first setback.”

http://n.pr/PMNQtN

Bridging the Language Deficit Gap – appreciating that before the word comes the experience! Bruce’s latest blog article:

“Teachers need to value their students’ views, thoughts and questions by entering into dialogue with their students to extend, elaborate and enrich their ideas (Hattie’s ‘rich conversations’). The model of teaching encouraged was a ‘co-constructivist’ one – challenging students’ ideas and clarifying their views.”

http://bit.ly/1g9hJzl