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| Tapping the wisdom of past teachers ( Bill Guild) |
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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| Creativity being lost in our schools |
The Joy Of Opting Out Of Standardized Testing
‘Testing season is a gray period in my classroom. But it’s a joy in
my house.
As a classroom teacher with a daughter in the public school system,
I’m always struck by the difference. In school I have to proctor the federally
mandated standardized tests. But I’ve opted my own daughter out. She doesn’t
take them. So at home, I get to see all the imaginative projects she’s created
in her class while the other kids had to trudge away at the exam.’
Opt Out 2017: Refusing Education as a Police Power
This article is by Mark J Garrison, whose book A
measure of failure: The political origins of standardized testing is well
worth reading.
‘All of this harms the quality of education and does nothing to
solve the real problems that concern
The First Two Years at School (1950)
Here’s a movie from 1950, examining the teaching
practice in junior school classrooms. it’s not often that one looks at
something 66 years old and sees that things have definitely gone downhill since
then.
‘An exposition of modern methods of teaching
the very young, showing the purpose behind the methods now being used, and
contrasting them with past procedure.’
Here's one secret to successful schools that costs nothing
‘Most factors that help make schools successful cost lots of money
-- think teachers, technology and textbooks. But a new study suggests one
factor that doesn't need any cash to implement can play an important role in
helping students succeed at even the most disadvantaged schools. That factor is
what scientists call social capital.’
How Not To Teach Writing
Nobody teaches writing that way.
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| Teacher way - right way |
‘No, the entire history of human expression, human literature, human
song-- it's about finding new and interesting and surprising ways to say what
we have to say. It's about finding ways to express a thought that are perfectly
suited to that particular person and time and place and circumstances. We are
moved, touched, excited, and enlightened by those who can string words together
in completely different and yet completely appropriate ways.’
What is it like living in Libya these days?
If you think your teaching job has its problems:
‘Libyan activist, Maimuna Aghliw, who has been living in Misrata
since 2009, reflects on life there during wartime. Aghliw, 26, spent some
time working at an NGO, focusing on psychosocial support, visiting different
elementary and secondary schools. She also spent time teaching and tutoring
children of various ages.
Here, she talks about her experience as a teacher in war-torn
Libya.’
Contributed by Bruce Hammonds:
Schools hit a
wall with open-plan classrooms
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| Return of the walls |
When will they ever learn?
‘They knocked down walls to revolutionise
learning and now they are putting them up again. Open-plan classrooms
have caused nothing but trouble for many schools, which are putting up
partitions and walls to counter the deafening noise created in the barn-like
spaces.’
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| Author : Heemi McDonald |
MLEs (Marae Learning Environments) – Lessons
from the Marae for Modern Learning Environments
‘Cultural responsiveness is a crucial
part of all learning environments and leads to enhanced practices and learning
outcomes. The Modern Learning Environment (MLE) is no exception. Modern
learning practices move beyond the learning space and seek to challenge the
traditional frames of learning. These practices are for the enhancement of
learning experiences but need to be infused with robust cultural competencies.
For Maori, open plan, communal learning spaces are not new.’
A Continuum on Personalized Learning:
First Draft
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| Author Larry Cuban |
‘When I went into classrooms to see what “personalized
learning” meant in action, I observed much variation in the lessons and units
that bore the label. None of this should be surprising since “technology
integration” and other reform-minded policies draw from the hyped-up world of
new technologies where vendors, promoters, critics, and skeptics compete openly
for the minds (and wallets) of those who make decisions about what gets into
classrooms.’
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
Seven myths
about teaching - common sense to me!
‘Seven myths about learning from an
American source - common sense to insightful New Zealand teachers?Many people —
educators included — still cling to some of these misconceptions about learning
because they base what they think on their own experiences in school, ignoring
what 21st century science and experience are revealing. Here are seven of the
biggest myths about learning that, unfortunately, guide the way that many
schools are organized in this era of standardized test-based public school
reform.’
Back to the future
Tapping into the wisdom of the past
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| Bill Guild : Teacher |
Transforming schools through Project
Based Learning (PBL)
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| Thomas Markham |
‘American educationalist Thom Markham is
an enthusiast for Project Based Learning (PBL) and believes that the most
important innovation schools can implement is high quality project based
learning. He provides seven important design principles for teachers to ensure
project based learning is of the highest quality.’
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