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!
Teachers are Learning Designers
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| Conditions = Culture |
‘What
really struck me is that great teachers create the conditions for success, just
as gardeners do. You can't make a flower grow, but you can design and improve
the condition for that flow of naturally occurring events. It's the same for
our students. We have the power and the duty to create the best conditions for
students to flourish.’
Testing and thinking (thanks
Tony)
Great article by Grant Wiggins.
‘…it
raises troubling questions about the validity of all typical tests of
achievement used to evaluate student achievement and school effectiveness.
Because if the tests reward content knowledge but not powerful thinking – yet,
all Standards highlight important thinking – then the
tests may be yielding invalid inferences and thus very harmful consequences.’
How do inquiry teachers….teach?
Kath Murdoch.
‘Inquiry
is not just about knowing how to plan – it’s about how we teach. It’s about what we say to kids and how we say it. It’s about the way we listen and the way we feel about what our kids
are saying. It’s about knowing when to step
back and when to step in. The language we use and the silences
we deliberately leave. It’s about what we are thinking about what we are doing.’
Play: Is it Becoming Extinct?
‘In
an era of high-stakes testing and teacher accountability, play—the
cornerstone of child development—is slowly
becoming extinct. As more and more schools are doing away with physical
education, recess, and curriculum that allows for children to engage in play
activities, teachers find
themselves relying on more teacher-directed
instruction. Teacher-directed instruction includes activities and lessons
planned by the teacher. The teacher guides the entire daily schedule and this
type of instruction is the most structured teacher-centered form of planning.
In schools and homes today, free-choice play, imaginative play, and physical
play are almost gone in a child's daily schedule.’
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| Good enough for Einstein! |
Learn about Taylorism and how it underpins the
standards and accountability movement.
Very important article!
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| Dehumanised workers |
The Wrong Way to Teach Grammar:
No more diagramming sentences: Students learn more from simply
writing and reading.
Well what do you know? Are you surprised? After
all teaching writing through rules is the written version of ‘paint by numbers.’
‘These
students are victims of the mistaken belief that grammar lessons must come
before writing, rather than grammar being something that is best learned through
writing.’
Bigger Gains for Students Who Don’t Get Help Solving Problems
Doesn’t
fit with the standards movement….
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| Authentic learning |
By allowing learners to experience the discomfort of struggle first,
and the triumph of understanding second, we can ensure that they have their
cake and eat it, too.’
Infographic: Why Corporations Want Our Public Schools
Where’s the big money in
privatization? Take it from the teachers.
The Myth Behind Public School Failure
In the rush to privatize the country’s schools, corporations and politicians have decimated school
budgets, replaced teaching with standardized testing, and placed the blame on
teachers and students.
Does this ring any bells for Australian, English
and New Zealand teachers?
‘Until
about 1980, America’s public
schoolteachers were iconic everyday heroes painted with a kind
of Norman Rockwell
patina—generally respected because they helped most kids learn to read,
write and successfully join society. Such teachers made possible at least the
idea of a vibrant democracy.
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| Norman Rockwell |
Since then, what a turnaround: We’re now told, relentlessly, that bad-apple schoolteachers have
wrecked K-12 education; that their unions keep legions of incompetent educators
in classrooms; that part of the solution is more private charter schools; and
that teachers as well as entire schools lack accountability, which can best be
remedied by more and more standardized “bubble” tests.’
This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:
Getting Beyond the Blame Game
‘Not
surprisingly, surveys indicate that teacher satisfaction has declined
dramatically in the last five years, on some measures to the lowest level in
the last 25 years (Harris Interactive, 2013). A decade of belt-tightening and
unprecedented levels of teacher and union bashing from pundits,
philanthropists, and all sides of the political spectrum have finally come home
to roost.’
The secrets behind Shanghai’s PISA results. Warning - 'germers' are
flocking to learn from this.
‘Even
though Shanghai students scored well on the test, this doesn't mean that
Shanghai's education system doesn't have any problems," said Lao Kaisheng,
a professor in the education department of Beijing Normal University. "In
fact, it's the opposite."
The New Classroom: A Vessel for Innovation
Bruce’s
comment: Taking Google environment to the classroom – isn't it what good NZ teachers do (or used
to ?)
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| Google culture |
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