5th January 2009
I hope this piece in the Daily Mail is itself make-believe:
Politically correct parents ditch 'offensive' traditional fairy tales
Bettelheim argued (Uses of Enchantment) the absolute necessity for children's rich and deep exposure to fairy tales - aiding their psychological development. Ask yourself why these tales have survived so far - it's because they are the 'fittest' for purpose. Are they offensive? You decide.
Natural selection has pruned out interesting fairy tales such as 'Blue Beard'. This doesn't appear in the Disney back catalogue for very good reason.... |
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January 5th 2009
Cold hall but warm brains. Thinking skills at Marish Primary in Slough:
 
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6th January 2009
Start early. Avoid 4-year-olds growing up into 30-year-olds who say 'I could never draw':
Read an excellent review from TC triber Squiggle |
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Thursday 18 December, 2008
Eventually got around to reading the Rose interim review of primary curriculum. Blogs are for opinions. Here's mine: Disappointed. Why? Used the search feature on the review - "Thinking" appears 3 times. "Creativity" appears 3 times. "Risk" appears 7 times. It's a 71 page document. Sir Jim - if you're reading this, can we have a chat over coffee in a Starbucks someplace? |
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Wednesday 17 December, 2008
Facilitated a creativity day for Findel in Nottingham last week - what a bunch of sparky, engaging and 'can-do' people. In a short day we solved the credit crunch, designed a whole bunch of new products, had fun and ate chips. It's a real treat having on tap the whole Findel-group catalogue - all the educational products you could imagine - like an Alladin's cave of learning - and with such diversity comes many new combinations and learning ideas.
How can you creatively combine your classroom resources? What could you put with what? How would your children combine different tools/resources/materials? |
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Friday 5th December, 2008, Aberdare
Should educational change be driven by children and teachers in the classroom or strategy makers in government? In my experience the former is always more personal, honest, genuine and sustainable. The latter, however, makes change a whole lot easier.
Working in Aberdare with Andrew Pearce on Level 2 Critical Skills. 18 educators at the top of their game - learning, questionning, growing, having fun....and believing passionately in their abilities to enirch the lives of those with whom they learn. And it's made so much easier - validated in fact - because the next level up (cluster) is backing their efforts - believing in them.
This is not always the case. Ask youself - who believes in you? Who in authority over you wants you to succeed? Values you? Trusts you? Gives you purpose and respects you? And in turn, take it the other way: Who do you value? How do you value them? How do you give another human being significance.... |
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Tuesday December 2, 2008, Office
Lucy's reading Gladwell's Outliers. Scary stuff - especially his words on the impact of a child's birth month on future life success. In theory, easy to fix - in a fluid, adaptable, dynamic, proactive education system. But is that what England has? More updates as she reads on....
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Thursday 27 November, 2008, Office
My daughter (Y8) brought a sheet of numbers home this week - her subject grades.
I said, "Well done you, and tell me how come you've a 4a in Geography but a 6a in Maths?"
"Oh that's easy," she says, "Maths and English and Science are the ones they focus on and give lots of attention to. They are the important ones. In them you're told what your next step is so you know what to do next and can get better faster."
"Oh. Right," I replied, thoughtfully. |
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Tuesday November 25, 2008, The Office
Andrew Pearce - CSP guru - sent me these questions to help with thinking about learning. (he spent 1 minute 58 seconds making them up). Try them out, maybe a few at a time, at the beginning and end of lessons.
What do I hope you’ll learn? (...or learn about?)
What do you need to learn?
What do I/you think you need to learn?
What do I want you learn?
What do you want to learn?
What have you learned?
What do you think you have learned?
How do you know what you've learned?
How will I know what you've learned?
What do I think you have learned?
What have I learned?
What have I learned about me?
What have you learned about me?
What have I learned about you?
What have I/you learned about learning?
What have we learned that will help us to learn better?
How could you use what you have learned?
Where could you use what you have learned?
Why might it be good to learn about....?
Who could you share your learning with?
How can we share what we've learned?
Which piece of learning has been most important today?
What have we learned that could make life better for us?
What have we learned that could make life better for other people? |
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