I think about education. A lot. You could say it consumes me. It has been my lifelong passion, and although I am not currently in the classroom I don’t stop thinking and reading about how we learn and how learning can best be encouraged. My discontent with how schooling often is and my optimism for what it could be has been a recurring theme on my blog and a driving force in my life. You would not have to open too many posts to find at least one expressing that view.
My poem “Education Is” sums up the differences I see between education and schooling. Some schools do education really well. Some professing to be educational institutions school, very badly. What I consider to be one of the major differences is that education encourages a love of learning that lasts a lifetime; while schooling attempts to force-feed content in such a way that learning is neither enjoyed nor viewed as anything other than what one is forced to do in school.
In traditional schools assessment often takes the form a test which requires students to regurgitate information that has been thrust upon them, whether they like it, or are interested in it, or not. This occurs across all subject areas. I have written about it before in relation to writing tasks in these three posts: Writing to order – done in a flash!Writing woes – flash fiction and Who tests the testers?
I contrasted my choice of responding to Charli Mills’ flash fiction prompts to the lack of choice students have in state- or nation-wide writing tasks. In Writing woes – flash fiction I suggested that it would be difficult for me, on a given day, with a restricted amount of time, under the watchful eyes of supervisors, to produce my best work in response to a prompt about which I may have little experience, knowledge or interest.
In my flash fiction responses I introduced a unicorn as a symbol of escape from the confines of the classroom or other oppressive situation, into the space where one is free to truly be oneself. It wasn’t a deliberate or premeditated choice, simply a response to Charli’s prompt. However I am happy to adopt it in my flash fiction as a symbol of playfulness and imagination unleashed; the basis for all great inquiry and innovation. Thank you, Charli, for the prompt!
I have returned to both these themes again in response to Charli’s most recent prompt to In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story inspired by your muse. I’m not certain who my muse is, but I am certain that it would be very difficult to call upon a muse to assist when writing in a test situation such as that expected of students in school.
My piece is titled ‘Failure’, but this is the question I have for you: Who really deserves the “F”? Whose failure is it really?
Failure
She spluttered out the splinters of pencil: no longer tasty, never helpful. The assessor’s steely eyes pounced. She wiped the last vestiges from her mouth; staring blankly, as blank as the paper in front of her.
Outside the sunlight danced like fairies on the leaves, beckoning. Below, in the shade, the unicorn pranced and called her name.
“Why do I have to do this stuff? Who cares anyway!”
She grasped the broken pencil and scored a large “F” on the page.
Then she closed her eyes and was away, riding to freedom and joy on the unicorn’s back.
What do you think?
I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of this post or my flash fiction writing.
If you are interested in reading other of my flash fictions pieces, I have collected them all together on one page which you can access here or click on the Flash Fiction tab above.
I spent a good part of the 1990s working towards creating an alternative to traditional schooling for my own daughter and the children of similarly-minded parents. For an assortment of reasons, none of which had anything to do with education, we didn’t get the school operational. There is a big part of me that still longs for that alternative and I am always interested to hear of situations which espouse similar beliefs and attitudes to mine. When I do, my heart starts to race and I want to holler and jump for joy, shouting from the rooftops, “See it can be done! This is how it should be! This is what children need!” I want to be in there with them, a part of it all, learning from and with them, and perhaps even adding a little to their learning, should I be that impudent to suggest it possible.
Yesterday was one such occasion. I popped over to Tara Smith’s A Teaching Life blog and read her post “Preparing for a student teacher”. I always enjoy reading Tara’s blog and could identify with much of what she was feeling while preparing to welcome a student teacher into her classroom. But what got me most excited was a video of a talk given by Chris Lehmann at the 2013 MassCue (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) conference.
Chris Lehmann is the founding principal of the inquiry-driven Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Philadelphia. The achievements of both Chris and the SLA are rather impressive. You can read about them here, here and here. Chris is one excited, enthusiastic and inspiring educator.
The video of Chris’s keynote address to the conference is rather long at almost 1 hour and 8 minutes (in comparison the mostly 15-minute TED talks that I often watch). I admit that when I saw how long it was I baulked, wondering if I had that amount of time to “spare”. Fortunately something in Tara’s words induced me to do so. After all I didn’t have to watch it all, did I? But watch it all I did. How could I not? His dream was my dream:
And then Chris added:
‘all these people showed up and breathed life into that dream’
Here is his talk. If you don’t have time to listen to it all, I give you a few of my favourite quotes. (You may have already encountered some of these ideas before on my blog!) But who knows, he may have other thoughts that resonate with you.
Chris says that many people often ask why schools can have so many problems when there are so many passionate, dedicated teachers. He answer is simple: ‘We have a systemically screwed up system and if you put a good person in a bad system the system wins way too often.’ He says that ‘the factory model of education . . . no longer works for our children if it ever did.’
Chris says that one of the biggest problems with many schools is that students are being repeatedly told to do stuff that they may never need or even care about. He says, ‘If we were to write a students’ bill of rights the first statement on it should be this question:
He then goes on to say that ‘They shouldn’t even need to ask it because the reason should be so apparent through the work that they are doing that is meaningful and relevant to their life right now.’
He says that kids can do amazing things but that the sad thing is that unless it can answer a question on a state-wide test, no one will care! He says that using data from standardised tests is dangerous and that the best data comes from the work students are doing in class every day.
He says that better questions to ask of schools would be:
‘What is your college persistence rate?
How many of your graduates five years out are either in school or in a job where they are over the poverty level?
What does a student survey of your school tell you about whether or not the students feel valued and feel that their education is valuable?’
These are just some of the things that Chris Lehmannsays schools should be:
Inquiry driven
Student centred
Teacher mentored
Community based
Places of collaboration and incredible passion with
Integrated learning
Project based
In traditional classrooms the assessment tool is a test. Chris talks not about tests but about projects. He says,
“If you really want to see what a kid has learned it’s about the project, it’s about what they can do, what they can create, what they can transfer, what they can make, what they can do with their own head, heart and hands. A true project is when kids get to own it.’
His goal is to educate people to be ‘thoughtful, wise, passionate and kind’ and says that
‘ what were really trying to do is nothing less than trying to change the world.’
This brings me back to my two previous posts How much of a meliorist are you? and Can you make a difference? which drew quite a debate (unintended) about whether we believe we can, or should, try to change (i.e. improve) the ‘world’. I think Caroline Lodge who blogs at book word sums it up quite nicely for educators, saying
‘ I am a meliorist. How can someone in education stay there if they are not? The kids improve their skills and understanding, the world turns, and sometimes (like this summer) seems on the way to hell in the proverbial handcart. But there are SO MANY people working to improve the world. Educators as special people in this.’
For Chris,
‘The link between an inquiry-driven education and a care-driven education are three simple questions:
What do you think?
How do you feel?
What do you need?’
He says, ‘Everything you do should empower children.’ Thanks Chris. My words exactly!
He says,
‘Kids can do real work. We have to dare them to do that, we’ve got to help them, we’ve got to facilitate the work and we’ve got to get out of the way.’
The Science Leadership Academy is not the only ‘school’ of note. In response to previous posts, including Food for thought and Are you ready to embrace the futureCharli Mills of the Carrot Ranch left comments and links to information about a school attended by her children, the Minneapolis’s School of Environmental Studies(SES). Charli linked to this article about the school and another on Edutopia that includes a 10-minute video that she says aptly describes what makes SES a learner-based school. She also provided a link to a very impressive student project developed by two of her daughter’s classmates, and a link to a video produced by students explaining the school. Overall, if I represent her views correctly, Charli was very happy with the education her children received at SES and the impact that project-based learning had on their lives.
These are just two of the many wonderful schools out there empowering learners. If you know of others, I’d love to hear about them.
I value your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of this post. I’m happy to follow the discussion wherever you lead.
Two recurring themes, amongst others on my blog, are ways of encouraging a love of literacy and of questioning in young children.
If you read my post Going on a treasure hunt! you will know that I greatly admire the work of Michael Rosen and its contribution to literacy development. You may have followed the links and checked out the riches in store on his website.
My post Child’s play – the science of asking questions introduces my thoughts about ensuring that children’s inborn curiosity is maintained through the encouragement of their questions.
You can imagine my delight, then, when I read a review of new book by Michael Rosen. (Thank you, Anne Goodwin, for alerting me to it.) The review, posted by Sabine Durrant in The Guardian on 6 September 2014, discusses Rosen’s new book How to be Your Child’s (and Your Own) Best Teacher. I confess that I have not read the book but I am very excited to see that it is now available as an audiobook, so it is next on my listening list. So much about the book appeals to me.
Rather than review the review I will simply leave with you the links to the review:
In that post I linked to this TEDx talk by Dan Habib, Disabling Segregation.
In the talk, Dan advocates for the inclusion of students with differences in mainstream schools. He explains that there are benefits for typical children as well as for children with disabilities.
The benefits include:
better communication skills
higher academic achievements
wider social networks, and
fewer behaviour problems.
He also says that typical children learn to be more patient, caring, compassionate and loving.
He decries the fact that although these benefits are known most children with differences still spend most of their day segregated.
The post received many wonderful comments, including some by Gary, which continued the discussion. It is worth having a peek back to see what people were thinking if you are interested.
Because your response to that post was so positive, I thought I would share with you some others that I have come across since publishing it.
On her blog, teacher versus mum, an Adelaide teacher wrote a post called When inclusivity becomes exclusion. In the article TeacherMumWife questions whether it is the attitude of teachers towards students with disabilities that impedes the progress of inclusivity.
TeacherMumWife describes a situation at a school in her local area as one promoting exclusion, rather than inclusion, through its lack of preparedness. She describes the aggressive and fear-inducing behaviour of one child and condemns the attitude of parents and teachers who question whether the school is the best place for the child. She asks, “isn’t it about time teacher attitudes got a kick up the bum, and teacher training programs and systemic funding be modified to reflect this need in our classrooms?”
I personally favour the idea of inclusion and believe that everyone deserves to be treated with respect and given a fair go. However in a situation such as that described by TeacherMumWife, a situation that many teachers are faced with on a regular basis, I have to admit teacher guilt in also questioning whether the regular classroom is the best place for the child.
A child with aggressive and disruptive behaviours, who injures teachers and classmates and who disrupts the learning of other students, in my opinion, is not giving others a fair go. I do not think accepting them into the classroom is equitable. If a child with special needs is placed into a classroom that is unable to provide for those needs, then it is not any more satisfactory for that child than it is for any other participants in the classroom.
There is already a great deal of pressure upon classroom teachers. The expectation that a general classroom teacher should be able to cater for a great diversity of special needs in addition to the range of diverse abilities and needs in a group of twenty-five to thirty or more students is, I believe, unrealistic in most current educational systems and environments. Qualifications to teach special education requires additional years of study. Teacher training, here is Queensland anyway, is already four years. How many years will it take to prepare teachers to cater for all needs that may present themselves at the classroom door?
I agree with TeacherMumWife that more training is required so that teachers may develop a greater understanding of differences, and develop a genuine empathy for parents of and students with those differences. Additionally education must receive more funding to provide trained teachers and support personnel to work with students with special needs, and enable them to be more integrated into a situation which caters to their needs as much as to the needs of others.
A commenter on the blog agrees, saying, “The teachers involved in any class environment, have a right and expectation not to be placed in a situation they are not trained for or feel threatened by the situation they find themselves in.” He describes the progress of his ASD daughter from early primary to high school years.
Blake Wiggs, an instructional coach shared an article called Rethinking tolerance: Ensuring all students belongon Edutopia. He explains an exercise conducted with his students that highlights a similar situation to that noted by Dan Habib in his TEDx talk: that people form friendships with those who are similar to themselves and that perceptions of those who are different may be influenced by stereotypical thoughts. Blake’s article did not address disability specifically but the activity and attitudes are relevant just the same. He noted three necessary ingredients for creating a more tolerant environment, including:
I think Jamie Davis Smithwould agree with those. In her post, I’m so sorry my daughter’s disability is such an inconvenience for you shared on HuffPost Parents, Jamie expresses a parent’s frustration at the lack of consideration shown to those with disabilities. However she is not talking about school inclusion, but acceptance and inclusion in society.
‘Every child is a joy! Imagine yourself in the mother of a disabled child’s shoes. Have empathy for that mom. Join in her admiration of her child, and maybe you will also internalize the concept that “God don’t make junk!”
I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of this post.
Recently Hope at Nanny Shecando sent me a tweet requesting some thoughts about imaginative play in a school setting. Sadly I would say that imaginative play has been just about pushed out in the ever-increasing content-driven and assessment focused curriculum. Seeing children as young as five spending much of their day sitting at desks filling in worksheets and parroting back isolated bits of information flashed at them in meaningless drill and practice sessions is about as far away from my thoughts about education as you could get. If it is difficult for early childhood teachers to squeeze time for imaginative play into their programs, imagine (there’s that word) how difficult it is for teachers of older children.
However, whenever I hear the above quote by Thomas Edison, I am reminded of how an early childhood classroom should be: a place for imagination, exploration and discovery. Parents may tire of the cardboard box creations that children regularly bring home, wondering where each one can be stored (or discreetly disposed of!), but the value to be had from the opportunity to create, imagine and play must not be understated.
For imagination to flourish in an early childhood classroom, I suggest the following ingredients are essential:
A recognition of the importance of play and imagination in the healthy development of children and the prioritisation of opportunities for imaginative play every day by providing:
Time – lengthy and uninterrupted, with the opportunity for created play areas to be left intact over a number of days or weeks
Space – both indoor and outdoor with a variety of larger and smaller spaces
Opportunities for self-selection of activity and self-direction
Books for story reading and play acting
Variety of props: things such as dress-up items including lengths of fabric that can be a kings robe, a princess’s dress, a magic carpet, an apron, a bed; hats and scarves; toys like cars, dolls, animal toys; building blocks and cardboard boxes; paper, cardboard scissors and pens for creating signs, posters and crowns; areas for quiet play with cushions; open spaces for creating larger ‘worlds’ . . . the items that can be used to inspire imagination are limitless.
When children are showing interest in a particular topic, an observant teacher may gather up a variety of props and leave then in a box for children to discover and use as they decide.
In an earlier post, Learning at its best: A classroom of magic, Hope herself described a school with an open space ‘where magic happens’. She described a friendship tree where ‘friendship and freedom of speech are fostered’; an area with a ‘magic carpet . . . plush beaded cushions and Middle Eastern style blankets . . . a place for imagination to prosper. Anything is possible when dreamed, imagined or conjured whilst on the magic carpet.’
She described an area for drama and the opportunity of being and expressing yourself. She described a creativity corner where young inventors could create anything they could imagine; and spaces to read, explore, share and dream. One could think this school was in Hope’s dreams, her imagination of what is possible. But it is a real school educating real children in very positive ways that will have a very different effect that the scenario I described above. However it is not a typical school. There is not one like it in every suburb. In Hope’s words, it is a ‘very select private school’. But don’t all children deserve learning opportunities such as these?
After re-reading Hope’s post, I’m not entirely certain why she invited me to share my thoughts about imaginative play in a school setting. I think she has described a wonderful example of imagination in practice. The design of the school and the aspects of the program described above, show the value of imagination, not only of the students but of the school designers, administrators and teachers.
In a recent post Just imagine . . . the power of imagination I talked about the power of imagination to drive creativity and innovation, and suggested that much of what we now accept as commonplace was once only in someone’s imagination. Einstein said that,
‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.’
Maria Montessori is attributed with the idea that ‘Play is child’s work’. In this article Thinking about Children’s PlayDavid Elkind, refutes that idea citing works by both Freudand Piaget, a psychologist whose work greatly influenced thinking about child development and learning. Elkind, himself a professor of child development and of author of books such as The Hurried Child, The Power of Play and Miseducation, says that ‘Although Montessori has made many important and lasting contributions to early childhood education, her identification of work and play in young children was unfortunate.’ He says that, in play, children are not preparing for life, they are living life.
Elkind does not favour the imposition of formal learning situations upon children of increasingly younger ages. The following excerpt from Miseducation, shared in Commentary: The ‘Miseducation’ of Young Children Elkind says, ‘When we instruct children in academic subjects, or in swimming, gymnastics, or ballet, at too early an age, we miseducate them; we put them at risk for short-term stress and long-term personality damage for no useful purpose. There is no evidence that such early instruction has lasting benefits, and considerable evidence that itcan do lasting harm.’
He continues, saying that ‘The most important thing is an excitement about and enthusiasm for learning. Skills are easily learned when the motivation is there.’ I agree wholeheartedly and have joined in with a discussion of motivation in a number of posts, most recently in Motivation – why we do the things we do.
In another article Can we play? shared on The Greater Good in 2008, Elkind explains that imaginative play is important to academic as well as social and emotional development. Unbelievably, he said that ‘More than 30,000 schools in the United States have eliminated recess to make more time for academics.’ It is difficult to imagine how unwelcoming and uninspiring a school without recess would be. I wonder how much lunch time those who made these rules allow themselves.
He says ‘Play is motivated by pleasure. It is instinctive and part of the maturational process. We cannot prevent children from self-initiated play; they will engage in it whenever they can. The problem is that we have curtailed the time and opportunities for such play.’
In the words of Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), ‘Where do the children play?’ I add ‘and when?’
If you wish to read further, here are some links to get you started. I don’t agree with all the content. Some suggest a more structured approach than I would favour. However, as with everything, a broader knowledge helps one more clearly formulate one’s own position.
Multiple invitations or engagements often occur on the same date. Deciding between desired activities is not always easy. Cloning would make choosing unnecessary. Additionally, sending a clone to an unpleasant but unavoidable engagement could also be desirable.
Sometimes the number of must-do tasks can be overwhelming. The ability to engage the assistance of clones, especially to complete less desirable tasks would be great.
Time travel, wormholes and parallel universes are the stuff of science fiction; and while I am not a fan of the science fiction genre, I wouldn’t mind having access to some of its features. However, whether any, or which, of those features ever move from science fiction to science fact remains to be seen.
The power of imagination to drive creativity and innovation cannot be overstated. Much of what we now accept as commonplace was once a part of science fiction. Imagination, the stuff of science fiction and scientific exploration and investigation, has brought them to reality.
You are probably familiar with following quote, initially attributed to George Bernard Shaw but also made famous by Robert F. Kennedy:
“Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”
These words highlight the importance of questioning to stimulate imagination, and when paired with creative thinking, innovation can occur.
Einstein said that,
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
He also said that,
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.”
Although I cannot be certain, from those quotes, what Einstein’s attitude to the current trends in schooling would be (he did attend school and was very advanced in maths and sciences but did not perform so well in the humanities) I think he would not favour a content-driven curriculum which excluded opportunities for imagination and creativity.
On the other hand, Thomas Edison, the world’s most prolific inventor, was mostly educated at home by his mother who was able to encourage his experimentation and love of learning. He said,
“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”
If these significant thinkers of the 20th century, each of whom followed different educational pathways, recognise the importance of imagination, why would anyone argue against it?
Now the term ‘multiverse’ takes me back to the science fiction genre: wormholes, parallel universes and time travel, for example. I’m not sure how well I’ll do with this unfamiliar genre, but I will call upon my imagination and give it a try. See what you think – does my piece fit the criteria?
Clone Magic
All night Leone had huddled in line, sleepless with excitement, waiting for the release.
Now she had them! Clone pills!
‘Take one with water. Cloning occurs in 30 minutes and lasts 24 hours.’
Leone swallowed one tablet, then another, and another; ignoring the small print: ‘Do not take multiple tablets. Effects are unpredictable.’
When three clones appeared she instructed:
“1. Clean the house. 2. Exercise. 3. Weed the garden.”
She flopped on the couch. “Now to read.”
But — their hands grabbed for her book, pulling her hair and clawing her eyes.
“Me read! Me read! Me read!”
Thanks for reading. I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of this article or my multiverse flash.
Imagination and creative thinking are what inspire and drive improvement, innovation and progress.
I affirm my belief in the power of creativity in my header: ‘Create the possibilities . . .’
In this post I share articles and blog posts that discuss creativity. It is not an exhaustive list, just a few to get you started. You will notice that many, but not all, are from Edutopia, a website that is ‘dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process through innovative, replicable, and evidence-based strategies that prepare students to thrive in their studies, careers, and adult lives’; and TED, an organisation of people who ‘believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world.’
‘Every student is creative in some way, and the job of educators is to release and support that creative talent in an appropriate manner.’
She adds that
‘Teaching creatively and for creativity entails taking students on acreative journeywhere their responses are not predetermined.’
In her article Judy lists some features of teaching for creativity and includes a video of a new school in New Zealand that she suggests fits the criteria. It is quite exciting and worth a look.
In this article shared on EdutopiaDo Standards Kill CreativityClaus von Zastrow suggests creative ways of teaching creativity while teaching standards.
Linking of subject areas, as we used to do through ‘themes’ in the old days, or more recently ‘integrated units’, before subjects were divided and each given their own slot in the timetable, was one suggestion. A number of varied and interesting comments accompany the article.
I have previously shared this TED talk by Sir Ken Robinsonon How schools kill creativityhere and here. If you have not yet listened to it, please do. As well as sharing a very important message, Ken is a very entertaining speaker. I’m sure you will enjoy it.
Bruce does not agree with Ken’s views and warns readers to be sceptical of information imparted by Ken. He says that Ken’s opposition to traditional schooling is unhelpful and argues that, unlike most others referenced here, that creativity cannot be taught.
‘in order to teach creativity, one must teach creatively’.
7. In yet another article shared on Edutopia, Andrew Millerstates enthusiastically Yes, You Can Teach and Assess Creativity! Andrew provides suggestions for recognising creativity as well as teaching and assessing it.
9. In this rather long TED talk on his life, authenticity vs karaoke culture Malcolm McLaren postulates that ‘we’re living in a karaoke culture, with false promises of instant success, and that messiness and failure are the key to true learning.’ He talks about his own schooling and attitude to creativity.
I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of this post and let me know whether you agree or disagree with the value of creativity and if it can be taught.
In a previous post I wrote about 3 inspiring educators. In no way did I wish to indicate that the number of inspiring educators was limited to those three or that all inspiring educators are male. The list of inspiring educators is far greater than that and includes both male and female representatives.
The purpose of this post is to both honour, and share the wisdom of, other educators who have positively impacted my life and thinking as an educator and the lives and education of many others. The list doesn’t end here. There will be more to follow.
Maria Montessori’s name is known worldwide as the founder of the Montessori Schools. However her influence is not restricted to those schools. Many educational practices implemented, especially in the early childhood setting were influenced by Maria Montessori.
Maria resisted the gender-stereotyping conservative views of Italy where she lived in the late nineteenth century. She developed her interest in maths and sciences, especially biology, and became the first female doctor in Italy.
As a doctor Maria worked with children from poor and working class families. She developed the belief that every child had an intrinsic intelligence. She studied child development and education extensively and developed methods of implementing her theories. She traveled Europe sharing her ideas and advocating women’s and children’s rights. Her success with disabled students led to implementation of her methods with ‘normal’ children.
Montessori’s methods put the child’s interests at the front of the program. The teacher was to ‘follow the lead’ of the child.
Practices now seen as standard that were initiated or influenced by Maria Montessori:
incorporation of children’s interests, putting their interests first
recognising the development of the individual and making education appropriate to it
use of child-sized furniture and shelving
practical activities such as sweeping and cleaning up
environmental activities such as gardening
health and hygiene practices, such as washing hands, sharing morning tea, cooking
indoor/outdoor areas that children move about freely
opportunities to work independently
respecting the child as an individual
She valued independence and saw it as the aim of education, with the teacher as observer/guide of children’s development.
Sylvia Ashton-Warneris a New Zealand writer, poet and teacher whose educational work I became familiar with in the 1980s through her books Teacher and Spinster, the latter of which was also made into a movie.
Sylvia, who in the interview below states emphatically that she is not a teacher, that she hates teaching and can’t stand education, has been very influential on teachers around the world.
i was unable to embed the video. Click on the image to go to the original site.
Sylvia says,
“There’s a formula for all my teaching. It’s quite simple. I supply the conditions where life can come in the door . . . where both our teacher and our child can be themselves.”
Working with Maori children from poor and dysfunctional families and using organic reading, she developed what is called the ‘Key Vocabulary’; those words holding most meaning and interest to the child. The child asks for a word, the teacher writes it on a card. The child reads the word and copies it to write. The words requested are usually nouns and hold a lot of meaning for the child.
I implemented her ‘Key Vocabulary’ for many years and found it to be a successful tool for developing readers and writers.
Marie Clay is another New Zealand educator best known for her work with literacy education and the Reading Recovery program which was developed to support students whose reading skills were delayed. She believed that early intervention was the key to improving literacy skills.
I first came across her work in her book Reading: The Patterning of Complex Behaviour in 1979. Her 1983 publication Record of Oral Language provided teachers with methods of observing and recording children’s development in literacy.
The Reading Recoveryprogram, based on Marie Clay’s work and developed in the early 1980s, provides one-on-one support for students who are experiencing difficulty with reading in the first years of school. The teachers undergo training which develops their understanding of the reading process and how to support a student’s development. The training is more intensive and thorough with methods specific to this purpose, than generalised teacher education. However knowledge of her research, innovations and methodologies are also of benefit to generalist teachers and have been incorporated into many teacher education programs.
I was very disappointed, as were many other classroom teachers, when this successful program was discontinued in our region earlier this century.
I couldn’t put this book down. My thinking about the brain and learning was being challenged but excited at the prospect of overcoming learning problems experienced by many students.
For years I watched helplessly as scores of struggling learners were pummelled with repetition of the same boring and meaningless methods that created (or at least contributed to) their problems in the first place; of seeing them humiliated by having to repeat a year at school, or being considered ‘dumb’ because they couldn’t do what the other kids could do. Now here was a book that suggested this need not be so. If only those making the decisions and delivering the programs could be influenced.
One of the most memorable stories from the book was that of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young. Barbara suffered from severe learning disabilities throughout her childhood and early adult years. Every known method of compensating for the disabilities was tried without success. Barbara felt humiliated and a failure.
Her life changed dramatically when she heard about neuroplasticityof the brain (the ability of the brain to change in physiology and functionality) and created exercises for her brain, teaching herself to do things she had never done before.
Her story is an inspiring one of courage, strength, and persistence. Barbara has changed her life. After turning her life around, Barbara has developed programs for others with disabilities to engage with. She started the Arrowsmith School in Toronto in 1978. The Arrowsmith Program is now used in schools in the US and Australia as well as Canada.
Barbara’s “vision is of a world that we create in which no child has to live with the ongoing struggle and pain of a learning disability. . . that cognitive exercises become just a normal part of curriculum. . . that school becomes a place that we go to strengthen our brains to become really efficient and effective learners engaged in a learning process where not only, as learners, can we dare to dream, but we can realize our dream . . . This is the perfect marriage between neuroscience and education.”
She travels the world sharing her message so you may even have an opportunity of meeting her in person. I saw her last year at the Brisbane Writers’ Festival. Magic!
You may have noticed some unifying threads with each of these educators:
A focus on the child, the child’s interests and life
A recognition of the child’s ability to learn
An optimism in the child’s ability to learn, for success and the future
All educators worked with students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with disabilities or both; and all achieved success.
I welcome your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of this article.
Norah Colvin 
