Norah Colvin

Live Love Laugh Learn … Create the possibilities

Tag: education

  • The pretender – putting on a show!

    19178-School-Building-Graphic

    Back in the early days of my teaching career, back before many of our younger teachers were born, let alone teaching, we used to have a visit from a school inspector every year or two. The role of the inspector was to monitor and evaluate the implementation of school programs as well as to provide advice and support to teachers.

    However many teachers tended to think of them in less positive ways and these visits often engendered a sense of fear in some teachers as the inspector could appear at the classroom door at any time and ask to see current curriculum programs and mark books, test the spelling and computational ability of the class as a whole, and hear individual children read.

    Because of this, when one of these visits was imminent there was often a flurry of activity getting curriculum documents and assessment up to date, and displaying children’s work in the classrooms and foyer.

    But I wasn’t one of those teachers frantic in preparation and fear of being found out. I firmly believed that if what I was doing each day for the children in my class wasn’t good enough, then so be it. They were the ones that mattered after all and their education was my priority. I could not see what else I could do to prepare for these visits.

    My programs were well researched, up to date and innovative. They were responsive to individual needs which were well documented with anecdotal records and diagnostic assessments as well as required testing, and supported by samples of student work. My classroom had an ever-changing display of children’s current work allowing visitors to see what we had been working on as well as giving the students a sense of pride in their achievements.

    I guess also, for me back then, the school inspector was only one of the many visitors to my classroom as I was used to people coming to see what we were doing. Parents were always welcome and there were many who helped out on a regular basis and others who made the effort to come for special events and celebrations.

    The principal was very involved and supportive and often popped in to see what we were up to and to provide additional support for children’s learning. In addition, teachers from other schools would visit in order to observe and take ideas back to their own classrooms; and pre-service teachers (student teachers they were called then) were often involved.

    So, for me, the inspector’s visit was just another day, business as usual.

    I am having difficulty in summoning words to describe how I felt when I saw the teacher next door (our classrooms were open, separated only by cupboards and shelves) busily testing children and writing marks in mark books, filling in “current” curriculum programs for the preceding term’s work and covering the previously bare classroom walls with displays of children’s work completed that day.

    I guess you could say I was aghast at what I considered to be blatant dishonesty. I felt it was so wrong that I almost wanted to remove what I had on display for fear of the inspector thinking it was simply there for his benefit.

    I didn’t.

    Instead I turned to poetry, as I often do, to express my feelings; and I would like to share it with you, its first readers.

    I had forgotten all about it until I came across it unexpectedly while looking for something else. It reminded me of the attempt at deception I saw enacted. I say “attempt” because, of course, the principal would have been aware of the situation and I have no doubt that these trained inspectors would be able to see through the veneer.

    I think if I was writing the poem now, rather than 30 years ago, I would not be so generous with my analogy, nor so disrespectful to the butterfly.

    Here it is:

     

    ©Glenn Althor www.http://obscurepieces.com/ Used with permission.
    ©Glenn Althor www.http://obscurepieces.com/ Used with permission.

    Not really about a butterfly

    Look at you now.

    You put on your show.

    Your butterfly colours are warmly aglow.

    It’s hard to imagine

    That not long ago

    You were a mere silent pupa

    With nowhere to go.

    You flit and you flutter

    Cry, “Hey, look at me!”

    And all turn their heads

    -wondrous beauty to see.

    But where have you come from?

    And how can this be?

    Before . . .

    Not one head would have turned.

    There was nothing to see,

    –          just a little green ball,

    curled up on a tree.

    Is it dishonest

    To change rapidly?

    What do you think?

  • Learning At Its Best

    If you have been following my blog you will know that I have certain misgivings about traditional styles of education. That’s not to say that I don’t have certain misgivings about alternative styles of education as well, for I do. It was these collective misgivings that led me to home educate my daughter in her early years while attempting to establish an alternative school that met my expectations.

    In researching programs on offer in many traditional and alternative schooling environments, I read a lot of school descriptions, policy and philosophy statements. I usually find there is little to argue with in these statements, it is usually the way the beliefs are translated into practice with which I have difficulty.

    Occasionally I read something about a school that really excites me and I think “Wow, this school has really got it all together: philosophy and pedagogy. Children and their learning needs are at the centre of this organisation.”

    Recently I read a description that made me wish I was six years old again and enrolled to start my schooling there.

    According to the article it is
    “Learning at its best . . . where the MAGIC happens” and describes a “Disney World – only better”, where
    • Imagination can prosper
    • Friendship and freedom of speech is fostered
    • Conflict resolution skills are developed
    • Active and open listening is encouraged
    Among other things, it has:
    • a creativity corner
    • a nature reserve
    • a dramatic play area

    Why don’t I just let you read the article that fired my imagination, then you can let me know what you think . . .

    Hope's avatarshecando

    .. Is where the MAGIC happens.

    Given my interest in all things children, education and teaching, being lucky enough to have a tour of Miss Charlie’s classroom was like getting a private and personalized tour of Disney World – only better!

    Her class, and the rest of the Junior School (Kindy, Year 1 & 2), share newly renovated and connected federation houses in one part of the campus. Here they have their own tennis courts, play grounds, rooftop gardens, a junior library and even a secret corridor connecting them to the main gym and swimming pools and on to the rest of the school. It’s rather impressive, even if I say so myself.

    What really amazed me, and made me want to never leave (I’m not joking, I might have to apply for a teaching job there ASAP), was the open planned piazza that connects the junior school classrooms. This…

    View original post 616 more words

  • Goals of education

    reachstars
    http://www.openclipart.org

    The following quote from Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (1896 – 1980) is one that has driven the direction of my own thinking about education. It has guided many of my choices both as a teacher and as a learner.

    When I listen to the creative ideas and view the innovations demonstrated through TED talks, I know that the principle goal is being met by many.

    When I hear about the wonderful work being done, such as that by The Philosophy Foundation and P4C (Philosophy for Children), to introduce school children to philosophic enquiry, including critical thinking and reasoning, I know the second goal is also being met.

    “The principle goal of education is to create people who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done – people who are creative, inventive, and discoverers.

    The second goal . . . is to form minds which can be critical, can verify, and not accept everything they are offered.”

    What do you think?

    How did your education help you achieve these goals?

    How do you see these goals being achieved?

  • SOLE Man

    I love listening to TED talks.

    TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.

    The mission of this organisation is Spreading ideas, a goal dear to my heart.

    I always find the talks fascinating, challenging and inspiring. I feel quite humbled by the fact that there are so many clever, creative and innovative people in the world. However, at the same time, I feel reassured, knowing that our collective future and the future of our planet is in such capable hands.

    Recently I listened to some talks by an educational researcher, Sugata Mitra,  winner of the 2013 TED Prize.

    The TED Prize is awarded to an extraordinary individual with a creative and bold vision to spark global change. . . . the TED Prize supports one wish to inspire the world.

    Mitra’s wish is to build a School in the Cloud, a school where children learn from each other. He introduces the idea of the Self Organized Learning Environment and invites people around the word to help him achieve his wish by downloading a SOLE toolkit to bring these Self Organised Learning Environments to their own communities.

    The toolkit is a step-by-step guide which is designed to “prepare you to ignite the fire of curiosity in kids at home, in school or at after-school programs.”

    A SOLE is basically a small group of children learning together, using the internet to answer questions of interest to them, with minimal teacher intervention.

    There was much in Mitra’s talks that I agreed with, such as

    “schools as we know them now, they’re obsolete. I’m not saying they’re broken. It’s quite fashionable to say that the education system’s broken. It’s not broken. It’s wonderfully constructed. It’s just that we don’t need it anymore. It’s outdated.”

    “Encouragement seems to be the key.”

    “There is evidence from neuroscience. The reptilian part of our brain, which sits in the center of our brain, when it’s threatened, it shuts down everything else, it shuts down the prefrontal cortex, the parts which learn, it shuts all of that down. Punishment and examinations are seen as threats. We take our children, we make them shut their brains down, and then we say, “Perform.”

    much that intrigued me, such as the grandmother method

    “Stand behind them. Whenever they do anything, you just say, ‘Well, wow, I mean, how did you do that? What’s the next page? Gosh, when I was your age, I could have never done that.’ You know what grannies do.”

    much that inspired me, such as

    “I think what we need to look at is we need to look at learning as the product of educational self-organization. If you allow the educational process to self-organize, then learning emerges. It’s not about making learning happen. It’s about letting it happen. The teacher sets the process in motion and then she stands back in awe and watches as learning happens.”

    and much that I wasn’t sure about, that led me to question, such as, 

    “Could it be that we don’t need to go to school at all? Could it be that, at the point in time when you need to know something, you can find out in two minutes? Could it be — a devastating question, a question that was framed for me by Nicholas Negroponte — could it be that we are heading towards or maybe in a future where knowing is obsolete? But that’s terrible. We are homo sapiens. Knowing, that’s what distinguishes us from the apes. But look at it this way. It took nature 100 million years to make the ape stand up and become Homo sapiens. It took us only 10,000 to make knowing obsolete. What an achievement that is. But we have to integrate that into our own future.”

    As well as listening to TED talks, I also love reading about philosophy, especially the inclusion of the study of philosophy in the school curriculum.

    While following up this philosophical interest, I came across this great blog post by Michelle Sowey, “Can you kill a goat by staring at it? A critical look at minimally invasive education“.

    I couldn’t resist the title, of course, but imagine my delight when I realised that Sowey was critically appraising Mitra’s SOLEs from a philosophical standpoint.

    Sowey saw much to agree with in Mitra’s talks, but for her also, the talks raised many questions.

    These are points of convergence that Sowey saw between  Mitra’s approach and that of philosophical enquiry in the classroom:

    • both are curiosity-driven
    • both involve collaboration of students
    • both seek to engage children’s interest in big questions
    • both support children in exploring ideas and sharing discoveries
    • both offer the prospect of intellectual adventures that spring from children’s sense of wonder and their ability to work together.

    Sowey went on to say:

    “What’s more, Dr Mitra’s proposed curriculum of big questions includes many deeply philosophical ones, such as ‘Can anything be less than zero?’, ‘Will robots be conscious one day?’ and ‘What is altruism?’”

    Then came the BUT:

    Sowey went on to say

    “There are two major points of difference, though, and it’s here that I see cracks in the veneer of minimally invasive education. It differs from collaborative enquiry in that (1) it features the internet as a principal learning medium and (2) it renounces the guidance of qualified teachers or practitioners.”

    Sowey raised concerns including the need to develop in students the ability

    • to assess the credibility of internet sources
    • to challenge faulty arguments
    • to question claims that are dogmatic, propagandistic, biased, pseudoscientific or downright erroneous

    She went on to say:

    “We need to make sure that kids develop thinking and reasoning skills alongside skills in research and information awareness. For this, the support of a competent guide is indispensable, equipping children not only to assess the reliability of different sources but also to evaluate the many arguments they will encounter.”

    I agree wholeheartedly with this.

    She then goes on to say:

    “To dismiss the infrastructure of schooling altogether because of traditional standardisation is to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Surely it makes more sense to repurpose that infrastructure in ways that better nourish children’s curiosity, critical thinking and creative exploration.”

    which makes perfect sense to me also.

    Although I am not a fan of traditional schooling and have made that stance very clear in previous posts, I have expended a lot of energy in trying to establish what I consider to be a better approach. The goal of nourishing “children’s curiosity, critical thinking and creative exploration” was always high on the agenda.

    I encourage you to listen to Mitra’s inspirational talks, and to read Sowey’s compelling article in its entirety.

    Sugata Mitra “Build a school in the cloud”

    Sugata Mitra “The child-driven education”

    Michelle Sowey “Can you kill a goat by staring at it? A critical look at minimally invasive education”

    I will leave you with Sowey’s concluding statement:

    “We need the incisiveness and probing of critical and creative thinking to get deep into the viscera of the facts and anti-facts, the experts and anti-experts. And we need the incisiveness and probing of good teachers to go deep into children’s thought-space: to discover what they’re understanding and what they’re not, yet.”

    What do you think?

    Please share your thoughts.

  • How was your day?

    How was your day?

    Have you ever been asked that question and simply answered, “Same ol’ same ol’” without making any attempt to elaborate or delve deeper into the day’s activities.

    If so, did this mean that you didn’t enjoy your day and that there wasn’t anything interesting in it?

    Sometimes much of what we do on a daily basis can become routine with activities seeming to flow from one to another without a great deal of change or significance worthy of a remark.

    peole_laptoppeole_computer

    There are many reasons people don’t immediately share what has happened in their day, and the lack of a truly amazing outstanding event may be just one of them.

    johnny_automatic_magician_and_floating_lady

    Similarly, in response to the question “What did you do today?” school children, often simply answer “Nothing” (as described by SHECANDO) without making any attempt to elaborate or delve deeper into the day’s activities.

    Parents and others often jump to the conclusion that the child’s day has been uneventful and boring and, unless the child later volunteers some information, or the parent has a specific question to ask, that may be the end of the subject.

    However, just as with adults, there may be a number of reasons the “Nothing,” response is given, including the generalised nature of the question.

    Some reasons for this failure to elaborate, although unspoken and often unidentified, may be:

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    Courtesy of eLearningbrothers

    ‘I’ve just finished a hard day, I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

    “So much happened today, I don’t know where to start.”

    “I don’t think you’d be interested in anything that happened to me.”

    “I can’t really think. What do you want to know: something bad, something funny or something amazing? I didn’t get into trouble.”

    Additionally, if children are not already practiced in the art of sustaining conversation with an adult, then these discussions will rarely come easily or spontaneously.

    Sometimes specific questioning, requiring more than a yes/no answer, may elicit a more detailed response that in turns leads to a more in-depth discussion of the day’s events, e.g.

    liftarn_Adult_and_child

    “Who did you sit with at lunch today?”

    “What games did you play at recess?”

    “What story did your teacher read to you? What was it about?”

    Knowing something of what occurred during the day helps parents formulate appropriate questions to elicit conversation.

    In my role as a year one classroom teacher I believe in the importance of these conversations between children and parents for a number of reasons, including:

    • to keep parents informed of what is happening the classroom, which in turn encourages a positive attitude and participation;
    • to develop children’s language skills by engaging them in conversations which require them to describe, explain, respond and exchange ideas;
    • to develop children’s thinking skills and memory, “What did I do today?” “What did I learn?” “What happened before/after lunch?”
    • to provide a time for reflection and review e.g. “What can I do now that I couldn’t do before?” “When we were doing x, we had to y. Oh, now I get it. That means . . . “
    • to provide opportunities to sort out feelings and emotions  experienced during the day, but not yet dealt with e.g. “I don’t know why that happened at lunch time. Tomorrow I will . . .”
    • to strengthen the child-parent relationship by sharing ideas, attitudes and events in their daily lives.

    In addition to giving children reminders before they left for home in the afternoons, I developed a strategy that specifically targeted the need to provide parents with a window into the child’s day in order to arm them with sufficient information to instigate robust discussion.

    I called this strategy

    Class news

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    Each day I published class news which the children pasted into a book to take home and read with parents. These days many teachers, like Miss Hewes, use a blog to keep parents informed. However there were no blogs around when I began doing this in the 1980s!

    The class news consisted of three main sections:

    • News of individual students
    • Class things we did today
    • Class reminders

    News of individual students

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    Courtesy of eLearningbrothers

    Each day 2 – 3 children told the class about an item of interest to them e.g. an activity, a recent purchase, a family event, or a wish.

    After each child shared their news, the class and I cooperatively composed a brief summary (one or two sentences at first). I scribed and the children read. Later in the day I printed this out for the children to take home and read to their parents.

    As well as being a very effective literacy learning strategy (which I will write about in a future post), it helped parents get to know the names of classmates and a little about each one; it provided a discussion starter about which their child could elaborate. It also affirmed the children by providing each a turn of “starring” about once a fortnight.

    Things we did today

    In this section I would tell parents briefly about a few things we did that day, e.g.

    “Mrs Colvin read “Possum Magic”. We talked about what it would be like to be invisible and discussed what we thought would be good and not-so-good about being invisible. Then we wrote our very own stories about being invisible. We had some very interesting ideas!”

    “We learned about odd and even numbers by finding out which number of different objects we could put into two even lines.  Where can you find some odd or even numbers of objects at home?”

    “In art we learned about lines: straight lines and wriggly lines; long lines and short lines; jagged lines and curved lines; thick lines and thin lines. What sort of lines can you see in your pictures?”

    When parents are informed about things that have happened during the day, they have a firm basis for opening a meaningful discussion with their child. This in turn validates the child by giving importance to the child’s activities.

    I often included a question to help parents realise that they could easily extend the child’s learning at home.

    Class reminders

    A reminder or two would be included if particular events were coming up, or payments needed e.g.

    “Sports day tomorrow. Remember to wear your sport uniform and running shoes.”

    “Friday is the final day that excursion payments will be accepted.”

    These reminders helped to reduce the possibility of a child being upset by forgetting or missing out on a class activity. They also provided parents with another opportunity for discussion and the ability to enthuse their child with the anticipation of future events.

    Publishing the class news like this every day did eat into my lunch time, but the advent of computers in the classroom helped as I was able to set up a template and print copies on the classroom printer. In the “olden” days of the spirit copiers, every day meant starting out again and having to go to another room to churn the copies out by hand.

    I continued using this strategy throughout three decades of teaching because I believe in its power to develop readers and talkers, and to involve parents by keeping them informed of classroom learning and activities. Having already received a child’s answer of ‘nothing’ to the question “What did you do today?” I was determined that no child from my class would have a reason to answer in the same way.

    What questions encourage you to open up and talk about your day?

    What questions encourage you to keep your mouth shut?

    What do you think of my daily class news?

    What other strategies do you suggest to encourage communication between parents and children?

    All images courtesy of www.openclipart.org unless stated otherwise.

  • Aren’t they amazing!

    Children, I mean.

    birthday cake 2

    My gorgeous little granddaughter is two years old today, and what a wonderful opportunity that provides me to reflect on the marvels of children’s ability to wonder and learn. I am forever in awe of their ability to learn language and all its nuances.

    Some people say they are “sponges”, spongebut I say they are far more than that. They are creators of their own understandings, learning far more than anyone could ever possibly teach them. From the moment they are born, children are actively seeking to make sense of the world: through their interactions with it and relationships they form in it.

    Anna is already using language for a multitude of purposes.

    She has an extensive vocabulary which includes:

    Names, for example, of

    • family members and friends
    • fruits and other foods
    • colours
    • animals
    • animal sounds
    • toys
    • dinosaurs (learnt from her big brother)
    • objects in the home and environment

    Action words (verbs) including eat, drink, play, read, watch, swim, jump, dance, clean

    Adjectives e.g. big and small

    Adverbs e.g. fast and slow

    Social graces for example greetings like hello and bye-bye, and manners like please and thank you

    She sometimes uses one word effectively to convey a complex meaning or thought, but more often now she is stringing together a number of words to form phrases and sentences. She is able to participate in conversations which require an exchange of information or an interchange of questions and answers.

    She uses:

    Questions with appropriate words and inflection to:

    • be informed e.g. Where’s Mummy?
    • request e.g. strawberry please Daddy? play trampoline Mummy?
    • interrogate e.g. why you eat pineapple Bob?

    Commands

    • more Beckii!
    • stop Bob!

    Statements e.g. I go sleep my home

    She understands the importance of facial expressions and body language that accompany these exchanges. She has learned the sway of accompanying a “please” with a smile and the power of an emphatic “No!”

    Although many of her sentences do not contain articles (a, the), prepositions or connectives, her meaning is easily understood in the context of the conversation.

    She knows the placement of adjectives before the noun e.g. “big ball”, not “ball big”.

    She pretends play, e.g. setting up a group of balls then instructing the adults to “shh”, because the eggs need quiet for hatching.

    She has learnt how to follow instructions and take turns in a game e.g. a game of memory turning over the cards to find the matching pairs.

    johnny_automatic_father_and_daughter_playingAnna understands far more than she is able to produce. She responds appropriately to the questions, commands and statements of her family, asking for more information and clarification if she needs it. She knows when the sounds are produced in play rather than for meaning e.g. “Billy-bobby-silly-Sally”, and responds with giggles rather than questions.

    She is familiar with the language of books and expects books to be a source of pleasure and language.

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    She knows that songs and rhymes are not conversation and joins in rhythmically and tunefully. At her birthday party, she led the family in singing “Happy birthday” to herself, and did a marvellous job of conducting.

    All of these observations reveal but a sample of her actual language learning, glimpsed through the grandmother’s window, you could say, during weekend visits. The parents would be more able to describe in greater detail just how extensive the language development is.

    But is Anna’s ability with language remarkable?

    Yes, indeed it is. Just as the language learning of every other child is remarkable.

    In just two short years Anna, like most other children around the world, has learned the basis of her language. What conditions supported this enormous growth in language learning?

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    According to research, children are born with an innate ability to learn language. At first they have the potential to learn the sounds, words, grammar and use of any language, but as time goes on their ear is tuned to the language spoken around them, and by the age of one children have learned all the sounds of their native language. However, though this ability to learn language is innate, it doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It occurs in an environment rich in language, and the richer the environment, the stronger, the better the language growth.

    Anna is surrounded by a loving family who speak with her discussing the day’s events, explaining information, telling stories and playing imaginatively. They read to her many times a day, and play games that require thinking and talking. This exposure to language, both oral and written, is an important part of her life, every day.

    Conditions for language learning

    Anna’s environment clearly exhibits the conditions, described by Brian Cambourne, which encourage language learning:

    Immersion: Anna is surrounded by language. Her significant adults (parents and other carers e.g. aunt and uncle, grandparents) speak to her: interacting and playing with language. They read stories and sing songs to her. They hold conversations with each other about a wide range of topics. While not included in these conversations, Anna is quietly learning the nuances of adult discourse.

    Demonstration: Anna observes adults using language in many different situations and comes to understand the language of different contexts and purposes e.g. greeting friends, shopping, asking for help, giving information.

    Feedback: As soon as Anna started to make sounds of her own, her parents provided feedback by repeating the sounds she had made and by adding new ones for her to copy. When she started to say her first words, her parents responded with enthusiasm and encouragement.

    Approximation: Anna’s parents accept and respond to the message of her communication, without hint of it being incomplete or incorrect. Instead they support and elaborate, seeing it as part of the development towards language proficiency.

    Now that Anna is joining words into phrases and sentences, the adults respond, often with an agreement or explanation, by restating the sentence, and expanding on it, supplying the words not yet part of her vocabulary; demonstrating intuitively the target structures towards which Anna’s language is developing.

    The guidance offered by these responses is gentle and intuitive, giving both congratulations on the ability to communicate and reinforcing standard language usage. For example, when Anna says “Apple juice,” the parent may respond, “Would Anna like some apple juice? I will get some apple juice for Anna.”

    Expectation: Anna’s parents always expected that she would learn to talk and that her talk would develop through easily recognisable stages. They do not expect her to speak like a university professor at the age of two!

    They are also aware that not all children develop language at the same rate, and understand that if Anna wasn’t speaking in sentences at the age when another was, they would just continue to provide demonstration, feedback and support expecting that she would in her own time. While they know that seeking help early if concerned about a child’s language development in these early years is very important, they have no reason to be concerned about Anna’s language development.

    Responsibility: Anna’s parents recognise that the responsibility for her language learning rests with Anna. They provide the environment, they model language in use and provide her with feedback and support. They don’t attempt to formally teach her language structures which are not yet part of her developing language.

    Use: Anna uses language in real situations for real purposes: to get things done, to ask for help, to think and share.

    Don’t you agree it’s a pretty remarkable process?

    Children all over the world become proficient language users when they are immersed in rich language environments, often provided intuitively by parents who talk with and read to their children.

    Sadly, not all children have the benefit of an environment rich in language.

    If we could convince all parents of the importance of talking and reading with their children in these early learning years, we would have far fewer children with delayed learning abilities at school.

    Nor and Bec reading

    How do you think we can help parents of young children understand the difference it could make to the lives of their children, and themselves?

    Please share your ideas.

  • Why do I have to?

    19178-School-Building-Graphic

    School attendance during some years of their childhood is compulsory for most children around the world. In Australia schooling is compulsory for children between the ages of about five and fifteen. Most children accept this attendance without question and, in fact, many really enjoy it! A society in which schooling was not compulsory and children didn’t want to attend would be very different from that which we currently enjoy.  So while I have some misgivings about the type of schooling on offer, I guess I feel grateful that it is compulsory and that most children are happy to attend.

    Given that schooling is compulsory, I believe that a school must be a place where children wish to be; where they feel safe and comfortable, respected and valued; where their needs are met and imaginations excited; where they have some sense of purpose and control; and where they are challenged to be more than they ever thought they could.

    For some children, schooling does provide all these things and, as adults, they may look back on their school days with fondness. Others become disengaged, unable to see the purpose in endless tasks and expectations that appear to bear little connection to their lives either now or in the future, as they imagine it. Reigniting enthusiasm for learning once the first flush has faded is more difficult than maintaining it in the first place, which is often challenging enough.

    The study of philosophy in schools may help students understand the purposes of what they are learning, maintain their engagement with the curriculum and contribute to their excitement for learning and the desire to stay in school.

    I have always had a personal interest in philosophy and philosophical discourse, though I do not claim to have any great knowledge of particular philosophers and their thinking. The “Philosophy for Children” program developed by Dr Matthew Lipman, which has been implemented in many schools throughout the world, including Australia, favours a community of enquiry and democratic approach in which students are encouraged to think; critically, creatively and reflectively. They are also encouraged to think and talk about thinking. When I was first introduced to the approach in the mid-1990s, I was not surprised to find that development of the approach had been influenced by John Dewey’s ideals of progressive education. The program not only fitted with my philosophy of education perfectly, but expanded my thinking and gave more credence to what I believed. I was pleased to receive, through use of the program, guidance for implementing these important thinking skills in my early childhood classroom.

    Recently, on the recommendation of my friend and fellow philosophy-enthusiast, Glenn, I listened to a podcast “Philosophy in Education” available on the Philosophy Now website. In this podcast, three philosophers, Peter Worley, Dr Michael Hand and Dr Stephen Boulter, discussed the question “Should schools teach philosophy?” All three were unanimous, of course, and presented some very interesting and convincing arguments for the inclusion of philosophy in the curriculum.

    The discussion dealt with questions about values and basic morality, what one ought to do or should do, and the reasons why. It also raised the importance of “why” questions in maths and science e.g. “Why do we know that 2 + 2 = 4?”, or “How do we know that what we perceive in the natural sciences is reliable?”

    17925-Microscope-Graphic

    All three agreed that the importance of the basics in education can’t be denied, but Stephen contended that if we want to improve the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, then we need to start with philosophy. He said that secondary school students are already asking philosophical questions about the material they are being taught in subjects like chemistry and history; questions like “Why do I have to learn this?” or “Why is this important?”  (I suggest that children are asking these same questions from a far younger age.)

    questions

    Stephen asserted that these questions about the curriculum are philosophical questions that must be answered if students’ engagement with the curriculum is to be maintained.

    This argument was the most compelling for me as it confirmed the importance of providing students with an understanding of the purposes for the learning they are required to undertake. Michael explained that while the basics are important in education, education is more than just that; it is for the “whole of life”. Stephen agreed, insisting that children need to know the reasons why adults force them to go through so many years of formal education. He said that although there were answers to these questions, they were infrequently given to students.

    Peter agreed that children need more than just the practical reasons, for example learning to count so that you can add up when you go to the shops. Stephen maintained that students would find it easier to engage and put effort in if they saw the point of the learning, including an understanding of what it is to be an educated person. Not only that, children need to know why they should believe all the information they are being presented with in school, not just because the teacher tells them so.

    19180-Text-Book-Graphic

    The arguments for including philosophical discussions in school, and I would suggest in all curriculum areas, are very convincing. Peter explains that philosophy is inescapable as it deals with concepts and the ability to reason and suggests that these underpin the basics. He questions whether, if the basics haven’t improved for a long time, it may be because no one is questioning what needs to be learned before these skills can be developed. Maybe philosophy and the development of reasoning and concepts is the answer.

    What do you think?

    How important is it for you to understand the reasons for what is expected of you?

    If a seemingly meaningless task is expected of you in your role, do you more willingly accept the requirement if the reason for it is explained?

    All clip art used in this post is copyright but used with permission of the eLearning brothers.

  • What did you do that for? Rewards and motivation

    ausines headphonesRecently, on the recommendation of my friend Rosie, I listened to a TED Talk by Michael Sandel “Why we shouldn’t trust markets with our civic life”.

    Rosie and I often suggest Talks to each other and then share thoughts and comments about them.

    This Talk, like most of those on TED, raises some very interesting, thought provoking and challenging ideas and issues. The issue of most importance to me in each of these Talks may not be the issue of most importance to Rosie, nor to any other listener. The understandings, beliefs and personal positions, (ideological, philosophical and ethical), that each person has will not only influence what they hear but how they interpret, organise and prioritise what they hear and what they take away from the Talk, whether intended by the speaker or not.

    In this Talk, Michael raises themoney bag issue of motivating students to learn, a challenge experienced in many schools.  He invited the audience to consider whether cash rewards should be used as incentives for students to perform well on tests or to read books.

    The reaction from the audience was mixed with fewer in favour of offering the rewards than against. When asked why cash incentives should not be used to encourage students to work harder or read more books, a participant stated that the students should be reading for intrinsic motivation, for an intrinsic desire to learn, and that a cash reward would take the intrinsic incentive away.

    studentbooksHowever: If a child is a reluctant reader or reads only when required, does that child have any intrinsic motivation for reading? If not with cash rewards, how can we inculcate an intrinsic motivation to read? What is or has happened in this child’s experience that an intrinsic motivation to read has already been killed? (I will offer some thoughts on these issues in a future post.)

    The argument for and against the use of rewards in schools, as well as homes, to encourage children to perform or behave in a particular way has waged for as long as I can remember and, I’m sure, even longer than that.

    stars

    Should children receive a sticker, a star or an award for that? Shouldn’t they just do what we want of them for the sheer joy of it / because it will do them good / because it’s the right thing to do? Shouldn’t they be intrinsically motivated and have no need of extrinsic rewards?

    It all sounds very good, doesn’t it? And maybe it works when a child is intrinsically motivated through a genuine interest, or maybe when children are happy to comply and perform expected tasks either through a need to please others or their own developing sense of how things should be.

    But what of the child who does not have this intrinsic motivation, no need to please or any ability to see a personal purpose in expected tasks or behaviours?

    One of the Talk participants suggested that results of offering a cash reward for reading books could be measured by a count of the books read while the reward was being offered, followed by a count of the books read after the payment ceased. Results of the experiment found that students, when offered cash rewards, read more books, but they also read shorter books.

    And why should we expect any more of children than we do of adults?

    tomas_arad_heart

    How many adults perform their work tasks for the sheer joy of it, powered by intrinsic motivation? Only the lucky few, I would guess, who are able to combine passion with employment, or who have sufficient resources to maintain the lifestyle they desire. Isn’t the extrinsic reward a major motivator for much of what we do? I dare say the performance of most adult workers would not measure highly after payment ceased!

    mystica_Coins_(Money)

    Okay. I know it’s not quite the same. The children are not in need of the cash rewards as they are supported by adults who receive cash rewards. Nevertheless, without that extrinsic reward, in most cases, that work would cease, regardless of whether the cash is actually required for survival or not.

    However I am always drawn back to an attempt at reconciling intrinsic motivation with compulsory schooling.

    tomas_arad_heartIntrinsic motivation is usually related to something of one’s own choice through interest, challenge or purpose. The motivation comes from within, not from the promise of any external reward.

    So how does this work for children in school?

    Not only is school attendance compulsory throughout most of their childhood years, children have few choices in school. They generally attend a school chosen by someone else, are taught by a teacher allocated by someone else, and expected to make friends with a group (class) allocated by someone else.

    teacherbellThey line up, eat, talk, play and toilet on the ring of a bell and are expected to perform academic feats on command. When they progress from one year to the next, they often suffer the disruption of new class group arrangements, decided by somebody else for questionable reasons. What would be so harmful about a child going through all the years of schooling with the same group of friends?

    Why then do we think that students should be intrinsically motivated to do something about which and in which they have very little choice and are most often powerless?

    Learning for the love of it, for the sheer fun and joy of it is a marvellous goal. And I believe children are innately intrinsically motivated to learn.

    How different would schools be if we began with the intrinsic motivation of each child and wrapped the leaning around that? How much more powerful would the learning be? What would that school look like?

    Is that what we call a child-centred approach? An approach that values the interests and needs of each learner. An approach that starts where the child is and supports them to find the paths that take them where they want to be. An approach that values their individual styles and timeframes while providing just the right amount of challenge to stretch them beyond where they thought they were able to go. That piques their interest in a vast array of topics and supports their learning of skills to achieve their desires.

    But often the lip service given to a child-centred approach in a traditional school, with all its constraints, still smacks of ‘You’ll do what I say but you’ll think that you have a choice’.

    What slap in the face it is to tell someone that they must do this, when to do it and how to do it; and then tell them they must do it because they want to do it!

    However there are teachers who passionately believe in a child-centred approach and in harnessing the power of intrinsic motivation. They work tirelessly and creatively, powered by their own intrinsic motivation, to employ a vast array of strategies designed to make a child’s opportunities for learning within the confines of an imposed curriculum of a traditional school motivating for each learner while targeting their individual needs.

    SnarkHunter_Arrow_in_the_gold

    Here are some strategies that teachers use in a child-centred approach:

    • Make connections with the children’s lives

    –          discussing their experiences

    –          valuing their contributions

    –          involving parents

    –          informing parents of classroom learning and experiences

    • Incorporate children’s interests

    –          using negotiated topics and tasks

    –          employing a variety of activities

    • Offer children some autonomy

    –          using negotiated topics and tasks

    –          employing a variety of activities

    –          providing opportunities for independent and self-directed learning

    • Make learning fun, meaningful and explicit

    –          using games, songs and hands-on participatory activity

    –          explaining how classroom learning connects to purposes in life

    –          providing clear and easy-to-follow procedures

    –          providing opportunities for finding solutions to real problems

    –          allowing explorations in creativity and innovation

    • Provide opportunities for cooperation and collaboration

    –          working with a partner or in groups

    –          allowing opportunities for discussion

    • Support and extend learning

    –          harnessing  spontaneous opportunities for optimising learning

    –          providing opportunities for practice and clarification

    –          challenging learners to stretch their imaginations and abilities

    • Add joy and laughter through happiness and humour every day

    These strategies may not tap into the intrinsic motivation of each student all of the time. However a supportive environment in which children are provided some choice of activities, opportunities to learn at a pace suited to their needs, and an understanding of the point of it all, will provide learners with the desire and skills to harness their intrinsic motivation for learning of their own choosing beyond the classroom.

    What do you think?

  • What’s the difference?

    Fifteen differences between traditional and alternative approaches to schooling

    www.openclipart.org
    http://www.openclipart.org

    This list itemises some of the differences between traditional and alternative schools. The list is meant to contrast the stereotypes rather than reflect the culture of any particular school.

    It is unlikely that a school would have all the characteristics of one approach and none of the other. Most schools will have some characteristics of both approaches to a greater or lesser degree.

    As you read the list, consider each characteristic with regard to the schools you attended, or those attended by your children.

    • teacherbellTraditional schools are authoritarian organisations in which children are expected to conform. Alternative schools are run more democratically with children involved in planning and decision making.
    • Teachers in traditional schools direct activitiesclay from a pre-established curriculum; while activities in alternative school are more spontaneous and child-centred, with children involved in planning and choosing their educational experiences.
    • In traditional schools, students are passive recipients of information; while in alternative schools, students are actively involved in learning, both mentally and physically.
    • readingInformation taught in a traditional school has an academic orientation and is often disconnected; while students in alternative schools learn about a wide range of topics by making connections with prior knowledge, and through interaction with the environment.
    • In traditional schools, information is transmitted by someone or something else; while in alternative schools, students discover their own answers, solutions, concepts and create their own interpretations.
    • talkingMost communication in traditional schools is one way: the teacher talks and students listen. Communication between students and teachers, and among children in alternative schools is reciprocal.
    • Most questions asked by traditional teachers are closed and deal with facts; while students in alternative schools are involved in reflective thinking, problem solving, and learning how to learn.
    • gardeningStudents in traditional schools do a lot of written work while emphasis is given to hands-on-activity in alternative schools.
    • Traditional teachers provide little corrective feedback or guidance to students; while teachers in alternative schools usually provide guidance, evaluation and direction to students.
    • People_16_Teacher_BlackboardIn traditional schools, instruction is usually given to the class as a whole. A greater emphasis is placed upon individual instruction in alternative schools.
    • old school roomDesks are usually arranged to face the chalkboard or whiteboard in traditional schools; while space is used more flexibly in alternative schools.
    • The main focus in a traditional school is on imparting the existing values and roles of the society and culture. In an alternative school emphasis is placed upon the importance of the child in society and on educating the child for a responsible, thinking role.

    school cropped

    • In traditional schools students are generally grouped for work by ages, but in alternative schools children work at their own pace.
    • clockThe traditional school day is divided into sessions according to subject matter, while the organisation in an alternative school is flexible and loosely structured.
    • In traditional schools students remain dependent; while students in alternative schools are encouraged to develop independence.

    How closely do the characteristics describe the schools attended by yourself or your children?

    What do you see as the main similarities and differences?

    Where would they sit along the continuum?

    The school that I attended as a child was firmly embedded in traditional practices without any characteristics of an alternative approach.

    However some changes in pedagogical theories have occurred over the years, and the schools attended by my own children, and those in which I have recently taught, while still traditional, have moved a little along the continuum towards a less rigid and more flexible approach in some areas.

    In an earlier post “To school or not to school” I shared some thoughts I considered when making choices for the education of my children.

    I invite you to leave a comment and share your views.

    Which of the characteristics are most important to you when choosing a school for your child?

    Which characteristics would encourage you to choose against a particular school?

    All photos courtesy of http://www.morguefile.com/

    Clipart from www.openclipart.org

  • “I love the mountains”

    More than 30 years ago I had the extreme good fortune of being at Brown bear brown beara literacy teachers’ conference at which Bill Martin Jr. (author of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”) was speaking. What a memorable occasion it was.

    At the moment I can recall no other speakers, but I have never forgotten the captivatingly melodic and sonorous voice of Bill and the power of his message.

    Bill inspired his audience as he spoke about coming to reading later than most, at about the age of twenty, by teaching himself to read through his love of poetry. He attributed this love to being read to daily as a child. His delight in and playfulness with language was obvious as his voice danced through his stories, poems and songs to the accompaniment of his rich lilting laughter.

    He demonstrated, through audience participation, the joy of learning through song and the importance of the sounds and rhythms of language. Having fun and playing with language provides much joy for adults and children alike.

    In the days of overhead projectors, long before the now familiar electronic slideshows, Bill displayed a simple song “I love the mountains” on the screen. In an instant he had the audience rollicking in their seats, singing along with the words on the screen, and following the rhythmic lead of his voice without any other accompaniment. The energy created by this spontaneous engagement of the audience was electrifying. How could anyone not wish to participate? I quickly noted the words and tried desperately to commit the tune to memory. (I have since found out that this is a traditional camping song but, since I am not a camper, it was unfamiliar to me at the time though it may have been known by other members of the audience.)

    image courtesy of openclipart.org
    image courtesy of openclipart.org

    Every year since then, I have shared that song with my children.

    At the beginning of year one, in their 2nd or 3rd week of school, long before many of them could read or write very much at all, I would write the words on a chart and have them singing along, sharing through me, Bill Martin’s joy of song and language.

    One title in the "Sounds of Language" series
    One title in the “Sounds of Language” series

    Then, as soon as they were masters of the tune, we would engage in another of Bill’s suggested activities, “transforming sentences”. As Bill recommended, they were “taking an author’s structure and hanging their own thoughts on it.” (Sounds of Language, 1972)

    We changed Bill’s choice of “loves” for our own, and wrote our own collective song, which we sang repeatedly and with great gusto. Although the original did include a rhyme, we didn’t concern ourselves with that at this stage. We just concentrated on sharing our loves in a song such as this one:

    I love chocolate

    While they were having fun with language, the children were also learning a subtle and unstated lesson about how powerful a tool for communication self-expression through language, both oral and written, could be.

    The children’s suggestions for things they loved were many more than the lines of one collective song would allow, so there was nothing else to do but write one of their own. Which they did. They had already seen how easy it was. They knew the rhythm.  They had the basic sentence structure. All they had to do was substitute their own thoughts and make the song their own.

    How wonderful it was to hear the children singing their own lyrics as they wrote them, ensuring that the words telling of their loves fitted the rhythm of the song. The children delighted in sharing their songs with each other and with anyone else who would listen. At the end of the day they took them home to share with their parents as a special gift of themselves for Valentine’s Day.

    While my children did not have the benefit of Bill’s magical voice, or even a tuneful model from me, they delighted in his song. You can share a version (without Bill’s voice, or mine) by clicking here.

    Why not create your own songs, and support your children to create theirs, using this song model. You’ve seen how easy and joyful it can be. A song to sing about things you love is a little “happiness pill” that can be taken daily with no known side effects.

    I invite you to share your own versions here for us all to enjoy.

    Bill Martin Jr. wrote in Sounds of Language (1972):

    “As children gain skill in using their ears to guide their eyes in reading, they have a qualitatively different reading experience. Consider the young child who has frequently heard his teacher read “Ten Little Indians.” Once a child has these sounds clearly and solidly in his ear, he has little difficulty reading this old rhyme in its printed form. Once his ears begin telling him what his eyes are seeing, he approaches the reading with confidence and expectation. And when he comes to his teacher and exultingly declares,

    I know that word, Miss Barber! That word is “little!”

    she has evidence that he is relating sight and sound in reading.”

    What a joy and honour it is, as an early childhood teacher (including parent) to share a child’s journey into independent and joyful reading and writing.

    Nor and Bec readingwriting

    Robert 2

    It was a sad day when Bill Martin Jr. passed away on August 11, 2004, but his legacy lives on in the hearts of many readers, both young and old, whose lives have been touched by his love of language, and who may have indeed stepped across the threshold into reading through one of his many wonderful books.

    Click on the title to listen to Bill singing another fabulous song “I am Freedom’s Child” and his message for democracy: what another great song to start each day!

    I will have more about Bill Martin Jr. and his legacy in future posts.

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