Here is an interesting educational article on TV3’s 60 minutes tonight, apologies for no video feed- not available currently. Te Mutu College along with 11 other high schools are adopting Professor Bishop’s approach to Maori education called Te Kotahitanga In it he advocates for a holistic approach to educating Maori. The research he did talking with Maori young people identifies a crying need for understanding and a raising of expectations. Just what any young person wants: someone to believe in them, what Professor Bishop talks about is a way that the teacher can and should be demonstrating that belief. It’s alright to say we understand where these kids come from but we need to demonstrate that in the way that we teach.
I hear it now: ‘we do it that way’, ‘we are from a high density Maori community and our school reflects that in its culture and ethos’.
To which I reply: “Are we really showing it, demonstrating it, but more importantly are the community and the kids feeling it?”
If not, why not? And what are we going to do about it.
The way Professor Bishop spoke about it I thought back to the book I read. And the posts I wrote about, William Glasser’s approach. It sounds the same only with a New Zealand Maori accent.
Managed to finish the William Glasser book BEFORE I went off on my holiday so here are my final thoughts.
In chapter 11 Glasser discusses the importance of body language; that so much communication with primary age children is non- verbal and we don’t realise it. Our demour has to reflect those 7 principles, not just the words we say. That is going to be hard for me, especially as explaining things over and over tends to wear me out. I have got to learn to relax, be more gentle and more patient.
I did not think brain maturity is factor at this stage but apparently it is. If a child does not settle for some reason it is a good test of brain maturation versus deliberate defiance if the child, when asked to organise themselves, ready for break or home time or playing a game they enjoy, cannot: it is their brain not able to cope with the instruction, not them being awkward.
Dr Glasser talks about a relaxing chair where students only have to be quiet, they don’t have to work, if they feel they need some time out. I think back to my time in the UK where I set up a study table where students could go if they felt others were disturbing them durng work time or I could ‘suggest’ they go if they are not able to get on. I am much more comfortable with that idea then just an easy chair which implies more chilling-out than working.
A great quote:
“We do not learn from making mistakes, we learn from correcting them”
William Glasser 2000
Reading:
Pouring on the pressure in reading is allowing children to move through the colour wheel and make them ‘better readers’ but I wonder how much that pressure turns children off reading later in life; taking all the fun out of reading and therefore they will not become self-motivated, life-long readers. What is the answer?
“…[if] by focusing so much on improving their reading test scores, the students are learning to test better but not learning to read better”
He said a lot of other helpful things but from his book I have gleaned the following which I will endeavour to put into practice:
- Relationships with the children are central to teaching the old adage “Children don’t care what you know until they know you care.” is so true.
- Making learning interesting and if it can’t be interesting it HAS to be purposeful which means sharing the purpose as well as the ‘success criteria’ for everything.
- Raising the bar. Expecting competent work. Demonstrating competence and giving the students TIME to get it right.
- Open book tests, no longer testing memory but testing application of knowledge.
Children need to be given the opportunity to understand. Everything they do should have some value in their real world.
“What I am asking you to do is useful. If you do not see it as usefulness I am more than willing to explain it to you. I accept you may not like to do what I’m asking, because it may be boring, difficult [or] strenuous… But you’ll always know there is a good reason for me asking you to do it.”
I need to keep that in mind. I’m going to make a real effort to explain why we do stuff. I’m thinking currently of those routine things; early morning prep, silent reading, printing (handwriting) and the like.
Identified ‘useful’ skills in the work place. (Not sure why I used inverted commas just because they ARE useful) reading, writing, calculation, computer literacy and science. Industry leaders added to that list problem solving, applying knowledge, leading, cooperating and speaking and listening.
What would the curriculum look like if we focused on these?
Literacy, Maths, ICT, Science, ….. what those other skills come under, are they all covered in the key competencies?
My first day with my new class should look like this, according to Dr. Glasser:
If a student wants to talk have time to listen. Easier said than done with 30 children. However any problem that child has tends to be a issue they have with someone else. The earlier we can connect with the students and allow them to connect with each other the fewer problems I’ll face later on.
“By giving them some early attention, the message you are trying to send is , I’m your teacher and your friend. Whatever your problem is, if you can make an effort to keep up with your schoolwork, you’ll be much better off than if you don’t. Remember, even if I can’t help you solve your problem, I’m an expert on schoolwork. That much I can always help you with.”
I’m going to try to keep my relationships with my students as strong as I can. If I can do that then whatever issues arrive I will be most likely be able to handle.
Well, this is my first reading. It’s entitled Every Student Can Suceed and is written by William Glasser, M.D.
Its talking about incorporating Choice theory into your classroom practise. He goes on to explain what that is at the end of the book which is a little irriating as I have only read the first two chapters.
But here is what I has gleened so far:
The 7 deadly habits that destroy relationships:
criticizing, blaming, complaining, nagging, threatening, punishing and rewarding people to control them.
Better the 7 good good habits;
Caring, supporting, contributing, encouraging, trusting and befriending.
Relationships in the classroom are central and must be kept positive: “few [children] work in school because they think an education is valuable to them. They work for you because they like you and because they see the sense in what you are trying to teach.”
Third and final point was made:
Keep in mind that the success of any human endeavour [learning in school included] is directly proportional to how the people involved in the endeavour get along together.
He was also talking about external control and how that ‘reward/punishment’ scenario is most popualar in school. He was making the point, I think, that children need to internalize motivation and that the ‘reward/punishment’ does not lead directly to that ultimate goal. What ever “Change Theorpy” I sense that it is a completely different mindset for a teacher, which will probably make it very hard to adopt, it being against our training and instinct in classroom management….. More later.
