It appears there are two categories

BEST USE OF ICT IN TEACHING

And

BEST TEACHER BLOG

It is this second category that got me thinking… There are so many different teacher blogs out there written by New Zealanders or at least folks like me who reside on these fair shores. How are we choose, let alone judge? How can we compare one with the other?

For example how can fair compare the weighty matters of Artichoke , with the reflective practice of Marnie , with the oh so helpful links and tips of NZChrissy , or Greg with his links to thought provoking/ amusing/ novel YOUTUBE happenings… to name but a few? Its not really apples and apples is it. I find each blog I read useful for the content found therein, for a whole raft of reasons.

Even those blogs I have mentioned are interesting and varied in their content on one level or another and should not really be pigeon-holed as I have done.

Then there are the student blogs / wikis/ podcasts that have so far gone unmentioned.

But it’s a starts, so let’s support this, even in its infancy, besides I might even win myself a laptop

Just listening to Steven, through Wes Fryer.

I have to begin by saying that listening to Roger Schank inspired me too, I even posted about it at the time. It was one of the first podcasts of Wesley’s I heard and he really challenged my thinking, in fact I wonder if I can track back to hearing that podcast and that being the catalyst for the challenges I have faced in the last 18 months as I began to push back?

School improvement, are we really doing what our society requires?

Our schools are so NOT “fine they need tweaking”, there needs to be a fundamental shift in what the curriculum is addressing and what schools are supporting. We in New Zealand are quite blessed with the new curriculum, it is very new and shiny and very 21^st Century perspective, however I wonder how these are being implemented in schools. It makes me wonder what the key pressures are on schools that truly define how the curriculum looks, it is not simply the National Curriculum.

Steven Wyckoff spends quite a bit of time talking about the analogue of learning to drive and someone made the comment that while you’re growing up you spend a long time watching people drive. I heard it said once that while you are learning to drive, driving instructors spend quite a while telling people where they need to look. “Focus on what is immediately in front, look out around parked cars”, etc. People’s closest sensory experience to driving? It’s sitting in the passenger seat. So a new driver has unlearn the passive ‘watching’, for example looking at someone walking over a footbridge for the whole time it takes for the car to pass under it. Drivers then need to learn to be active observers of the environment around them. There are so many things that students are learning that are wasting time… We DO need to spend more time on learning the skills that they are going to need in life.

So what DOES a curriculum look like?

What are the other pressures and issues we need address in school?

What are the school teacher:student ratio look like in New Zealand. Are there the same issues as in Kansas where the system needs to be adjusted to lower the ratio or is there a genuine issue around ratios?

“In order to do what?” Brings the curriculum into sharp focus. Steven links the need to focus education on ‘economic productivity’ for the future. But I want to consider, is there any value in learning for learnings- sake? Does it not do something for the brain development, regardless of purpose?

My next question: Are there quality apprenticeships or study-to-work programmes available in New Zealand that realistically address the issue applying students for the workforce?

As I was listening I was thinking this idea about applied learning and the links made to Ted McCain and the discussion/ presentations made by Ian Jukes in Napier last year.

I was discussing with a high-school principal the other day around the issues of NCEA level1 not meeting the expectations required for courses in NCEA level 2, let alone NCEA level1 OR 2 meeting expectations for the workforce.

So how are we going to measure success for the 21^st Century, what are the skills required and EQUALLY, what is the core knowledge required for the future?

]]> http://educatingthedragon.edublogs.org/2008/06/23/natural-learning-what-schools-don%e2%80%99t-do-by-steve-wycoff/feed/ 1 http://educatingthedragon.edublogs.org/2008/05/14/taiko-visit/ http://educatingthedragon.edublogs.org/2008/05/14/taiko-visit/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 03:46:15 +0000 Dragon09 http://educatingthedragon.edublogs.org/2008/05/14/taiko-visit/ I began my first day at my new school today. Every Wednesday I will be working with some students in need of assistance with their writing. They are a great lot and I had a fun day, but that is not why I am posting.

At lunchtime today some Japanese students from the International Pacific College turned up at school and blessed, and blasted, us on the Taiko. These were fantastically talented students who had been playing for between one and four years. There was a audible ‘Wow!” from the audience when the answer to “How often do you practise th be that good?” came back- “Twice a week, for 3 hours.”

These students are dedicated and talented. What a treat. I managed to take a few pictures and a short video (60 seconds) before my memory card was full- doh!

Sorry I couldn’t share more with you, enjoy.

“I don’t like the word train….who do we train? Animals. Teachers aren’t animals. Both teachers and students are both learners…. treating them as professional learners is very important.” (Wesley Fryer, 2008-02-06-speedofcreativity)

I concur.

If teachers stop learning, adapting, developing and changing their practice over time than that has got to be bad for the students.

If teachers do not remain current in their knowledge of the profession and the wider world then that has got to be bad for the students.

If teachers are weighted down by the burden we call ‘Admin’ then the enersy they have for classroom practise is drained, that has got to be bad for the students.

If teachers are overwelmed by the enormity of the work through sheer numbers of students they have responsibility for that has got to be bad for the students.

But if the teacher is,

….free from the shackles of unnecessary paperwork,

….free to support and nuture the relationships within a supportive, moderately sized classroom,

… free to seek out learning opportunites for themselves and develop professionally in a direction of their choosing,

…. free to ENJOY their chosen career.

…that has got to be good for the students.

We have got to pass on the passion, model the ideal of being a life-long learner.

After all,

“Teachers make all other professions possible.”

-Annie Belott

Podcast :  On the Road