A timely reminder from the good people at The Guardian about educationalists on Twitter can be found here.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away, I went to a ULearn conference in Rotorua and attended a session by Craig Kemp. He made the bold claim that Twitter gave him the best Professional Development he'd ever had.
And you know what? He was right!!
If you are a teacher and you want to get better at what you do and you are not on Twitter you are crazy. Insane in the membrane.
Join up. NOW!
How? That Guardian link (here it is again) will tell you how.
What's the most important skill a school can pass on to its students?
That seems like a pretty good question to my less is more brain. The most important skill. Single. Just one.
What do you think?
I'm sure we could all come up with various answers to create a list. It might include one of these skills from Mr Kemp: creative thinker; problem solver; collaborator; effective communicator; being ethical and empathetic.
The Evangelical School Berlin Centre (ESBC) is a German school that has become very successful by working from that point (deciding on one skill) and making the school fit around that one skill.
Interestingly, it's not one of Craig Kemp's.
So, what is it?
Well, the school’s headteacher, Margret Rasfeld, argues, the most important skill a school can pass down to its students is the ability to motivate themselves.
I like this!
She goes on to say, “The mission of a progressive school should be to prepare young people to cope with change, or better still, to make them look forward to change. In the 21st century, schools should see it as their job to develop strong personalities.”
I like this too!
Recently, I wrote a post about the lack of motivation/ urgency from students asked to study during a recent break between terms. Not for the first time, I was laughed at for suggesting we change our semantic stance from 'holiday' to 'study break'.
The intrinsic motivation within the great majority of my students seemed to be completely lacking during the study break. To clarify further: I'm hopeful that some students in other classes did study - it's just that none of mine did anything for me to mark or to provide valuable feedback.
As for change - my current school is like many others, I guess. Many of the students do not like change and that's, if anything, an understatement. Of course, many of the staff do not like change either.
Two years after changing the organisational culture of the school from a horizontal system to a vertical one, and still the students can not adapt to that change. More than that, they want a return to the previous system of horizontal form classes.
To my way of thinking, this is a great pity. As Don Henley knows, "Don't look back, you can never look back!"
I've not come across this unwillingness to change to this degree at any of my previous schools.
We should be better at making our students look forward to change.
What's goin' round?
All Blacks! All Blacks! All Blacks!
...and now - back to the blog...
1 Portrait data
We start this edition with a long read on portraits and the data we give off/away with our portraits. It kinda broadly fit into my education world blog but who cares if it doesn't - it's interesting and therefore...erm...educational!
That bloke on the right looks well dodgy innit! Is he smiling? Is he thinking, "Is this my neutral expression?" or is this just the way Kiwis celebrate being CHAMPIONS? Read that article!
2 UDL
This bookmark alerts me to the continued importance of UDL in personalised learning, and we all need these continual reminders right?
3 Craig Kemp
I've probably blogged enough about Craig and his wonderful site but in case you were snoozing, or join us late - here is all you need to know about starting a Twitter account and using it for good!
4 A companion piece to Craig
This by Teacher Toolkit is the next thing you need to read after you've followed Craig's advice!
5 Project based learning
And we finish with this timely reminder about PBL as we head into our end of year activities with the juniors.
First full day at ulearn? Check.
It's been a great day all up. Here are my highlights and lowlights of day one.
Best keynote - Dr Yoram Harpaz on the three incompatible driving ideologies in education. More on this to come.
Funniest stories - two of my fellow Woodfordites sharing their adventures with the spa baths in the motel.
Most unlikely event of the day - I reactivated my twitter account from 2011 following a taster session by Craig Kemp. I know, I know.
Best meal - sharing some Indian takeaways with the Woodfordites and friend.
Best news of the day - our family pet (Bazil) is okay for now after a major health scare. What with the twitter reboot and Bazie - apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Surprisingly, a large number of rudeness moments of the day - people buried in their devices while presenters present - even a large number with their backs to the presenter. Amazing! It's a modern curse. I'm definitely old school - please don't read your emails or ignore what's happening live, in front of your eyes. Take it from me, you'll miss the good stuff.
