Friday, September 28, 2018

Children who love reading feel happier???...

On 26th September 2018, Nicola Woolcock, Education Correspondent for 'The Times' reported that,
bookworms make the happiest children. 
Those with the greatest love of literacy had the highest levels of mental well-being.
Her comments were based on a large-scale report by the National Literacy Trust, published on the same day as her article.
(2018 is the 25th year anniversary of the trust.)
The report was based on a survey of 49,047 UK school children aged 8 to 18.
The article further claims that,
Pupils’ love of books and their mental well-being 
both fell between primary and secondary school, and continued to decline.

While I agree that reading books can broaden understanding of people and the world around,
I don't believe they represent the only reading tool in the 21st century
which can offer mental well-being to students.
I don't believe that reading is intrinsically chained to books.
There's 'a new kid on the block'.
Social media with its many faces has arrived.
Yes, there is the gossipy profile of Facebook,
but there is the untapped potential of Twitter
- round the world characters and groups, representing international knowledge - past and present -
and creative visions.
Art and music are there.
Raw reality invades at times too.
Connect with those groups and the reading, the mental extensions are waiting.
But there is a catch.
Twitter is micro-reading - linking at times to larger slabs of reading.
However, unless the micro version ignites a spark, the link is ignored.
Like it or not, we spin in a world of micro reading
- and that is why teenagers appear to read less than primary age students.
As children grow, they expect more in a short space of time.
Flash fiction and flash non fiction are here to stay.
So it is that teenagers have lost the pleasure of immersion in sustained reading.
It's more a frustration than a joy to them.
They have no yearning for time consuming reading.
The spark older generations may have had - without social media -
is no longer an option to them.
Social media is far more inviting... a plethora of reading snap shots...
(As a teacher, I hear the communal groan if a novel to be read looks 'too big'.
The first comment usually 'Is there a film version?')

Perhaps the pleasures of immersion reading are slowly dying in our rising generations,
(often only the insular introvert or bullied victim seeks this brand of reading escape),
but that does not mean reading is dying.
It has taken a new byway.
It has metamorphosed.

Teenagers' mental well-being will be enhanced when educators recognise the new reading trend
and develop pathways to those magical sparks as per Twitter.
And those sparks could very well, ignite a yearning for more,
leading back to the sustained reading we thought lost.

Children and teenagers will feel happier reading 21st century style...
Give them a byway in their social media world ...and who knows...




To teach is to keep learning

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

What are/were? the newspapers?


* The poem was published in 'The New York Saturday Press' - 27th August, 1859
* The poem was published in 'The Golden Age' - Queenbeyan, NSW - Thursday 20th August, 1863
* The Taranaki Herald (where this poem appeared in 1868 - Volume XVI, Issue 851, 14th November, 1868) was an afternoon daily newspaper, published in New Plymouth, New Zealand. It began publishing as a four-page tabloid on 4 August 1852. Until it ceased publication in 1989, it was the oldest daily newspaper in the country.
*The poem was published in 'The Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette' - Saturday 24th November, 1877

The poem is consistently inserted, in each newspaper, midst columns of news.


Have we lost a certain intimate style of reporting, in our haste to be digitally progressive?

Monday, September 24, 2018

Creativity...

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Re-imagine Traditional Schooling...

Image Source: ISTE.org

As a result of reading the article Designing a Public School from Scratch
by Nora Fleming
September 19, 2018
I decided to use some foundation ideas from the article and then branched away into my own musings.


1. Foundation Ideas - from Design 39 Campus, Grades K-8, San Diego, California

Design 39 is known as a campus not a school
Teachers are called LED's - learning experience designers
Classrooms are called studios
Library is called the Loft
Front office is the Welcome Centre

2. My Ideas - based on a Prep to 12 private school in Victoria, Australia

An atmospheric environment is a crucial stimulant for learning.
The secondary field of English and Humanities, sadly, gets the interchanging classrooms, with little time or space to set up an 'environment'.

School Design
Prep Circle - rooms round courtyard and playground
Primary Tracks - Studios branch away from central outdoor amphitheatre style area - seating for lunch, outdoor displays or plays
Secondary Hubs - Year 7 + 8 Centre + large studio gathering for Years 7-8
Year 9 Centre + studios
Year 10 Centre + studios adjoining VCE Centre
VCE Centre - studios including study pods, lunch room and outdoor verandah
Music and Drama Hub + Performing Arts Centre
Art and Visual Technology Hub
Sports Centre
English and Humanities Hub - including a gallery of primary documents, old books etc
Languages Hub
The Loft - (Multi-Modal Centre? - for Media + 2 adjacent studios) + lined with study pods + books? + reading corner for primaries

Studio Design
Variety of movable furniture - tables on casters, wheeled chairs, bean bags, 3 seater lounge 
computer hubs along the walls 
LED's area central

Hub Design
Reflect elements of the teaching area including posters, screened films etc


Now for the big and prickly questions...


1. Have textbooks had their day? 

Surely there is enough free and regularly updated source material available on the internet...This particularly applies to Humanities...Students just need to be reminded to source their material...preferably in a Research Log...

2. Should students begin an ongoing, digital portfolio from Grade 1? 

Should students be the data keepers of learning progress and teachers have access to student portfolios of sample work (scanned or completed online) to see how they are travelling?
Teachers only record assessment/exam results?
New teachers simply access students' portfolios in their class?

3. Should senior students in Year 11 (or 12) be encouraged to complete a MOOCs course - appropriate to their line of career choice? An alternative default? 

A MOOC is a Massive Online Course, which is a free online course available to anyone that wants to take the course. They are similar to online courses in terms of teaching and learning methods videos, group chats, assignments and tests but they do not generally provide academic credit. If you want a certificate of completion, payment is required.

4. Should schools provide online courses? 

Is there a place for schools to indulge in online courses?
At what year level could they begin? Years 9 and 10 to profile and assist students to make informed/appropriate career choices?


REFLECTION

I feel that as educators, we have not moved far enough into the 21st century...

Some of the obstacles involve data tracking...the buzz words that highlight good teaching...ahem..
Data tracking is so absorbing, so over-whelming, so time consuming (my weekends are dominated by their demands) that the students' spark of delight in exploration is quenched and the energy of the teacher is depleted to keep pace...
Preparing innovative lessons and being creative is a whim, an 'on-the-fly' possibility, but often dies into a passing thought...
The mighty data wheel must be greased regularly...Sigh....
Remove the data regime and record the surprise of results as they happen...

All those inspiring 21st century environments bring results...
if the door is left wide open and the latch is broken...



To teach is to keep learning
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