curriculum of the future???...

Why schools should teach the curriculum of the future, not the past https://t.co/798Bpd8dw3 #amnc18 pic.twitter.com/mAywze2OLz

— World Economic Forum (@wef) October 3, 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

What are/were? the newspapers?

'Papa, What Are The Newspapers?'
I rather like this poetical summary of the Victorian press.
- Rare Bits (1882) pic.twitter.com/WxynXMYv5Q

— Dr Bob Nicholson (@DigiVictorian) September 23, 2018

* 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?

Creativity...

Creativity is so enigmatic...But so worth exploring for the sheer excitement of struggle and vision, often hopelessly entangled...But then there is the final spark...What an adrenalin rush...Share the moment...It may inspire others to dare...

— Gemma Wiseman (@AuraGem) September 21, 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

Yes, yes, yes and more yes! There's far too much data and not enough of the 'spark' there. Education ought to be a weapon in the hand, not a gun to the head..... For students and teachers. So many thoughts about all this....

— D (@kvoldvaka) September 23, 2018

Effective Secondary Reading Programs...

My school is exploring Accelerated Reader with Renaissance Learning.
To support formative assessment, quizzes are available for a wide range of novels.
Further, reading levels are monitored closely
and a printable graph is available for individual students or a whole class.
Independent reading is encouraged and each student has his/her own realistic goals.

A review is HERE
+
***As of November 2016, Renaissance Learning partnered with Achieve3000.
The focus on monitoring differentiated learning in non-fiction reading and writing has now strengthened.
More details HERE 

21stC education = MEASURE - endless teaching data, digital fuel, curricular weather patterns. Creativity?

— Gemma Wiseman (@AuraGem) October 6, 2017

To teach is to keep learning

Graphic Novels for Differentiation?

Source: Edutopia - Powerful Graphic Novels for Middle School

The article by Quin Rollins suggests that this selection of graphic novels represents possibilities of learning in English, Humanities and Science classes.
They could engage all literacy levels.


But could there be further possibilities?
1. Partnerships - Students read and discuss
2. Modified curriculum resources 
3. Cross-curricular modified resources
4. Peer evaluation evidence



To teach is to keep learning