Posted
on Sunday, 6 May 12, 17:05,
by James Michie,
under Education.
This is one of my favourite TED Talks. It gets to the heart (IMO) of one of the biggest problems (and challenges) we currently face in education.
We know, deep down, that the way to succeed in life is to make mistakes and learn from them. Yet, we continue to facilitate a system that rewards students who never make mistakes, and teaches that those who do are lazy and unintelligent?
Moreover, we try to make students feel as thought they are right, even when we (and they) know they are wrong?
In the short term, this may help to boost a student’s self-esteem. However, in the long term, it teaches them to be afraid of failure; creating a climate of fear.
And fear is the enemy of learning.
Students find themselves paralysed, unable to commit pen to paper, unless they have received their latest hit of positive reinforcement from their teacher.
Instead, we need to create a climate in which students are not afraid of failure.
It’s time we let students err; teaching them to acknowledge their mistakes and learn from them.
It’s time we encouraged them to say: “I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong?”
Posted
on Friday, 4 May 12, 16:41,
by James Michie,
under Education, Technology.
Yesterday evening, while I was participating in Year 10 Parents Evening, a fantastic set of educators convened on Clevedon School for TeachMeet Clevedon. Organised by the inimitable Mark Anderson (@ICTEvangelist), the event was packed full of innovative and thought provoking talks. You can watch a number of these presentations on the TeachMeet Clevedon YouTube channel. [...]
Posted
on Wednesday, 2 May 12, 06:30,
by James Michie,
under Education.
Since contributing to the original #500words campaign, my thoughts about the purpose of education have become less cogent. I still want to “bust a hole in the wall”; wishing to place learner independence and preparedness for life long learning at the heart of the debate. However, as I have continued teaching, researching, discussing, debating, I [...]
Posted
on Sunday, 29 April 12, 10:17,
by James Michie,
under Productivity.
Stop what you are doing. Close your eyes and listen. Listen to yourself breathe. — Do you hear it? Keep listening. Listen for two whole minutes. — What happened? Your breathing slowed, and so did your heart rate. It returned to normal. — The speed at which your heart was beating when you first began [...]
Posted
on Wednesday, 18 April 12, 22:59,
by James Michie,
under Education.
Kevin McLaughlin and I will be hosting a Google+ Hangout at 8pm on Wednesday, 25 April, to discuss our approaches to facilitating independent/personalised learning in our classrooms. It has been apparent for some time that Kevin and I share a similar set of values with regard to education. Unwilling to be the ‘sage on the [...]
