Teachers Matter Issue 12

PROFESSIONALLY & PERSONALLY

TeachersMatter The Magazine of Spectrum Education

Beyond the Bank pg. 12

Return on Investment pg. 25

Be Alarmed pg. 47

50 Ways to Raise Your Game pg. 54

NZ$15 / AU$15

Leaders in Developing Teachers

ISSUE 12

EVENT REVIEW

Kids learning to learn Children worldwide are discovering keys to success.

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ids’ conferences and study skills workshops have been popular on the Sapphire Coast New South Wales and in Japan, so much so that international speaker, Spectrum Education founder and Teachers Matter publisher Karen Boyes spent three weeks in the countries teaching study skills and facilitating kids’ conferences.

Wherever students want to learn, Karen is willing to go.

Students from country schools have been benefiting from Karen’s expertise most recently. Her workshops have provided “gems” in the form of advice and tips for the students to collect on their learning journeys. The gems allow them to be successful in the classroom and beyond.

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EVENT REVIEW “Empowering students about learning is a real privilege,” Karen says. “Giving them strategies that will help them in both school and life is exciting.”

One- and two-day study skills workshops were held at four high schools for Year 11 students to prepare them for their study and exams in the following year. Students learned memory techniques, speed reading, learning styles, note-taking, motivation and goal-setting strategies and how to set-up an effective study environment.

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Karen also facilitated two kids’ conferences with a leadership theme for Year 5 and 6 students. Run just like an adult-oriented conference, the kids’ conferences gave students the opportunity to participate in keynote addresses as well as workshops. Topics included the Habits of Mind, circus skills, technology (including iPads!), understanding the brain, goal-setting and learning to learn.

All activities challenged students at different levels, especially their ability to persist, an important characteristic of successful people.

While in Tokyo, Karen took the opportunity to work with a Grade 4 class at the International School of Sacred Heart. Students danced, sung and moved through a series of activities while they learned about their brains and learning. Kids experienced their different learning styles, learned the top-10 brain foods, designed Wordtoons and learned a visual spelling technique. To view a short video of the workshop, go to http://www. msmosfootprints.com/my-magic-brain.html.

To book a study skills workshop or kids’ conference for your students, please contact the team at Spectrum Education.

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CONTENTS

COVER PHOTO: MAREK ULIAS

In this issue

11 2

Kids Conference: Kids learning to learn

30 22

KAREN BOYES

10

Attention with red wagons and radishes

Developing self-managing problem solvers

28

The ultimate framework for learning and life

Teachers Matter

Thinking about thinking CLINTON GOLDING

38

Anything worth doing is worth doing…poorly.

NGAHI BIDOIS

43

Be a dream builder CHRISTINE KERR

GERARD ALFORD

30

The duvet book club

44

GLENN CAPELLI

What boys need most 32

Competition and learning

Creative thinking – making it happen!

From paradigms of “fixity” to possibility

How many kilos overweight is acceptable?

ROWENA SZESZERANMCEVOY

45

JOAN DALTON

DR MARVIN MARSHALL

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36

ALAN COOPER

MAGGIE DENT

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Making choices explicit

Rigour: Promoting challenge for all students PATTI DRAPEAU

MARTIN BUONCRISTIANI

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DAVID KOUTSOUKIS

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25

Learning to learn DR ARTHUR COSTA & JIM ROUSSIN

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34

DR SPENCER KAGAN

DR JUDY WILLIS

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The information-processing approach to thinking

48

Becoming a writer GAIL LOANE

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The alarm you’ll look forward to: iStudyAlarm KAREN BOYES

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TEACHERS RESOURCES AND LESSONS pages 58-60, 67

Making classroom management simple KATE SOUTHCOMBE

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How you could have survived the holiday season ALLISON MOONEY

MAGAZINE CONTACTS

Teachers Matter Magazine Team

Subscribe today

Publisher, Sales and Advertising: Karen Boyes

To receive your own copy of the next issue, send an e-mail to magazine@spectrumeducation.com

Managing Editor: Kristen De Deyn Kirk Graphic Design: Mary Hester / 2nd Floor Design Printer Spectrum Print, Christchurch

Subscriptions Toll free (NZ) 0800 373 377 Toll free (Australia) 1800 249 727 Thanks to the educators, speakers and authors who contributed interviews, articles, photographs and letters.

Teachers Matter magazine is registered with the National Library: ISSN 1178-6825 © Spectrum Education 2011 All rights reserved.

52 52

Failure-based learning

72 68

54

Raise your game

69

The impact of early childhood on teenage years KEVIN MAYALL

61

The face of e-learning

72

74

SIMON EVANS

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Empowering the next generation YVONNE GODFREY

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66

77

How long does it take to become efficient?

ROBYN PEARCE

JOKES

Summer entertaining KAREN TOBICH

JOHN SHACKLETON

57

Kids in gyms WENDY SWEET

DR JASON FOX

Just-in-time teaching made easy

The opinions expressed in Teachers Matter are those of the contributors and we love them!

JENNY BARRETT

All Enquiries

Simple or sophisticated: Working with picture books

Spectrum Education Ltd

BARBARA GRIFFITH AND TRICIA KENYON

Postal Address: PO Box 30818, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Developing self esteem in children

Phone: (NZ) +64 4 528 9969

KAREN BOYES

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Parts of this publication may be reproduced for use within a school environment. To reproduce any part within another publication (or in any other format) permission from the publisher must be obtained.

Inspirational quote

Street Address: 19 Rondane Place, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Fax: (NZ) +64 4 528 0969 magazine@spectrumeducation.com www.spectrumeducation.com

JOSEF ALBERS Lioncrest Education Postal Address: PO Box 340 Cessnock NSW 2325, Australia Phone: 61 2 4991 2874 or 1800 249 727

DELICIOUS SUMMER RECIPES Page 69

info@lioncrest.com.au www.lioncrest.com.au

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EDITOR’S NOTE

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few months back, I sat in a packed waiting room, worrying about being put under and cut open. After two hours, a nurse told me that the staff was backed up, and I had a choice: wait five more hours or move from the outpatient area to the main hospital and have my gallbladder removed in 45 minutes.

I opted for quickness and within 20 minutes, I lay on a gurney wearing a hospital gown and an IV. Happy medicine pumped in to relax me, and a nurse handed me three consent forms.

“We’re not going to make it by 1:30,” said another nurse who popped her head into the room.

That was the time of my surgery and, being a Friday afternoon, I imagined my doctor was anxious to get his work done and get home.

A little anxious myself and more and more sleepy, I signed the forms without reading them, but, because I had recently read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, I wondered what they said – or didn’t say.

New York Times bestselling author Skloot started work on the book 21 years ago. Her biology professor talked about “HeLa” cells and their contributions to medicine. The cells are unique because they stayed alive and divided — still doing so today — and scientists continue to buy and study them. The professor said only that they were taken from a woman named Henrietta Lacks, and that she was black.

A curious Skloot, just 16 at the time, couldn’t get more information from her teacher. She would later be the one to dig up the whole story about the woman whose cells were key in creating polio and infertility treatments; understanding cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb; and developing cloning and gene mapping.

Dr Howard Jones treated Lacks for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951, and he explained to Skloot the medical culture that led to Lacks’ cells being taken (by George Guy, head of tissue culture research at Hopkins) without her consent — and without monetary incentive.

If you don’t consider personal courtesy, the scientists and doctors weren’t doing anything wrong.

Teachers Matter

“They weren’t breaking any laws,” said Skloot when I talked to her.

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Sixty years later, that’s still true in America, and why I was so worried when I had my operation. Medical guidelines recommend that doctors tell patients if they are retaining cells during a procedure, but no law states that they must – or that they’re required to share any financial gains that later come from research. My federal government seems to have abandoned efforts started in 1999 to possibly introduce a law requiring patient consent for cell research.

Skloot’s book haunts me – in a scary way because of this, but also in a positive way for another reason: Rebecca Skloot may never have told this important story if it wasn’t for teachers, teachers like you who are willing to experiment, push a student and show a sincere interest in a person’s innate talents.

As a young teenager, Skloot flunked her classes. She was bored and didn’t show up. She’d instead go to a local bookstore and read what interested her. Fortunately, she had the option to attend an alternative school, one that out-of-the-box-thinking administrators created; progressive teachers supported; and gave her the opportunity to take university-level courses.

“I had some issues with the traditional school system and …ended up at the alternative high school,” Skloot told The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis, Tennessee publication.

It was then that she heard about Henrietta Lacks from her biology teacher. Skloot asked her teacher for more details, but he didn’t provide any, instead telling her to research Lacks on her own for extra credit.

“I had no intention of being a writer at that point, so it was more that I just became sort of obsessed with her and cells, just really curious about her and the science of it,” Skloot said. “I was totally fascinated with how these cells could be alive.”

Since age 4, Skloot wanted to be a veterinarian, but a creative writing teacher at Skloot’s university later saw a different talent.

“My writing teacher was amazing,” she said. “He definitely recognised I was a writer long before I did. He said, ‘You know, you care so much about science, you could use writing to teach a lot of people about science, because there aren’t very many people who do both science and writing and can do it well. You have a natural talent for this, and you should run with it.’”

Soon, instead of applying to veterinary school, Skloot chose to further her studies with an advanced degree and work on a master’s of fine arts in creative nonfiction writing. A push here, a few words of encouragement there, and she’s now one of the most successful nonfiction writers in the world – and before she hit age 40.

As you start a new year of teaching, always embrace your power to elevate the children in your class, especially those who seem bored, or curious, or dead-set on a career path that may or may not be their destiny: You’ve probably already helped launch a future super star, or two, or three – and you’ll find all the motivation you need in this issue to continue doing so.

Cheers, Kristen De Deyn Kirk

Learning Skills 4 Kids www.learningskills4kids.com

We specialise in practical, easy to use programmes that aim to build the foundations for literacy and learning.

Memory Programmes Handwriting Programmes - Magic Caterpillar Fine Motor Skills Phonemic Awareness Literacy Programmes - Magic Caterpillar’s Building Blocks to Literacy Resources for teachers and parents

Agents for Barbara Brann BMB Educational Consultancy

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CONTRIBUTORS

Adrian Rennie A successful classroom teacher, Adrian is passionate about excellence in teaching.

He combines simple yet effective classroom techniques and Art Costa’s Habits Of Mind to create a culture of thinking.

Alan Cooper Alan Cooper is an educational consultant based in New Zealnd. As a principal, he was known for his leadership role in thinking skills, including Habits of Mind, learning styles and multiple intelligences, information technology, and the development of the school as a learning community.

Allison Mooney Allison is a passionate and endearing speaker who infuses a desire in her audience to significantly increase their performance as educators through identifying the behaviours and traits of others. Author of Pressing the Right Buttons, Allison has been twice awarded “Speaker of the Year” by the Auckland Chapter of NZ National Speakers Association. www.personalityplus.co.nz

Clinton is an educational consultant, writer and lecturer specialising in education for thinking. He has been philosopher in residence and thinking coordinator in NZ schools, and a multiple award winning teacher educator at the University of Melbourne. He will be a Senior Fellow of Melbourne University based in Dunedin from 2011.

David Koutsoukis David Koutsoukis is an award-winning international speaker and author who helps educators build positive and productive classrooms and schools. He presents at education conferences throughout Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and the Pacific region, and is the author of the Values Education Toolkit resources, the Behaviour Management Toolkit resources, the Daily Dose of Fun series and the Six Kinds of Best Values Education program. For bookings, resources and free downloads visit www.dkeducation.com.au

Gail Loane

Arthur is co-director of the Institute for Intelligent Behaviour and the creator of “Habits of Mind”. Actively concerned that there must be worldwide change in educational systems if they are to meet the needs of a global society, Arthur compels educators to create classrooms that are thoughtful places to learn. www.habits-of-mind.net

Barbara Griffith

Gerard Alford

Barbara has been a primary school teacher for 36 years. She has specialised in the teaching of literacy for more than 20 years and recently retired from a position as a Resource Teacher: Literacy, which she had held for the last 16 years.

Gerard began his working life as an economist in the banking industry. After several years of overseas travel, he joined the teaching profession with his first appointment at The Hutchins School in Tasmania. He is now a regular workshop presenter and a leading authority on implementing Performance Mangement systems in schools. www.itcpublications.com.au

Christine Kerr Teachers Matter

Clinton Golding

Gail has worked as a teacher, associate principal, principal and school adviser in the Waikato area. She has also worked on national projects for the Ministry of Education such as the Literacy Taskforce, Literacy Leadership, the development of the English Exemplars and the current National Literacy Project. She now works as an independent consultant in schools, tutoring and coaching school leaders and teachers in the development of literacy.

Dr Arthur Costa

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lives. Post-programme support is available for participants through a range of media pathways and interactive funshops. Visit www.lifeseeker.co.nz

Christine has 30 years experience in education, the last decade in school management. She facilitated a structured counselling service for her intermediate school students and is a qualified, professional life coach. Passionate about meeting young people’s needs for ongoing success, Christine created the Mighty Minds programmes. Using 21st century research and mindset tools, she inspires young people to take leadership in their own lives, culminating in a total package for future reference throughout their

Glenn Capelli An author, songwriter, radio and television presenter and creator of the Dynamic Thinking course for Leadership, Glenn delivers a message of creativity, innovation and thinking smarter. He teaches people how to be a learner and thinker in today’s fastpaced and ever-changing world through the use of creative thinking, humour, enthusiasm and attitude. Glenn’s new book, Thinking Caps, is available from Spectrum. www.glenncapelli.com

Dr Jason Fox Dr Jason Fox is an academic rogue with a knack for making clever happen. He’s a multi-award winning international keynote speaker, the founder of EnjoyExams.com and the author of Master Exams.

Jenny Barrett Jenny is the CEO for Breathe Technology. Her enthusiasm for technology came when thrown in the deep end whilst teaching at a Taiwan high school. Jenny has since undertaken a Master’s of Education (Ed. Technology) and has supported classroom teachers to use educational technology in UK and NZ projects. www.breathetechnology.co.nz

Jim Roussin Jim Roussin is a strategic change consultant and a national trainer for the Center for Cognitive CoachingSM. He is also the founder and Executive Director of Generative Human Systems. This non-profit organization is a learning practice that is exploring the life maps that unfold our full human potential.

Joan Dalton Internationally respected Australian teacher and educator Joan Dalton is acknowledged for her expertise in learning and teaching, as well as leadership and facilitation. She has worked by invitation with schools and educational organisations in more than 10 different countries. Joan has authored several internationally successful books. Her current passion and writing is focused on the kinds of skillful language and powerful conversations that move learning forward. www.plotpd.com

John Shackleton With a sports psychology and sports coaching background, John now shows international business audiences techniques that exercise and improve the biggest, most powerful muscle in the body – the brain. His clients include Coca-Cola, Air New Zealand, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Sony and Renault. www.JohnShack.com

Dr Judy Willis Dr. Judy Willis practiced child and adult neurology for fifteen years before returning to university to obtain her Teaching Credential and Masters of Education. She then taught elementary and middle school for ten years and is now a presenter at educational conferences and provides professional development workshops nationally and internationally about classroom strategies derived from neuroscience research. Her most recent book, Learning to Love Math: Teaching Strategies that Change Student Attitudes and Get Results 2010 ASCD, is about changing negativity to motivation. www.RADTeach.com

Kate Southcombe

Dr Marvin Marshall

Kate’s business EPR Training combines her passion for horses and her educational background – supplying online products to support people with behaviour management of horses and children. This novel approach is grounded in science and draws on the principles of applied behaviour analysis. Kate is an Early Childhood Education lecturer and private tutor.

Marvin is an international staff developer and the author of the best-selling book, Discipline Without Stress, Punishments or Rewards: How Teachers and Parents Promote Responsibility & Learning. His approaches demonstrate how using internal motivation and non-coercion is far more effective and significantly less stressful than using threats, punishments, rewards, and other manipulations aimed at obedience. www.marvinmarshall.com

Karen Boyes Karen Boyes is a leading authority on effective learning and teaching in Australasia and is founder and CEO of Spectrum Education. A highly skilled, enthusiastic and dynamic presenter with over 18 years experience in the education profession, she works with teachers, parents, students and corporate clients internationally, unleashing their peak performance. www.spectrumeducation.com

Karen Tobich Karen is a food stylist who is passionate about living off the land and creating and presenting food. She believes that sharing food connects people and fosters quality relationships in so many ways. She shows you how to transform home and locally grown seasonal foods into delicious healthy and inspiring foods to make, to give, and to share.

Kevin Mayall Kevin works with individuals and families from around the world. As well as working in a private practice, Kevin is also the creator and founder of www.kevinmayall.com, which provides online coaching tools for teens, families and individuals around the world. www.kevinmayall.com

Maggie Dent From a background in education, palliative care, radio, the funeral industry and being a transpersonal therapist, Maggie owns Esteem Plus, promoting the value of personal and professional resilience. She is an author, publisher and parenting specialist. www.maggiedent.com

Martin Buoncristiani Martin Buoncristiani received a B.S. in Physics from the University of Santa Clara and a Ph. D. in Physics from the University of Notre Dame. He has been dedicated to physics education at the undergraduate and graduate level for 35 years. He has also been involved in curricular development for the university as a whole where he has been a strong advocate of adapting teaching methods to the current understanding of how people learn.

His scientific research has focused on the development of lasers, optical science and the interaction of radiation with matter.

Ngahihi Bidois Ngahihi o te ra is from Te Arawa and is an international speaker, author and consultant.

Book him for your next conference or seminar by phoning 021482281 or through his website at www.ngahibidois.com

Patti Drapeau Patti Drapeau is an international presenter, trainer, author, and instructor. She worked in education as a teacher and coordinator for over 25 years. Patti currently presents at international, national, state, and regional conferences on the topics of differentitation, critical and creative thinking, and gifted education. She also conducts customised workshops and trainings in school districts.

She currently serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Southern Maine, USA and is an educational consultant for the Maine Department of Education, USA. www.pattidrapeau.com

Robyn Pearce Robyn Pearce CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) is the Time Queen. She mastered her own time challenges and now helps people around the world overcome theirs. She can show you how to transform your time challenges into high productivity and the life balance you desire. Enroll for your free Top Time Tips – practical advice every two weeks and you’ll get your own free report “How to Master Time In Only 90 Seconds,” a simple yet powerful diagnostic tool to help you identify your key areas for action. You’ll find it at http://www.gettingagrip.com/ttt/index.asp

Rowena Szeszeran-McEvoy Rowena Szeszeran-McEvoy has a 23-year career in the fitness industry and is now serious about the business of education. She is the director of the Australian Institute of Massage and the National College of Business, after having served as the head lecturer in both the business and fitness colleges.

CONTRIBUTORS

Simon Evans Originally from the UK, Simon Evans has been teaching in New Zealand for the last six years. He is an avid supporter of incorporating technologies into the learning environment and the positive result it has on student motivation and achievement. www.breathetechnology.co.nz

Dr Spencer Kagan Dr Spencer kagan is an internationally acclaimed researcher, presenter and author of over 100 books, chapters, and scientific journal articles. He is the principal author of comprehensive books in four fields: cooperative learning, multiple intelligences, classroom discipline, and classroom energisers. www.kaganonline.com

Tricia Kenyon Tricia has been involved in the field of Literacy for 17 years, firstly as a Resource Teacher:Reading, then as a Resource Teacher:Literacy. She is passionate about books and reading, and feels privileged to be in a position where she can share that passion with students, their parents, and fellow teachers.

Wendy Sweet With over 25 years in the fitness industry, Wendy’s expertise in health, wellbeing and fitness is undisputed. She brought personal training into mainstream NZ by design and developed the Les Mills Personal Training programme in the early 1990s. She lectures at the University of Waikato and delivers workplace training. Her master’s thesis focused on successful personal trainers’ strategies in changing their client’s exercise and nutrition behaviour. Reach her at wsweet@xtra.co.nz.

Yvonne Godfrey Yvonne Godfrey is the founder of Miomo (Making it on my Own), a 10-day, live-in experience to equip 17- to 24-year-olds for a responsible, independent and successful adult life. www.miomo.co.nz

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DR JUDY WILLIS

Attention with red wagons and radishes Add the science of learning to the art of teaching.

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Teachers Matter

rofessor Baez, my teacher for a Harvard University physics course, propelled himself into the lecture hall sitting on a red wagon, aiming an activated fire extinguisher at the wall. This was his demonstration of the law of relativity: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. (Clearly he was an inspiration for folksinger daughter Joan Baez.) Teachers without red wagons can focus student attention through novelty and excitement, utilising strategies such as unexpected classroom events, dressing in costumes, playing music, showing dynamic videos, putting comic strips or optical illusions on the overhead, or even telling jokes.

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Survival first All learning enters the brain through the senses. The subconscious mind needs to be on automatic pilot to process the enormous amount of information available from the world. The reticular activating system (RAS), a thin strip of brain tissue low down, just above the spinal column, admits less than one percent of the sensory information available to it every second.

Much like other mammals, the human RAS favours intake of sights, sounds, smells, and tactile sensations that are most critical to survival. The RAS is a virtual editor that grants admission to novelty — things that have changed in the environment, with priority to changes that signal threat.

Calm the nervous fox Think of students’ RAS as a fox, coming out of its den, alert to changes such as new sounds. The howling of a predatory wolf would get first priority, and only when that sound is gone will the RAS focus on the nonthreatening new sights, sounds, movements, and smells. First we must keep our young foxes feeling unthreatened by consistently enforcing class rules and creating a supportive classroom community.

sensory input around us. Gaining and keeping students’ attention promotes information passage from simple momentary awareness to working memory, from where it has the potential to be stored in the long-term memory banks. I recall a poster that read, “A Mind Stretched Will Never Revert to its Original Size.” Good teachers stretch their students’ brains by first stimulating their imaginations, curiosity, and interest to captivate their attention.

Grab their interest Attention is a process of selecting the most relevant information from the mass of

Novelty for curiosity alerts and sustains attention In the absence of perceived threat, students’ brains attend to novelty.

“Gaining and keeping students’ attention promotes information passage from simple momentary awareness to working memory.”

1. What you say (or don’t say): A sudden midsentence silence is a curiosity the RAS wants to investigate. A suspenseful pause in your speech before saying something important builds anticipation as the students wonder what you will say or do next.

2. What’s new?: Change the furniture arrangement, put up photos of last year’s students doing an activity your students will be doing, light a candle, put a new, exciting poster relating to the new unit under the one that has been hanging and when you walk by, “inadvertently” bump into the wall so the old one falls down and the new one is suddenly revealed. To sustain their attention, promote increased

DR JUDY WILLIS

curiosity about the novel sensory input by encouraging students to predict its significance. Rather than respond with the “answer” to their questions and predictions, have them partner share or write what they think the novelty or change represents.

Encourage predictions both in advance of the lesson and as the lesson proceeds. To engage students’ sustained attention and motivate their interest, promote the practice of students predicting throughout the lesson how a n u n u s u a l photograph, music, or unexpected object relates to the lesson. There should be multiple ways the item could be related so students are motivated to give more than one prediction, thereby remaining engaged throughout the instruction. Again, they can hold up individual white boards with their responses or predictions at any time.

In this way, all students remain active participants in an ideal learning situation because only the person who thinks learns. Prediction increases attention because they are not only curious about the novel sensory input, but also curious to see if their predictions are correct. One of my favourite RAS primers is placing a radish on each desk before class. There are several minutes of curious excitement when students enter the classroom and find the radishes, but this time is more than repaid because their interest and engagement are the best preventatives of the disruptive behaviours or zoning out that occur when they are bored into the fight/flight/freeze reactive lower brain behaviour mode. I used the radishes to discuss the concept of roundness and evaluate what qualities make some radishes “rounder” than others. The students’ RAS responded to the novelty of the same radishes they disdained when found in their salads. However, a radish on each desk in their classroom was a novel and attention-grabbing experience.

A novel radish experience also has memory benefits. Students are more likely to respond to their parents’ often-ignored queries about, “What

4. Walk the walk: If you behave in a novel manner, such as walking backwards at the start of a lesson, the RAS will be primed by curiosity to follow along when you unroll a number line on the floor and begin a unit about negative numbers.

5. Rotate techniques: You don’t want the unexpected to become expected. Greet students at the door with a riddle or a note card with a vocabulary word.

They seek their seats by looking for the table with the note card that has the riddle answer or the definition of their word. If you have students who are very sensitive to change of any kind, inform them in advance of your novel event or object and have them be your “assistant.”

d i d you learn in school today?” Summarising or teaching a new learner is a strong memory booster.

Plus, students experience the positive feedback of grateful parents’ attentive listening. Additional rewards come months later when they remember the information on their final exams, and years later when they use the memory of that lesson to find creative solutions to new problems and investigate the world around them with the sustained curiosity you promoted.

3. Play a song: When students enter the room, tell them there will be a link between some words in the song and something in the lesson. They can make predictions at any time by writing them on a dry erase board and holding them up for you to see. You respond with a nod or a “thank you,” but they don’t predict aloud nor stop the curiosity and predictions of other impressionable classmates.

6. Advertise: Before a lesson, consider how you can prime interest and activate prior knowledge so students will be drawn into the topic.

One strategy is to build curiosity through promotional advance advertising. If you are approaching a lesson that could be rather dull, but is critical to their fund of knowledge, you can build excitement by having a sign up such as, “TWENTY FOUR HOURS UNTIL THE FORCE ARRIVES.” The next day when you lecture about forceful or powerful opening sentences for essays, forces of nature, or centrifugal force, you’ll have created curiosity and positive anticipation, and that will harness attention.

Try your hand at making short video clips advertising a lesson. A free website that makes this quite simple is animoto.com.

You can see some of the advertisements made by participants in my workshops at: http://animoto.com/play/NRZECS0V0WHd dnwI6ZHh1Q?autostart=true http://animoto.com/play/ hJIiMYgkAHKHf7CLVhf3Kw http://animoto.com/play/ RZzA6MAHaGdcvsAv9FLcLA The first “advertising video” I made: http://bit.ly/8O3NZ7

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DR ARTHUR COSTA & JIM ROUSSIN

Learning to learn The critical skill for 21st-century educators.

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oland Barth reminds us that one of the amazing capacities is our ability to learn. He suggests this capacity sets us apart from other forms of life. Barth declares that learning should “unlock, release, and foster this wonderful capability.”

There is a peculiar challenge to Barth’s notion of learning when we think about how schools are typically organized. Paolo Freire, in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, saw the current model of education much like a banking system: Teachers make deposits of knowledge by placing them into the minds of students. The function of learning becomes the acquisition, filling and storing those deposits. The purpose of learning then becomes the transmission of knowledge (content) rather than the nurturing of our own human capacity to learn. In many ways our current system of education inhibits our human capacity to learn as expressed by Roland Barth.

Teachers Matter

A shift to a more embracing, generous, complex curriculum and a more “cherishing” school culture will require changes in societal expectations, cultural priorities, and educational policies. In turn, it will require that teachers in our schools see themselves as lifelong learners, modeling for their students a curiosity about life and a fearless pursuit of new knowledge; this in turn will nourish the students’ imagination, questioning, stor ytelling, intellectual discipline, and adventurousness.

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We have identified seven crucial paths to enhance our own capacity for learning to learn: 1. Learning through emotions Emotions and learning are a mind/body phenomenon. Our thoughts influence how we feel, and how we feel influences how we think. Brain research has revealed that emotions are critical to patterning, which is how information is organised in the brain, and how we are able to retrieve that

information. Antonio Damasio suggested that our emotions are nerve activation patterns that correspond to the state of our internal world. What we experience will get encoded into our nerve cells. So, we might imagine our emotions as a relay station for sensory input and thinking. Our emotions then help us to evaluate and integrate information and experiences.

P e r s o n a l r e f l e c t i o n : In what ways and under what conditions do you allow your emotions to become part of your learning? What internal dialogue might give you permission to invite the emotional dimensions of learning to have more room in your life? And, if you wanted to more fully activate your emotional self in future learning, what might you need to do to make that happen?

2. Learning through the body Learning is a physiological activity, and cognitive scientists often refer to it in terms of embodied cognition. By embodied, we mean the bringing together of the mind and body in unison. The two are inextricably linked. So, as we learn, it is not only our mind that is affected, but also our physiology. Physical movement then is an essential building block for learning. When we are not acknowledging our bodies as a dimension of learning, we may be inhibiting our nervous system’s electrochemistry that activates the mind/body relationship in learning. This is also a reminder that the ability to learn new things requires not only the opening of the mind but also the ability to open our bodies to the expression of new or different behaviours.

Personal reflection: What do you notice about your ability to engage your body to support learning? What internal dialogue would give you permission to invite this physiological dimension of learning to be more present in your life? And, if you wanted to activate your body more fully in future learning experiences, what might you need to do?

3. Learning through unlearning Humans cannot only learn, they can also unlearn. When we can let go of closely held facts and theories and are open to new ways of knowing and understanding the world, we are in a place of unlearning.

Many of us know the experience of having become familiar with a particular computer programme, only to find in the next update that key functions have been moved. If we don’t want to stay in a state of perpetual frustration, we have to unlearn the old to embrace the new.

Personal reflection: In what ways do you make room for unlearning in any new learning event? What internal dialogue might give you permission to unlearn more regularly in your life ?And, if you wanted to more fully activate unlearning as a part of future learning experiences, what might you need to do to make that happen?

4. Learning through effective application In today’s consumer-driven world, it is easy to confuse acquiring information with learning. If learning doesn’t lead to action or a change in my behaviour, have I really learned? A potential limitation in our learning is ignoring how to apply what is being learned into new behaviours or actions. Milton Erickson, a famous American psychiatrist of human behaviour, said that a powerful mind is one that can take the learning from one situation and transfer it to another.

Personal reflection: What do you know about yourself in applying what you have learned? What internal dialogue might give you permission to explore a richer variety of contexts to apply your learning? And, if you wanted to more fully activate application in future learning, what might you do to make that happen?

PHOT PHO P PH HOT HO H OTTO: O O ANDR NDRE ND REES R RO ODR DRIG DRI D RIG R IG GUE UEZ EEZZ

DR ARTHUR COSTA & JIM ROUSSIN

5. Learning through uncertainty A great mystery about humans is that we confront learning opportunities with fear rather than wonder. We seem to feel better when we know something with certainty. We defend our biases, beliefs, and storehouses of knowledge rather than inviting the unknown, the creative and the inspirational. A certainty consciousness limits the possibility for discovering what may be new or unusual or different. When we put ourselves in the place of uncertainty, we cultivate a “beginner’s mindset” and open the door for seeing and knowing in ways that might surprise us and invite us to be more curious. Learning through uncertainty can only happen when we slip away from a place of judgement and into a mindset of curiosity and wonderment. When we can approach each learning opportunity from the place of the unknown, we can ask a broader range of questions, observe the world in new ways and be open for seeing differently what has felt familiar.

Personal reflection: What do you notice about yourself when you experience uncertainty in situations? What internal dialogue might give you permission to embrace more uncertainty as part of your learning? And, if you wanted to more fully activate uncertainty in future learning, what might you need to do to make that happen?

6. Learning through trust Trust is not just a concept; it is also a behaviour. It is an expression of humility toward others. It is an act of surrender.

When we trust others (like our teachers), we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to another’s way of making sense of what they expect us to know. To trust is to allow yourself to be taught by another. When we give our teachers permission to teach us, we place ourselves in the tenuous position of having what we know erased or changed forever. This can be a fragile and sometimes psychologically dangerous place of learning.

That is why trust is so important when learning something new or different. If we are holding on to a judgement toward others, we limit the ways learning might show up and influence our thinking or understanding.

Personal reflection: What do you know about yourself in those situations in which trust is essential for learning? What internal dialogue might give you permission to invite more room for trust when learning? And, if you wanted to more fully activate greater trust as part of future learning, what might you need to do to make that happen?

the process of deep learning by dismissing or rejecting ideas that don’t make immediate sense. In the neurosciences, this might be explained as neural pathways that have become well connected and rigid. When new learning emerges, the neurons have to work harder to create new neural pathways to make sense of the learning. This will usually require tolerance and persistence to stay with information that isn’t fitting into our worldview. And, it just may be that the dissonance or ambiguity being experienced is just what is needed to create a larger space for thinking as well as the understanding of more complex and challenging ideas. So, by negating learning experiences that don’t have immediate clarity, we may be shortchanging ourselves in drawing new and more significant connections as learners.

Personal reflection: What are you aware of in yourself and under what conditions do you allow ambiguity to be present in learning? What internal dialogue might give you permission to create more room for ambiguity to be a part of learning? And, if you wanted to more fully activate ambiguity in future learning, what might you do to make that happen?

7. Learning through ambiguity When something you are learning isn’t making sense, this is a rich opportunity for learning to emerge. We often short-circuit

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DAVID KOUTSOUKIS The Ultimate Framework for Learning and Life A holistic approach for effective and fulfilling teaching and learning.

Your Values

Your Values

Self Zone

What is important to you

Life Success Wheel

impact Productive Zone

Your Life Philosophy

Life Philosophy & Goals

Replenishment Zone

How you live your life

Life Goals

Others Zone

impacts

2.Connection

Your Educational Philosophy How you teach

Educational Goals

1.Passion & purpose

3.Belongingness

Educational Philosophy & Goals

7.Methodology

5.Organisation

6.Content

Teachers Matter

impacts

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Student outcomes

4.Behaviour Management

Student Outcomes

Educational Success Wheel

DAVID KOUTSOUKIS

The ultimate framework for learning and life Strive for balance in all that you do.

I

have had the opportunity to visit hundreds of schools across four continents and observe teachers to see what they are doing well and what they are not. It has been fascinating to analyze the educators’ behaviour to isolate what it is that successful teachers do. The best teachers are not only skilled classroom practitioners, but are also skilled in the game of life. They recognise the need to live a balanced, fulfilling life. I have seen many great teachers become frustrated, burnt out or disillusioned because of a lack of balance. The “Ultimate Framework” will help you identify key areas that you need to consider to have an effective, fulfilling and sustainable teaching career. Of course, the ultimate aim of the framework is to produce great outcomes for students.

The “Ultimate Framework Learning and Life” outlines three key focus areas which will ultimately determine the quality of student outcomes.

1. Your values. Your values impact your life success. The framework will help you determine what is really important to you.

2 . Yo u r l i f e strategy. Your life success impacts your educational success. The framework will help you develop a life philosophy, set personal goals and obtain fulfillment in each of the four success zones.

3 . Yo u r e d u c a t i o n a l s t r a t e g y.

Your educational success deter mines the quality of outcomes for your students. The framework will help you d e v e l o p a n e d u c a t i o n a l p h i l o s o p h y, set educational goals and address the seven dimensions for effective and fulfilling teaching and learning.

1. Your values “Be clear about what’s important to you, and make sure you keep on track.”

As educators, we are well aware of the need to encourage good values. But how many of us actually take the time to consider our own personal values? Your values, of course, clarify what’s important to you. They drive the way you live your life. Successful teachers know what their own personal values are and make sure they live their life by them. However, in the hustle and bustle and busyness of school life, personal values can sometimes be neglected. For example, if one of your personal values is to “have fun,” and you are not having any, your life will soon be out of balance. Similarly, if one of your v values is “family,” and you are not a sspending enough time with them because of work b commitments, feelings of guilt and frustration will a sstart to set in.

“ List your top ten personal values in order of priority. You then “connect” with these values once a week to ensure that the way you are living your life is in aligned with your values.”

SSome people know ttheir own personal v values intrinsically and live their llives accordingly.

Some of us, me included, need to be reminded when we are

getting off track. A technique that works well is to list your top ten personal values in order of priority. You then “connect” with these values once a week to ensure that the way you are living your life is in aligned with your values. For example, my top ten true values are love, esteem, connection/fun, achievement, recognition, learning, contribution, security, health, and calmness. I know that if any of these values are being neglected, I need to realign my actions so that they are not.

What are your top ten values? When do you reflect upon them? Are you living by them?

2. Your life strategy: The life success wheel “Decide what your brilliant, balanced life looks like, and plan to live it.”

Work/life balance is a phrase that is used quite often these days. Teachers would understand that trying to achieve it is a great challenge. The first step is to accept that sometimes our life will be out of balance. We oscillate between times of pressure and relaxation. The answer lies in knowing how to relax, and how to push it when required. We also need to recognise the state we are in at any given time and make a conscious decision to either maintain or change that state: Do we need to relax or push it? The Life Success Wheel provides a model to assess how balanced your life is and gives you some direction to help you live the life you want to live.

It encourages people to develop their own personal philosophy and set personal goals in the four success zones. We need to spend an adequate amount of time in each of these zones to live a balanced, fulfilled life.

The Life Success Matrix indicates what is likely to happen if you do not spend enough time in either of the four zones.

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DAVID KOUTSOUKIS Do you know what your brilliant, balanced life looks like? Are you living it? How can you make it better?

Life Success Matrix Productive time + Replenishment time + Others time + Self time = A happy, fulfilled life.

What happens if any of these components are missing?

Productive time + Replenishment time + Others time + Self time = Low self esteem/depression.

Productive time + Replenishment time + Others time + Self time = Stress/burn out/ill health.

Productive time + Replenishment time + Others time + Self time = Guilt/loneliness.

Productive time + Replenishment time + Others time + Self time = Resentment/frustration/ill health.

3. Your educational Strategy: The Educational Success Wheel “Decide on your educational philosophy, determine what your educational goals are and plan to achieve them.”

Teaching is a complex profession. There are so many variables that can affect the effectiveness of any lesson, such as the classroom environment, the students, resources available, lesson content, time of the day, or even what happened in the playground just before the lesson. Having said that, there are certain measures we can take to ensure that our lessons are as effective as

This philosophy contains your opinions on how you think students will learn best in your classroom. It might start with something like “I believe my students will learn best when … or “My role and responsibility as a teacher is to …” A philosophy may also include references to models such as “multiple intelligences” or “habits of mind.” The Educational Success Wheel also encourages you to set yourself educational goals.

The model outlines seven key dimensions for effective teaching and learning. Addressing each of these dimensions will help you develop balanced, effective and sustainable learning programmes. The Educational Success Matrix below indicates what may happen if any of these dimensions is

teaching and learning: 1. Your Values. Be clear about what’s important to you, and make sure you keep on track.

2. Your Life Strategy. Decide what your brilliant, balanced life looks like, and plan to live it.

3. Your Educational Strategy. Decide on your educational philosophy, determine what your educational goals are and plan to achieve them.

The purpose of this article is to give you a bigpicture view of what makes a great teacher and to get you thinking in a holistic way about learning and life. The Japanese have a word, ‘Kaizen’, which means ‘an attitude

Educational Success Matrix Passion & Purpose + Connection + Belongingness + Behaviour Management + Organisation + Content + Methodology = Good student outcomes.

We will end up with negative outcomes if any of these components are missing.

Passion & Purpose + Connection + Belongingness + Behaviour Management + Organisation + Content + Methodology = Burn-out/boredom/apathy.

Passion & Purpose + Connection + Belongingness + Behaviour Management + Organisation + Content + Methodology = Poor engagement/conflict.

Passion & Purpose + Connection + Belongingness + Behaviour Management + Organisation + Content + Methodology = Alienation/resentment/conflict.

Passion & Purpose + Connection + Belongingness + Classroom Management + Organisation + Content + Methodology = Distraction/disorder/stress.

Passion & Purpose + Connection + Belongingness + Behaviour Management + Organisation + Content + Methodology = Inefficiency/time wasting.

Passion & Purpose + Connection + Belongingness + Behaviour Management + Organisation + Content + Methodology = Poor learning outcomes.

Passion & Purpose + Connection + Belongingness + Behaviour Management + Organisation + Content + Methodology = All of the above.

possible on any given day. In my observations of teachers around the world, I have noted and recorded the characteristics of teachers who are effective in the classroom. These are reflected in the Educational Success Wheel.

The Educational Success Wheel encourages teachers to develop an educational philosophy.

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missing.

Do you have an educational philosophy? Have you set yourself educational goals? Do you address each of the seven dimensions?

So there we have it. Three keys for successful

of continuous improvement’. Not necessarily improvement in quantum leaps, but in small, sometimes barely observable pieces of progress.

I trust that this article has given you some food for thought on how you might “Kaizen” what you do so that you have an effective, fulfilling and sustainable teaching career.

MAGGIE DENT

What boys need most You can be that special person who makes things easier.

“ Boys are found everywhere on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to….

A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.”

— Alan Marshall Beck

S

tatistics show clearly that boys, and men, are more at risk of the following:

• injury as the result of an accident • admission to hospital as a result of an accident • injury during sport • injury doing risky behaviours • failure at school • death or injury in motor vehicle accidents • offences involving criminal activity • imprisonment • being killed as a pedestrian • AIDS • death at work • development circulatory system diseases • diagnosis with cancer • death from cancer • permanent disability from work • alcohol and drug abuse • suicide

This is based on research reported in Richard Fletcher’s book, An Introduction t o t h e N e w M e n ’s Health. Another w r i t e r, M i c h a e l Gurian, author of The Wonder of Boys and The Good Son, explains the male amygdale —the primary aggression centre in the brain — is larger than that of females and creates more aggression in males.

Considering this fact and the massive surges of testosterone boys experience, we can see that boys are more wired to like risky behaviour.

It seems that a boy’s natural impulsiveness could also be rooted in his biology. Boys tend to have lower levels of serotonin, the calming neurotransmitter, and thus it is more difficult for them to manage impulses.

Boys definitely benefit from clear rules and boundaries, but not too many. With strong emotional support and bonding, boys can grow into men who are able to manage the uniquely special qualities of being a man.

“Boys in education” expert Ian Lillico states that much of the hostility in homes and schools stems from denial of boys’ feelings.

Many boys are in emotionally charged situations that challenge and confuse them.

Many boys are frustrated in school systems that are conditioned against boys, or that have teachers untrained adequately to meet most boys’ learning needs and styles. Unless you can build rapport with a boy, you will struggle in your ability to connect and communicate with him. To build rapport, we need to better understand how boys see the world, what they need and what challenges them.

Boys need rapport to build relationships.

Boys learn through their teacher, rather than just learn from what is taught. Indeed boys who feel liked, valued and accepted will perform better in our classrooms. Many boys have gone backwards academically because they have not had a positive relationship with a teacher. Girls cope much better in our schools because of this fact alone.

Why are boys so sensitive to feeling disconnected? The whole emotional domain of feelings, theirs and others, is hard for them to understand. Irrational feelings that are hard to control cause much angst and confusion. The need for boys to mask their emotional state causes even more uncertainty and confusion.

Emotions become more confusing when boys think they are their mask. Many boys bury their anger and rage until this unexpressed anger turns into depression; or just bitterness, sarcasm, irritability or pettiness. Sometimes, boys “armour” their hearts so as not to feel pain. Unfortunately they freeze out the positive feelings at the same time, which makes it difficult for them to maintain loving relationships.

Adults who try to give advice to boys often unintentionally inflame emotions. Boys, of course, learn to become selectively deaf early in life and sometimes do this unconsciously; in classes, they miss valuable learning opportunities.

I have noticed that the boys who cope best in school have strong auditory processing abilities. Auditory learners make up around 15 percent of the population. In the research by professors Ken and Rita Dunn, from St John’s University, New York, they reported the following: • Only a third of students remember even 75% of what they hear in a normal class period.

• Tactile or kinaesthetic learners are

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MAGGIE DENT

the main candidates for failure in traditional school classrooms.

• Tactile-kinaesthetic learners often drop out of school because they cannot focus well when forced to sit down, hour after hour.

Many high schools are geared to academic two-dimensional learning styles, that is: linguistic and logical. Many people involved in administration are high achievers in these two learning styles, so to them that environment works best.

Author I. Grant writes in Growing Great Boys: How to bring out the best in your son that boys need the following: • Boys like to explore the natural world in a much more physical way than girls.

• They need to investigate how things work.

• They need balls to kick, things to climb and to pit themselves against a challenge.

• They need structure and boundaries.

• They need goals and coaching in how to persist.

• They need a safe environment and a zero tolerance toward ridicule.

Boys who are highly tactile, or kinaesthetic, suffer most as teaching methods generally use auditor y and visual channels of communication. This is especially true in the case of our Aboriginal children in Australia and our Maori and Islander children in New Zealand. Their culture is highly kinaesthetic, using a lot of touch and movement; they can feel uncomfortable with verbal communication, and their auditory processing skills may be weak or undeveloped. I find them to be intuitively strong, and they know almost instantly if a new contact is comfortable with them, or is just pretending. Tactile people can be threatening for an auditory person as they will mismatch in the ways they communicate. Drawing or doodling actually helps a tactile person to stay “online” so that they listen better. This can be disconcerting to people who like eye contact to get feedback and validation during communication. A threat in their immediate environment also stops Indigenous children learning. These

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children would be more successful in school if taught by tactile-kinaesthetic teachers, especially in the early years.

In my counselling experience with boys suffering despair, depression or suicidal thoughts, I find they often feel overwhelmed by their emotions. Many of these boys feel deeply flawed and a failure; they believe that those closest to them do not love them. They feel completely misunderstood.

Many schools still use shame, sarcasm and strong criticism when dealing with poor boy behaviour and many boys carry these scars right through life. Boys are just as vulnerable as girls in terms of their inner world, and we must change how we discipline boys. An excellent way to help a boy explore an inappropriate way of behaving is to walk him around the oval as you talk about the incident. The movement means he is safe, and it is less confronting and more private, and they will stay engaged with the communication.

Boys need to have significant adults who “see them” and accept them. Sometimes it may be a family member, an aunty, uncle or grandfather. Sometimes it may be a school chaplain or a family friend who is trusted to keep confidentiality; or a sporting coach or teacher the boys believe likes them.

Boys need quiet spaces to help sort out their thoughts. I am sure that many parents and teachers overcrowd their boys with too much talk and too many questions. It took me a while to realise that my boys settled better by playing by themselves outside, especially after a full school day. Ian Lillico agrees, writing in his book: “Silence is often an excellent way of letting our sons find their own solutions rather than us imposing our own.”

Even though most boys are activity based, they still need turn off times to re-charge their batteries. “Chilling out” in front of TV or playing on computers are ways that boys do this; “tuning out” to conversation is another; and so are day-dreaming and spending time alone in a bedroom. Boys often need separation time to adjust from school to home. In classrooms where regular relaxation and silent time occurs, the most noticeable positive benefit is the improvement in boys’ behaviour and cooperation.

In classrooms, boys need more time than girls to think before answering any questions that require emotional analysis.

Boys prefer quiet spaces to think, and yet they often are the ones making the noise.

Just like girls, boys learn best when they feel safe and cared for and are in environments with adults who treat them with kindness and fairness. I believe that boys who learn how to bring more silence and stillness into their lives manage the emotional roller coaster of adolescence better.

The constant activity and busy-ness of boys may also lead them to create stress-related illnesses in later adulthood. Heightened cortisone levels, from being in the go-go-go state, can create problems with anxiety and later fear-based mental health problems.

Constant activity can also cause sleep deprivation as winding those bodies and busy heads down for sleep is not easy. The magic of silence and stillness for boys must be taught as well as modelled because it is not a normal activity for most boys. The earlier the better!

“ Boys learn through their teacher, rather than just learn from what is taught. Indeed boys who feel liked, valued and accepted will perform better in our classrooms.”

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DR MARVIN MARSHALL

Competition and learning Competition increases performance but hinders learning.

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here is no doubt that competition increases per for mance. Athletic teams, bands, and other performing groups practice for hours spurred on by the competitive spirit. Fair competition is valuable, and can be lots of fun.

Competition in classrooms, however, is fun for the winner, but is often unfair for the others because the same children usually win, making it uninvolving and dull for everyone but the winner. And, most significantly, competition is particularly counterproductive to learning when the learning is at the beginning stages.

high may influence some students, it does not necessarily enhance the quality of the learning. The reason is that the focus becomes whatever is necessary to achieve the ranking, which is not necessarily the same as quality learning. And, even more important, the competition discourages other students who know they will never rank near the top. Competitive approaches influence students to work against each other, rather than for each other and with each other. “Serve yourself” is the theme.

In addition, some people who garner good ratings — especially those caught up with perfectionism — often register a paradox:

Competition Teachers of early grades work with children who come to school eager to learn, and competition dulls the spirit for many. For example, when the kindergarten teacher says, “Boys and girls, let’s see who can make the best drawing?,” the competitive spirit is fostered. The assumption, of course, is that this charge will spur the youngsters to do their best. Unfortunately, the teacher has unwittingly set up only one student to be the winner. Even if all the pictures were to be posted, only one would be the best.

The teacher has unintentionally fostered “non-winning” because competition, by its nature, creates winners and losers. In band and athletic competitions, losing may build character, however, in schooling — especially when a student is first learning — successes build character. Competition kills the student’s drive for learning if he rarely finds himself in the winner’s circle.

Competition leads to sorting, which, to a very young person, often fosters feelings of disappointment, which diminish the innate desire to participate.

A common competition is ranking students according to their marks, accomplishments, or some other criteria. There is no doubt that some students who strive to be at the top are stimulated. But ratings are an incentive only for these students interested in the reward — in this case, ranking high.

And even though the incentive of ranking

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“ Teachers of early grades work with children who come to school eager to learn, and competition dulls the spirit for many.”

They feel that they don’t deserve to be ranked above some of their classmates. On the other hand, those who received low ratings often feel misjudged. To put it simply, class rankings destroy team spirit and community.

The education community should not be stuck in the outmoded model of promoting competition. It is not the path to quality work. Teachers can prove the point to themselves by simply taking a student poll.

Ask students how many believe they do their best in school. The higher the mark levels, the lower the percentage of positive answers.

Marks serve as an incentive in much the same way that rankings do. Many students are interested in achieving high marks.

However, today there are thousands of young people who show little interest in marks.

Marks do not serve as an incentive for them.

Again, when marks are an incentive, the focus is on this external reward, often at the expense of the intrinsic satisfaction of quality work. In addition, some communities frown upon good marks. The braggadocio of some parents who proudly proclaim on their car, “My student is the honour student of the month” is also frowned upon, as illustrated by the bumper sticker, “My kid beat up your honour roll student.”

W We cannot really blame the parent for this d display that denigrates character education.

T The fault is in the system. The same is true ffor the school’s attempts to encourage h honesty when the system encourages ccheating, a major unnecessary problem tthat permeates schools. Dr Joseph Duran ttaught that whenever there is a problem, 8 85 percent of the time it is with the system.

O Only 15 percent of the time will it be the ffault of the people. W. Edwards Deming w went further and suggested that the ratio is ccloser to 95-5. This is certainly the situation w with cheating in schools. The system drives b behaviours. If the emphasis is on marks — rather than on the joy of learning or iintrinsic motivation — then students will do w whatever it takes to get marks. The answer is not to crack down harder on cheaters and somehow enforce honesty; the answer is to change the system, or at least in a classroom to change the emphasis.

Marks change motivation. Teachers know this from the questions students ask: “Will it be on the test?” or “Will it be counted in the mark?” The focus is not on quality learning but, rather, on the extrinsic reward of the mark. This is not the case in performing arts and vocational classes. Students in these classes know that marks can interfere with quality work. A performing student is not concerned with the mark. It’s the excitement, personalization, and pride of what students accomplish that generates

DR MARVIN MARSHALL

be fostered in academic classes. But an emphasis on marks, either by the teacher or student, is counterproductive to this end.

Marks will not disappear from the education scene. However, marks need not drive teaching, since they do not drive quality learning. For a start, teachers can do better than mark on a curve — which automatically casts half of the students in a class to a below average rating. Instead, marks should be thought of as goals, which

are mutually established by the class as well as the teacher. Start with the vision that the teacher’s role is to assist students not only to learn and grow, but also to enjoy the process. Explain and discuss with students the nature of external assessments, such as marks. Discuss how an emphasis on marks focuses motivation on the external reward of the mark rather than on the joy in learning.

PHOTO: PHOT O: HONGQ HONGQII ZHANG ZHA

quality work. Similarly, the student working on electricity is not interested in only half the electrical charges being conducted, or a welding being only 50 percent satisfactory, or the car starting only 75 percent of the time. Can you imagine a dentist or an airline pilot pleased with anything other than their best efforts? Their motivation is on the quality of their work. That is where the satisfaction is — not from external evaluation such as competing for marks.

This same drive for quality work can

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DR SPENCER KAGAN

The information-processing approach to thinking

Teachers Matter

Build thinking skills into your existing curriculum and you’ll save time, improve learning and boost retention.

22

T

here is consensus that information processing is the essence of thinking skills. The question becomes: How best to develop it? There are two distinct approaches: A curricular approach and an instructional approach. We can change what we teach or we can change how we teach. A curricular approach treats thinking skills as an explicit curriculum and it demands we develop new content and teach new lessons; the instructional approach treats thinking skills as a process

and it demands we teach existing content and lessons using instructional strategies that foster thinking. Both approaches are useful, but we at Kagan have put our energies and intellects into developing the instructional approach.

To distinguish a curricular approach from the instructional approach, let’s imagine we want to develop students’ ability to summarise information. If we take a curricular approach, we would design some lessons on summarising. We might spend

some time developing some summarising worksheets. For example, the worksheet might include a paragraph and then, below, a place for the student to write a summary sentence. Or it might show a picture and have a place for the student to summarise what is going on in the picture using no more than 30 words.

In contrast, if we take the instructional approach, we would use our existing academic content, but teach that content using structures that foster summarising

DR SPENCER KAGAN

“ Thinking is not something we want students to do when faced with an inauthentic worksheet; it is something we want to do in the full range of life’s situations." skills. For example, as part of our lesson on the Great Depression we might pair students up, one student role-playing the part of a business executive who is just learning about the stock market crash, and another person role-playing the part of a widow who is unable to make mortgage payments and, so, has just lost her farm.

While the students do this role-play, they use the Paraphrase Passport structure. When this structure is used, before a student may speak, he or she must first paraphrase the person who spoke before him or her.

Paraphrase is a form of summary, so students are acquiring summarising skills without time away from existing curriculum.

There are a number of Kagan Structures for each of the 15 fundamental types of thinking, and because many structures develop a range of thinking skills, a teacher who regularly uses a range of structures develops in students a rich repertoire of thinking skills. Thinking in many ways is simply part of the ongoing process in a classroom that regularly uses structures. There are a number of advantages to this instructional approach.

Not a competing curriculum The instructional approach does not attempt to fit new lessons into an already overcrowded day; it is not something new to teach — it is a better way to teach.

When thinking skills are a competing

curriculum, they get dropped when there’s pressure to cover existing curriculum and to prepare students for high-stakes tests. In contrast, with the instructional approach, students acquire the skills while covering content or preparing for the test. In effect, the instructional approach permits more learning from each valuable minute of class time. At the same time the teacher is covering academic content the teacher is also fostering thinking skills. Thinking skills represent an embedded curriculum — a curriculum embedded into the way the teacher teaches.

Less preparation A curricular approach demands the teacher prepare special worksheets or lessons. In the worst case it demands the teacher spend the day teaching — and the night designing lessons. In contrast, the instructional approach demands no special preparation time. Once the structures are learned, they become part of how the teacher teaches on a daily basis.

Authentic transfer Special lessons on thinking skills create a transfer gap; the instructional approach sidesteps the transfer gap. In real life we do not fill in blanks on a worksheet.

We do, though, interact with others, sometimes paraphrasing them. Because the instructional approach teaches the thinking skills in an authentic context similar to how thinking is used in real life, it avoids the transfer gap. A transfer gap is created anytime the situation of acquisition is dissimilar to the situation of performance. The classic transfer gap was created in foreign language classes where students had to memorise lists of vocabulary and conjugations of verbs. Even students who did quite well on vocabulary and verb tests failed to become fluent in the language because the situation of acquisition was too dissimilar to the situation of performance. Thinking is not something we want students to do when faced with an inauthentic worksheet; it is something we want to do in the full range of life’s situations. Structures provide a broad range of authentic situations to promote thinking.

Rich in redundancy If we teach separate lessons on thinking skills, we are likely to teach each skill one time, then move on to the next.

Learning, however, occurs via repetition.

One worksheet on summarising will never add up to enduring summarising skills.

If, however, the students use Paraphrase Passport (and other summarising structures) all school year, they will become better at the skill. The same holds true for each of the thinking skills: the redundancy created by repeated use of the structures ensures students don’t just learn about the skill but rather acquire the skill. A curricular approach has students glimpse the skill; the instructional approach has students grasp the skill.

23

DR SPENCER KAGAN

Structures grow dendrite connections This last advantage of structures — redundancy — aligns with findings from brain science. We now know enough from brain science that the instructional approach has a huge advantage over a curricular approach for fostering thinking skills.

Recent research reveals that different types of thinking are associated with activity in different parts of the brain.

Remarkably, when most people engage in deductive reasoning a very specific part of the brain’s right hemisphere shows increased activity. Probabilistic reasoning, in contrast, is associated with increased activity in parts of the left hemisphere.

Each type of thinking is associated with different patterns of brain engagement.

When we engage in evaluative thinking, parts of the prefrontal lobes as well as the limbic system are engaged. When we are analytic, there is left hemisphere activity; synthetic thinking is associated with right hemisphere activation.

Because different Kagan Structures activate different types of thinking, the structures actually stimulate specifi c and different parts of the brain. We do not grow

new neurons as a result of thinking; we grow new dendrite connections. We are constantly rewiring our brains as we e n g a g e i n different types of thinking. An axiom of applied brain science is “Use it or lose it.” If we engage often in a type of thinking (as we do when we use structures repeatedly), we are actually strengthening dendrite connections, making that type of thinking easier and more likely in the future. If we engage in a type of thinking only occasionally (as we do when we prepare one-time worksheets or lessons), the dendrite connections disappear over time. Thus, brain science supports the use of structures.

We need to think of thinking as a process, not a place. Thinking skills are not content to be placed into the brain. Rather, they are processes which, when practised, empower the brain to work more efficiently. Teaching thinking skills with a curricular approach treats them as content; teaching them with the instructional approach treats them as processes. If years ago we took geometry but have not practised it since, only with

great difficulty, or not at all, can we today prove a theorem. Deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, categorisation skills and all the other thinking skills are the same: We use them or we lose them.

Like a muscle that atrophies following disuse, thinking skills taught as content and then dropped to make time for new content do not become well-developed, ongoing processes. Thus, the Kagan Structures are powerful tools to help us reach our goal of preparing students with the thinking skills they need to successfully navigate and thrive in the 21st century — a century characterised by a flood of information and an exploding change rate.

MARTIN BUONCRISTIANI

Making choices explicit Thinking and learning in concert.

I taught the course twice in two successive years. The first time I noticed that students were making many bad choices about how and when to study. The second time I decided to explore student thinking about how they studied. The results of this exploration led me to observe that students make poor choices about how they study because they are unaware of alternatives and their consequences.

I took two specific actions on tests I gave.

First, as each test was handed in, I noted the time spent on the test then graphed the mark earned versus time taken. The result from one test, shown in Figure 1, was

Exam Mark [100 max]

Mark versus Time Taken

typical of results on other tests. This graph indicates that generally the more time taken on an exam the better the resulting mark;

an additional 10 minutes spent working the exam could result in a mark increase of about six points.

The second action was to place the following extra question on each exam:

separated into two groups: the students in the group above the lines were more efficient learners than those below. For example, referring to Figure 2 where the distinction between the groups is clearer, the top group scores about 15 points higher than the lower

During this middle part of the course I have been spending, on average,

Weekly Study Time versus Exam Mark

• one hour • two hours • three hours • more than three hours each week studying for this course.

Exam Mark [100 max]

O

ne of the last courses I taught before retirement was a First Year Seminar.

This was a course with a hidden agenda – to acclimate first-year university students to a culture of thoughtfulness and to develop their academic skills. The course, on the science of networks, was taught at a time when social networks were just becoming an important part of student life. Almost every student had a mobile phone, and Facebook and MySpace were emerging as a new social phenomenon. The subject was timely and held student interest even though it contained some science and mathematics.

I marked this as correct for all students who answered it and did not think too hard about how reliable their answers might be. I assumed students were generally truthful, a conclusion supported by my questioning them later. The results of this question are shown in Figure 2. The average study time was 2.3 hours per week. It is clear from the graph that generally marks increase with study time. Basically spending two hours per week in study instead of one hour will increase your mark by about six points.

The conclusions from these two graphs are not surprising. We all know that if you want to increase your mark, you work harder. What they give us is the ability to make quantitative statements about the improvement that a specific increase in effort will produce. I was able to confront my students with concrete evidence from their own experience and tell them approximately how much their mark would change if they worked longer.

Most students were surprised by these results. They seemed not to be able to assess the consequences of changes in their behaviour.

Another interesting conclusion emerged from this data. Both graphs show the students

group. The group of better students seems to know how much time they needed to devote to study and test taking.

I suggest that the difference between the two groups lies in their ability to think productively about how they learn, a difference we may call the “metacognition gap.” Students in the lower group are episodic learners (in the terminology of Art Costa and Bena Kallick), and they carry this lack of metacognition to their thinking about how they study.

I regret that I stumbled upon this type of meta-analysis at the end of my teaching career. It would be interesting to have examined results over a longer period. I suggest this kind of analysis gives a different view of how a class is performing. I also realise that it is particularly easy to carry out in the university environment where assessment is done on specific student work (exams or papers), but I would encourage teachers at all grade levels to explore how their students think about how they learn and provide a quantitative dimension to make choices explicit.

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PHOTO: CATHY HY YEU YEULET

ALAN COOPER

Developing self-managing problem solvers The right words can get your students thinking.

L

Teachers Matter

ear ning to self manage through reflective thinking is ironically referred to as a soft skill, ironic because “soft” implies weakness and unimportance, when self managing in the real world is neither unimportant nor for the weak. There will be paradox; there will be situations when the answers are not known, requiring new and previously unknown solutions; and there will be a need for life-long learning.

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The New Zealand curriculum recognises this when two of its five competencies are Managing Self and Thinking. However, there is no detail given: no guidelines: no warnings of implementation difficulties.

Thus teachers are left in a dilemma about how to start, where to start and what to expect. They must do it, but how?

One of the most effective ways is to have each student keep a journal for weekly or daily metacognitive reflection.

Initially students will be guarded. They will be concerned about giving the right answer.

At the primary level such as, “This was an easy assignment!” or, “I really enjoyed doing this assignment” will be the order of the day.

Even with teacher prompts, “This week we learned to ……..” the response remains brief, “to shut down the computer,” and non committal.

At secondary level, the starting stage is similar. Students may write more, but playing it safe is the norm, too.

For example, when I worked with a 15-yearold girl on time management, one of her early pieces was, “Therefore, I can say, happily, that I have begun planning and I quite enjoy the feeling of organization and pride it gives me.” In fact, she had done little or no planning. It was simply a fabrication designed to please, me, the teacher.

A student might also provide a simple narrative, such as this primary student writing about what he has learned about giving a speech. “The purpose of an introduction is to grab the audience’s attention. I did body action by putting my hands over my tummy and saying this is what is going to happen if you eat too much fast food. It is tricky trying to think of ideas to write.”

A teacher initiating a dialogue approach with each student moves them beyond this elementary stage. In doing so, the teacher’s role is that of a colleague, providing written feedback, which in reality is formative assessment, designed to adjust the ongoing behaviour (learning) of the student. This dialogue is a process, ongoing, sequential and incremental, guiding the students to develop a growth mindset, where even failures are seen as learning opportunities.

Little steps are essential to get started.

ALAN COOPER

“ One of the most effective ways is to have each student keep a journal for weekly or daily metacognitive reflection. ” Here the teacher engages in such a dialogue to develop higher-level thinking, using a conversational tone that is positive and constructive. “I was especially interested in your comment, Claudia, that, “Doing some maths like 8+8 was a bit tricky.” Could you, please, add because on the end like this, ‘Doing some maths like 8+8 was a bit tricky because…………..’ and make it a longer sentence by saying why you found it tricky.

It would be great if you could do that.” Note, too, that the teacher makes it personal by deliberately using the student’s name and thus reinforcing the collegiality.

Yet, remarkably, the writing can still contract.

For example, you’ll see, “The computer is good because I can go on the Internet.”

Change breeds uncertainty, even fear. The human brain is wired with the fight, flee, or freeze response to be invoked when change induces fear as it inevitably does.

Introducing because creates change, and the response above is a modification of freeze.

It’s not a complete freeze; a response is given, but it is a guarded response as fear lingers. One can almost hear the self talk, “Keep it short and safe,” and the reversion to the start point where there was concern over what the correct answer was.

Note that the teacher starts off with, “I am delighted with the effort.” By praising the action and not the person, the teacher is developing a growth mindset in the student. The growth mindset person has a disposition to tackle failure and not give up or look for a scapegoat when difficulties arise. He knows his effort counts.

It is important not to talk down to the student or to go beyond his comprehension.

In the above example, the terms used to describe the levels of thinking (analysed and evaluated) are those of the New Bloom.

An understanding of these and their relevance must also be part of the teaching and learning.

The girl working on time management has also become trusting and thus her writing has become transparent and honest. It shows that she is coming to grips with solving her time management problem.

After analysing and evaluating, she creates a solution, a way forward: “This week I did not do much homework until today.

However, I did do the planning on paper rather than in my brain. Unfortunately, I then found that I got distracted doing things that were both unnecessary and not urgent.

To avoid this in future, I am going to write down what I need to achieve and cross it off as I go. If I need to switch activities (because I need a change), I can flip between the tasks on my list. This has worked previously, and I am going to try it over the next week.”

My reply, aimed at developing a growth mindset, introduces Habits of Mind terms as a means of enabling her to personalise the effort needed, and to guide her understanding of what she is doing. “Anne, Habits of Mind are important because we think and work in patterns. One of the Habits of Mind is past knowledge, and this is what you are using here as you say, ‘This has worked previously.’ There are 16 Habits in all, and you are working here with metacognition/reflection as you think and write carefully about what you are doing: and there is also precision and accuracy in that you are working toward getting your homework and assignment study patterns right. In doing this, you are also persisting, which is working things out so you can accomplish something and not giving up or doing the same old thing over and over.

Flexibility in thinking is the way you seek solutions to your study needs by looking for better alternatives and almost certainly managing impulsivity as you grapple with those distractions.”

The collegial relationship with the teacher can soon override this, and the same student starts to write freely again. “What I found hard was the multiplication because I am still learning how to skip count 4, 6 and 8. I need to keep practising my multiplication because it will help me with my maths.”

PHOTO: LEAH-ANNE THOMPSON

N o w t h e t e a c h e r ’s r o l e i s t o p r o v i d e reinforcement and encouragement. “I am delighted with the effort you have put into your reflection here, Claudia. You have analysed the problem with your maths and stated clearly that it is multiplication. Then you have evaluated that the problem is caused because you are still learning your basic facts. Finally you create the solution to your problem: to keep practicing your multiplication.”

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GERARD ALFORD

Creative thinking – making it happen!

You lead the way to new levels of student creativity.

T

here are some common misconceptions about creative thinking — that it is something suited only for the arts or humanities; that it is all about generating crazy ideas; or that only a few people can do it. On the contrary, creative thinking is for all subjects and all age levels, as one man’s achievement shows. Do you remember doing the high jump at school? Can you remember the name of the technique used to launch yourself over the bar? If you are like me, it was during your primary schooling that you learned the scissors jump, a method still used today. During the 1960s, a young engineering student used his creative problem-solving talents to refine the scissors jump and turn it into something almost unrecognizable: He ambled up to the bar, spun round and appeared to launch himself at it upside down and head first. His name was Dick Fosbury, and he went on to win the gold medal with his famous “Fosbury Flop” at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, setting a new Olympic record in the process. He knew he could not win the event using current conventional techniques: Something different and creative was required.

Teachers Matter

So, how did Fosbury come up with the idea of this new high jump technique?

The answer touches on the nature of deep creative thinking as opposed to shallow creative thinking or simply idea generation.

Effective creative thinking is based upon three key principles:

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1. It contains the unexpected.

A good creative story should not be predictable; it should have twists and turns, keeping the reader on the edge of his seat.

Likewise, good creative problem-solving should have novel and clever solutions. In other words, good creative thinking contains divergent and/or lateral thinking. Divergent thinking occurs when people break out of an existing thought pattern: Their thinking turns in new directions. For example, in a Grade 5 class recently, I asked the students, in pairs, to compile a list of things that people may find difficult. Initially, the lists were largely skills-based activities such as maths, good handwriting and surfing.

Once they Word Association – The ‘ideas’ launch pad were asked to Jimmy has developed a series of change the Jimmy loves to go ashore twists and turns in his swimming. and bathe in the sun direction of He loves to show off these tricks. their thinking sun burn twists – to employ sun cream cone divergent thinking A Turtle named Jimmy – Ice Cream t h e i r “difficult” pick melts lists were nose messy amazingly curious enriched: Jimmy is well known for his clumsy eating Jimmy is always curious and loses track of time. world peace, habits.

He gets into trouble with his parents for being late. s l a y i n g In a short period of time, an astonishingly wide range of creative ideas for the character ‘Jimmy dragons, the Turtle’ have been developed and a potential plot has been formulated. b e i n g assertive, saying “sorry.” refinement and manipulation. Analytical Lateral thinking involves looking at things tools such as Pros, Cons and Improvements from a new perspective to challenge (PCI) or SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, existing assumptions. In the same Grade Opportunities & Threats) Analysis are 5 class, students were asked to compare strikingly effective ways for students to and contrast a cow and a cat. One boy review and refine their creative work. interpreted “cat” as a lion rather than a domestic cat. Another interpreted “cat” as 3. It uses tools. the local basketball team, the “mighty cats!”

Whether it’s creative problem-solving or These are excellent examples of lateral creative writing, students will produce more thinking. If we explain clearly to students creative work if the task is scaffolded with these two different types of thinking, it will thinking tools. For example, if students go a long way toward ensuring that they were asked to develop a story about a will use them in their work. Divergent and turtle — its adventures, friends, personality, lateral thinking are important ingredients etc. — the cognitive tool Word Association of creative thinking, as they ensure the could be used. With this tool, students thinking is beyond the plain and obvious think of a word that has nothing to do with and contains the unexpected. the topic, such as “ice cream.” Students then use their imaginations to think of 2. It goes through a process of associated words until they generate an refinement. idea. In a short period of time, the student Fosbury developed the “Fosbury Flop” by has developed an astonishingly range of converting the scissors jump through a creative ideas for the character “Jimmy the process of deep analysis and evaluation.

Turtle” and formulated a plot. Whether it is He broke down the elements into its creative writing, creative problem-solving, components: the direction and speed creative design or forecasting, good creative of the approach, the lift, the take-off thinking demands the generation of ideas and clearance. He then judged each of that can be applied and that have been these components and looked at ways refined. When the teacher has carefully of improving each. Through this process scaffolded the task, students amaze of continual analysis, evaluation and themselves with how high they can leap application, he refined a new style of jump with their creative thinking. that gave him the winning edge. Similarly in our classrooms, initial creative ideas need

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29

GLENN CAPELLI

PHOTO: PHOT O: NOAM NOAM ARMO ARMONN NN

The duvet book club

Teachers Matter

Who knows where one simple book can lead a child.

30

W

hen struggling to get to sleep, some folk count sheep and others no doubt count super models.

I count books. More precisely I count the books that I have finished reading and attempt to do it in the order I read them.

The task is not an easy one, which is a good thing in that the toil, trouble, struggle and bubble of recall gets my brain to tire and, at some stage along the list, allows me to sleep.

However some nights, the list grows large.

Starting is always easy. Dick and Dora, Nip and Fluff. Now I can’t remember how many Happy Venture books there were, but as a Kalgoorlie kid I recall them all as one book.

One Dick. One Dora. One Nip. One Fluff.

GLENN CAPELLI

complexity and enjoying the next step.

I don’t know whether these books were only popular in Kalgoorlie or whether the rest of the world got to know them, and it was only recently that I found out the series was written by Fred Schonell.

Even as a youngster I wanted more from them. I wanted a plot, a sub plot and maybe a sting in the tail, but all I got was “See Nip run” or “See Fluff sit.” Why didn’t I ever get to “See Nip bite Dora” or “Hear Fluff Love Puff?” There’s nothing funnier to a 6-yearold Kalgoorlie kid (or a 53-year-old bloke with red dirt in his past) as a fart or an Andy Griffith’s Psycho Bum. But sadly the Happy Ventures had no Fluff puffs.

As a child reader, I wanted things a bit more rugged than Dick and Dora, so I found my way to May Gibbs’ Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

Perhaps the Pot and Pie were not too rugged, but at least they had some gumnuts and scary Banksia Men villains. To this day the Banksia Men keep me awake at night.

The next step in my reading list was to escape to Enid Blyton’s Enchanted Forest and get to the Magic Faraway Tree. No Banksia Men there, just trees sighing wisha -wisha over the breeze.

And there, last night, by the Magic Far Away Tree, my list paused for a moment.

My brain pieced it all together – because of Dick and Dora I could have Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. Because of Gibbs, I could move to Enid Blyton. Because of the next books on my list – The Adventurous Four, Famous Five and Secret Seven – I could, decades later, enjoy Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. And because of a 007, I could later enjoy a Le Carre political thriller.

Just as certain combinations of letters create sound patterns, just as letters in order can create words and words in order can create sentences, there were layers and foundations in a reading list. One thing not only leads to

another but also enables the other other, inspiring the next challenge. Because I had Dick and Dora, I could later enjoy Doreen and Ginger Mick. Because of Doreen and Ginger, Mick I could later be engrossed in the language and love of Romeo and Juliet.

Last night, my list didn’t get much further than Edmund Wallace Hildick’s Louie’s Lot and Louie’s SOS (which I think I read in Grade 7 or First Year High) before I slept, but if it had kept on going – kept on growing – it would have gotten to David Perkins.

Perkins wrote Making Learning Whole, sub-titled How Seven Principles of Teaching can Transform Education. As part of his exploration, Perkins talks about “teaching a junior version of the game.” To learn baseball, there is t-ball. To learn Australian rules, football there is Aus Kick. Junior versions of the game are less technically demanding, their timelines are shorter than the adult versions, and they capture some of the structural features of the more complex versions. In short, junior versions allow foundations from which to step, and junior versions allow an exploration of the game so that the participant is excited about tackling the more challenging senior versions.

It seems to me that today’s world has kids flying aeroplanes before they have flown a kite. Make a paper plane then make model aeroplanes then make a balsa model then decide to be a pilot or an engineer. Never underestimate the power of play as a nourishing, junior version of the game that may just plant the seeds and produce the foundations for a lifetime of on-going learning – a constancy of enjoying upping the

However, if I did link Book 1 to Book Most Recent, today I would end up with The Grand Hotel, a novel by Australian writer, musician and poet Gregory Day. I am enjoying the read and discovered that Day had, many years prior to writing The Grand Hotel, released a CD of songs based on the poetry of W.B. Yeats. It made sense to me. His novel is mystical and yet down to earth, poetic and nomadic, yet a beautiful narrative firmly rooted in a small rural town. In many ways his novel is a tip of the hat to the writing of William Butler Yeats.

Because he had Yeats, he was able to create The Grand Hotel. A thought line connected.

Who knows what seeds a parent, a librarian or a teacher can plant by starting a youngster on a road of reading. Who knows what Duvet Book Club list that child may later be able to create. What is the flow and journey of your own Duvet Book Club List?

PHOTO: WESSE ESSEL L DU D PLO LO L OOY O

“ One thing not only leads to another but also enables the other, inspiring the next challenge.

My Duvet Book Club has never made it all the way from Dick/Dora to what I am currently reading. Thankfully, somewhere along the journey, my brain has decided to wander sideways from my list making and drift itself back to sleep.

31

© Joan Dalton 2010

JOAN DALTON

H

ere’s a snapshot from the second book in Joan Dalton’s hugely popular Learning Talk series. Take a look, learn, and then continue to improve with Joan’s book, available from Spectrum Education.

Share power: use the language of influence

Joan Dalton

From paradigms of ‘fixity’ to possibility The language you use says much about the ‘world’ views your habits and mental models are operating from. Take a look at the different paradigms reflected here:

From the past world of ‘fixity’ UÊÊ Ê ÞÊÃV ]Ê ÞÊ`i«ÕÌÞÊÀÕ ÃÊÃÌ>vvÊ iiÌ }ÃÊ this way . . .

Terms such as ‘my’ and ‘staff’ reflect positional power and hierarchy.

UÊÊ7 >̽ÃÊÌ iÊ> ÃÜiÀ¶Ê UÊÊ7 >̽ÃÊÌ iÊà ÕÌ ¶ Suggests one ‘right’ solution, idea, way.

Teachers Matter

build the culture

Illustrated by David Anderson

3

32

Learning

To a world of possibility UÊÊ Ê ÕÀÊÃV ]Ê ÕÀÊ`i«ÕÌÞÊ i>`ÃÊÃ iÊÜ iÊ school team meetings and we lead others.

Inclusive language such as ‘we’ ‘our’ ‘us’ and ‘team’ promotes equity, shares power, helps people feel connected and part of a group.

UÊÊ7 >ÌÊ>ÀiÊÃ iÊ` vviÀi ÌÊÜ>ÞÃÊÜiÊ } ÌÊ Ê at this?

UÊÊ/ > ÊÞ Õ°Ê9 ÕÀÊ` ÛiÀÃiÊ `i>ÃÊ >ÛiÊ i «i`ÊÕÃÊ> Ê come to a much deeper understanding of the issue.

Seeks different perspectives; recognizes value of diversity.

UÊÊ/ iÃiÊ>ÀiÊÌ iÊ « V>Ì ÃÊ> `ÊÌ iÊÜ>ÞÊ Ê want you to address these is . . .

UÊÊ7iÊ ii`ÊÌ Ê ÛiÃÌ }>ÌiÊÌ iÊ « V>Ì ÃÊ arising from our ideas.

UÊÊ ÊÜ> ÌÊÞ ÕÊÌ Êw `Ê ÕÌÊÜ ÞÊ°Ê°Ê°

UÊÊ ÜÊ } ÌÊÜiÊw `Ê ÕÌÊ>L ÕÌÊÌ >̶

I am expert; I have the answers, and I’ll tell you what to do.

Active inquiry is fostered and collective Ü Ã` ÊÃ Õ} Ì°Ê,iyiVÌÃÊVÕ ÌÕÀiÊ vÊ participation and collaboration.

UÊÊ/ iÀi½ÃÊ>Ê«À L i Ê ÜÊLiV>ÕÃiÊÌ iÞÊ` ` ½ÌÊ follow through. The only way to fix this is. . .

UÊÊ7iÊ >ÛiÊ>Ê«À L i Ê iÀi]ÊÃ Ê i̽ÃÊiÝ« ÀiÊÜ >ÌÊ might have contributed to this and how we might address it.

UÊÊ7 >ÌÊ` ½ÌÊÞ ÕÊÕ `iÀÃÌ> `¶ Disempowering: reflects a culture of blame and judgment. Blame looks backwards and closes down possibilities. Attributes blame; implies it’s your fault if you don’t understand.

UÊÊ7 >ÌÊ >Ûi ½ÌÊ ÊiÝ« > i`ÊV i>À Þ¶ ,iyiVÌÃÊVÕ ÌÕÀiÊ vÊV >L À>Ì Ê> `ÊV ÌÀ LÕÌ ° Contribution opens up possibilities for moving forward. Implies I share a responsibility to help you understand: we each contribute.

JOAN DALTON

The language used in the left hand column reflects views of people and learning from a time when power and control resided in hierarchy, position and expert authority with an expectation of compliance.

The language used in the right hand column models influencing leadership and power sharing with others.

The messages?

The messages?

UÊÊ Ê ÜÊLiÃÌ° UÊÊ9 Õ½ Ê` ÊÜ >ÌÊ ÊÃ>Þ° UÊÊ ½ Ê > iÊÌ iÊ`iV à ð UÊÊ ½ Ê`iV `iÊÜ >ÌÊ ÊÌi ÊÞ Õ° UÊ ½ ÊwÝÊ Ì°

UÊÊ9 ÕÀÊÛ ViÊ> `ÊV ÌÀ LÕÌ Ê > iÊ>Ê difference UÊÊ ÛiÀà ÌÞÊi À V iÃÊiÛiÀÞ i½ÃÊ i>À } UÊÊ ÛiÀÞ iÊ iÀiÊV> Êvii ÊÃ>vi]Ê V Õ`i`Ê and treated equitably UÊÊ7iÊÌ Ê> `ÊÌ> iÊ>VÌ ÊLiÌÌiÀÊ together UÊÊ >L À>Ì Ê ÃÊ iÞÊÌ Ê ÀiÊivviVÌ ÛiÊ learning and decision-making

Use of positional power today contributes to:

Influencing language contributes to:

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UÊÊÕ `iÀÃÌ> ` } UÊÊÌÀÕÃÌ }]Ê« Ã Ì ÛiÊÀi >Ì Ã «Ã UÊÊ ÌiÀ`i«i `i Vi UÊÊ>Ê ii` Ã>Ì ÃvÞ }Ê i>À }Êi Û À i Ì

leading to. . .

UÊÊV « > Vi]ÊÀ>Ì iÀÊÌ > ÊV Ì i Ì UÊÊ V « > Vi

Use the different paradigms and language examples provided to explore with valued colleagues the habits and mental models your language reflects.

leading to . . .

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7 >ÌÊ } ÌÊÞ ÕÊ need to unlearn?

7 >ÌÊ } ÌÊÞ ÕÊ ii`Ê to pay more conscious attention to? And, how might you do that?

33

PATTI DRAPEAU

Rigour: Promoting challenge for all students

R

igourous teaching assumes all students can learn at high levels, and it is our responsibility to support learners so that they can be successful.

Students seem to want this: In The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, 66 percent of the 500 high school dropouts interviewed said they would have worked harder if more had been demanded of them and 70 percent believe they could have graduated.

Rigour and challenge differ. Students who struggle are challenged every day. They begin to equate learning with something that is hard, time intensive and with minimal results. When this experience is repeated, students get discouraged. If the learning process involves rote learning, low-level thinking, and practice through worksheets, students often become unmotivated. Unfortunately, these students are experiencing challenge, but have not had the opportunity to engage in rigour.

Teachers Matter

Rigour is not the private domain of highability learners. We can provide high expectations and rigourous curriculum through differentiated instruction for all students. When we keep struggling learners at a low level of thinking with basic content, they are not intellectually c h a l l e n g e d . T h e y b e c o m e b o r e d . To promote rigour for all students, I recommend we use concepts, themes, generalizations, and high-level thinking.

34

Through the use of content differentiation, teachers can shift their instruction from facts, details, and rules about a topic to issues, problems, global themes and generalizations. If a teacher wants to encourage more rigour, she can integrate philosophical, ethical, and moral concerns into the content. The following chart from my book, Differentiated Instruction, Making It Work, demonstrates possible changes in content complexity.

PHO O: PHOT O MATTH HEW BENOI ENOIT T

Improve learning by asking “harder” questions.

Content Differentiation Categories Topics

Global Themes/Issues/ Problems

Philosophical/Ethical/Moral

Equations Weather Maps Government Biography Music

Change- Theme Order-Theme Structure-Theme Conflict-Theme Systems-Theme Power-Theme Issues Problems

Truth Beauty Goodness Wisdom Should (ethical) Freedom

Teachers use this chart along with verbs f r o m t h e r e v i s e d B l o o m ’s Ta x o n o m y to create tiered questions. One way to differentiate for struggling learners is to create level-one questions that target basic facts, details, and rules about a topic. If the student is not successful at this level, teachers ask level-two questions. A level-two question shifts from facts, details, and rules to a theme, issue or problem or a level-two question can still focus on facts, details, and

rules but at a higher level of thinking. The higher level of thinking provides rigour for the student, and the question is generally more thought-provoking and interesting than the basic level-one question. An average student might skip a level-one question because it is too easy. This student might begin at the level-two questions and possibly move into level-three questions. The level-three question targets a theme and generalization or moves into the philosophical, ethical, moral

PATTI DRAPEAU

category. Advanced learners might start at either level-two or three questions. Any student may work at a high level if she is willing to accept the challenge. Students share answers with the class. In this way, all learners are exposed to all the answers at all levels.

Example 1 illustrates the difference between the three levels. The first question targets a low level of thinking, along with basic content knowledge. The second question targets a high level of thinking with basic content. The third question focuses on a theme and generalization at a high level of thinking. Who does which question or questions is dependent upon whether the teacher assigns questions or whether the teacher offers student choice.

Some of you might wonder why you should tweak your questions to pump them up if the content standard is at a lower level. If your students are engaged in rigourous content in the classroom, then the standard will seem easy and basic when they have to answer the questions on the test. Take a look at your standards.

Do they fall into the level one, two, or three question category?

If you want to encourage more rigour, look at the questions you ask your students or the questions that are written in the textbook. Do they target facts, details, and rules, or issues, problems, and themes?

Do they touch on any philosophical, ethical, or moral concerns? What types of verbs are used? Can you change the

it is important to understand how to structure questions so that the questions promote rigour. Once you understand how to pump up your questions, you can decide whether direct questioning is an appropriate strategy or not. If not, make sure you consider the same type of rigourous question prompts using active strategies as a viable way to encourage rigour. Examples of such strategies might include role playing, two corners (if you agree with the statement go to one corner of the room, if you disagree go to the other corner of the room), or “I’ve got the answer who has the question” (look for someone with the answer to your question that are taped on the backs of students).

1st example

Level one

Level two

Label parts of the plant on your plant diagram.

Example 2 demonstrates a similar structure but is somewhat different. The tiered questions are created using a slightly different structure. In the second example, the level one question is basic. It addresses the facts and details at a low level of thinking just like in the first example.

However, the level-two question in the second example is created in the same way as the level-three question in the first example. In this second example, the level-two question utilizes a theme and generalization “change can be good or bad” and a high level of thinking “why.” In this second example, the level-three question is at an even higher level than the level-three question in the first example. The levelthree question asks students to consider the philosophical implications of the concept, the wisdom, in the story.

Level three

Draw what would happen if one part of the plant was taken away. Write the effects under your drawing. verb from a low level to a higher level?

Make these adjustments for all learners.

Even if a student is struggling to learn basic information, the content at a higher level is more interesting. This often creates a situation for the learner to go back and find out the basic information to answer the higher-level, more interesting question. I had a student who refused to learn basic math computation skills.

However, he loved to do multiple-step w o r d p r o b l e m s . To s o l v e t h e m a t h problem, he had to go back and learn how to do basic computation. This gave him a reason to learn what he considered “the boring stuff.”

Write your response in your science journal, “Why is change over time important to the parts of a plant?”

Rigourous learning can occur at any grade level for any student in any content area. Students value rigourous work when it is authentic and meaningful. They recognize busy work when they see it.

It is erroneous to assume that students cannot do hard work or they do not like hard work. Students can be successful when the teacher provides the appropriate level of support. Let’s make sure students experience the feeling of success associated with rigourous work by maintaining high expectations for all students.

Direct questioning is not always the most effective way to foster rigourous learning because it is not as engaging as other instructional strategies. However,

2nd example

Level one Describe the town mouse and the country mouse in the story on your bifold paper.

Level two At the end of the story, why are the changes in the town mouse and the country mouse good and/or bad? Use a “T” chart to list the good and/or bad changes. Be prepared to defend your point of view.

Level three How do the changes in the attitude of the town mouse and the country mouse represent wisdom? Create a symbol to represent wisdom and list examples from the story representing wise changes in attitude below the symbol.

35

CLINTON GOLDING

Will that work? I agree because... If that is true, then what about ...

Thinking about thinking Step by step, your students can improve their thinking.

W

e often want our students to actively process, evaluate, synthesise and apply information so they can understand what they are learning and make thoughtful and creative products and judgements. But they can also resist thinking. “Just tell us the answer,” they complain.

What we need is thinking treasure that is alluring enough to engage their thinking and complex enough to require it. Yet finding something appropriate for our students can be difficult. And helping them stay on track as they hunt for this treasure can be even more difficult.

The following is a thinking treasure that your students will love to explore, and a series of strategies that will make their exploration discerning and productive.

1 . Wa r m u p t h e i r t h i n k i n g w i t h some concrete examples related to thinking. Have each of your students share their responses to some of the following: • Do you think in words or pictures or something else?

• Do you see or hear your thoughts, or something else?

Teachers Matter

• What are your favourite types of thinking (dreaming, hoping, remembering, believing, knowing, imagining, wondering, solving, wishing, comparing, organising)?

• What are your least favourite types of thinking?

2. Next, have your students respond to some of the following statements.

Encourage them to draw on the examples they just shared: • Everyone can think • Your thoughts are completely your own

36

• Action is more important than thought • Have them respond in one of these four ways. These phrases will keep their exploration rigourous: I agree because …

I disagree because …

I partly agree and partly disagree because …

I need some more time to think because …

3. Have an open discussion about some of the following questions.

None of them can be properly answered by conducting an experiment or survey, reading a book, doing a calculation, or talking to an expert; nor are they meant to be completely open questions where one answer is as good as any other. You are invited to be as creative as possible. With these questions, some answers are better than others depending on their reasoning.

Thought and discussion are required to get the better answers.

Thinking about explanations • What is thinking for?

• How do we think?

Thinking about ethics and values • Are some types of thinking better than others?

• Are some thoughts better than others?

• Are some ways of thinking better than others?

• What type of thinking is most important?

You can choose a few questions for the students, or even better, ask them to select the questions, because the questions will only engage their thinking if they are treasure that they want to dig up. Feel free to introduce other questions where it is useful for the students, but do not introduce them just because you like them.

Thinking about the meaning of concepts

• What type of thinking is most useful?

Thinking about implications • What if we couldn’t think?

• What if you couldn’t do a particular type of thinking (you choose the type)?

• What is the connection between thinking and acting?

• What does it mean “to think”’?

• What is the connection between thinking and feeling?

• Is there an opposite to “thinking”? If so, what is it?

• What is the connection between thinking, believing and knowing?

CLINTON GOLDING

Thinking about what we know and how we know • How do you know what you are thinking?

• Can you know what someone else is thinking?

Thinking about essence • What are thoughts?

• Where are our thoughts?

A community of inquiry works best when the students are in a circle where they can see every students’ face and when they follow a few rules:

REASONING

• Respectfully agreement or challenge each other

I think … because …

• Refrain from making fun of others or putting down their ideas

Thinking about our experience

REASONING

• What is it like when we are thinking?

Why might someone think …?

• How do we experience our thoughts?

What might someone say if they disagreed with …?

• Can you share your thoughts?

• Can you have the same thought as someone else?

• Can you steal thoughts?

These questions should be discussed as a “community of inquiry.” Students should think together to answer the questions in an idea-centred discussion (not teacher or student-centred). Students suggest their ideas and thoughtfully respond to the other students’ ideas, rather than to what the teacher says. The aim is to help each other develop better answers rather than to win an argument or merely state their opinion.

The teacher’s job is to help students think through the ideas rather than to get them to any particular answer or position.

You should avoid pre-decided outcomes where you lead students to the ideas, interpretations, distinctions and reasons you want them to have. This would direct their thinking and have them playing the game “guess what teacher wants me to think” rather than allowing them to think for themselves. Regardless of whether you agree with what they are saying, encourage them to explore reasons for and against different ideas before making a reasoned judgement about which is better.

If … is true, that tells us …

• Listen and consider what others say

• Are thoughts real?

• Can you control your thoughts?

To explain that further …

• One person talks at a time

Instead of giving your opinion or helping your students to get to the outcomes you think are best, deliberately encourage further thinking by asking thoughtencouraging questions. Listen carefully to what your students say and then ask one of the following questions to the person who just spoke or to the rest of the class (replacing the … with the exact words the student used):

• Where do thoughts come from?

DEPTH

DEPTH Could you explain some more about …?

If … is true, what else would follow?

RELEVANCE & IMPORTANCE How does … help us answer our question?

What is the main point you want to make?

A reason for that is …

A reason against that is …

RELEVANCE & IMPORTANCE The most important point is … … helps us because …

CLARITY & PRECISION I think … means …

5. Making progress. Often after discussing thinking questions, students are more puzzled than before. They are confronted with multiple view-points and probably have more questions than answers. Realising that things are more complex than we first thought is thinking progress, but it is also important that students have a chance to summarise all they have heard and thought into a tentative conclusion (that could be revised with further reflection).

After discussing these questions, have students finish one of the following sentences: My conclusion about thinking is …

Thinking is like …

CLARITY & PRECISION What does … mean?

4. Use “thinking behaviours.” To have our students think rigourously about a topic, encourage them to say the things that good thinkers say (and which poor thinkers rarely say). Encourage your students to respond to what is said using some of the following phrases, as well as agreeing and disagreeing as they did at the start:

Also you could have students draw a picture of thinking. They should draw a picture of thinking itself, rather than a picture of someone who is thinking. This is similar to how we use a heart to draw love or a blindfolded woman with a sword and scales to illustrate justice. The picture can involve words and symbols and is not intended to be a finished piece of art.

37

NGAHI BIDOIS

Anything worth doing is worth doing…poorly.

Create an environment where risk-taking is safe.

I

am sure you have heard the proverb “anything worth doing is worth doing well.” However an important learning attribute is to allow people to “do poorly.”

Outstanding educators expect students to use their initiative and to take risks – calculated ones – but risks nevertheless.

They have a high level of expectation and encourage students to make the most of the learning opportunities that arise. However, this will not happen if they don’t have the freedom to make mistakes.

speak, without the shame of failure? Do you have their backs when you are teaching them something that requires risk-taking?

We all want excellence in everything we do and can sometimes have high expectations

of those around us. However, every high achiever and great leader made mistakes along the way. Embrace this idea: Anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly.

Learners simply will not take risks if it is not a safe environment where they can do poorly. An example is the old karaoke sing along. We all know people who only sing in the shower who should be singing on the stages of the world; however, there are also others who should only be singing in their showers. I know people who are absolutely superb singers who refuse to sing with karaoke machines. One of the reasons is because they are afraid of doing poorly in front of everyone. The risk of shame from failure is higher than the risk of success.

He put his big arm around the man’s shoulder and said, “To show that I am sure you will never do this again, I want you to service my F-51 tomorrow.”

So do you allow learners around you to make mistakes? Do you create safe environments where they can sing their hearts out, so to

38

PHOTO: O: KRIS RISTIAN AN PE P PEETZ T

In his bestselling book, How to win friends and influence people, Dale Carnegie tells the story of the famous aerobatic pilot Bob Hoover who was taking off in his expensive F-51 plane when both engines cut out. He managed to land the plane and discovered that the young mechanic had put the wrong fuel in the aircraft. Upon returning to the airport he asked to see the mechanic. The young man had tears streaming down his face as Mr Hoover approached. What do you think Bob Hoover said to the mechanic?

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CHRISTINE KERR

Be a dream builder How to build young people’s future visions.

PHOTO: ANDY DEAN

A

young man told his parents he wanted to be an architect. During a parent-teacher conference, the teacher advised that he needed to be strong in maths, English and design. This was not the case. As an alternative, the teacher reported that the student’s assessment results in music and drama were “up there,” so he should seek a career in those fields.

Once home, the young man reiterated to his parents, “I still really, really want to be an architect.

What would you do?

So often, we rely on tangible measures to justify career choices, yet many of our young students rely on their feelings. These are not tangible, so we refer to them as “dreams.”

As professionals, teachers are expected to use the formal assessment tools. While this can be a contributing factor, getting to know the student well and understanding how he thinks could be more reliable keys to ensuring his success.

It really comes down to whether people who guide youngsters wish to encourage their dreams. Are we dream builders or dream stealers? With one bold statement, we each have the ability to either uplift a young person’s spirit or shoot down their dreams in flames, never to rise again. Can you relate to either of these situations? A clear example is Albert Einstein, whose teacher told him he would never amount to much because he couldn’t grasp maths concepts.

Imagine that. Fortunately young Albert chose to disagree with his esteemed elder and became Man of the 20th century.

There are many stories of people who look back at their education or career choice and have regrets. You may know someone who settled for second choice, or Plan B, and found it did not bring the same satisfaction that achieving one’s primary desire can provide. It never ever does.

In comparison, there are many stories of

young people who met just one person who believed in them, encouraged them to take action, and subsequently they never looked back. New Zealander Michael Hill is one such person. A music teacher set him on his path to master playing the violin. This was the first time he felt a sense of belonging in a school environment. In time, a teacher’s belief in a student resulted in Michael Hill Jeweller sponsoring the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.

Let’s turn back the clock a few years and reminisce on our experiences. Let’s remind ourselves that as youngsters we were often asked, “What would you like to be when you grow up?” At the time, some of us gave clear answers; we had made up our minds, and no one would change our decisions.

Others who were not so sure were perhaps led into areas that their teachers or parents thought best. An unfortunate but frequent scenario has a student believing he must begin a particular pathway toward a tertiary qualification, only to find that somewhere along the way, he is not happy so he changes his direction, or even worse, continues along the same path. This is all caused by adults satisfying their own agendas, rather than allowing the young person to navigate his own.

imagine their greatest ambitions. Nelson Mandela once said: “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” And he should know!

When students first come up with their vision, they have no idea exactly how it will be accomplished. Step by step, action by action, they can find their way.

As long as we help them stay on course, they will eventually arrive at their desired destination. No one can predict how long the journey will take; it is a matter of consistency and persistency applying themselves, ideally on a daily basis, that they will see any goal achieved.

ATHLETE ?

ROCK STAR ?

DOCTOR ?

For those of us who came up with ambitious ideas, the immediate response was often, “Well, how are you going to do that?” or worse still, “But you could never do that!”

This implied that our childhood dreams for our futures were not practical or realistic, so many of us consequently settled for less than we anticipated.

Keeping all of this in mind, let us be conscious of how we listen to and encourage our young people’s visions. Let us not judge their ideas, but rather allow them to verbalise where their heart-mind connections are leading them. Listen with open hearts and minds. It is imperative that we allow our young people to dream and

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ROWENA SZESZERAN-MCEVOY

How many kilos overweight is acceptable?

Get inside your head and figure out how you’re feeling and what you want.

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hat is acceptable for you? How much excess will you put up with hanging out on your arms/legs/ tummy/hips/thighs, around your heart and in your arteries?

Do you put poor-quality fuel into your machine? Are you a “She’ll be right mate” person; are you happy to put up with less than peak condition for your body? Or perhaps you believe your body should be a high-performance machine; you only fuel it with top-quality fuel and you treat it with respect and care.

Please carefully consider this oftenasked question and answer it honestly: If you owned a $ 10 million racehorse, and it had the capability to earn you millions of dollars more from race wins, how would you care for it? Would you feed it fast food, alcohol, cigarettes, cups of coffee and keep it in the stable, sitting down?

OUCH!! If you are not looking after your body with the ultimate high-octane fuel and top-quality exercise, what kind of performance can you expect from your machine?

How about we get out of denial and into action? Here are some great action strategies:

Teachers Matter

1. Do a “brain dump”

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That’s techno jargon for a little self-analysis and venting. Sit down somewhere quiet with a pen and paper, and write what you are frustrated with. Maybe it’s the new jeans you bought before Christmas and the fact that there is no way in hell you are getting them on at the moment.

Maybe it’s your super low energy and always feeling tired. How about the fact that you hate looking in the mirror at yourself? Get it all out, and don’t be kind to yourself.

2. Positive steps Once you’ve exhausted all of your frustrations, take a deep breath, then write next to every frustration what positive step you can take to start eliminating it. Reduce my alcoholic drinks to only three times a week; go on one run/walk each week; take my lunch to work three days each week; start drinking diet coke instead of “fullcalorie strength!;” drink a glass of water with each meal.

3. The feeling How awesome will you feel when those jeans slip on again so easily?!

How awesome will you feel when you wake up before your alarm goes off and have consistent energy throughout the day. How awesome will you feel when other people start commenting on how great you look?

4. Be your own cheerleader When was the last time you told yourself how awesome you were? If you don’t learn to “cheer” yourself on, who is going to? You will face challenging days and may slip back into past habits, but the worst thing you can do is beat yourself up over it. Have a quick “chat” with yourself and acknowledge the “slip;” then move on to the future: “I can do this; I will do this; I am awesome!”

Learn to take full responsibility for exactly where you are at, how many kilos over weight you currently might be and decide today what the number will be in 12 month’s time.

GAIL LOANE

for pleasure. Its purpose always seemed beyond me. Leaving school meant leaving all that behind. But I didn’t leave school; I simply changed my status from student to teacher.

PHO PH HO OT TO: O JA ASON SON ON S ST TIT T TT T

When I began my life as a teacher, of course I was required to teach writing, including poetr y. Although short on content knowledge, I started to enjoy working with language, and I shared that growing love and enthusiasm with my students. I was inspired by other educators, and in the 1980s was particularly influenced by Elwyn

Becoming a writer Face your fear and both you and your students will grow.

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lthough I finished my own schooling with reasonable academic marks, I entered the teaching world ill-equipped to lead my students in becoming competent, confident language users.

I did not connect the world of school English lessons with my own world and

certainly did not expect to write beyond school assignments about what mattered to me. I had experienced novel studies and poetry at school as long, complicated texts that were dissected to fi nd obscure meanings that usually escaped me. I found the whole experience a puzzling academic exercise, and certainly not an activity that I would ever consider

“ S t u d e n t s responded to my experimental teaching efforts by producing increasingly rich and well-crafted personal writing.”

Richardson’s In the Early World, where he demonstrated the effect of students writing about “the stuff of their lives.” Students responded to my experimental teaching efforts by producing increasingly rich and well-crafted personal writing. I could now facilitate good writing in my students, but I was still a non writer myself.

In 1988 I was invited to participate in the New Zealand Writing Project, tutored by Dr. Ruie Pritchard, a director of the Capital Area Writing Project at the North Carolina State University. Ten days before we met, I received the pre-course task: Write about a childhood memory. I remember the blood draining from my face: “I teach writing; I don’t do it! I won’t be going. I can’t do this!,” I thought.

Ten days later, with my essay about losing a friend’s earrings tucked firmly under

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GAIL LOANE

my arm, I fronted up. I could not recall another time when I had written from a personal experience, and as I read my piece to a group of four teachers, I felt anxious. What would they think? To my amazement, my peers were attentive, interested, amused and even moved.

They chatted about it as if this was a real author’s work: the style, the content, the strategies and vocabular y used. Right then, a whole new world opened up for me. Perhaps I could write.

On my return to my classroom, students asked about my week – and if I would share my writing. This was the critical test: They wouldn’t hold back if it didn’t come up to scratch. As we sat in our usual morning sharing circle, I began to read mine. On completion, they burst into spontaneous applause, and one girl gasped, “Gee, Ms Loane, that could be in a journal!” My confidence took an instant boost and that moment I became a co-learner, a fledgling writer alongside my students.

We e x p l o r e d t o g e t h e r ; w e s t r u g g l e d , celebrated, mused, laughed and cried together. Not only had I entered a new world of authorship, I had opened further doors for my students. I could model

how a tentative learner-writer behaves: grappling, celebrating, thinking, talking, and sharing. Until that time, it had never occurred to me that I might be able to write anything other than functional text and that my own life’s experiences might be worthy of writing about. At 42, I began my life as a learner-writer and a much more effective writing teacher. I was fortunate to have someone open the door to authorship, even if it came later in my life: Many people never realise the possibility. I subsequently became zealous in my efforts to have my students know that they had something to say, and I was going to help them say it.

In 1990, I committed myself to a fiveweek writing project in North Carolina, involving eight writing assignments and a final examination – a real challenge, and one which was to shape my teaching.

I returned to New Zealand and designed a week-long residential course for our teachers. The teachers who lined up were asked to participate as a team of learners, writing and sharing their work, with me as their coach. Of the 20 participants in each course, no more than three teachers would ever describe themselves as writers at the

beginning. My aim was for them to say at the end of the week, “I am a writer,” or at the very least, “I am a learner-writer,” having new insights into the process.

In the next 12 years, I ran 40 residential courses, with around 800 teachers committing themselves to learning about writing by being part of a community of writers – daunting for many. Our book, I’ve got Something to Say, has been written at the request of those New Zealand teachers, including Sally Muir. Not only is Sally an accomplished teacher, she is a gifted writer, and a productive partnership began when we met. Sally sat at the keyboard as we discussed, researched and crafted our book.

Sally and I hope that our experiences teaching writing and the models and guides we provide will ignite enthusiasm and provide inspiration to support our young authors.

Teachers Matter

I’VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY

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IS THE JOURNEY OF GAIL LOANE’S EXPERIENCES IN THE CLASSROOM AS SHE LEARNED TO TEACH WRITING IN A WAY THAT ENABLED HER STUDENTS TO DEVELOP AND ENJOY THEIR OWN AUTHORSHIP. BETWEEN THE PAGES IS THE JOURNEY-MAP FOR TEACHERS - AND PARENTS - OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TO SUCCESSFULLY ASSIST THEIR YOUNG WRITERS TO AUTHORSHIP.

$60

AVAILABLE THROUGH SPECTRUMEDUCATION.COM

KAREN BOYES

The alarm you’ll look forward to: iStudyAlarm The iStudyAlarm is now available from the Apple itunes store.

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tudying for a class, mid term or final exam just got easier with iStudyAlarm. Staying focused while studying can often be a challenge, and the iStudyAlarm is designed to help exam students of all ages. Research shows that studying in 20-minute intervals and taking a five-minute brain break is highly beneficial for learning and memory. Studying is supposed to get you ahead in life, not make you a nervous wreck. Plus studying for too long causes your brain to get tired and forget key information.

How the iStudyAlarm works When you are ready to study, simply tap the start button. The timer will go off after 20 minutes and prompt you to spend two minutes revising what you have just learned. Next the alarm will time your five-minute brain break.

Brain break ideas What you do during a break can be as important as when you are actually studying. This menu provides quick brain-friendly break ideas.

Exam tips Ideas of what to do before, during and after an exam. Tips include questionanswering advice, what to do if you can’t remember and hints about what examiners are looking for. Each tip can be expanded to find out more information.

Motivate me Provides quick ideas to help keep you on track and focused. There are also links to short Youtube clips about effective study techniques.

Library mode If you are working in a quiet environment, you can simply switch the alarm to vibrate mode and still stay focused without disturbing others.

Features include: Study tips:

The iStudy alarm is designed exclusively for use on iPhone 4, iPod Touch. iPhone 3G/3GS and iPad. It is now available from the Apple itunes Store.

Practical tips to keep you on track and studying in a brain friendly and effective way. Tips include setting up your study environment, memory and recall strategies, brain food and note making ideas. Each tip can be expanded to learn more.

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PHOTO: O FRE O: FREN F FR E K AN ND DANIEL N ELLE KAU AUFM AUF FM F MANN A N

KATE SOUTHCOMBE

Making classroom management simple Want well-behaved students? Behave yourself.

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ur behaviour as teachers is part of who we are, and we need to take ownership. Our behaviours are the key to dealing with students’ disruptive behaviour, and until we have that clear in our minds, our students will always appear to be randomly disruptive.

Teachers Matter

Problem solving with regards to behaviour is not about who’s to blame. Solutions come from dealing with what we can easily change there and then, before tackling wider issues that may take time and require more detailed strategies.

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Let’s analyse a disruptive scenario, and break it into component parts, and see just how easily everyone can become an expert in minimizing disruptive behaviour: The session begins with a teacher in the classroom as students enter for their lesson.

Initial observations • A secondary school lesson using Power Point

• The students are mixed – boys and girls • The teacher is a female Observations through lesson • Students come into the class in a disrespectful manner – no formal greeting; teacher appears to accept this behaviour (teacher behaviour).

• Teacher appears disorganized – nothing for students to do as soon as they enter the classroom, and she is not facing them, but apparently dealing with resources (teacher behaviour – lack of respect for students).

• Technology not working or not ready – teacher says “I just need to get this PPT working” (resources).

• Students have too much waiting around with no focus; they are chatting and fiddling with things (planning).

• The teacher says nothing positive or

constructive to the students, keeps asking them to be quiet and get their books out; she has a weak voice that does not resonate in the room, and her manner appears authoritarian without appropriate demeanor or confidence (teacher behaviour).

The behaviour management perspective So already we are on the back foot: The students are not focused; the environment is not structured to grab their attention; and the teacher gives directions that lack conviction and her voice lacks enthusiasm and drive.

The students have several reasons to play up.

Risk factors for disruptive behaviour There are several risk factors we can isolate here that increase the likelihood of disruptive behaviour:

KATE SOUTHCOMBE

Environmental /teacher factors • Lack of respect for the teacher – teacher doesn’t command respect or exude authority or create rapport

• Have something for students to do immediately they enter your room – an activity on the board or a set exercise or fun game.

• Lack of clear direction or instruction – nothing set for the students to do upon entry to the room

• Organise all technology beforehand so you know it works – have a plan in case anything goes wrong.

• General environment and the dynamics of the room – layout of room, appearance, tidiness, etc

• Have all resources ready to hand out or on the desks already.

Student factors • Parents with no respect for school or education – truant, late or absent for sickness • Poor social skills – predisposition towards the behaviour

• Have more than enough work for the students – keep some fun stuff to hand to use in emergencies.

• Always have time fillers, such as maths games, spelling games to change tack if needed.

• Lack of ability in the subject – consistent failure

Behavioural strategies • Catch students doing the right thing – i.e. well done for……. Thanks for being…..

• Lack of interest in the subject – bored or unenthusiastic

• Keep the flow of activities under control – don’t try to do too much in one session

Reducing the risk – making life a little easier The more risk factors present, the higher the chances of disruptive behavior. It’s not rocket science.

• Keep the lesson interesting by mixing up written work with discussion and reading

So what can we do now, right away, without calling in the behaviour experts? We can’t fix students’ families, their academic record or their social skills, but we can change what we do and significantly reduce the risk of disruptive behaviour by managing the risks.

• Challenge students to contribute – i.e. I know you know this one is easy but tell us anyway…

There are four areas that, if managed correctly, can significantly reduce the behavioural issues in any classroom:

Teacher behaviour • Have the expectation that students enter and say a greeting – this may be done as a class contract session – a great way to build rapport – use different languages.

• Planning and preparation • Behavioural strategies • Teacher behaviour • Environment Planning and preparation Teachers need to be accountable not just for their time in class or their time teaching, but for their planning. Their planning and the allocation of resources and appropriate materials will save hours of negotiating behaviour plans and dealing with disruptive students.

• Use key students in the room to question, but encourage others by using open ended questions

• Redirect students when you think an issue might arise – i.e. could you do this…., please take this to…..

• Set the tone by greeting them.

• Insist on politeness above all else, but remember to treat them in the same way • Speak authoritatively but don’t be an authoritarian – respect is conveyed in tone and mannerism

• Inject humour carefully, use sparingly and remember you are setting the standard.

• Expect contributions from the students – value their knowledge and involve them in the topic by asking questions – i.e. perhaps your parents or family know about …….

• Remember to smile now and again and give compliments – it is surprising the effect it has on students.

• Thank them for simple things – like shutting the door or being quiet or for listening; it builds habits and demonstrates that simple things are worth while doing;- focus on the behaviour you want by commenting on it.

Environment • Have the layout of the room clear and orderly so it is easy to maintain the standard.

• Have all resources to hand.

• Have expectations of how books are treated and how to return assessments and work, etc.

• Have things clearly labeled.

• Pick up rubbish in front of the students – before asking them to do so.

So what if all this fails, and you still find yourself struggling with a class of disruptive students? I am not pretending for one moment that this approach will solve all issues tomorrow, but I am suggesting that by taking some responsibility, we are then empowering ourselves to change what is going on in our classrooms rather than feeling helpless and at the mercy of our students’ apparent fickle behaviour.

We have to keep exploring options and looking for ways to alter the things we can control, such as the environment and the consequences for our students’ behaviour.

We can’t make them change, but we can change ourselves.

• Speak clearly without emotion such as sighing, complaining, moaning or shouting.

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ALLISON MOONEY

How you could have survived the holiday season Focus on “different” instead of “wrong” and you’ll enjoy yourself more.

We talk after about that “weird” relative on Christmas day, who just never fit in, when perhaps it might have had more to do with the way that relative is wired. We can be a predictor of people’s behaviour if we know what to look for.

Teachers Matter

Imagine these scenes: Julia insisted on having a plan for Christmas day, even months before. And then there was Meg who distracted herself from any conversation that required organisation, facts and details, taking her glass of wine and seeking out a more interesting têteà-tête. Julia couldn’t relax until all the tasks were completed, she excused herself from the table in the most gracious way, to do the dishes immediately the meal was finished, and cleaned up all the debris from the “gift opening” on the way to the kitchen. It wasn’t too long before one heard a huff under her breath as she failed to understand that others wouldn’t join her or see the need to help.

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Jeremy just wanted to lie down for a snooze after the huge lunch, and he did just that. Typically these types are not impacted by externals, so when Jack had other ideas and rounded up everyone, them marched to his” “ drum beat” down to the park to see how effective his son’s new cricket set was, Meg was happy to oblige, moving wherever the crowd went.

Jeremy, however, just blended into the furniture, and no one was

“ We can be a predictor of people’s behaviour if we know what to look for.”

aware that he is not with them when they arrived at the beach.

This is a typical scenario that reveals more about personalities than anyone taking out a personal vendetta against someone else. If we know what to look for and treat people according to how they see the world, we may establish a connection with those ones we don’t quite understand. Here’s what you can look for:

Meg the Playful Our “connectors” – great story tellers, and relationship builders. Often known as the life and soul of the party. They’re our talkers. Their weakness is that they aren’t that organised. Oh yes they will do the list, but fail to bring it, or more than likely misplace it on the day. When everyone was expecting the salad, they might have had a last-minute idea to bring something different, which of course threw a “Julia”

PHOTO: 123RF.COM

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hey tell us that January’s counseling rooms have the greatest frequency of people through them. We work and save hard to have a memorable time over our holidays, only to find that we have set ourselves up for disappointment — usually because of our lack of understanding of people’s behaviour.

into a spin, as it wasn’t complementary to Julia’s well-planned menu.

Animated Soundz Entertaining, interactive learning.

Julia the Precise These ones have had the plan in place for months before Christmas. Julias are our thinkers! Their home is nothing short of meticulous. They lay a table exquisitely and great effort had been put in to giving each the perfect gift. Now, if you were smart, you would have acknowledged how they wrapped the gift with great thought and care when it was passed to you. They notice these gestures, and there can often be strings attached to the gift.

Jack the Powerful These ones are our restless types, and small talk doesn’t come easy for them..

They are the doers, and they find sitting around chatting boring. Unless of course there is some decent content, i.e. business interest, or intelligent comments around sport. These ones have a tendency to speak in “Readers Digest-condensed version.”

These types would focus on working off all that they ate and getting lots of activity, be it soccer or cricket on the beach, after the meal. They naturally like to “take charge” of the BBQ or turkey or set up on the day.

Puppets, CD’s and educational entertainment.

New show touring to schools and pre-schools North and South island 2011.

Recycled sounds around Aotearoa Come on a journey around New Zealand and hear the music of some of the many cultures that live here. Several instruments played are authenƟc and others are made by reusing recyclable and natural resources.

Puppets, songs and instruments combine to make this a fun and interacƟve show.

To find out more details on this show and others and to see the range of puppets available please go to our web site.

www.animatedsoundz.co.nz

Jeremy the Peaceful He’s the most obliging, relaxed person on the day. They quietly go around doing what is asked of them. They never cause strife. They are good listeners, so people like Meg love being around them, because the “Megs” love an audience, and peacefuls are just that! Often times the Jeremys get seated next to the “strange” guest or relative, because everyone knows they would never complain. They just watch and listen, wait their turn and then out of left field have everyone in stitches with a “one liner” they weaved into their story. They don’t crack a smile; that takes energy, and these types conserve energy.

Maybe if we had taken the time to observe our family and their behaviours, we might have had a seamless festive season, with a lot more fun and memories. Remember, every personality has as specific strength.

Different, but not wrong, just different.

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DR JASON FOX

Failure-based learning Learn from video games and make failure temporary and fun.

“G Teachers Matter

ood gosh!” you may think. “He just used the F-word!”

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Failure.

In some education circles, “failure” is almost considered a taboo word. Some teachers try desperately to deny its existence, while others make no attempt to soften the impact of the word. It’s a heavy one that often needs to be sandwiched in amongst nice words.

In this way, failure can be like sweetened medicine – good for you and a bit easier to swallow, but still not nice.

However, we know failure doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In the business world, it is often seen as a really good thing, particularly during start-up. If you’re failing, it means you are actually doing things. You’re making decisions, and you’re learning more about your offering and your market. “Fail faster” they say, because they know that some of your richest learning comes from these failures. In fact, some go as far to say, “If you’re not failing, you’re not learning.”

Elegant oxymorons aside, this concept of learning-by-failure is as powerful as it is tricky to handle.

To deliver rich, failure-based learning experiences, we need to play with another F-word – “framing.”

Photographers use framing to bring about certain qualities in their printed work. Add a black frame and you’ll get a richer depth of colour. Add a white frame, and you’ll likely perceive more contrast. Adding a colourful frame may add more emotion or zest: The frame influences our perception. In fact, framing could be considered the process of deliberately crafting the context of an experience so that the desired meanings are

DR JASON FOX

And, when it comes to failure-based learning, no medium does this better than video games. In fact, they’re so good at it that the failure-based learning becomes failure-based-fun.

“Quest to Learn,” a New York school designed for “digital kids,” has based their whole curriculum on video games, game theory and game design. You see, within video games and other deliberately crafted gamespaces (like sport), failure is both frequent and brief. In fact, a well-designed game will include a series of short-term feedback loops – none of which is big and scary. Even when a particular micro-goal or objective is not met, you are rewarded or acknowledged for your effort – and often immediately given a chance to reattempt (with greater wisdom).

You can easily track your progress and see what milestones lay ahead of you. All of these components are deliberate and are designed to keep you engaged with the game. Contrast this with your typical academic experience, where big “scary” exams are the norm, and failure potentially means having to repeat a

whole year, and it’s no wonder failure can feel like a disaster.

Video games make failure-based learning work because they frame the learning experience in a way that encourages exploration and makes failure OK. Within a game, players know there is a solution to be found, and if something’s not working, they’ll try something else. With every attempt, their learning deepens, and their creativity broadens. These days, (since the advent of “saving progress”) there’s no more “game over.” There’s only “game on.”

What would your teaching be like if your lessons contributed to an epic, real-world game of learning awesomeness? How will you frame the learning experience, so that exploration is encouraged and failure is rich with insight? What new parameters can you bring into your classroom (game-space) that’ll deepen your students’ learning and engagement? How will you acknowledge progress (beyond grades and assessments)?

And, how will this new learning space help facilitate your own progress?

It’s time to level up.

PHOT PHO HOT OTO: O: IMAGE MAGEHIT, H LT LTD T .

“ Within a game, players know there is a solution to be found, and if something’s not working, they’ll try something else. With every attempt, their learning deepens, and their creativity broadens. ”

more likely to manifest. Educators can use framing to bring about the best learning experience for their students.

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JOHN SHACKLETON

Raise your game Find the motivational technique that works for you – and do it.

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he beginning of a new year is a good time to take a good look at our lives and decide what we want to aim for over the next 12 months. If we want to achieve more, get better at our job, perform at a higher level, develop better relationships, or make more money, then we need to develop our skills, create more motivation for ourselves, set some clearly defined, accurate goals and continually work on our self belief. Here are 50 simple ideas that can help you to raise your game.

I’m sure you can use at least one or two.

• Read an inspirational book or an autobiography by someone you admire.

The best time for reading is just before you go to sleep as the information will stay in your subconscious mind while you are asleep.

• Listen to an educational tape or CD while you are driving. Google can help you find hundreds of these, and you can often buy them secondhand, too.

Teachers Matter

Watch a motivational DVD instead of spending your time glued to the negative news.

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• Google the subject you want to improve on and read the top 10 pages. Be careful, there is a lot of rubbish on the Internet, but there are many gems, too.

• Watch some YouTube videos on the subject. If ever I’m stumped with a new bit of software, I don’t read the manual, I get the answer within a couple of minutes from watching a couple of videos on YouTube.

PHOT P HOT OTO:: PICSF PICSF IC IVE VEE

• Go on a training course or attend a seminar to improve your skills. There are loads, and if you do some research, you’ll be able to find one that suits your needs.

• Ask the best performer that you know for some tips on what they do well. Top achievers will be more inclined to help you than you might think.

• Buddy up with a more experienced person and watch them perform the tasks you want to master. “Sitting next to Nellie” is a really effective training method adopted by many top organisations.

• Purchase some coaching sessions from a well-qualified coach. They should have the questioning skills to draw out your ideas.

• Set a reward for yourself that inspires you to keep going when times get tough – because, believe me, they will. Here’s an example: When I achieve my goal, I will reward myself with a day at the health spa.

• Put a consequence in place - something you would hate to do but will commit to if you fail. Here’s an example: If I don’t achieve my goal, I will go for one month without any coffee. This may sound like a negative form of motivation, but it is incredibly powerful way of staying focused.

• Tell 10 close friends what you want to achieve and ask them to support you throughout the whole exercise.

• Send an email out to your entire database telling them what you will achieve, and ask if there’s anyone who would be prepared to help you. This will take some guts, but you’ll be amazed with the help and support you can get.

• Set a goal that you can realize in just 30 minutes, and then reward yourself with a coffee and a sticky bun for its achievement.

No achievement, no reward!

Set some small goals, things you can achieve in the next couple of days or weeks. Lifetime or long-term goals can be daunting and are often too far away to keep us motivated all the time.

JOHN SHACKLETON

• Be specific and accurate with what you want. Most people don’t have goals, they have “to do” lists. You don’t want to save money, you want to have money. You don’t want to get fit, you want to be fit.

• Make your goals public: Tell everyone what you are doing and ask them to keep checking up with you. The more people who are keeping you honest, the less you will need to remind yourself of your goal.

• Make sure that the outcome is measurable. There should be an exact point in time when you move from not having the goal to having it. If you can’t measure a goal, you’ll never know when you’ve achieved it.

• Write down your goals and display them on the fridge, next to your computer, on the bathroom mirror, in fact anywhere you spend a lot of time. It’s amazing how committed we can become when we write down what we want to achieve and display it.

Ensure you are setting an achievable goal, not just something you want. You may want to become the next queen of England, but it isn’t going to happen.

Believing that you can achieve something is much more important than just wanting it.

• Ensure that the language you use isn’t making you focus on an action rather than a goal. For example, nobody wants to lose weight, what they actually want is either to be slim or be healthy. Your goal then should be to achieve a certain shape or a standard of health rather than lose a certain number of kilos.

• Make sure the achievement of the goal won’t screw up everything else in your life. We should always consider what the effects of achieving our goal could be. You may be able to double your income, but at what expense to your social life, your family or your health?

• Ensure you have a time limit for the achievement of your goal. Many people fail to put time limits on their goals, and so there is no sense of urgency for them and they don’t get what they want.

• Apply rewards and consequences to every goal you set. For example: When I pass my exam, I’ll buy myself a new suit; however if I don’t pass, I’ll give the $500 I would have spent on the clothes to charity.

• Do the things that make you feel good.

Most people say that they feel good about themselves after exercise but often can’t get the energy together to go to the gym.

Focus on the “post-exercise good feeling” and get off the couch.

• Dress well and take care of your personal grooming. Our self esteem gets a boost when we glance in the mirror and think we look good.

Do a favour for someone less fortunate that you.

This takes your mind off yourself and your troubles for a while and can raise your feelings of self worth.

• Volunteer at a burns hospital or special needs event. When we work with people that have suffered adversity or who are less fortunate than we are, it puts our own situation into perspective.

• Donate some money to charity, preferably anonymously. The best form of giving is when nobody else knows that we’ve done it, that way we know that we aren’t doing it to try and get other people to admire us.

• Write an unsolicited testimonial letter for someone. It would really make their day if one of your suppliers received a letter of thanks from you without asking for it.

Focus on past successes and achievements.

We’ve all had success in the past but we

sometimes forget the things we’ve achieved or the problems we’ve overcome. Make a list of all theses achievements and add to it regularly.

• Remember back to when you did something successfully for the first time.

How would it be if you could experience again that feeling of joy when you passed your driving test or you got that promotion? Well, every time you re-live that moment you’ll feel some of those feelings again.

• Do something you’ve been putting off.

Most of us hate going to the dentist, but we feel great after we’ve been. The things we don’t enjoy and so procrastinate over are a negative drain on us, the quicker we do them the better we’ll feel.

• Stop thinking about yourself and focus on other people. I find that my troubles seem to fade into the background when I’m thinking about how I can help someone else.

• Stop judging other people; they’re trying to do the best they can with the resources they have. I’m sure you can think of better ways of doing something, but you’re not leading their life and you don’t have their problems.

Relax and get pampered.

Ask a friend to give you a massage or spend a day at the health spa; not only is it good for you but you’ll also feel better about yourself.

• We can’t change the past, so get off your guilt trip and focus on the future. What’s done is done, and we’ll never be able to undo it. If you’ve done something you’re not proud of or you’ve caused someone a problem, then find a solution.

• Say the following to someone you love: “I’m sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me”. When we hear them, they are

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JOHN SHACKLETON amazingly healing words, but how often do we say them?

• Stop thinking about what others think about you. No matter how hard you try, not everybody is going to like you and, in fact, some people will probably do anything to avoid being with you. You can’t control what other think, so take less notice of their opinion of you. Their opinion is none of your business anyway.

• Laugh - it’s medicine for the soul. Go to a comedy club, put on a funny movie or book a night down the pub with the funniest person you know. The laughter will create some wonderful positive feelings which will stay long after the giggles have subsided.

• Spend an entire day only eating healthy food. We all feel better when we’ve stuck to a diet of things we know are good for us.

• We all have skills and abilities that we are proud of, so make a list of all the things you are good at and read it to your self regularly.

• Question some of the limiting beliefs you may have. Most of us focus on what we can’t do or the things we think we can’t achieve and then justify it by saying things like: I’m too old, or I’m just not that type of person. These things aren’t true, with practice you can achieve anything you want to achieve.

• Read an autobiography of someone who’s achieved what you’d like to achieve.

You’ll find they struggled the same way you are and that they had problems just like yours.

• Make a decision on the biggest difficulty in your life right now and then follow through immediately with the action you need to take. Action cures fear and procrastination causes the fear to get bigger and eventually paralyse you.

• Find a role model and copy the things that he or she does that you admire.

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• If someone is successful at something, then he’s found a way of doing it that works. Chances are, if you think how he thinks and do what he does, you’ll probably achieve what he achieves.

Structure some positive thoughts to replace the negative ones you keep running through your head. Replace I can’t .... with I can…….

• What’s the big job you are procrastinating over? Do some preparation and then take some action; problems rarely solve themselves.

• Change your physiology, and it will change your mood. Breathe deeply, stand tall, eyes up looking forward and walk 25 percent faster. These will boost your confidence and help you feel stronger and more in control of the situation.

• Clean up; clear your desk; organise your closet. Chaos and clutter don’t help us to think straight and solve problems.

KEVIN MAYALL

The impact of early childhood on teenage years Preschool teachers lay the foundation for a strong future.

Preschool is a lot like building a foundation for a house.

Without strong foundations, the building would eventually fall over. Here are five key foundations a preschooler must learn to positively transition through the teenage years:

PHOTO:

1. Provide experiential learning with lots of movement. This is done by activities and games. The activities need to train the young mind to imagine and take risks and get the body to move. The scientific benefits of physical activity include supporting brain function, coordination, social skills, motor skills, emotions and leadership. There is also the added importance of long-term positive imprinting, teaching the body to enjoy being active. Fun activities also make it normal for the preschool child to produce the brain chemicals serotonin and dopamine. These are naturally occurring positive chemicals produced when having fun and cause the person to experience pleasure. Teenagers (and their parents) need a lot of these positive brain chemicals.

2. Establish long-term imprinting of what’s right and what’s wrong. In the teenage years, it’s the role of the teenager to test the boundaries. This is normal (and

annoying for parents and teachers) as the teenage brain is developing and seeking individuality and finding its place in the world. The preschool imprinting provides the base that testing the boundaries is set against. The more “normal” it is for a preschooler to behave, have strong values and know what’s right and wrong, the better chance the teenager has to come back to this base.

PHO PH HO OTO O O: DMITR RIY SHIRO H NO NOSO N OS V O

O

ften undervalued, the preschool teacher has a massive role in the long-term development of children.

Preschool is not just a fancy place to babysit kids. Early childhood is a critical period for the development of the social, emotional, personal domains where values, skills and habits are inculcated for life. During the first year of life, trust develops, which is the foundation for all relationships.

Interactions and relationships shape children’s brains. Warm, responsive care has a protective biological function, helping the child weather ordinary stress and prepare for adverse effects of later stresses.

3. Provide good role models. We have all heard the saying “Monkey see…Monkey do.”

Teachers need to be happy in themselves.

We all know the effect when we are having a good day (just like having a bad day) has on ourselves and the impact on other around us. In a perfect world, teachers would be perfectly happy every day. Children are mirrors of ourselves. Laughter really is the best medicine …for teachers and children.

4 . D e v e l o p t h e w h o l e p e r s o n . We measure academic success. Parents want their children to get A’s for the academic subjects. However, on top of academic studies, we need to add contribution, health and well-being, spirituality and environment. We need to measure these positive holistic traits as well. Parents will be most happy when their children are receiving A’s for these subjects. Preschool imprinting is the most powerful place to set these long-term habits and values.

5. Manage testosterone. I was a guest speaker at a preschool convention recently.

Only one person out of the entire room of 300 preschool teachers knew what this was and only because she had 18 brothers in her extended family. Testosterone is the male hormone boys are born with. This hormone has special requirements that need to be managed. I hear a lot about “nurturing,” which is great for girls. Testosterone doesn’t need “nurturing,” it needs managing. The convention was full of dedicated female teachers, yet 50 percent of the school roll is boys, which means that 50 percent of the school role is not getting their specialised need met. Boys get told to “play nicely,” yet we have testosterone that makes us competitive and aggressive. This is normal and needs to be managed, so we learn to have positive outlets for this hormone.

When the male teenage years arrive, a boy will have this hormone rampaging through his body, and he is going to need to learn to have positive outlets for this.

Without this outlet, the teenage boy gets angry and can have negative outbursts with negative consequences. Not ideal.

However, the preschool teacher can imprint the boys in a positive manner by doing the following things: • Playing games and making them competitive (climbing, building, digging and risk taking).

• Playing/learning in teams.

• Providing positive male role models.

Female teachers can teach boys by helping them identify and then fostering positive male role models. Even better, get those male role models along side of the kids.

• Getting men more involved in their boys’ lives….now.

Most parents would be impressed by the dedicated, purposeful and passionate way teachers are seeking out and learning new knowledge for the benefit of their children.

Children can only benefit from this.

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Teachers Resources & Lessons

by Adrian Rennie

Creating, Imagining And Innovating Imaging what a letter “A” would look like with a palm tree theme, or a skeleton theme. Try to get a picture of a completed letter in your head before you start drawing. Choose a theme that is different from everyone else.

Our alphabet can be written and shaped in so many different cool and creative ways. You can design the letter “A” using all sorts of themes or ideas. There are three pretty interesting ways of shaping letters that you can see here.

Your challenge is to choose six of your favourite letters and to design them using a brand new, innovative and interesting theme.

Let’s brain storm a list of possible themes and then get designing:

Striving For Accuracy And Precision Letters will only look good if they are incredibly neat, tidy and super well coloured. Your design work will have to be very accurate, precise and neat. Sloppy drawing will just not do!

Letter Themes

Teachers Matter

Funky, bright bubble letters

You could do the whole alphabet and use your letters for your projects or posters.

Cute, animal letters

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Yummy, jelly bean letters A.Rennie 2010

Teachers Resources & Lessons

by Adrian Rennie Thinking About Thinking Metacognition We do not often stop and question every day objects or ideas. Stop and think about the idea of beauty, the things you think are beautiful and the meaning of beauty. Be more aware of what you base your opinions on.

What is beauty? Images on television and in the media show us people that are supposed to be beautiful. Who decides what kind of people end up in those shows? What a teenage, city girl thinks is beautiful will be very different from an old, African tribesman. There is an old saying that says, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, which means that every person has their own opinion. But are there things that are beautiful to everyone? What makes a piece of art work a beautiful masterpiece?

THINGS THAT ARE NOT BEAUTIFUL

THINGS THAT ARE BEAUTIFUL

Thinking like this should never be kept to yourself. Share your ideas with thinking buddies. Use their ideas to expand your own thinking.

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Teachers Resources & Lessons

by Adrian Rennie Thinking Interdependently Use this great activity as a chance to connect with others in your learning team. Smile at them, look them in the eye, use their name and use a lovely tone in your voice.

Teachers Matter

Go on a person hunt. In your learning group see if you can hunt down a person for each of these criteria. Record their name then ask them for an extra piece of information. When you do that you are having a respectful conversation and building a better relationship with that person. You are being better friends!

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Find someone who… …has had a pet die …plays a sport …watches cartoons …eats chocolate …plays video games …has broken a bone …has neat hand writing …loves hugs …has been to another country …is tough …is great at maths …draws well …smiles a lot …listens well …is kind to others all the time …does lots of housework …is respected …reads a lot …eats lollies …wears glasses …will grow up to be rich …can tell time perfectly …writes in a diary …wears colourful clothes …is always very clean …doesn’t eat meat …plays a musical instrument …has had to call an ambulance …always tries hard …swims in the ocean a lot …hasn’t been in hospital

Name

Thinking And Communicating With Clarity And Precision Speak clearly and in full sentences!

Be ready to add reasons and extra information to questions from others. Ask other people for more information. Ask questions that need more than one word answers.

Extra Information

SIMON EVANS

The face of e-learning Instead of being its own subject, think of ways to integrate e-learning into your other lessons.

T

From everything Joyce and I talked about, it struck me how EIT is moving away from segregation of online versus on-campus courses to building a supportive Learning Management System capable of supporting “on campus” courses and redefining the look, feel and support of the distance learning component.

“Oh,” says the receptionist, “you’re the Facebookman?”

At EIT there is a move away from “e-learning” as courses are recognised as sitting somewhere on a wide spectrum of technology integration. E-Learning can be a misleading term in tertiary. The concept

The reality is that I met Joyce Seitzinger, e-learning advisor, via Twitter, and not Facebook, but I won’t argue the point.

of e-learning is good, but the branding is not. Until recently, e-learning has been synonymous with distance learning, but that’s no longer the case. With this “new generation” of students there is an expectation, a demand, for the inclusion of technology in the teaching of all subjects, not just information and communication technology (ICT). There has to be a more blended approach to teaching and learning, to allowing students not just better access to resources online but also access to the learning environment and community itself.

PHOT P PH HOT OTO: CATHY ATH Y YEULET

he Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) sits on the outer edges of Napier, behind Taradale. Open countryside is two minutes away. The modern-looking campus is pleasing to the eye with its bright colours, open spaces and lush green hills in the background. I call into the office and announce my arrival.

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SIMON EVANS E I T ’s d e v e l o p m e n t o f e-learning began some 10 years ago with a number of computing lecturers developing a web presence and experimenting with Blackboard, a learning management system.

This system suited the needs of the moment, but as users began to expand and funding became t i g h t e r, a “ c h e a p e r ” and apparently better option — Moodle — was pursued in 2006.

With no fee, no licence requirement and open source status, and a strong New Zealand user community, it appeared to be the natural choice.

“ The adoption of learning technologies into the classroom requires a shift in skills, in pedagogy and knowledge of the tools, which are often still changing. ”

Teachers Matter

However, the cost of “free” was not quite as it should have been. The number of hours spent by technicians and in-house computer gurus on personalising and integrating Moodle into the existing infrastructure was significant. Then there was the issue of training both staff and students.

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There is a growing demand from students for improved access to course materials across all the courses. With the online environment comes a more flexible course structure, and contact with students can be extended from the two- or three-weekly lessons to include online discussion forums, wikis for collaborative writing projects and links to latest resources on the web. Staff find they almost must embrace this technology, as student demand grows. If one lecturer in a programme offers course notes, materials and resources from an online workspace, then the other lecturers must often quickly follow suit. This means that Moodle is here to stay and training in all its functionalities is imperative. For what is true of many schools and colleges, is also true at EIT. In the early days of ICT in education, budgeted monies were targeted toward the logical visible “things,” infrastructure, hardware and software. Staff were often expected to upskill themselves. But the adoption of learning technologies into the classroom requires a shift in skills, in pedagogy and knowledge of the tools, which are often still changing. And so in its new teaching and learning plan, EIT has put the emphasis on strong professional development and support for teachers. Moodle is capable of a variety of uses, as Joyce demonstrates in her

Moodle Tool Guide, but someone still has to show users how to drive it.

One of the ways EIT wants to support staff is by allowing them to become 21st-century learners themselves. There are several key aspects to continuing professional development and “life-long learning” for both yourself and your staff in this age.

Firstly, have staff develop their Professional Learning Network (PLN). A Professional

Learning Network takes time and energy.

Many, informal learning communities exist within Facebook and on Twitter. Who you “friend” determines your PLN. Encourage staff to be more active with their online profiles. Microblogging, which is Twitter and Facebook, is time-intensive. There are a number of other forums that may help direct people with similar passions and interests, LinkdIn being one, and maintaining a blog maybe another. Professional material, an e-portfolio or simply a profile on your wiki, may offer people more information about you and your teaching philosophy beyond a blurb on the school website.

Enabling staff to experiment with software, and giving time and flexibility in the curriculum can encourage them to be more innovative in their teaching practice and open new opportunities for their students.

There are many tools for social networking, creating content and editing an array of material. Keeping up-to-date is becoming increasingly impossible as the Internet expands, but having a curious nature and a willingness to try different things will help. For example, experiment with Google Docs, and if you think it would help in your teaching, give it a go. Sign up to PodOmatic and investigate oral language.

Teach in NZ, the UK or other International locations through Synarbor Education Contact us today on Ph: 0800 336 523 NewZealand@synarbor.com www.synarboreducation.com We can help you find an exciting new teaching placement Synarbor Education is a global recruitment agency specialising in education. We cater for all levels of teaching positions within primary, secondary and SEN schools in NZ, London, throughout the UK and overseas.

YVONNE GODFREY

Empowering the next generation Lead the way – and then let go.

A

society rises and falls on the quality of its leadership. Currently, we are not equipping and releasing our young people well enough. The result: They are struggling to successfully transition from adolescence to adult. This deficit leaves a mighty gap in the country’s future stability and robs our young people of their ability to make it on their own.

Because we have not clearly presented the realities of life to our young people, many are happy being fed like zoo animals instead of hunting and fighting for their futures.

Who should equip the next generation?

Every adult who comes in contact with a child or young adult has a part to play in helping him or her through the maturation process. The saying is true that it takes a village to raise a child.

“ Train up a child in the way that she should go, and when she is older, she will not depart from it.”

PHO PH HOT H OTO OT O:: KAI AI CHIAN H HI HIA G

While teachers equip them with specific academic, artistic or sports skills, parents model how life should be lived as a whole.

This includes teaching and setting an example. Since parents have the longerterm vested interest and impart a wider curriculum, it is my opinion that parents have a far greater responsibility than teachers. Once a child reaches employment age, it is the responsibility of the leadership within the organization to recognise the young adult’s potential, train her and make a way for her to move through the ranks.

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Train up a child in the way that he should go It is also important to pay close attention to a child’s innate strengths, gifts and talents, because when these are developed, they are likely to yield the best return on investment.

Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is older, he will not depart from it. This old proverb also emphasizes that training is vital. Today, too many parents are letting their teens drop out of school because they are bored or rebellious instead of making them toe the line or face the consequences of their decisions.

Enforce consequences of not learning Many young people are being shielded from the consequences of dropping out.

They simply go on a government benefit, or worse still, Mum and Dad keep providing accommodation, food and even “luxuries” like cigarettes and alcohol so that the poor little love doesn’t have to persevere with that horrible study. Unfortunately, every day spent in isolation (at home on the computer with no purpose) drives this young person’s self esteem lower. It sounds like fun and freedom to leave school and “hangout” at home with mates, but it is a short-lived happiness.

Teachers Matter

The rare kid leaves school at 15 and goes on to become a huge entrepreneurial successes, but most simply get trapped in adolescence.

These kids don’t get to learn about delayed gratification, how to persevere, become resilient and become responsible adults.

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Parents who allow this contribute to their teenager losing confidence and becoming weak. It is better to insist that the student remain at school or tertiary education until he or she has something productive to go to. Employees also have a huge role to play in empowering young adults. We all lose heart from time to time, and we need others around us who will not let us off the hook, but help us to navigate through the tough

PHOTO: CATHY YEULET

YVONNE GODFREY

times and to get over the speed bumps that can derail even the best potential leader.

Offer opportunities As the older generation, our contacts and networks are wide. We should be able to collaborate to find opportunities for our young adults. When we promote others, share resources, and connect people for mutual benefit, we become like an extended Aunty or Uncle network with almost limitless possibilities.

Let them have a go and get their noses bloodied!

Opportunities are given but leadership is taken, and it gets taken through trial and error. We can never empower the next generation to lead if we won’t allow them to experience temporary defeat and hardship.

Remember that the goal is to hand the baton over to a generation that will take over from us and provide leadership for our grandchildren.

Empowering has two parts. The first is to equip, and the second is to release gradually, then let go completely. We can never do that if we keep stepping in and compensating.

Why are parents unwilling to release and let go?

• Parents do not trust their ill-equipped young adult’s ability to make wise decisions.

• Young adults who are not made to step up are mentally and often morally weak, and they hang onto the comforts of home.

• Divorced parents may compensate their guilty feelings by giving money and doing things instead of training their kids.

• Parents who are not prepared for their own transition into their second half of life are inclined to hold onto their kids as a kind of midlife prop.

If parents do not release their young adults, a codependent relationship develops that eventually becomes so dysfunctional it implodes. Both generations become resentful and feel robbed of their futures.

Why is the older generation in the workplace unwilling to release and let go?

Ego! With job insecurity higher than ever, some so-called leaders in the workplace feel threatened by the younger generation. This does not stop the young adult, of course. If they can’t get through, they simply leave and go to another company that will let them shine. This leaves the ego-strangled company weaker than ever with no emerging leadership.

They were never modeled and don’t know how to empower. Some people “do” well but teach poorly.

Instead of wringing our hands in frustration, let’s take a keener interest in the next generation. It is up to us to take the time to teach, train and encourage the next generation to lead.

ROBYN PEARCE

How long does it take to become efficient?

It’s a skill you can learn, if you want to and have the time.

C

an efficiency be taught?

I recently asked my 80-year-old Aunt Peg, who ran teams and offices for many years, this question.

“Efficiency is a life-long discipline, and not everyone has it or can learn it,” she said. “Some people are naturally efficient and disciplined. Others are not; they need constant supervision by someone who has it. If you’ve got a staff member who needs that extra level of supervision, you have to always know what they’ve got on, keep an eye on their work, make sure that they do what’s required, and be prepared to help if they can’t or haven’t finished.”

I believe people can learn efficiency, once shown the techniques. They may need a long time to anchor the skill, depending on their learning styles and what ability they start with. It doesn’t come to them naturally, but they pull themselves up by the bootstraps over time.

Square pegs in round holes Not long after the conversation with my aunt, I was asked to work with a young team leader in a tertiary educational organisation.

We’ll call her Sally. She had major efficiency challenges. These showed up in a messy environment and an overload of work, and she was unrealistically optimism about her ability to manage everything.

The department head was frustrated; other departments complained about a lack of communication; and Sally’s team felt either over- or under-managed depending on the moment. Sally felt as though she was never good enough, no matter what she did, or how many hours she worked, or how much she sacrificed her personal life. The joy had gone out of life and work.

Sally sat somewhat right of middle on the continuum below. I believe she’ll conquer her challenges over time, but the further to the right a person is, the longer she needs

to make change – if she wants to. (Some people don’t care; they just wander their way through life.)

The continuum: Naturally efficient — learned behaviour — life-long struggle Natural achievement level You may have heard the phrase “promoted to, or beyond, their level of incompetence.”

It happens in all industries. Someone is a brilliant teacher, but a terrible principal; an amazing salesperson but an inadequate sales manager; a great builder but a poor manager of a building company.

We have a range of natural achievement levels in everything we engage in. For instance I’ve developed a reasonable achievement level in writing non-fiction. However, my achievement (or skill) level with fiction is much lower, simply because I haven’t practiced it much. To move beyond and not allow it to become a limitation requires lots of work as well as new knowledge.

In Sally’s case, her day-to-day work was excellent, but at the time of her promotion to team leader she didn’t have the right mix of skills. With a warm and caring personality, she worked well when she was part of a team, but this strength needed to be modified for her to become a good leader and delegator.

Instead, she frequently spent time helping others with their work, leaving her own key tasks unfinished. Whenever anyone asked for help, her generous spirit and eternal willingness to help made her want to stop whatever she was doing, no matter how important and no matter for whom, and extend the helping hand. To prioritise her own work as more important than other people’s didn’t come naturally. She wasn’t good at saying “no” appropriately.

With time and practice, Sally will improve the necessary skills, if she applies herself.

However, in this particular situation, there were commercial implications that couldn’t

wait. She was asked to resign.

She now has a choice. One is to regroup, lick her wounds, and build up those required skills in a less responsible and less stressful situation. The other is to say, “Well, that was a learning opportunity and what I’ve learnt is that I never want to be a team leader or manager again.” Neither is right or wrong; it just depends on our goals.

Matching task and person If you’re experiencing a situation like this, there’s no shame in changing your mind and stepping back. Life is too short to burn yourself out in an environment that doesn’t suit your natural style. If you want to move into new arenas, look for non-critical opportunities to practice the required new skills before you put yourself on the line.

(Voluntary organisations are a great way to learn and practice all manner of skills.)

And if you’re a head of department, avoid putting people into a critical position of responsibility, or passing over full responsibility, until they’ve proven themselves in smaller ways. Be prepared to coach and supervise until you’re confident the staff member has a grip on her task, and you’ve got a grip on her skill level.

Some managers hesitate to check the work of their staff whilst it’s in progress, for fear of appearing to lack trust.

How you set up review meetings is one key: If you establish sufficient review guidelines in the beginning to catch potential problems, the review meetings become “the way we do things round here,” rather than inappropriate checking.

And if things just aren’t working out, bite the bullet, have a frank heart-to-heart with the person concerned, and encourage her to look for different and less stressful opportunities. In almost all cases, she’ll thank you for it later.

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Teachers Resources & Lessons

by Adrian Rennie

Wow! Imagine that an inventor has come to you with a special potion that cures all diseases and illnesses.

It’s amazing! No one will be sick ever again. People are going to love it! He has one small problem. He’s put his special potion in a bottle but he needs a really snazzy Creating, label that will tell shoppers what it is and how cool it is.

Imagining and Ideas Brain Storm Area Generate images that portray strength and health.

Innovating Be original and creative when designing your label. Select images that relate well to a magical potion like this.

Managing Impulsivity Stop and think. Don’t charge ahead without thinking. Generate some cool ideas to choose from before going ahead.

Thinking and Communicating With Clarity and Precision Create a clear, easy to read label that gets the message across.

Right! Here’s the real label. Every cm should be covered with colour and really well designed. Think about the lettering and the images you would need to capture the interest of the customers.

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WENDY SWEET

Kids in gyms

R

Teachers Matter

ecently I talked with a school about their new sports facility with a weights room and cardio area. They were excited about how it would help students involved in extra-curricular sports and provide opportunities for learning health and sports science. They would no longer waste valuable teaching time transporting students to a local community fitness facility to complete various NCEA level fitness activities. When I asked if they were aware of the newly revised New Zealand guidelines for children, looks of bewilderment fell over their faces. It has been a similar story at other schools. Whilst these guidelines are not specifically intended for school fitness facilities (this is rightly the domain of the Ministry of Education), they are helpful for PE teachers.

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The guidelines were developed in Australia, and Fitness NZ has now collaborated with Fitness Australia to develop a separate set of guidelines. For many years medical specialists have cautioned against children “pushing weights.” This was rightly so as too often a lack of supervision and adultsized weight machines meant that correct technique wasn’t taught and that the risk of injury was high. As well, growing bones often can’t keep up with the stress placed on the ends of them (epiphyseal plates) from muscles contracting against heavy external loads. However, times have changed.

Australia and New Zealand top global child obesity statistics, and health and fitness providers want to stop the trend of physical inactivity. Schools are no exception.

Whilst natural play, organised action, curriculum-driven PE and extra-curricular sports remain the “activities of choice” for children, research continues to acknowledge that children can achieve health gains and fitness improvements using weights and cardiovascular machines. The intent of the guidelines is ensuring safety. PE teachers who don’t have on-site fitness facilities but still visit local community facilities especially

“Whilst natural p l a y, o r g a n i s e d action, curriculumdriven PE and extra-curricular sports remain the “activities of choice” for children, research continues to acknowledge that children can achieve health gains and fitness improvements using weights and cardiovascular machines.”

appreciate knowing these guidelines. The entire guidelines are offered on the Fitness NZ website, www.fitnessnz.co.nz, as a down-loadable PDF resource. Here are some highlights that I gathered: • Staff and/or sports coaches involved in teaching resistance training techniques to children and youth must have the appropriate qualifications ( The industry standard for exercise professionals is registration with the NZ Register of

PHOTO: IGOR TEREKHOV

New guidelines focus on safety and supervision.

Exercise Professionals (REPS), so I suggest that it will be up to schools to decide on the appropriate qualifications they require from any external coaching staff who may be using the weights room for training sports teams/ individuals) • The facility must have written policies outlining its duty of care when students are involved in classes or training.

• Cardiovascular equipment and weights machines are recommended to have diagrams/ instructions attached pertaining to the safe and correct use of them.

• Pre-exercise health screening must identify those at specific risk for partaking in resistance training (e.g. hypertensive participants; prior musculo-skeletal injury; joint pain or disease (OsgoodSchlatter disease); obesity-related diseases).

• All equipment must be adjustable in order to accommodate the physiological and biomechanical differences in children.

• Close adult supervision is essential when free weights are being used.

• Equipment must be well maintained and the weights room must meet Health and Safety requirements. This includes ventilation, noise (music), exit access, distance between pieces of equipment; safe storage of equipment; hygiene standards for equipment; maintenance of gym rules when students are in the facility.

• Student: Teacher ratios of 8:1 when resistance training exercise-to-music classes are taught (e.g. Pump classes).

• All written resistance training programmes developed for children and youth markets must meet best-practice guidelines for safe exercise prescription from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

KAREN TOBICH

Summer entertaining Your garden or a farmer’s market can be the first step to a fresh and fabulous meal.

Summer Menu Summer seafood ratatouille tarts Roast beef with berry salsa Yoghurt berry dessert in a cone

T

his time of the year is so glorious. I love that I can step out in the garden and come back into the kitchen with a basket full of summer vegetables and sun-ripened berries. It is so rewarding. It is well worth growing your own, even if it is just in a basket on your balcony. However, if you do not have the time or the space, just take a trip to your local farmer’s market, and you will be able to fill your basket.

This is an ideal menu for outside entertaining. I love it, as it can be prepared well ahead of time, takes little time to assemble and leaves you the chance to spend quality time entertaining family and friends.

Summer Seafood Ratatouille Tart You will need: 1 block of store bought savoury pastry 1/2 cup of ground almond meal 1/2 cup of grated parmesan freshly ground black pepper 1 large eggplant 2-3 Zucchinis 1-2 capsicums (yellow, orange or red) 8 button mushrooms 8 small vine tomatoes 1 large meaty tomato 1 large red onion 9 cloves of garlic peeled 8 baby leeks or baby onions some fresh oregano and thyme 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese 8 scallops 16 prawns 2 fillets of monk fish (or any other firm white fish) Defrost a block of store-bought pastry and knead it through with the almond meal, parmesan cheese and some freshly ground black pepper. You will end up with a ball of smooth pastry. Shape it into a thick sausage, wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Take pastry out of fridge, cut into eight equal pieces. Roll out each piece until about 2 to 3mm thick and press into a pre-oiled mini tart pan. Prick the base in several places with a fork and

bake in a pre-heated oven until golden. Take out of oven, and let the pastry cases slightly cool before removing them from the tin. Once cooled, they can be stored for several days in an airtight container.

Cut the eggplant, zucchini and capsicum into 2 to 3cm chunks. Place eight pieces of each vegetable on a baking tray, and put the remainder in a pot.

To the pot add the large diced tomato, the finely chopped red onion, one chopped garlic clove and some oregano and thyme leaves; season with salt and pepper and cook over low to medium heat until you have a thick saucy consistency. Set aside.

On a baking tray arrange eight pieces of each, button mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, vine tomatoes, garlic cloves and baby leeks or onions. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, oregano and thyme leaves and roast in the oven at 180 degrees until just tender. Cut the monk fish into 2 to 3cm chunks (you

should end up with two to three chunks per tart). Season fish, scallops and prawns and grill on BBQ or in a large hot fry pan until just cooked.

To assemble, spread a couple of spoonfuls of the thick saucy vegetable mixture in each pastry case. Arrange fish, prawns and scallop together with one piece of each of the roasted vegetables. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and place in pre-heated oven at 180 degree for 10to 15 minutes.

Serve with some salad greens as a starter.

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KAREN TOBICH

Roast Beef with Berry Salsa Served with Crusty Bread You will need: ½ an eye fillet salt and pepper for seasoning 400g mixed berries (you can even use frozen berries) 160ml olive oil 80ml balsamic vinegar 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard 1 tbsp soft brown sugar 2 cloves of garlic crushed 2-3 tbsp capers 1 medium chopped onion baby spinach leaves (enough to cover your platter) 12 - 15 beans or asparagus spears 8 -10 sugar snap peas (optional) 1 small red onion (optional) 1 tbsp of capers (optional) 1 loaf of crusty bread like ciabatta bread Make the salsa first or well ahead of time.

The longer the berries get to marinade, the better the taste. I usually keep a jar of this berry salsa in the fridge to serve with steak or any other BBQ meat.

Place olive oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic and sugar in a jar, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Place berries, onions and capers in a bowl; pour the dressing over the berries and carefully stir or fold to make sure all berries are covered. Set aside and give mixture another stir every now and again, especially if you are using frozen berries.

Teachers Matter

Season the eye fillet with salt and pepper coat well with some olive oil. Sear it in a hot skillet or on the BBQ until well browned all over. Place in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for another 15 to 20 minutes. This will give you a medium-rare piece of meat.

Take out of the oven, and let the meat rest for at least 20minutes.

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Steam the beans for two to three minutes; cool in cold water and drain. Arrange baby spinach leaves on a platter; top with beans, sugar snap peas, onions and capers. Cut the eye fillet into thin slices; arrange on the bed of vegetables; top with berry salsa.

Serve with crusty bread, extra salsa and a glass of Pinot Noir.

KAREN TOBICH

Yoghurt Berry Dessert in a Cone

Makes 8-10 Dessert Cones You will need: 1 litre thick Greek yoghurt or 500g quark zest of 2 lemons finely grated 1/4 cup of caster sugar 1 ½ cups of your favourite berries in season 1 packet of waffle ice cream cones 100g of dark chocolate 100g white chocolate

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a glass bowl over a pot of slow boiling water. Brush the inside of some cones with white melted chocolate and the rest with the dark chocolate and set aside. This can be done a day or so ahead of time. Just store the cones in an airtight container.

Line a bowl with a muslin cloth or a tea towel pour in the yoghurt; tie ends of the cloth together and hang it over the bowl for two to three hours to let the whey drain off; this will leave you with a thick creamy mixture.

Stir together the finely grated lemon zest, sugar and drained yoghurt. Set aside in fridge for 15 minutes or until ready to serve.

(You can prepare yoghurt mixture up to two days ahead of time; store mixture in a sealed container in the fridge) Just before serving, carefully fold the berries through the yoghurt mixture. Put some of the berries aside for decoration. Spoon the yoghurt mixture into ice cream waffle cones and decorate with berries.

If you do not have time to do this (but believe me it is well worth the extra effort), just use 500g of quark.

71

JENNY BARRETT

Just-in-time teaching made easy The newest way to share information engages more students.

W

Teachers Matter

hen I first saw visualisers, they seemed to be glorified overhead projectors that let you keep the lights on rather than plunge everyone into darkness. However, when I later saw them used in the UK, I was blown away by the ease with which a teacher could practice the much advocated “just-in-time” teaching.

An ESOL student had a letter from the police and asked her teacher to translate it. The teacher, after checking that the letter wasn’t sensitive, slid it under the visualiser, and the students, using the built-in annotation tools, deconstructed the text. Almost every student took a turn, and at the end, the student who had brought the letter in read it in English and in their first language, Syhleti. The teacher used the built-in video recording function to capture both versions and saved the video onto a pen drive for the student to take home and play on a home PC. I was hooked.

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What is a visualiser?

It is an easy-to-use presentation tool. Simply connect the visualiser directly to a projector or monitor or via a PC to a projector, and

turn it on. Place the desired object under the camera. The image size can be enlarged or reduced, and depending on the type of visualiser, audio, still images and video can be captured and software can be used to interact with the image (e.g. labelling) or text (e.g. highlighting, correcting).

Examples of use Any book is a big book Aberdeen School in Hamilton has been using visualisers for over a year now with this approach. The teachers slide a book or text under the visualiser, and every student can clearly see the text and images, and if the visualiser comes with annotation software or you have an interactive whiteboard, the students can highlight adjectives and identify the main characters or different types of punctuation. They can examine nonfiction texts for key points or main facts; think of the photocopying saved. Paintings and other artwork can be examined and critiqued, again with the option of being able to make those annotations directly onto a captured image of the painting.

These captured images (simple jpgs) with the students’ annotated feedback can then be shared via eportfolios or your learning management system.

Anything is a big thing And of course this doesn’t apply to just documents and text. Visualisers particularly lend themselves to subject areas or activities that really require a visual element.

Sometimes everyone gathers around at the front of the class, but maybe only those

students closest can really see the activity, and the remainder loses interest. Tawa Intermediate used the visualiser to show how you could made casein plastic by adding vinegar to a pot of heated milk. The whole class could see the transformation as the vinegar was stirred into the milk. When the reaction was complete, the students moulded their own piece of plastic under the visualiser, and the video recording function captured their work.

Visualisers have a zoom function. Science students at Sacred Heart Girls School in Hamilton have used the visualiser for experiments with crystals, growing native

plants and working with circuits. The teacher witnessed increased engagement, inquiry learning, self-directed learning, the application of science to everyday life and passion in her students. She considered it a most powerful tool.

Modelling The ability to visually showcase activities lends itself perfectly to modelling a task or explaining a concept. At Aberdeen School, a teacher and her students used the visualiser to explain how to read time on a range of clocks and watches. At Tawa Intermediate, a teacher used a visualiser to demonstrate how to use a protractor, a compass and a calculator. In our training sessions, we talk about using a visualiser to capture students

JENNY BARRETT

modelling numeracy strategies, running through a graphic organiser, filling in a worksheet, and reading a map.

Recording The visualiser’s recording feature has a myriad of applications. For kindergartens and new entrants, teachers can capture “show and tell” for family and friends.

Have primary students read their stories and act out role plays; visualisers often have gooseneck or adjustable heads so that the teacher can place the camera in any direction. For all students, capture and document any achievement in one, easy step. Nail those national standards!

The teachable moment Going back to just-in-time teaching: Tawa Intermediate particularly saw the value of the visualiser in being able to grab that teachable moment. They used a novel that a student had been reading to provide examples of descriptive language and an advertisement in the paper to showcase persuasive writing. They spent time working toward the students being comfortable putting their work on display and having the class provide feedback until it became the norm. At the other end of the spectrum, the littlies at Aberdeen couldn’t wait to display their writing and pictures.

In both cases, it was obvious that student engagement grew as students could share their own contributions. Also they knew that there would be an audience other than the teacher, and the feedback motivated them to raise their game.

What to consider when choosing a visualiser Quality of image There are two crucial factors to consider: the number of megapixels and the quality of the lens. You can easily find the former in the visualiser specifications. The latter is

not often detailed, and ideally you would need to compare models side by side. Just because a model has three megapixels, for example, don’t think it’s a guarantee of a great picture: The image may be undermined by the len’s quality. A lower megapixel visualiser may actually deliver a better-quality image. Price can usually be an indication of the len’s quality.

Quality of moving image required Frame rate has a great impact on the overall appearance of a moving image.

Frame rate is the number of times the image refreshes per second and is often referred to as fps (frames per second). For example, a visualiser that refreshes 30 frames per second will have much smoother movement than one that refreshes 15 frames per second. For general school use, 24 fps is adequate, but you would want a higher fps to follow a dissection to avoid jerky movements.

Zoom There are three ways to make objects appear larger when using a visualiser: Mechanical zoom where you bend the gooseneck so that the head is physically closer to the object – cheap and cheerful. Optical zoom which means that there is no degradation in the quality of image, but there will be a cost attached, and you need to balance your need for detail versus your budget.

Digital zoom resamples the image to make it appear larger and results in degradation of quality, but is often less expensive than optical zoom. *Resolution of the display device The quality of your input will now have been determined, so next you need to

consider your output device as this will impact the image’s final quality, too. It is important to match your visualiser resolution, or input resolution, with your output resolution, whether it is a data projector or a computer monitor. Thus TELA laptops are higher usually than XGA, and data projectors in school classrooms should be XGA or better, so you would be looking for a compatible visualiser. If you were running your PC or your visualiser through a SVGA data projector, this will significantly degrade the image.

Lighting Many document cameras are equipped with lights that allow you to brighten the subject and dispel shadows. The type of lighting you need depends on your room.

In a bright, well-lit room, lighting may not be needed; however, in a dark room or room with uneven lighting, sidelights can be used. A special type of light is a backlight, which allows you to use transparencies, X-rays or slides.

Image Storage A growing number of visualisers allow you to actually capture and store images for later use. Some use memory cards or USB for storage, and others utilize internal memory that can be downloaded into a computer.

Portability Do you want to be able to put away the visualiser or move it around, or would a fixed solution be more appropriate? Check out the accessories: Some visualisers come with carry bags and are designed to be moved from teaching space to teaching space, but I wouldn’t want to share!

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BARBARA GRIFFITH AND TRICIA KENYON

Simple or sophisticated: Working with picture books Explore the story and so much more with these authors.

We

look at the pictures, read the words and think about the story, but what if there is a twist in the way the words are used? Here are two authors who make words fun – as well as the entire reading experience. The first uses many words that start with the same letter sound. This approach makes the text more interesting and exciting to say.

Using words this way is called alliteration; it is like a tongue twister. Both of her books featured here offer the readers lots of new and unusual vocabulary to explore. The second author explores fears and power, presenting your students with opportunities for creating something new. Dive in with one of these ideas:

“Four famished foxes make fun of their brother Fosdyke, who feels fondly for fried figs, fennel, and French bread. Leaving him behind to fry and flambé, they go foraging for fowl in a forbidden farmyard. Unfortunately, the foxes find the fowl forewarned. Foiled, they return to their den. Will they ever filch a fabulous farmyard feast? Or will they forgo fowl and finally admit that a “fox is a fox, whatever the food”?”

Book back cover

FOUR FAMISHED FOXES AND FOSDYKE ISBN 0-06443480-x

SOME SMUG SLUG ISBN 0-060443502-4

“A self-assured slug slinks up a suspicious sloping surface.

Scoffing at shouts of “Stop!” from spectators, the smug slug finally reaches the summit. Is he in for a shocking surprise? “

Author - Pamela Duncan Edwards

Book back cover

Illustrator - Henry Cole Publisher - HarperCollins Publisher

Group work

1. Word meanings Using a page or double spread, ask the children to list the words that they are unfamiliar with and to “make an educated guess” as to what the word might mean. Bring it back to the class level and share their ideas on word meanings and then use a resources to locate or check the correct meaning.

Teachers Matter

Word Frantic

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Our meaning Scared

Correct meaning Worried, anxious

2. Parts of speech List the words starting with the key letter and then identify its part of speech.

EG

Four

frantic

foxes

fled

Adjective

Adjective

Noun

verb

to

their

foxhole noun

to

escape

from

the

fray.” noun

BARBARA GRIFFITH AND TRICIA KENYON

Once there waas a frog who wanted to be anything but a small green frog. He finds a very mixed-up book of spellls and takes matters into hiis own hands. But magic spells don’t always turn out the way you expect.

This book has been made with a split page format which gives the opportunity to play in a fun way with spelling using onset and rime.

Little Mouse is afraid of everything, but she faces her fears and records them in her journal - and discovers that even the biggest people are afraid of something.

3. Creating a tongue twister/ alliterative sentence Choose a different animal to create a sentence. Using a key letter, brainstorm words that begin with that letter that could be used; select the ones you want; and create your tongue twister.

EG

Tiger,

Nouns:

tiger, tree, tail, terror, tortoise,

Verbs:

twisted, tracked, trembled,

Adjectives:

terrific, terrible, trusting, terrified

“I wanted to make a book that showed that we are all scared of something, and decided that a mouse was the perfect character for the role because they are little and nervy.”

Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears

‘The terrible tiger tracked the tortoise to the tree.’

‘The terrified tiger twisted his tail behind the tree.’

As children become more skilled, vocabulary level will lift and sentences/tongue twisters will expand.

4. A boring rewrite Choose a portion of the story and rewrite it in a boring way.

LITTLE MOUSE’S BIG BOOK OF FEAR ISBN 978-0-230-01619-4

Activities 1. Search for other fears and phobias and create a class list of your findings.

EG

2. Create your own phobia.

EG wormaphobia – fear of worms

“One summer Sunday while strolling on soil, with its antennae signaling, a slug sensed a slope.”

Illustrate with simple sketches what it might look like.

SPELLS ISBN 978-0-230-53136-9

Author & Illustrator - Emily Gravett Publisher - MacMillian Children’s Books

Becomes: “One day a slug was walking about and it thought there was a hill in front of it.”‘

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BARBARA GRIFFITH AND TRICIA KENYON

3. Refer to the double page spread on Aichmophobia.

You will notice that this fear has been related to a nursery rhyme. See how newspaper cuttings have been used to explore the relationship in a humorous way.

Choose another fear from the book and identify a nursery rhyme or fairy tale that could be linked to the fear. Create some newspaper cuttings, adverts, a poster, or cartoons to show the relationship in your layout. Be prepared to explain your selection.

EG Acrophobia (a fear of heights) - Humpty Dumpty.

Spells Activities 1. Using the split pages, explore all the animal possibilities, then create some of your own.

- Each child selects an animal and keeps it secret.

A suggestion: make four legged animals stand on two legs when sketching them to make it easier to complete the drawing.

- Each child needs the same-sized piece of blank paper.

- Fold the paper in half horizontally, open and draw the upper half of the animal you have selected on the top half.

- When you have finished, in the top left corner put the first letter or blend of your animal’s name.

- Fold the paper horizontally again to hide your animal top but allow the waist size to show, see diagram.

- Pass your paper to another person to draw the bottom of their chosen animal under your animal top.

- You complete the bottom of the other person’s animal. When completed put the rest of your animal’s name at the right bottom.

- Open the paper once the bottom is completed and see what animal you have created.

2. Using the spell layout in the book, write your own spell to create the animal that was drawn in the above activity.

3. Create a list of new animals from the names of two animals.

EG

Zebra + snake = zake or snebra.

Teachers Matter

Buffalo + horse = huffalo or borse.

76

THE LAST WORD: KAREN BOYES

Developing self esteem in children Move beyond one lesson, and boost their self esteem daily.

D

eveloping positive self esteem is crucial for success. I recently overheard a teacher say, “We have finished our self esteem unit. What’s next?”

Self esteem isn’t a topic; it is what you teach and develop every day. Schools and society have changed, and we are facing new challenges on a daily basis.

Tom Hoerr, principal of New City School in St. Louis, says, “If you put a group of students in a room with lots of books and never taught reading, a few would learn because it’s a natural gift. So why do we assume if we create the right environment, children will develop self esteem? We have to teach it and work on it constantly.”

In the 1940s, the top seven non-scholastic problems in schools were listed as: 1. Talking in class 2. Chewing gum 3. Making noise 4. Running in the halls 5. Getting out of turn in line 6. Wearing improper clothing 7. Not putting paper in the rubbish bin During the last decade in the U.S.A, the top seven were: 1. Drug abuse and addiction 2. Alcohol abuse and addiction 3. Pregnancy 4. Suicide 5. Rape 6. Robbery 7. Assault These are far greater challenges to deal with in the classroom.

So why has this shift happened? Yes, drugs and alcohol may be more readily available, but the abuse and addiction may come down to low self esteem — not feeling strong enough to say no in a peer group and looking for outside options to feel good.

When teenagers have been surveyed as to why they fell pregnant, the number one response is “I just wanted someone to love.”

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So what can we do to raise self esteem in our students? To make them feel good about themselves?

to find the good in all situations. If it is hard to find, ask them, “what could be good if you want it to be?”

Teachers have taken over some of the parenting role for many students, and the first thing to note is that you cannot build more self esteem in a child than the parent has, according to trainer and speaker Brian Tracy.

So maybe we need to start with the parents.

Ideas include: running parenting meetings; giving parents positive feedback on what they are doing; and taking time to understand a parent’s challenges.

6. Listen like you have all the time in the world.

Put down your work to listen to students.

Other factors that affect self esteem include: • Physical security and safety

9. Allow students to know it’s O.K. to make mistakes and take risks and that their achievement is not tied up in being correct or perfect all the time.

7. Make children feel important on a daily basis by laughing with them, not at them; playing with them; taking time to listen and understand them; and giving frequent smiles.

8. Ensure students know that their classroom surroundings are safe and that no one, while in your classroom, will hurt them physically.

• Emotional security • Identity (image of self, sense of person, how much they like and respect themselves) • Sense of purpose • Sense of belonging • Sense of achievement Action steps for the classroom teacher 1. Model positive self esteem. Step outside your comfort zone regularly to stretch and extend yourself.

2. Create a classroom with a positive emotional environment. Thank students for their participation and encourage them to take risks, make mistakes and learn from these experiences.

3. Set high expectations.

4. Praise students. Allow students to “steal” praise by telling someone else how great they are, while they are listening.

5.Turn the negatives into positives. Have you ever noticed that five years after a negative situation has occurred you can then find the reasons it was actually a good thing? Why wait five years? Do it now. Encourage students

10. Encourage students to think about their thinking and affirm themselves positively with statements such as “I like myself.” A simple statement like this is powerful; the more a person repeats this, the more he will focus on all the good rather than bad in his lives.

11. Give students a reason to exist. Why are they important? Help them see that their lives are purposeful. Celebrate their gifts and the things they are good at.

12. Value their contributions and make them feel important. Tell them regularly “I enjoy having you in my class.” If you don’t mean it at first, find a reason you can say that truthfully.

13. Teach students to frequently celebrate all that they have achieved already in their life, from the smallest success to the big achievements.

Teach them to set goals, chunk them down into achievable steps, and go for it. A great quote I saw recently was “Those who don’t have goals are doomed to work for those who do.”

14. Give the best advice for children from Harry Truman: “Ask what they want to do and advise them to do it.”

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Classroom Response Systems, Touch Table and more

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www.sitech.co.nz Free Phone 0800 100 607 Free Fax 0800 300 607 Sitech Systems NZ Ltd • All prices are subject to change without notice and exclude GST and freight.

Freephone 0800 100 607 • Free Fax 0800 300 607 • Website www.sitech.co.nz