Just heard about Dorothy's passing.
My condolences to everyone close to her.
Sunday 9 October 2011
Sunday 18 September 2011
No second chances to make a good first impression
More of this in future posts.
The agenda for MoE has moved forward.
The agenda for MoE has moved forward.
Saturday 11 June 2011
Not only do I have an idea but I have a plan...
Averages...don't get me started.
MoE has always had a reputation for obscure...wordism.
Innovation is one thing but vague word use is another.
Andy Kempe, it seems to me, has always had his suspicions!!
A good idea here does not work there.
The most frequent comment, always, relates not to content, not to delivery, but always to attitude towards learning [ AtL - behaviour].
Get your policies wrong on this...
A visit today to a well meaning but ultimately badly positioned centre of learning, showed me that jumbled thinking continues to blight the futures of many of our young people.
You work with what you have got.
Miracles are exactly that!
C21st. thinking to solve C19th. problems!!
Possibly...however; future thinking is being blighted by narrow thinking towards the creativity of.. well Dorothy for example.
So, it seems to me, no matter how hard Luke, Ken, Maria et.al. try to promote MoE my students will [unfortunately for...education?] reject this approach to valued learning for all as a mere postscript on their educational route.
Please tell me I am wrong.
For all the promotion. For all the meetings. I still haven't heard MoE mentioned since my last assessment with my students.
They are planning their learning in line with progressive thinking.
I just haven't the heart, at the moment, to assist them with an understanding of the reality of...who knows?
MoE has always had a reputation for obscure...wordism.
Innovation is one thing but vague word use is another.
Andy Kempe, it seems to me, has always had his suspicions!!
A good idea here does not work there.
The most frequent comment, always, relates not to content, not to delivery, but always to attitude towards learning [ AtL - behaviour].
Get your policies wrong on this...
A visit today to a well meaning but ultimately badly positioned centre of learning, showed me that jumbled thinking continues to blight the futures of many of our young people.
You work with what you have got.
Miracles are exactly that!
C21st. thinking to solve C19th. problems!!
Possibly...however; future thinking is being blighted by narrow thinking towards the creativity of.. well Dorothy for example.
So, it seems to me, no matter how hard Luke, Ken, Maria et.al. try to promote MoE my students will [unfortunately for...education?] reject this approach to valued learning for all as a mere postscript on their educational route.
Please tell me I am wrong.
For all the promotion. For all the meetings. I still haven't heard MoE mentioned since my last assessment with my students.
They are planning their learning in line with progressive thinking.
I just haven't the heart, at the moment, to assist them with an understanding of the reality of...who knows?
Monday 16 May 2011
Depression's not a million laughs and suicide's too dangerous.
I discovered recently that one colleague has been taking up to 4 hours to prepare for each 1 hour session of teaching they do.
So, at present a total of 15 sessions [per week] x 4 = 60 hours + 15 hours teaching + meetings + marking + tutorials+ research = one very tired colleague who should not presume they will be teaching the same modules next academic year.
I admire their...constitution.
Somebody should have a word. Their line manager perhaps? I suspect they have, but such is the pressure today of observation and judgement, and the fact that money owing from previous studies needs to be paid back...
The wheel is round for a reason.
Last week I was asked to complete a session for a colleague. No problem. Glad to help out. The 'mountain' of paperwork given to students to complete the task was extremely impressive, including tables, pictures, references and so forth.
Basically it gave them the answers.
It did not require much from the student.
Is this a problem?
The marks will probably be absurdly high for each student. They will receive a high grade for their completed essays.
Is this fair to the students? Probably not. Is this fair to other colleagues? Well...
I want my students to think for themselves, I encourage them to do exactly that. We learn from our mistakes, don't we?
I still want to get better at what I do.
So do my students.
However, I wonder if some departments feel they cannot afford to continue to do this for much longer.
Results, and good results at that, will be expected in a consumer driven agenda from next year.
How many then I wonder will be forced down the same route as my burnt out colleague?
So, at present a total of 15 sessions [per week] x 4 = 60 hours + 15 hours teaching + meetings + marking + tutorials+ research = one very tired colleague who should not presume they will be teaching the same modules next academic year.
I admire their...constitution.
Somebody should have a word. Their line manager perhaps? I suspect they have, but such is the pressure today of observation and judgement, and the fact that money owing from previous studies needs to be paid back...
The wheel is round for a reason.
Last week I was asked to complete a session for a colleague. No problem. Glad to help out. The 'mountain' of paperwork given to students to complete the task was extremely impressive, including tables, pictures, references and so forth.
Basically it gave them the answers.
It did not require much from the student.
Is this a problem?
The marks will probably be absurdly high for each student. They will receive a high grade for their completed essays.
Is this fair to the students? Probably not. Is this fair to other colleagues? Well...
I want my students to think for themselves, I encourage them to do exactly that. We learn from our mistakes, don't we?
I still want to get better at what I do.
So do my students.
However, I wonder if some departments feel they cannot afford to continue to do this for much longer.
Results, and good results at that, will be expected in a consumer driven agenda from next year.
How many then I wonder will be forced down the same route as my burnt out colleague?
Saturday 19 March 2011
Why do some people think Sudoku is good for them?
I digress.
The plodding, methodical, predictability of some of my colleagues, beggars belief.
We create a maze of methodology and then criticise the masters of spin.
I have previously asked if anyone was interested in creating a Dorothy translation. I had several interesting responses. Some of which I intend to use in my retirement speech!
I am rarely, no that is not true, I am always, astounded by some of the the utterances that are made in meetings. I assume that my colleagues are not trying to make me feel inadequate on purpose. Ha, ha.
In fact, they have entered into a field of competition I find difficult to recognise from my earlier years in education.
Undermined and undervalued are common views I now hear from younger colleagues who would willingly change their career route if there were alternatives available. Unfortunately in our current recession these do not exist.
Lessons are being learnt and not all of them are positive.
Current MoE work with students has been focused on issues way beyond my experience of, oh lets say, 20 years ago. Kuwait, Bosnia and now...well let's be honest it's a pretty long list.
I do my best to keep up.
Nowadays it seems that is all I can do.
My students are brilliant.
The plodding, methodical, predictability of some of my colleagues, beggars belief.
We create a maze of methodology and then criticise the masters of spin.
I have previously asked if anyone was interested in creating a Dorothy translation. I had several interesting responses. Some of which I intend to use in my retirement speech!
I am rarely, no that is not true, I am always, astounded by some of the the utterances that are made in meetings. I assume that my colleagues are not trying to make me feel inadequate on purpose. Ha, ha.
In fact, they have entered into a field of competition I find difficult to recognise from my earlier years in education.
Undermined and undervalued are common views I now hear from younger colleagues who would willingly change their career route if there were alternatives available. Unfortunately in our current recession these do not exist.
Lessons are being learnt and not all of them are positive.
Current MoE work with students has been focused on issues way beyond my experience of, oh lets say, 20 years ago. Kuwait, Bosnia and now...well let's be honest it's a pretty long list.
I do my best to keep up.
Nowadays it seems that is all I can do.
My students are brilliant.
Tuesday 1 March 2011
This is not a Love Song
Mantle of the Expert. MoE
Drama for Learning. DfL
Learning through Drama. LtD
This is beginning to remind me of the false creation of battles in the 90's which proved so divisive, in my opinion, for Drama in Education. You had to be seen to be taking sides. Were you a supporter of Hornbrook or not? And so forth.
Forward to 2010 -National Conferences attended by 75 people for goodness sake.
The profile of Drama in Education is dimming again it seems to me.
I mention the far away look of colleagues as I promote MoE at meetings and I receive considerable acknowledgment from around the world that this is not uncommon.
As leaders in the field in the UK we promote outwards, always a good thing in my opinion, however, we work on the basis of only 25.
[ The current figure given by Luke ].
Many of my students are grounded in a reality that is defining an extremely narrow range of options for them at present. They are bold in their intent but very few of us seem to be listening to them. We hear them of course, but, so they tell me, we don't really think about what they are trying to tell us.
They don't believe me when I tell them 75 people are, and they don't find it credible when I tell them of the support they can get from 25 other people.
The figure is derisory, or so it seems to them.
Frankly who can disagree?
Drama for Learning. DfL
Learning through Drama. LtD
This is beginning to remind me of the false creation of battles in the 90's which proved so divisive, in my opinion, for Drama in Education. You had to be seen to be taking sides. Were you a supporter of Hornbrook or not? And so forth.
Forward to 2010 -National Conferences attended by 75 people for goodness sake.
The profile of Drama in Education is dimming again it seems to me.
I mention the far away look of colleagues as I promote MoE at meetings and I receive considerable acknowledgment from around the world that this is not uncommon.
As leaders in the field in the UK we promote outwards, always a good thing in my opinion, however, we work on the basis of only 25.
[ The current figure given by Luke ].
Many of my students are grounded in a reality that is defining an extremely narrow range of options for them at present. They are bold in their intent but very few of us seem to be listening to them. We hear them of course, but, so they tell me, we don't really think about what they are trying to tell us.
They don't believe me when I tell them 75 people are, and they don't find it credible when I tell them of the support they can get from 25 other people.
The figure is derisory, or so it seems to them.
Frankly who can disagree?
Monday 31 January 2011
MoE Diversity
In the last 2 years this blog has generated considerable dialogue with interested parties from around the world.
Including many from the UK, ongoing correspondence with colleagues from the U.S., New Zealand, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland and Singapore has created a valued source, and resource for ongoing learning in MoE.
I work with an increasingly diverse group of colleagues and students from around the world who all draw on a rich diversity of education experiences, from private tuition to open air classrooms with few trained teachers.
I guess each student will take something from MoE and shape it into the valuable learning they want to create in future.
Further,this blog has generated contact with colleagues from around the world that has shaped my thinking, and in turn opened potential further avenues of learning for my students.
However, with huge changes about to be thrust upon all of us in education, I just hope the impetus for new learning will not become submerged in a narrow agenda of curriculum scaling down.
I sense the change already in meetings and in the far away looks I sometimes receive when it is my turn to summarise the learning my students achieve through using MoE.
I get such terrific and supportive comments from correspondents to this blog.
At present I can, and do, respond in a similar vein.
But for how much longer?
Including many from the UK, ongoing correspondence with colleagues from the U.S., New Zealand, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland and Singapore has created a valued source, and resource for ongoing learning in MoE.
I work with an increasingly diverse group of colleagues and students from around the world who all draw on a rich diversity of education experiences, from private tuition to open air classrooms with few trained teachers.
I guess each student will take something from MoE and shape it into the valuable learning they want to create in future.
Further,this blog has generated contact with colleagues from around the world that has shaped my thinking, and in turn opened potential further avenues of learning for my students.
However, with huge changes about to be thrust upon all of us in education, I just hope the impetus for new learning will not become submerged in a narrow agenda of curriculum scaling down.
I sense the change already in meetings and in the far away looks I sometimes receive when it is my turn to summarise the learning my students achieve through using MoE.
I get such terrific and supportive comments from correspondents to this blog.
At present I can, and do, respond in a similar vein.
But for how much longer?
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