Supporting inspiring education
This update takes us from 23/3/08 to 27/5/09
The document starts with a summary of last year’s update. If you want a copy of that document please let me know.
Then we move on to this last year’s work and what has resulted from that, what I have learnt, and where I intend to put my efforts for the next year.
If you have any comments or suggestions that you think will increase my success then please let me know!
Another great video from TED, Sir Ken Robinson explains his understanding of creativity, and why it is so important, especially today.
An interesting quote I heard while speaking to a friend the other day. We were talking about learning, and what he felt was the most important parts of his personal learning process.
Focus. Yaz says that the greatest skill is knowing how to block unnecessary information. This is where the seemingly paradoxical quote “knowledge is the loss of information” comes from. With the huge amount of information available to us every day, how do we filter out the valuable stuff? All information has its value when it is needed, otherwise it is just a distraction.
Motivation. Yaz has to know why he is doing something. Then when he hits a problem or gets stuck, he can easily jump up and keep coming back to it. He knows why this is important to him, and can justify it. This is how he can spend 12 hours a day learning new material.
I’ve just been offered the opportunity to design a set of workshops that aims to increase parental investment in student’s learning. I’m really excited to be involved, and my research is already turning up lots of great ideas. For example, Rowe (1991 journal educational psychology) reports that children do best when parents play four key roles in their children’s learning:
I’m guessing that one of the biggest hurdles will be getting “buy in” from the parents and students involved. I’ll be taking inspiration from games and performance that appeals to all ages.