Learning needs learning spaces

This is the fourth post covering some reflections on the recent Innovative Education Forum in Berlin last week. This post will talk centre around a school visit.

Some of the best learning at the IEF took place outside of the formal sessions. The school visit was very illuminating as it illustrated the fact that the problems that I face most days are not unique. That fact is comforting and very very scary in equal measure.

Comforting because I’m not alone.

Very very scary as the message from events like IEF_2010 and the reality of school don’t seem to match up.

(This assumption is based upon lots of school visits in the UK)

I’m going to talk about some of the aspects of the school I visited (which was very similar in terms of technology set up) and some possible lessons.

1. Blocking is not a UK problem – we need to move beyond this view of internet use and safety.

2. We are all interconnected. This school had just completed a read-a-thon for Haiti. The school had raised over 2000 Euros. This means that there is room for international collaboration in response to world events – and Geography is ideally placed. Next time there is an event of this magnitude I should attempt to get in touch with schools overseas.

3. No concept is too difficult to tackle at any age. In the Elementary school library, there was evidence of some quite complex understanding of geographical terms. This support my view that we should be tackling the complex concepts of sustainability, interdependence and globalisation from day one in secondary schools.

4. Sometimes you have to be creative. I’ve been aware of using a Wii Remote to create an interactive board for a while.

But I’ve never seen it in place until this visit. It’s time that I started to look for creative solutions – or (more accurately) start implementing some that I already know of!

5. Learning space needs to be planned. I was impressed by the open plan nature of the school as there were no real corridors. In their place, there were large multi purpose spaces. Such spaces would be an ideal location to place shared computer access, hold small assemblies etc.

Comments

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

Banned Word Board

Today I want to share some simple ideas that I have found to be very effective in the classroom. I can't say that they are my own original ideas, although I have played around with them. The first is the Banned word Board. This is a simple display in the classroom that lists a number of words that are not allowed to be used by pupils in their written or oral answers. The effect has been an increase in the quality of written work, and I have almost made comments such as 'Sir it's simple, the stuff just affects the thing and causes people problems'. Pupils are now more able to use specific language, something that is vital especially at GCSE. I have had to make a few modifications, such as the introduction of 'Heavenly Words' This is an additional display placed on the ceiling. I found this necessary as pupils needed some stimulus in finding replacement words. After advice received after posting the idea on the SLN forum , I have also introduced semi-banned words

David Rogers

Search This Blog