Staff Meeting 19th Feb

So I attended the staff meeting as I usual would when at my placement school on a Tuesday.

At the beginning of this staff meeting we watched a video – By @SirKenRobinson – which is always amazing and inspiring.

The following video is the one that we watched during the staff meeting.

Changing Education Paradigms

After watching this video one of the teachers said she had watched the next edition to the video (which I am still looking for) in which he compared the school system to McDonald’s. So let me explain what was meant by this..

McDonald’s is a chain ‘restaurant’. It has the same menu at every store you go to no matter where the location

Now compare McDonald’s to a 5 star fine dining restaurant – These are not mass produced and are unique, they have various menu selections and specials which are constantly changing and being redeveloped.

Now to look at the education system – One system for all; whether Australian Curriculum or IB/PYP (framework used in conjunction with the Aust. Curric)/ But do all students fit one? No, there will never be a school let alone a classroom where everyone learns in the exact same manner.

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For example; you need an assessment piece for English and your classroom has been focusing on story writing. Should you get every single student to sit at their desk and write there story from left to write line after line – Or could we think of other ways.

If handwriting is not part of your assessment why must they hand write a story?

Some students can express a story verbally in detail using plenty of description to enhance their story; however, as soon as it comes to writing in down, they lose it, they don’t know how to get their thoughts onto paper.

How about record the child telling a story for their English: story assessment piece. They could write down some basic notes to help themselves if they liked, or maybe they would just like to tell you the story.

Remember – Ask the students how they learn and communicate best.
Personally I know I am a visual learner. I can not sit and listen, I need something visual to assist me.

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For example: Last year (2012) I undertook Earth Sciences @ Flinders. I sat in a lecture theater listening to people tell me all this information with the help of some diagrams. I passed the topic but I do not think to the best that I could of.

Shortly after the topic had finished i series regarding Volcanoes and the Earth aired on Discovery. I LOVED IT! I understood what was being said and I was engaged and interested – more importantly I remembered and was able to explain to other people; however, I could not in my exam.

Image found @ …