A great (paraphrased) quote from Larry Rosenstock " When do we get education right? Kindergarden and Graduate School....the rest of the time we think theres an answer the students need to know. Take a dissertation, its research, fuzzy logic and what youre interested in"
This absolutely what you see in the problm based learning at HTH
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Potential Project Outline- Sustainibility week- Musical Upcycling
Here is an quickly drafted outline following on from the meeting with Jeff.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Central Park East High School
Here is a nice news article on Central Park East High School in Harlem that Rob mentioned in HTH 101.
http://briandeer.com/social/harlem-schools.htm
http://www.deborahmeier.com/index.htm
http://briandeer.com/social/harlem-schools.htm
Deborah Meier - We All Know Why We're Here from Gary Stager on Vimeo.
http://www.deborahmeier.com/index.htm
Comparative quality in the high school
Jonathan from the visiting LF cohort (Villiers school) raised a great point and it was this; The learning and feel of the place, as well as the quality of work we see in the Middle schools is very much like what we see in our own schools back home. The question he then raised was how is it that what we see in the high tech high schools is so much better quality and when does this shift happen?
I actually think we need to reframe the question and first I will explain why. What struck me walking around the middle school was the Primary (or elementary) feel of the place, with ubiquitous wall display of kids' work and students who were without exception eager to show off their work and keen to please.
Upon entering the high schools, this culture was still present, and again to me apart from the maturity of the kids and their relationships with the teachers, it still felt primary. I think this is down in a large part to the continuation of the contact time teachers have with their students and their autonomy to design the curriculum rather than administer it. As a result the aspirational, risk taking and innovative culture endures from middle to high and this is crucial.
So I don't think the question is what happens between HTH middle and HTH high that makes them different to our schools in the UK, I think the question is what happens in our schools in the UK that "educates children out of creativity" as Sir Ken would put it.
I actually think we need to reframe the question and first I will explain why. What struck me walking around the middle school was the Primary (or elementary) feel of the place, with ubiquitous wall display of kids' work and students who were without exception eager to show off their work and keen to please.
Upon entering the high schools, this culture was still present, and again to me apart from the maturity of the kids and their relationships with the teachers, it still felt primary. I think this is down in a large part to the continuation of the contact time teachers have with their students and their autonomy to design the curriculum rather than administer it. As a result the aspirational, risk taking and innovative culture endures from middle to high and this is crucial.
So I don't think the question is what happens between HTH middle and HTH high that makes them different to our schools in the UK, I think the question is what happens in our schools in the UK that "educates children out of creativity" as Sir Ken would put it.
David Perkins "Generative" themes
From the book Making Learning Whole -are four criteria for scoping potential topics that will aid transfer facilitate teaching for understanding. I would also add in here motivate.
These are
1. Disciplinary significance- the topic as broad significance within or beyond their own discipline.
2. Societal significance - the topic speak of concerns of society at large.
3. Personal significance- Do the ideas allow learners, teachers, mentors or parents hopes desires curiosities to be reflected and explored.
4. Charisma- are the ideas magnetic, alluring
It is obvious that the projects at HTH meet many if not all of these criteria.
These are
1. Disciplinary significance- the topic as broad significance within or beyond their own discipline.
2. Societal significance - the topic speak of concerns of society at large.
3. Personal significance- Do the ideas allow learners, teachers, mentors or parents hopes desires curiosities to be reflected and explored.
4. Charisma- are the ideas magnetic, alluring
It is obvious that the projects at HTH meet many if not all of these criteria.
Pace and Blooms
An after thought- the pace of the lesson was not too fast, lots of time for students to process the information shared. The students were very good at utilising this, with mostly on topic conversations.
Interestingly the knowledge shared only hit two of Bloom knowledge dimensions. Those being Factual and Procedural missing metacognitive and conceptual.
The way the students interacted with the information was very much copying from the board and what the teacher said. Although many of the students could relate it too the context of this project.
So that the Blooms taxonomic level was always below apply.
Interestingly the knowledge shared only hit two of Bloom knowledge dimensions. Those being Factual and Procedural missing metacognitive and conceptual.
The way the students interacted with the information was very much copying from the board and what the teacher said. Although many of the students could relate it too the context of this project.
So that the Blooms taxonomic level was always below apply.
Lesson structure
During the debrief Tim mention that He was interested in how their monitored the quality if what was happening in lessons, which connects with what I saw in a taught lesson.
This was very much chalk and talk, with only a few students responding to teacher questions. This has got me too pondering about if lesson planning structures over manage the learning and remove space from the learners to make sense for themselves. Although the connections were mention only in passing on probing students were able to relate this knowledge to new wider implications.
I think Nuthalls insistence that lesson observation Should focus on the learning and not the teaching will be key to seeing how problem based learning works at HTH.
This was very much chalk and talk, with only a few students responding to teacher questions. This has got me too pondering about if lesson planning structures over manage the learning and remove space from the learners to make sense for themselves. Although the connections were mention only in passing on probing students were able to relate this knowledge to new wider implications.
I think Nuthalls insistence that lesson observation Should focus on the learning and not the teaching will be key to seeing how problem based learning works at HTH.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)