challenging learning workshop
DESCRIPTION
Slides used during Learning Network NZ workshop at Waipuna Hotel, Mt Wellington on 27th July 2011TRANSCRIPT
Challenging Learners, 27th July 2011
James Nottingham www.p4c.comwww.jamesnottingham.co.uk
What do these 3 have in common?
Why do we need challenge?
We need more challenge and less
instruction, since it is from challenge that one grows in body,
mind and spirit.
Thinking in EducationMatthew Lipman, 1991
45
Challenge and Learning
CA
SA
PA
Current Ability
Subconscious Ability
Potential Ability
Learning Zone
Practice Zone
Too Easy
Too Hard
ANALYSE
ANTICIPATE
APPLY
CAUSAL-LINK
CHOOSE
CLASSIFY
COMPARE
CONNECT
CONTRAST
DECIDE
DEFINE
DESCRIBE
DETERMINE
DISCUSS
ELABORATE
ESTIMATE
EVALUATE
EXEMPLIFY
EXPLORE
GENERALISE
GIVE EXAMPLES
GIVE REASONS
GROUP
HYPOTHESISE
IDENTIFY
INFER
INTERPRET
ORGANISE
PARAPHRASE
PREDICT
QUESTION
RANK
REPRESENT
RESPOND
SEQUENCE
SIMPLIFY
SHOW HOW
SOLVE
SORT
SUMMARISE
SUPPORT
TEST
VERIFY
VISUALISE
A selection of thinking skills
137
47Time
Per
form
ance
The Teaching Target Model (TTM)
CA
SA
PA
Learning Zone
Practice Zone
Curriculum – national or local?
“The best schools design learning for their pupils and then cross check against the national expectations to see they have done right by the pupils in terms of the agreed entitlement for all the nation’s children. The attainment targets give a touchstone for the expected standards and that’s it.”
It doesn’t really matter what comes from government; how it is packaged, what it contains. In the end, the curriculum is the one that children in schools meet day in, day out.
Mick Waters, www.curriculumfoundation.org
Creating cognitive conflict causes ‘wobble’
142
Stealing is wrong
Robin Hood was right
Actions that steer pupils away from the learning pit
10/10
Developed during World War II, MBTI is a personality indicator designed to identify personal preferences
In a similar way to left or right-handedness, the MBTI principle is that individuals also find certain ways of thinking and acting easier than others
Sensing
Introversion
Judging
Thinking
Intuition
Extroversion
Perceiving
Feeling
Evidence Gut feeling
Think to talk Talk to think
Definite Possible
Logic/Reason Empathy
Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
You get what you measure
Learning
Curiosity
Written work
Behaviour
Understanding
High expectations
Feedback
What are you measuring?
Attitudes Curiosity
Desire to succeed
Open-mindedness
Resilience
Self-Regulation
Knowledge Facts
Figures
Concepts
Ideas
Skills Intellectual
Social
Communicative
Physical
Belief: I’m here to help you to learn how to learn
S
A K
Learning Intentions
Lesson 1• To be curious about the rivers and the impact of them on our lives (A)• Ask relevant questions about rivers (S)
First 5 minutes – get pupils into the pite.g. Does a river have to have water in it?
15 minutes research about rivers10 minutes in groups to collect questions, and group them into categories5 minutes to decide which is the best question and why10 minutes sharing with whole class5 minutes planning for next lesson
Learning Intentions
Lesson 3• Use 3 different types of thinking to ask and then answer questions about rivers (S)• Check your answers firstly with another group then in the topic books or online (K)
Select 3 skills from:• Classify• Define• Estimate• Give Reasons• Predict• Rank• Sequence
The things we do to get in the way of learning
I wish teachers had never heard my
theory – they’re all obsessed with
categorizing kids!
Prof Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences
Intelligence – nature or nurture?
Alfred Binet1857 - 1911
In 1904, the French government asked Binet to create a mechanism for identifying students in need of alternative education
Binet created a scale of 30 tasks for 6 – 14 year olds, ranging from easy to complex ones
He stated his test showed what a child had learnt to that point, and nothing else
Once upon a time, there were three babies
Some babies get lots of stimulation
Are encouraged to read
Develop their passions
Whereas others have traumatic experiences
Or are born into abject poverty
By the time they start school
Some children start school knowing 6,000 words.
Others, just 500 words.
Source: BBC 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8013859.stm
Number of words heard by children
A child in a welfare-dependent family hears on average 616 words an hour
A child in a working-class home hears on average 1,251 words an hour
A child in a professional home hears on average 2,153 words an hour
Number of words spoken by the time children are 3
500
700
1100
Hart & Risley, 1995
How do we think about differences in ability?
AdvancedIntermediateBeginners
But in school, we use terms such as …
Gifted, Bright
Average
Special Needs
Only so much time in the day
What level of plasticity do our brains have?
What matters is what you believe about intelligence
People who believe intelligence comes mainly from nature have a ‘fixed’ mindset
Professor Carol Dweck, Stanford
People who believe intelligence comes mainly from nurture have a ‘growth’ mindset
Fixed
Intelligence is innate
I have gifts
I’ll always be good at certain things
I’ll never be good at other things
Growth
Intelligence is incremental
I’ve developed talents
My abilities change over time, for better & worse
I can learn pretty much anything I put my mind to
Fixed vs Growth Mindsets
The brain is a muscle to train
1.Good girl; 2.How extraordinary; 3.Great effort; 4.Outstanding
performance; 5.What a scientist you are; 6.Unbelievable work;
7.You’re a genius; 8.You're getting better; 9.Clever boy 10.You
should be proud; 11.You've got it; 12.You're special; 13. Very
talented; 14. You've outdone yourself; 15. What a great listener;
16. You came through; 17.You’re very artistic; 18.Keep up the
good work; 19.It's everything I hoped for; 20.Perfect; 21.A+ Work;
22.You're a shining star; 23.Inspired; 24.You're #1; 25.You're very
responsible; 26.You're very talented; 27.Spectacular work;
28.Great discovery; 29.You're amazing; 30.What a great idea;
31.Well worked through; 32.Very thoughtful; 33.You figured it out;
34.Top of the class; 35. You make me smile
Disaster – from the Greek, ‘to lose the stars’
