"Children have the capacity to see the wonderful in the ordinary."
- Catharine Bell
Ken Robinson
He defines creativity as the process of having original
ideas that have value. Divergent thinking
is more about how to find not just one, but multiple answers to questions.
It’s more about thinking laterally rather than linear.
Within the video, Ken Robinson explains that ‘Collaboration
is the stuff of growth’ and has noticed that most learning happens in groups.
The Arts deal with the here and now and engage the senses
immediately. He talks about ADHD and how children are anaesthetised and
medicated so that they can focus on the conformed way of teaching. He talks
about how the Arts are an aesthetic experience rather than anaesthetic experiences
where you’re in fact shutting your senses off. In his words, you are instead
deadening yourself to what is happening. Instead Ken Robinson believes we
shouldn’t be putting these children to sleep, we should instead be ‘waking
them up.’
Schools are still geared towards the interest of factory
lines; school subjects, ringing bells, age groups, separate classrooms. In a sense,
its geared towards industrialisation. This is a concept I had never really
thought about, until now. I can now see how as humans age, we start to conform
to the rules of working life; going to university, getting a job, driving a car
etc. Nowadays, a lot of this is an expectation that we are very often expected
to fill.
The most important thing about them appears to be their date
of manufacture or their age. In the Changing Education Paradigms video, Ken
asks the question ‘why is their age the only thing they’re meant to have in common with
each other?’
The Changing Education Paradigms video can be viewed here:
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms
Much like Howard Gardner, he is an advocate for considering multiple types of intelligence and the understanding that all children think and learn differently.
Much like Howard Gardner, he is an advocate for considering multiple types of intelligence and the understanding that all children think and learn differently.
Howard Gardner
Howard Gardner has been the theorist that so far has truly
interested me the most whilst I have been undertaking my studies. This is
because he takes the notion of the four types of learning and expands on them
further, looking not just at one strength in learning, but looking at the
character of a person and how they respond to different things.
I often believe that behavioural issues within my school up till now have been a result of skills not being focused on and supported. There are many boys in my school who excel at sports, but until now have never had a chance to be on a football team or have a Physical Education specialist to really encourage their talents. It makes me realise the more and more I work with them that not everyone is a theoretical academic; some people are just more practical than others and therefore I feel we have a right to serve every type of learner there is and to do this, we should make our lessons both theoretical and practical to engage everyone at some point. This can only happen, therefore, if we provide those opportunities for them.
I often believe that behavioural issues within my school up till now have been a result of skills not being focused on and supported. There are many boys in my school who excel at sports, but until now have never had a chance to be on a football team or have a Physical Education specialist to really encourage their talents. It makes me realise the more and more I work with them that not everyone is a theoretical academic; some people are just more practical than others and therefore I feel we have a right to serve every type of learner there is and to do this, we should make our lessons both theoretical and practical to engage everyone at some point. This can only happen, therefore, if we provide those opportunities for them.
John Dewey and Phillip Jackson
"Progressive Education is essentially a view formed by John Dewey, exploring the idea of Education that emphasises the need to learn by doing."
(Adam Jordan, http://study.com/academy/lesson/john-dewey-on-education-impact-theory.html)
This idea relies heavily on the art of pragmatism and the idea that the reality cannot be informed unless it is experienced.
(Adam Jordan, http://study.com/academy/lesson/john-dewey-on-education-impact-theory.html)
This idea relies heavily on the art of pragmatism and the idea that the reality cannot be informed unless it is experienced.
This helps heavily in the school I work in and is a great way of enabling the children to try it and make mistakes. I realised the other day, when I undertook a science experiment about gas with the children. They were so engaged in the practical and because they were so engaged I was then able to make sure that they all finished writing their theoretical elements before we continued the practical experiment. This got them to be more involved with their writing and to be more enthusiastic about the things they were writing down and exploring. This made the lesson simply like a piece of theatre. It truly inspired them to write what they had seen.
The idea that the teacher is more of a facilitator, rather
than an instructor is explored by John Dewey.
“What the best and wisest parents wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children.” (Dewey, J, The School and Society, 2007 edition, Page 19, Cosimo, Inc.) He also discusses how school is geared towards the industrial world we live in, explaining, “the growth of a worldwide market as the object of production” (Dewey, J, 2007 edition, The School and Society, page 21, Cosimo, Inc.) makes me realise that it is to facilitate a society that already exists in its own way.
“What the best and wisest parents wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children.” (Dewey, J, The School and Society, 2007 edition, Page 19, Cosimo, Inc.) He also discusses how school is geared towards the industrial world we live in, explaining, “the growth of a worldwide market as the object of production” (Dewey, J, 2007 edition, The School and Society, page 21, Cosimo, Inc.) makes me realise that it is to facilitate a society that already exists in its own way.
Phillip Jackson
Phillip Jackson develops further and talks about John
Dewey’s beliefs which he believed was true.
"He believed in creating school experiences that provided children access to wonderful lives, because he believed children have the capacity to see the wonderful in the ordinary."
(Catharine Bell, PhD'07, Phillip Jackson's former doctoral student, UChicagoNews article.)
"He believed in creating school experiences that provided children access to wonderful lives, because he believed children have the capacity to see the wonderful in the ordinary."
(Catharine Bell, PhD'07, Phillip Jackson's former doctoral student, UChicagoNews article.)
Phillip Jackson continued throughout his career to look deeply into how to teach imaginatively and to look deeper at what teachers were trying to achieve in their work with their pupils.
"it is greatly to his intellectual credit that he began to look at classrooms and teaching in a more holistic and imaginative way - one that, among other things, paid attention to the tacit messages that emanated from classrooms and from teacher's work, matter that had been long ignored."
(Professor Emeritus Robert Dreeben, a University colleague of Jackson explained, UChicagoNews article.)
(Professor Emeritus Robert Dreeben, a University colleague of Jackson explained, UChicagoNews article.)
Ofsted recently arrived at the school and it made me realise that there is an expectation to uphold a particular standard. As teachers we have to uphold the National Curriculum, but we also have a duty to the children to engage them in any way we can. To spark enthusiasm for learning. This is where ethical factors come into question.
Bibliography
Abowd, M, July 31, 2015, Phillip W. Jackson, education scholar committed to children's flourishing, 1928-2015, UChicagoNews.
Dewey, J, 2007 edition, The School and Society, page 19, Cosimo, Inc.
Dewey, J, 2007 edition, The School and Society, page 21, Cosimo, Inc.
Jordan, A, http://study.com/academy/lesson/john-dewey-on-education-impact-theory.html
Robinson, K, October 2010, Changing Education Paradigms, RSA Animate
Dewey, J, 2007 edition, The School and Society, page 19, Cosimo, Inc.
Jordan, A, http://study.com/academy/lesson/john-dewey-on-education-impact-theory.html
Robinson, K, October 2010, Changing Education Paradigms, RSA Animate
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