The need for precise reachable challenges B2

I’m learning a lot about education as I train a friend’s dog.

As long as he thinks he’s going to do something he wants, he will do whatever you ask. Sometimes I just wait until he does as required – no scolding just wait – five minutes if necessarily – just look round and enjoy the scenery.

Here is the time to be very strict and precise in one’s commands and reward regularly that he’s doing what you want. There is never an occasion when you have to be negative but some waiting is necessary.

Secondly avoid situations with more freedom than they can cope with unless this is the next stage in the learning process when easier challenges have been mastered.

I found children enjoyed very precise challenges.

I chose to teach Design Technology in a ‘difficult school’ because I love making things with my hands particularly things that require you to be precise and I liked the Head!

I used the labels, described in last week’s blog, to reward desirable behaviour - in the same way I give tasty chews to the dog.

I had the kids line up outside the workshop and would wait and wait until they were as I required. Eventually some of the children would get frustrated with just waiting and get the unruly ones to conform. You the teacher did nothing to show annoyance, or shout, you had all the time in the world and looked disinterested.

On a few occasions with older children (Year 9) I remember just leaving them outside to stew somewhere where they didn’t disturb others (this could take a bit of planning) and went into my workshop and closed the door on them with the statement come in and tell me when you’re ready. After less than five minutes they were ready. If they came in and were noisy they were out again until I got what I wanted. I never shouted (well rarely) but left them to decide.

Normally they were keen. So they where all lined up (for the most part) – it was a mistake to be a perfectionist. I would let them in with my stickers (Abel Labels) at the ready and without saying anything go round to those who where ready in their allocated place with their school diary, pencil and ruler placed neatly in front of them, arms folded mouths closed and looking at me. Immediately they got a sticker No comment, and I was striding around the room giving out stickers to the first ten and half stickers to the next ten. This way the whole class was ready and quiet within 90 seconds. It was a big game and they loved it!

Next take your homework out for collection – not made part of the original presentation as if they hadn’t done homework, I didn’t want them to miss out on a sticker at the beginning of the lesson. Now no stickers but once collected (no comment to those without) then give out last weeks homework. Here stickers given out again as already described last weeks blog entry B1.

I inevitably skipped taking the register as I could tell already those that weren’t presented and they knew it was just a ploy to get them to conform. Straight into the lesson.

“Right ( I love “right” – it has a certain ring!) “I want you to stand round my demonstration bench exactly one metre from you stomach to the edge of the table” (another game to play and I was very demanding on the metre which I already had to hand). Those who got it right got a . . . . . you’ve guessed . . a sticker – often only 3 in 22. This ruse/game would only be played once – I had them for half a term.

With older children – Year 9, the crucial thing is to come up with a project they really want to do – in Design Technology: Design their bedroom using the Argos catalogue, make an accurate Wind Vane using the Lathe, soldering etc – ICT use Flash for a Talking Heads project.

Next time the concept of the kit so that everyone succeeds - even the least able!

Applying 'inquisitivity' in the classroom - 1 - Homework

Each week for a while on this blog I shall recount how I taught in what some regarded as a 'sink' school.

Hainault High was thought of as a good school to send your child if he/she had problems.

John Westbury, the Head for many years attracted a very caring staff to his school.(It was his personality that had made me want to go to his school on qualifying with a PGCE from Goldsmiths, London at the age of 53).

We worked hard at helping children with problems, to fit in and achieve. Many times we succeeded!

I think our A-C pass rate was about 25%.

My form achieved 50% after five years with me !

My attitude was to always try to encourage and not be negative.

I took the view that if children didn't do their homework, this was my problem not there's.I hadn't made them feel that the work would be challenging or special or interesting - there were lots of ways of gaining their approval. One was to put up examples of previous children's work on the display board - with the prospect that theirs could be added..

I tried not to put children on the spot. Very occasionally I would keep them behind after school for some one-to-one tuition. Some came from families were doing homework was very difficult.

Every piece of homework received a sticker - labels I bought from Able Label that cost next to nothing but looked impressive. (I see they still got some of the designs I used. When children got a given number of stickers in their school diary they got a certificate that I printed up to look special!

It was Sylvie our head of upper school who got me going with this idea. She did an assembly when she gave our small plain orange cards to random choice of pupils in the hall. Everyone wanted one. They had no idea what they were for. But just being given a small piece of card that very few others had was special. This was the point that Sylvie (Mrs Springall) was making. We like to be made to feel special - even I wanted one!

So you got a sticker for just producing something that attempted to look like Homework .
You got 1 1/2 stickers (I used to cut them in half!) for a good attempt (no matter what the standard achieved) and 2 stickers for a really good try of which there would be about 25 %.

I never dwelt on the people who hadn't done the work but made a big fuss over those that tried well and I sometimes did get something exceptional.

Once a lad who liked to study and research at home produced a six page treatise on something like house design which his mother told me he'd worked at all weekend. That was special.

Caution Care and Computers

As an educator in America I would like to add my humble opinion for your consideration. While there are benefits of social networking there are also pitfalls. We now have to address the issues of Cyberbullying-where students can pretend that they are someone else and post unflattering and hurtful comments. Many of the issues with MySpace are very well known. We must acknowledge that this is reality. One of the most important aspects of using any tool should be teaching how to use it properly!

I use both blogs and wiki's in my teaching-however they are used with caution. If I post an assignment on the blog the responses are first sent to my email account where I decide if it will be posted or not. The students blog accounts do have students names nor pictures on them. They are used for educational discussions on topics I am teaching. I do not allow access to personal email accounts,instant messaging, and I have social networking sites blocked. When the students are in the computer lab I have educationally based activities planned for them according to their learning styles, content they are covering, and follow up activies that do not do involve screen time.

On my website I encourage parents to monitor their children if they allow them to take part in social networking sites where student can add friends and friends of friends. I also have posted instructions on how parents can remove underage myspace accounts. Parents are after all responsible for their childrens actions and b ehvior as they are underage.

Technology is a wonderful tool-but kids also need to get outside and play, kick a ball around, and interact with others face to face. It is up to parents and educators to make sure that kids do not get over do computer time.

Ictopus and SGP 15

The ten founders of ictopus are: Geoff Davies, Rhona Dick, Doug Dickinson, Bob Fox, Heather Govier, Roger Keeling, Mike Matson, Alan Rodgers, Janice Staines and Angella Streluk. And you can find out more about the organization from the First issue of Sharing Good Practice SGP 0.

I have been very impressed with all of the articles except that in SGP 15, which you can download below.

In my view the publishing of the article by Robert Hart in its present form was a mistake as it comes across as a piece of deceptive salesmanship.

At no point does Robert Hart, Director of Intuitive Media, identify his connection with the two clubs that he is reviewing as a result of his research on them He is in fact the promoter of both SuperClubsPlus and GoldStarCafe. The article is written as though it gives an independent report on these clubs. Belatedly the editor points this out in the footnotes but one would not realize this by reading the information.

Many organizations clearly believe that Intuitive Media provide a valuable service in providing a safe environment for children to go on line and chat to children through out the UK. So do I – if this was done for say one to two hours in the week. But the norm is presented as being in the region of at least 15 hours per week i.e. two hours a day.

It is here that I cannot agree that this is “Good Practice” as I explain below.

Initially Ictopus used their blog to encourage a discussion of this article but now all trace of it have been removed so I have reproduced it below with postings that came through me in the first place.

Here then is an opportunity to continue the discussion.

I do not understand the actions of the Ictopus team in either publishing the article as written or in removing comments from the Blog. They do however have a close ‘relationship’ with Roger Hart and Intuitive Media in that he provided them a presence at BETT 2008 on his stand.

Please feel free to express your views – there are many issues that come out of this article which I hope will have a good airing here. As you see there are some for things in the article and several against!

Why Emily scares me stiff. (Click to download the article)

It’s a long time since I was so shocked by an issue

The last time, before reading the Robert Hart article (see below) in ICTOPUS SGP 15, I was so upset by news, was when I watched dead cows being lifted with a JCB onto trucks already piled with carcasses on TV.

This article has been a wake-up call for me to switch my energies from working from WITHIN education to working from the OUTSIDE and those that control where education is going – My MP, my local radio and television and influential newspapers.

I believe we must slow down and reverse a trend that is/has happened since I was young.

The image of a ten year old Emily Saunders coming in from school and working on her computer for a full two hours every day of the week frightens me. Even if this time were spent doing high level thinking activity it would deeply concern me as Emily is depicted as representing one of 120,000 children doing the same in the UK, from one in three Primary Schools. Furthermore her activities are not that demanding – she is chatting to other children by typing on her keyboard and spending some time designing her web site and possibility investigating various topics.

That parents, the school, the Department of Education, BECTa (the government department responsible for IT education) and now ICTOPUS may feel that this is a desirable activity concerns me greatly.

Children already spend the hours between 9 am and 3:30 pm in an artificial environment with other children and a few adults in the institution we call ‘school’. Many parents think that this is a good thing : here they will be trained to become responsible adults that can look after themselves. When the parents come home many have been glad in the past that their children sit quietly watching TV or in more recent years playing computer games – now it is chatting on line.

In my view the most important attribute of the adults we employ as teachers is that they inspire the children to investigate, to be active, to continue the characteristics they had when they first went to school. I like to call this inquisitivity. Why? Why? How? How? Can I? Can I? . . .

Thesekind of teachers are to be found in really good schools of which there are many. But there are many were children go because they have to. They go to be controlled and taught what they’re not interested in.

Those that do not thrive in this environment are seen as failures.

Are these the children that grow into gang members on the edge of society? Youths that feel alienated. Where criminal activity challenges them to use their wits to get the better of 'them'.

When I was young I spent a fair bit of time in activities outside my house when I returned from school. Running errands, shopping, going swimming, playing in the park. I was fixed up with a job at the local grocers in the school holiday – I might have done a paper round nowadays.

At eleven my parents rightly judged that I could cope with the journey from Paris to Birningham – train/boat/train/tube/tube/train. My mother sent me off, my father collected me. It was for me the trip of a lifetime. On the boat the Captain took me under his wing. I had dared to venture up the stairs marked PRIVATE to the control deck to ask questions. Instead of booting me out , as would have happened if I had been older, I was allowed to stay and watch messages being sent down to the engine room – "Full speed ahead" – "Left had down a bit". I was even persuaded that we were having a race with another boat and allowed to use the binoculars to check on its position. I was then told that I could go down to the engine room with the noise of the machinery driving the propeller and the steam leaking out and the smell of hot oil – walking on expanded metal walkways and stairs,shining bright silver, to tell the engineer how we were doing in our ‘race’. Everyone was so friendly and treated me as an important member of the team – errand boy / lookout . Up and down I scampered. To the bridge for the binoculars and down to the hot stinking noisy 'hell hole'. “We’re catching them up” "We’re ahead ” We've won" as we came into Newhaven - and the engineer beamed.

Can you imagine experiences like this being available now? We don’t let our children down to the park because “they will come to harm”. People are not used to trusting strangers. We have become alienated. Children won’t give me eye contact, they did up to the age when they ‘didn’t know better’.

Instead of children being encouraged to go on adventures they are protected from danger. It will take some time for them to find that 99% of adults are reliable and helpful to those they have got to know – people who live down the street, old retired people with stories to tell and old gadgets from their early life.

What a bland life we are encouraging our children to live in, with our protected chatrooms. Surely life is far better than that.

It could be that as a result of my early life, I went to America to work for eight years, I came back and ditched my training as a Chemical Engineer and bought farm buildings, converted then into a Holiday Self-catering business, cooked meals commercially, won awards. The when a divorce shattered that, I came into the town centre and converted a disused building into a restaurant/coffee shop that provided live entertainment four nights a week.

When this failed I collapsed in a heap. Then after a year I was off to train at Goldsmiths at 53 to be a teacher of Design Technology and now at 72 a proponent of Flash 4 in ICT.

Robert Hart’s clubs and the attitude of ICTOPUS in promoting them as ‘Good Practice’ scare me stiff. I have this image of a young girl, lacking in confidence heading for a third-best way of life, resembling a beautiful cow hoisted up on a sacrificial JCB for the cause of ‘foot and mouth disease” protection. No wonder the farmers wept. So will the girl's parents perhaps.

Now perhaps you understand why I feel so strongly!

Society is heading for a fall.

Beware what's happening in the name of Education

My concerns have been raised by an article by Robert Hart which appeared on the on-line magazine for the organisation called ICTOPUS on January 5th 2008
Now ICTOPUS have removed from their blog site all the comments, many of which were critical, referring to this article. At present I have received no explanation.
The article in question can be seen by enrolling with ICTOPUS, which is free, or I can send you a copy - email me at gd at tygh.co.uk
As I received copies of most of the contributions made to the Ictopus Blog, I am reproducing these here. Some, also, were never published.

My main criticism was that Robert Hart did not declare his connection with the clubs that he was reviewing. The article gives the impression that it presents the results of some research he has carried out as Director of Intuitive Media. He is in fact the promoter of the two clubs Superclubsplus and Goldstarcafe that his research is based on.

My concerns are

The close connection that ICTOPUS have with Intuitive Media and their reluctance to allow debate.
The climate of fear of predators that this organisation promotes.
The encouragement of children age 8 to 12 to spend so much time (two hours every evening of the week) chatting to other children.
The suggestion that this is a good thing for the child's education.
The potential for activity in the absence parents, neighbours and people of the wider community with the only adult involvement coming from teachers or 'mediators'.

Internet – tool or way of life based on fear?

As a result of reading an article which purported to be Good Teaching Practice in the on-line magazine of ICTOPUS I have become very concerned with the creation of clubs that provide a 'safe environment' as though as these are desirable. Furthermore I believe they have provide children with a very second rate learning environment. My worry is compounded by the discovery that many reputable people and organisations are supporting this approach. Even the Governments of Canada and Australia are apparently supporting this approach. Here is the text of my posting on the ICTOPUS blog

You can read Robert Hart's article, SGP 15,by registering with ICTOPUS - a new organisation that supports and is run for the benefit of Primary School Teachers in the UK

I was deeply disturbed by Robert Hart’s article, the attitude of the ICTOPUS team to it and to the readership of Sharing Good Practice for not raising questions . There that puts everyone in there place!

Bob’s approach is one I would strongly recommend to every teacher to shun. In fact this article has encouraged me to take up an offer I have to talk regularly on Radio Cumbria in a two minute slot at the unearthly hour of seven thirty a.m. If Government and prominent people are backing this approach there is something drastically wrong with society and it needs to be countered from outside of education. My first piece will be to dissuade listeners and schools in my area from getting involved with the activities of Intuitive Media.

Why the ICTOPUS team : for their lack of judgement in allowing this article to run as though it is “Good Practice” – one of two things should have been done either the word ADVERTISEMENT should have been pasted prominently at the top of the page or Bob should have been asked to remove all the deceptive spin that he has used in presenting his information.

As for you, dear reader, how come you too weren’t disturbed by the message being transmitted? Has Bob managed to brainwash everyone with his skillful publicity?

As I wrote on this blog within 30 minutes of reading the article the opening phrase put me on high alert.:

“The human species is evolving rapidly”

We have become highly tuned to spot a sales pitch and here was one coming up. People who make exaggerated statements have usually got something to sell. This was true. Heather failed to reassure me that this was just “a metaphorical stylistic device”.

On reading on, the word “Research” is used frequently. We normally associate this with an independent person who is reporting on something they have investigated – good research always provides the data upon which statements are made so that graduates, as most of us are, trained to analyse information, can check the reliability of the information given. No original data is provided.

Far from being objective, the article turns out to be written by the person who is promoting the product. We can therefore expect it to be biased.

I asked a colleague of mine, Christine Atkinson, experienced teacher and the author of several Maths text books, to look at the article. She found the presentation confusing I did and is writing to ICTOPUS separately.

We have spin by the bucketful – We have a photo of a happy carefree confident yound girl depicted but this is not Emily or the person whose activities are being described. She may in fact be a very depressed, worried, withdrawn young woman who rarely goes out of her house except to school. Why the use of a surname 'Sanderson' if Emily is just made up. I get the feeling that every trick in the book is being used by this highly successful team of people behind Intuitive Media to convince us that what they are doing is desirable. The clubs described are ‘protected environments’ from ‘predators’. Where are the parents? - the children’s natural guardians. Are the children really being encouraged to grow up by their parents and teachers? To be able to deal with strange situations, to be able to discern potentially dangerous of misleading statements. This surely is how teachers and parents can help children.

The POS syndrome mentioned in the Panorama by Jeremy Vine is specially worrying. Children writing in their chat rooms that they have a Parent looking Over their Shoulder indicates a lack of trust between parent and child and this is the issue that needs tackling. Why aren’t the parents having fun, working alongside their children dealling with any ‘predator’. I can imagine my child calling out to me “Dad, I’ve hooked a Perv. Come and join me as we string him along and find out who he/she is.” “Then we can get the police on their trail.” Word in the chat rooms would soon get around for ‘Mister Nasty Predator’ to be on the look out, as there were ‘Equally Devious Protectors’ who were out to ensnare them, posing as children and with Blue Uniforms round the corner.

I feel that I've written enough for now - I have a lot more to cover but will do this another time. This surely will give Bob something to reply to!

I decry the puerile concept that children can teach themselves. Do we put our toddlers together and leave them to it to learn a language? Children and young people need as much contact as possible with adults that will inspire them and then help them to attain their dreams. This is in my view the prime purpose of being a teacher - to be so enthusiastic about what we have found out for ourselves that students want to strive in their turn for their own goals. For me Bob Hart's clubs are a very poor second best.

Learning is not gained casually. Emotions are very powerful. They are contageous - hence the Lynch Mob and the powerful Orator.

Hilary Clinton almost sheds a tear and a whole state swings behind her. Wow. We can all benefit from others who stimulate us emotionally and go on to support and encourage us as we pursue our goals. This high level of stimulation will not, I believe, come about from shutting up our children with a few 'mediators' who are there to help us interact socially and a few experts who aren't their to help us on a regular basis in the way a parent, neighbour, retired craftsman/hobbuist, or even teacher can. Long live the 'real world' where you get scratched by brambles and the sun shines as you take the dog for a walk or smell and enjoy the texture of vegetables as you cook your hard working parents their dinner (as I did). What I would love to encourage is, far from putting the kids in touch with each other, is for the parents to get together with teachers in and out of the classroom and provide stimulation and leadership for their kids. Children at present have got far too much power. Feels like 'Lord of the Flies' to me.

So how did you fare with this load of emotion from me - with some reason thrown in for added flavour. Have I provoked you into action? Look forward to hearing from you.
Doc Geoff

THIS'ARTICLE' RESULTED IN THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS FROM THOSE THAT RECEIVED IT

In the pursuit of communication and logical thinking

The internet has opened up wonderful opportunities of talking to others like this forum.

We can share information and many people use it mainly for this, but for me the most valuable is the sharing of ideas.

I use clear ideas and reason to guide my energies that come from my emotions. We get 'fired up' when we see a goal we want to achieve, then we sort out how we are going to get there.

Sometimes we expend a lot of energy with little result because we haven't sorted our ideas and worked out where we are trying to go!

The very act act of setting an idea or concept down in words (or speech) helps us formulate what we think because we can then examine what is said. We attempt to be clear and consistant. To develop an idea by building : one idea is coupled with another and a logical outcome becomes apparent.

Often the act of setting ideas down leads to 'solutions' - this was found to be true in The Scottish branch of Samaritans,some time ago. Clients would normally go to or phone a branch of Samaritans but in the far-flung parts of Scotand phone calls could be expensive or unavailable and physical visits near impossible. People with personal problems thus took to letter writing and the Branches started to report a certain unusual type of letter - it often ended with a statement of the kind - "Thanks for 'listening'. No need to reply because I've sorted my problem out just through writing this letter"

How many letters never got sent?

Second if we can be precise in expressing our ideas, others can understand them and can offer their thoughts in return. A logic of building ideas takes place. This can help the originator to re-evaluate thinking. With a group of people all interested in pursuing ideas: all seeing the ideas differently and very exciting progression of thinking takes place.

This is the practice inherent in what we call Philosophy. It requires very precise and logical thought sequences. Some think that it is very sad that Philosophy is not valued as a discipline in schools from an early age and are introducing it with very beneficial results to children age seven up and not leaving it to an option in Sixth form at 17 years old. The benefits are that youngsters start to be able to see subjects/people/information from different points of view - they become less 'narrow thinking' more accommodating of other people's points of view - more 'mature'.

When discussions take place, we may be quite clear what we are saying but the terms we use are understood differently by others

All very basic stuff, you'll agree.

What I find frustrating is when people start using 'buzz' words that are 'in' without stopping to ask what they mean. Often all they mean is something that has been around for fifty years under another name!

It could be said that Socrates started off (continued) 'personalised learning' - A.S.Neil more recently.

How can we have it when the government lays down what is to be learnt? And the public are confused about what is to be learnt.

Social Networking - do we first need to define the desired 'society' and to what end do we network?

Carbon footprint who's carbon - Chinese goods - their carbon or ours.

All very vague and hardly worth talking about until we define terms!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Do any of mine make sense?

Less information - more communication - about ideas in clearly defined terms!

Life , Politics and Kids and OLPC

I am constantly amazed by how adults can at times act like children. I am also amazed by how common sense can be abanded in the name of profits. There is a wonderful program launched by MIT called One Laptop Per Child. The idea is to create a kid friendly, lowcost laptop that can be used in developing countries. The philosophy: Give a man a fish and he eats for a day , teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Unfortunately the folks at Intel have been fighting with the folks at MIT and the results is-the kids lose. I was so hopeful when INTEL signed on, got a seat on the board and joined the OLPC project in July. Then last week the adults proved they could act like children and Intel pulled out right before the Las Vegas Tech show.

MIT launced a unique program in Novemeber called Buy One Give. For 400 dollars you could get you hands on one of these cool little machines and the second was donated to a child overseas. Check out the video below to see what can be accomplished with 200 dollars. The water proof, dust proof and drop proff case is just right for active kids! According to the New York Times the folks at Intel and MIT had differences over educational philosophy. The article goes on to point out that MIT wanted the INTEL folks to stop promoting another laptop Intel had developed called classmate.

The question for 2008..Isn't the sandbox big enough so that all the kids can play??

Wisdom and Knowledge

Below, I mention the differeence I perceive between education where we think and training where we learn.

When I was at school, I remember puzzling over how people became Wise. Was this the same as being clever and the same as knowing a lot?

I realised that wisdom was different to the other two and now I might even be able to distinguish beween the latter.

Wisdom requires time. Time to reason and arrive at general conclusions.

I was fortuneate to have loads of time. Before, during and after school. From an early age, three, I loved puzzles. I got so good at mine that i did them upside down using the hints given by the grain of the plywood. Latter I loved my rubber mini bricks - now featured in the Museum of Childhood at Bethnal green, London http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/search/index.html?cx=014791250815825511638%3Asqtf5bs22vw&cof=FORID%3A11&q=mini+bricks&go=go#147

Lunch - to be continued!