Ability to Learn
This book should be arriving in my letter box this week and I'm looking forward to having the time over the Term 1 holidays (aka 'non-contact time') to read and understand why Ings feels so strongly about why schools need to make a shift away from the assessment and box ticking that school has become.
During Ings' interview with the New Zealand Herald, he talks about "putting children in the tractor seat and allowing them to drive their learning". This idea is not unfamiliar to me and it's something that I've been working on with greater intensity for at least the past five years. The one wall that I keep facing, however, is the wall of assessment and reporting. I find it difficult to have the time and energy to be innovative and/or let the learner's interests drive their learning when we are constrained to assessment and reporting against assessment within the areas of English and Mathematics - not Science, Technology The Arts or P.E.
Watch this NewsHub interview with Ings to help understand a little more about his views on why education needs to change:
Ings believes that learning is both emotional and cognitive. He also believers that if a child loses belief in their ability to learn, then we (educators) have lost them. I know that it's going to take more than just reading a book, but if it becomes a stepping stone for helping me to enable at least one child to believe that they have the ability to learn, then spending my holiday time to read 'Disobedient Teacher' will have been worth it.
Hi Megan,
ReplyDeleteDisobedient teaching is an interesting concept for sure. How was the book? May I borrow?! I like how he emphasises the idea of the teachable moment. It is something we need to capture as much as possible. I wonder, what does a 'utopic and innovative learning environment' look like from the lens of a disobedient teacher?!
Di
Thanks for your comment Di. Unfortunately I'm not a fast reader so am still reading the book. I'll pass it on to you when I've finished. At this stage I'm uncertain of what a 'utopic and innovative learning environment' would look like.
DeleteHopefully I'll have a better idea when I've finished reading the book.