Month: March 2016

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THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN – HARD TIMES ARE BACK!

Our education system is broken.
We have lost the plot – seriously!
We treat children like vessels to be filled with knowledge- like Mr Thomas Gradgrind, the school board superintendent, in Charles Dicken’s “Hard Times.”
“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”

There are more and more schools that rip kindergarten children from the sandpits and plop them in front of boring workbooks, taking them away from play-based learning and thrusting them into formal school learning – all in the name of acceleration. Acceleration for what? Acceleration towards boredom and disengagment!

Some schools have the stated aim of getting all the children to be 1 year ahead before they get into year one! Why? What will this tension lead to?

Broken children will be the end results and already our level of anxiety amongst children has grown to worrying levels.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/lifestyle/a/25294925/anxiety-rising-among-children/
We are enrolling more and more children who are very anxious about NAPLAN, reports, academic performance and not managing to get all their homework done!
Schools are discussing children in terms of marks, stanines and percentages – not needs, personalities and learning styles.
The humanity, fun and excitement has gone from education and will continue to go.
Just over the last 7 days I have met broken children who believe they are failures at 8 years of age! I have met broken teachers who love children but have been instructed that children are no longer at the centre of the educational stage – it is all about exams results and, marks.
Even children are now describing themselves using the marks they get. I have children who have told me they desperately want to achieve a pass or get better than a C but believe this is no longer possible.

I have seen many reports that tell the exact position children come in their class. That is unbelievable and unacceptable in this day and age. It has to be stopped.
We are dishonouring our children and robbing them of motivation, hope and love of education. We CAN improve standards and reform our education system without taking away all the hope, enthusiasm, fun and creativity and breaking the hearts of the next generation!

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The ABC of Child Whispering: L IS FOR LISTENING

 

Listen, Hear and Understand words on a red button or light to illustrate the need to pay attention to learn, comprehend and retain new information

Natural child whisperers LISTEN to children and know how to kid-watch.

Everyone can learn this- it just requires us to shut down our internal chatter for a while and just observe and listen deeply.

When we listen like this something different is happening. It is not just our ears working- our eyes, hearts and brains are all working to help us UNDERSTAND and you  cannot do this at speed.

The problem is that often we think we know what children need and so often we are wrong.

One of the best questions I  ever ask children is, “What do you think you need? Are we helping you? Is there anything else we could do?”
I have had some surprising and very perceptive answers. Children (if allowed to speak for themselves and not rushed) have a pretty clear idea of how they learn and what is helpful in terms of teaching input.

This also works for behavioural issues.
”What would help you to stop getting in to trouble like this? What do you need?”
Then let them take their time, draw their responses, think for a while, even make a time to chat on a  different day to allow them to think deeply.

No child wants to be in constant trouble, excluded from class, shamed and embarrassed. Give them the chance to delve deeply and come up with their own solution. That sometimes involved throwing out preconceived notions and that can be hard.

The more we are sure we are right- the more we’re not!

Try it today. Don’t be on the lookout for bad behaviour. We’re not prison warders. Be on the lookout for good behaviour and reward it- every time! Wrap your pre-conceived notions up and stick them in the bottom drawer. Clear your mind and LISTEN!

All teachers and parents should be grateful for the Greek philosopher, Epictetus who reminded us we have 2 ears but only one mouth. The equation is very clear.

LISTEN twice as much as you speak.

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DODGY PEDAGOGY

F grade and a sad smilie, written in red letters in a spiral pad, shallow DOF

Over the last week I have been given at least a dozen reports and copies of test results to read and hardly any of them have made sense!
I have seen crazy results with one parent being told- “Your child only reached stanine 3 in the ________ test.” Unfortunately the parent had no idea of what this test meant, let alone the results.
This over-testing of children and labelling has reached epic proportions. The race is on to somehow put every child in a box with a negative label.
Children are not allowed to learn differently.
They must all be the same.
Why not put Ritalin in the drinking water or simply give every child a lobotomy at 2 years if they show signs of curiosity and interest in the world around them!
I have read reports that label realy bright children as C – (satisfactory) and then go on to give the place in class. These stupid strategies were last seen when I was at Primary school and that was rather a long time ago!
Our kids are puzzled, depressed and starting to give up. Many children have told me they KNOW they can never reach a higher score than C.
The education system is choking for lack of positive air. We are shaking the lifeblood from our students and killing their enthusiasm. This is not the accountability that was much needed. Children’s ability, attainment and progress cannot be simply measured by scores. It is far more complex than this. We are treating our children like machines.
It is stupidity of the highest order and is actually harming children.
Who would dig up a healthy plant to keep checking it is growing?
Yet- this is what we do but this crazy over-testing of children is achieving the same results- the love of learning will die!

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The ABC of Child Whispering: L IS FOR LOVE OF LEARNING

heart learning

If we want children to engage and reach their learning potential, they have to ENGAGE and LOVE the process.
That does not mean that learning does not get hard. In fact, children can really enjoy the bumpy parts if they feel supported and believe they CAN solve problems. This means that we have to use child-friendly themes and ensure we differentiate the learning. It can never be one size fits all!
This also means teachers need to research their children’s interests and to tweak the programs so ALL children can experience success.
It might mean asking for slightly less written responses or cutting back on homework requirements.
For very able students more complex reading material can be chosen. Luckily, with the huge amount of material available on websites devoted to children’s interests and text and work books readily accessible, this is not hard.
It is essential that parents understand their children are all amazing gifts and definitely do not all respond to the same teaching styles.
Some children need to move more as they learn and often respond well to visual stimuli. Others can easily concentrate and take in information in auditory ways.
We regularly conduct assessments for children to determine learning styles and both strong and weak intelligences. This allows us to offer more targeted tuition that will really meet students’ needs.
Parents and teachers who would also like to assess children’s predominant learning styles and strengthen weak intelligences can order a copy of ALL KIDS ARE SMART from us. (Order by emailing victoriacarlton@iinet.net.au) This book will provide testing tools and give you a HUGE amount of information for maximising children’s progress.AllKids are Smart Front Cover
Try to keep your tension away from learning situations. We know students learn more when relaxed and are therefore open to new information and experiences.
We can ALL love learning as long as we perceive it as possible!
Plan plenty of learning games and “hands-on”, active learning experiences. You will be rewarded by happier, more motivated students who feel EMPOWERED and LOVE their learning experiences!

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