In a small office lined with desks and computer stations, a dozen teenagers pored over paperwork and deliberated decisions, one young man zipping from table to table in a wheelchair. The young people, 15 to 18 years old, were reading, discussing, and evaluating job applications. On other days, they attended secondary school. But for more than half of each we […]
In the summer of 2010, Newsweek pronounced—on its cover no less—that the United States was suffering from a “Creativity Crisis.” The coauthors of the cover story, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, quite ably synthesized cutting-edge research about how to create the conditions for promoting creativity and offered specific ideas on how to address the crisis. Con […]
As is true for many teachers, I have fond and not-so-fond memories of my first year teaching. It was a year both of trial and error, of extreme joy and disappointment—that led to self-doubting about my effectiveness as a teacher. The first couple months were, at times, terrifying and discouraging. There seemed to be little I could do to assemble order and co […]
Who was Hone Heke?This Monday students have a holiday to celebrate the Treaty of Waitangi. I wonder what students thoughts are about the Treaty and why it was signed and how it is still relevant today?By the time anyone reads this Waitangi Day will be over and who knows what might have happened. Whatever is is a excellent time for students to brush up on som […]
For teachers and principals who want to gain insight into their futures with regard to standardised testing the report mentioned below is worth a read.BruceDear Bruce,We’ve been keeping up with your blog and we’ve been interested to read your thoughts on standardised testing and other developments in Australian and New Zealand schooling. We thought that we’d […]
Student observing and drawing for her research study.This posting was written by an American blogger Thomas Markam and I thought it the right article for teachers beginning the new year to think about if they want to implement the New Zealand Curriculum and also as an antidote to the distraction/distortion of the problematic National Standards. It has been […]