Comments on: Philosophy

By: Sangeeta

Sangeeta — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:49:07 +0000

I Am stirred !!! Reading your blog makes me wonder if you can think it can be attained too.i a a parent of a 7th grader and she finds her studies boring and wish people like you can bring some ray of hope

By: Shelley Owen

Shelley Owen — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 18:16:04 +0000

In the common vernacular, Dude! you rock!

By: Vonnie

Vonnie — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:05:46 +0000

Jabiz, I am truly emotional reading your entries thus far. Seriously… your passion as a teacher and a humanitarian is almost infectious. My 15 yr old boy has struggled year after year with the very issues you have so accurately summarized here – and you have captured the very core of what the educational system needs in order to truly improve the classroom experience for our children. It’s as though you have laid out every concern and wish and desire I have as a parent… and I know my 15 yr old would share that sentiment.
Every year, we go through the same bumps in the road… because the system is broken, the teachers are disconnected, the classrooms are stale and the very opposite of empowering… and it seems to be getting even worse instead of better. Particularly for those children (largely boys, but not always) who find sitting and reading and taking notes not only taxing, but counter-productive. Teachers are so defensive that it’s all but impossible as a parent to engage with the school to find some measure of compromise that would promote effective learning. My son has 3 years to go (he’s in grade 9) before he graduates from the public school system, and the best advice I can give him at this stage – given the experiences he has to draw from – is to do “his” best and take heart in the fact that he will find learning a great deal easier once he is able to attend a post secondary institution, because although the workload may be demanding, the atmosphere is typically far more empowering. (Perhaps a different topic, but it’s been experience that the Teachers in post secondary are far more engaging and are held far more accountable for their lack of ‘effort’).
I’ve probably rambled – but reading your blog has been like a breath of fresh air. A teacher – who gets it! Yes!
I’m truly grateful that we bumped into one another on Twitter, and I will visit your blog often. Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us, and truly hope you find employment with a school that needs you… because you are one of those rare teachers who will truly make a difference in a child’s life.

Best of luck to you, friend.
Vonnie

By: There’s No Such Thing As Virtual: It Is All Teaching | Intrepid Teacher

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:36:44 +0000

[...] Philosophy [...]

By: monika hardy

monika hardy — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:35:43 +0000

i love what you wrote. i love your philosophy. it’s exactly where we need to be. (did you read disrupting class?)

i’m doing that with 26 kids just now. not the whole school….but we’re hoping to do it so well – that people will glob on.

i think the structure, the filters, the teaching that currently exist even in “21st cent” classrooms – is wasting kids’ time. i wish more people could see that. realize that the kids need to own the learning.

glad i found you. can’t wait to read more of your thinking.

By: Teaching and Technology « Haraka Haraka Haina Baraka

Teaching and Technology « Haraka Haraka Haina Baraka — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:51:25 +0000

[...] is conceivable that after all the talk about our philosophies, skills, and technological know how, we as teachers should sit back and reflect upon what it is [...]

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By: English Teacher | Intrepid Teacher

English Teacher | Intrepid Teacher — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:18:51 +0000

[...] Philosophy [...]

By: murcha

murcha — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:21:42 +0000

It was reinforced to us many times at the recent ACEC conference that it is passionate dedicated teacher willing to take risks and connect with their students face-to-face who will always have the most impact on students. However, web2.0 tools are available to make this learning even more powerful and allow students to self direct their learning. So, although I do follow the Victorian Education Learning Standards, of my Australian state, I can also use ‘teachable moments’ and the self directed learning that so often stems from this, to give the students the knowledge to become life long learners. I love blogging and using it in my classroom. The most successful blog posts are those prompts written by students seeking the answers from fellow global students.
I think structure and some form of framework needs to be in place as students to not have the maturity or hindsight to know what the need to know. But where possible, allow students to enjoy the equivalent of the ‘unconference’ type sessions in the classroom, that educationalists seek and enjoy. This would be especially so, of the older students. In years to come, teachers will become facilitators and students continue to seek their own knowledge and learning as they use the internet and online personal learning networks more and more from home.

By: daibarnes

daibarnes — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:17:26 +0000

I genuinely wonder whether or not a school with a similar stimulating philosophy is out there. You need a Head with vision and confidence in kids to use tech as a tool, not a toy (although playing and doing and learning, but learning what?

Enquiry based education is really a good move; but will the pupil’s want to drive their curriculum? Will they have the questions? We, as teachers, will always provide structure. A kick up the arse. But is it OK to let children drive themselves? It’s certainly not simple. And teachers certainly would have to be retrained. My 16 yr old has just got straight As in his exams. His favourite teacher is chalk and talk old school medieval history. He and I fight about what constitutes a good education. The system has worked for him but it fails so many. Me and learning became friends later in life.

Have you seen futurelabs project on enquiring minds: http://www.enquiringminds.org.uk/

It is definitely worth a read. They try and nail down a structure and development process for putting enquiry/inquiry at the heart of education. Very impressive. My schools response on the working party looking at independent learning was to shy away from anything radical and tag on to some valid but low impact theory.

If you find the school you are looking for then let me know. My suspicion is though that they will be few and far between because those of us who understand the true power of ed tech as a classroom tool, the netbook generation, are not the type to aspire to lead a school. Even if we got there, could we find the teachers we’d need?

No reason to stop trying. There is little more inspiring, to watch or to experience, than learning that makes sense to the learner. It is energy.