Do we trust teachers?

A good friend of mine posted this image on her Facebook page the other day and it really got me thinking. Has there really been such a paradigm shift in the thinking of parents in relation to how their little darlings are 'performing' at school. Being a parent myself there are certainly the 'over achieving' parents who will do anything to make sure their little treasure is coming first however do we by and large really trust teachers to fully educate our children?

Image by bigstockphotos.com

This thinking led me to a conversation with one of my classes this week about school reports. All of the students in the class who were parents (which was about 90%) felt that they would like someone to sit down and explain the school reports because there was so much education jargon that they really didn't understand how their child was really doing. They really felt that school reports were not in plain English. Perhaps it is these confusing reports that are really putting pressure on teachers to try and explain to parents what their student can and can't do?

It seems as though on the world stage Australia's are excelling in many areas. Science, Arts, Medicine, Innovation, technology, Agriculture yet we often hear in the media that we need more teacher training because it must be the teachers to blame for the supposedly bad school results. I find all this very confusing and conflicting and it is hard to know what to believe.

It is hardly fair of parents who have unrealistic expectations of their child and take no responsibility for their child's education outside of school hours to blame the teachers for their poor results. Perhaps it's a generational thing. Maybe kids these days spend too much time on technology and don't do the extra study and reading that previous generations did?

There is a bigger problem here though I think. In generations past teachers were rev erred and admired.
There has definitely been a shift in thinking in subsequent decades. There have been many reported cases of child abuse in both public and private schools. There have been schools and individual teachers sued because of poor school results and of course don't forget the overly scrutinised NAPLAN results that have left genuinely great schools and teachers feeling vulnerable by the lack of trust of parents in the community.

It's a real shame and I don't know how to solve the problem but I wish parents would take on board a team mentality. Children and adult learner's alike need to be in a learning partnership so that all partied have the opportunity to succeed.
During the week I watched Sugata Mitra talk about his dream for a school in the cloud. Perhaps this is where education is going in the future?



Until next week,

 K

Why not think outside the box?

I don't know about you but in recent years I have completed some personality tests. I have blogged about this before. It's a very interesting topic because it makes you think about why you are the way you are and what is it that drives you to work and function in life. As the years go on I am becoming more comfortable in my own skin. That's a strange statement for a 37 year old. You'd think by now that I had grown up. Well I feel like I still am. I have always been an out of the box thinker. My mind is veraciously coming up with new ideas for teaching and education. My poor boss can barely keep up with my ideas. He says I have ADHTD, Attention Deficit Hyper Teaching Disorder. I'm always on the go and constantly thinking and sensing how we can do things better to engage students in their learning.

Image by bigstockphotos.com

There have times this year when I have felt very down about the changes that are happening in the education sector however if I allow these to take over then my teaching will be greatly affected. So when I feel that my teaching is tired and mediocre I turn to the file on my hard drive called, 'Kathryn's big ideas'. It's these teaching and learning ideas that I have come up with or gleaned from others that allow me to think outside the box. Sometimes these ideas are to do with technology and other times they are more to do with the connections that people have to their space or community. In doing so I have notice that if I incorporate some of my crazy ideas in class the students are more engaged in their learning and they often comment more on how passionate I am about what I do. It is these unique ideas and ways of teaching that shows we aren't robots. I have noticed that when I am enthusiastic, passionate and creative in how I teach it is the students in turn that learn and experience new concepts and ideas in real and meaningful ways and I find I have my best teaching days. A shared journey is far more exciting and meaningful then one where you are going at it alone. 

If you are reading this blog then you are clearly a dedicated teacher or interested person who wishes to engage in a world outside your own thinking. I'm clearly not talking to you. However if you know someone that doesn't engage in regular (I mean at least every few weeks or at the very least once a month) professional development or conversation about what they are actually doing in their classroom then how can they ever remain fresh, vibrant and relevant to the cohort that they are teaching? I often need others to inspire me or to help me get an idea going and there is no way that I could do my job on my own. My teaching practices reflect a community of educators who support and share with me and allow me to make mistakes and give me feedback on how I can do things better. Our head teacher regularly pops in to watch our classes. He is happy to discuss what is going on in our classes over lunch or just pop into his office for a chat. 

So can I encourage you if you are an out of the box thinker to never stop dreaming and thinking of new and

Image by presentermedia.com

innovative ways to learn. If you aren't an out of the box thinker then please be there to keep us grounded in reality with a hint of compassion that our bubble might be burst but necessary because our ideas are a little too way out there for that particular moment in time.

I think I've 90% secured a place for the next Central Coast Teach Meet so watch this space because by next week I will announce the venue. (It's a fantastic venue too!) Friday night 8th August is the date so keep it free. More info to come next week. 

Have a great week,

K

p.s. Check out #ozengchat on Twitter from last night for a most interesting discussion on cognitive enhancement drugs with Dr Nicole Vincent. 

Is technology the silver bullet to getting a job?

Since the federal budget was announced last week there has been speculation and overall outrage by many

Image by bigstockphotos.com

students about the high cost of education in Australia. I have been reminding myself this week that I do live in the lucky country. We do enjoy a high standard of living for most Australians and this by in large is because we live in a safe country. It must be terrible for teachers and students who live in country's where you they sure there will be a bomb explosion somewhere near them and they hope it's not on their house, bus, school or shopping centre. Learning and working under this kind of stress must be awful and frightening.

I agree that education needs to be affordable but there is a part of me that is so grateful that we value education so highly that we need to pay well for it and that all can access it. There will be some that argue that this is a middle class mindset yet I know I had to work three jobs in order to get myself through uni all those years ago. Nothing changes. Having to pay back student loans has been around for a long time now and this is not going to change. My parents are farmers. My father came to this country from a Japanese prisoner of war camp after World War II with nothing. Through sheer hard work he managed to forge a life himself and his family. He worked several jobs to save for a deposit for a farm. He worked the land and loved it and still does. We were not plonked into middle class Australia like some but through sheer blood and sweat worked solidly for many years, like many migrant families to build a better life for ourselves. When I left home in my second year of uni I had nothing. I was not handed a silver spoon and had to work hard to pay my bills, educate myself and gain employment. However I realise that times are changing and there are those who are not fortunate enough to have the same opportunities I was afforded. Notably unconditional love and support of my family.

With the changing social fabric of our society the educational demands of this current generation will not be getting easier any time soon. The previous generations (baby boomers and generation x) are the employers and they are demanding higher qualifications for jobs. Experience too is required to get a reasonably paying job. With such great demands on generation y it is no wonder they are frustrated about finding employment when many of them live in areas such as the Central Coast in NSW where unemployment of this highly educated generation sits at 24%.

Image by presentermedia.com

So is there a silver lining in all of this? Well I am no fortune teller but I see that there will be a greater influx of students who will head towards MOOCs for their qualifications. For many students they have grown up with access to an online world. Education and training that is provided through the online space will undoubtedly grow rapidly in the coming years.  Zac Sims, founder of Code Academy suggests that they live in a 'tech-saturated culture' so they will certainly welcome this change. Institutions like Coursera will continue to grow and allow free access to higher education free. The university of Queensland is also getting on board with idea through UQx and it will not be long before it becomes the norm. Already most universities are offering courses online or at the very least are using technology to support face to face learning.

It will be a challenge for some educators to embrace this change. Debbie Morrison notes that in Columbia University's research on future forecast in learning educators have not yet fully embraced it as a learning

http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/

medium.  Future directions for the university in terms of online delivery as seen in the above table. This shows the institute values online learning but those who will actually deliver it are still to embrace and come on board fully. The cost of online learning in regard to preparation and delivery are set to sore yet if both universities and institutions for adult education and training don't come on board they will be missing out on a large portion of their revenue to a cohort that is demanding learning that is flexible and accessible online.

Quality education is what matters in my classroom. Evaluating and reflecting on teaching and education is why I blog. I need to take time to think about how and why I use technology and whether or not I will be part of this great new change in education that is happening. It is clearly a revolution in learning and one which I do hope to be part of. I am excited by this new medium and I know that quality education can still be delivered using this platform.

I do hope the next generation don't give up on education because of the high price they will pay for it. I do hope that there can be greater opportunities for them through the online world to get a great education and also a great job.

Until next week,
K

p.s. This week I tried using Poll Everywhere to gauge a response from students. Fast and effective. Will use again!

What's your story?

Stories reflect the very essence of who were are. There are some that think hand writing can reflect our personalities. Milton Newman Bunker invented a system called graphoanalysis that determines our personalities based on the slants and curvature of our hand writing. Many of my students still like to make hand written notes because they say they recall information more easily if they have written it down. Whilst hand writing is fast becoming a thing of the past I don't think it will ever be completely replace with technology. At least I hope not.

Every where we go we leave bits of ourselves in the world we live in. I remember watching the film Gattaga and thinking do we really shed 500 million cells a day? It seems we leave an imprint of ourselves now through social media and technology as we weave our way through the internet and our new social environments. More and more we print and write using technology and every strike of the keyboard is an intended thought reflecting yet again another inch of who we are. So even while we may try to remain ambiguous to those who we don't know, particularly online, there is no escaping the actual person behind the writing. Robots will never be able to reflect individual thought and personality.

Much of what I do in life is listen to stories. I love stories and always have. Adult education lends itself to a lot of story telling. Without listening to people's stories we can't really help them reach their potential. Tailoring learning to meet each person's need is so important in adult education because these learning experiences often affect not only the individual but their families also. Changing your life or career can have a major impact on your family and students need quality educational outcomes to meet the great sacrifice they are making to their lives and their families.

Sharing the learning journey becomes part of the weave of your life as a teacher. For many students writing their story becomes extremely powerful. I have had a number of students who had years of therapy only to find they felt free when they had written and shared their story were they ready to move on. Writing can be incredible intimate and leave you feeling vulnerable. It can allow thoughts to be processed and decisions to be set in concrete. For thousands of years writing can change the course of peoples lives. One love letter can set in course a motion that will completely change your life forever.  It is these stories that shape and frame us. The stories of our lives and those around us infect our thoughts, actions and deeds and it upon these that our working lives are influenced. We are who we are not by being hermits but by the stories and interaction with others. Stories have the power to change perceptions and allow us time to reflect and consider the state of play.

As I write this blog I am about to go to a funeral of a wonderful 91 year old lady who influenced my life

through her story. I hope that you have people in your life who influence your life story in a positive way and help you be the best person that only you can be. We can never try to be anyone other than ourselves and to try and do otherwise is to cheat ourselves and ignore the very core of who we are.

Even though I have not met a lot my teaching friends on social media they have become part of my story. Please keep sharing your stories with me, they enrich my life.

Until next week,
K

Is there a literacy gap for Gen X and Baby Boomers?

A few weeks ago I said I needed to apply for my job. Well I have and I am still waiting for my interview but hey, I'm not going anywhere so I'm sure it will happen sometime. Anyway after chatting with some colleagues of mine about addressing selection criteria in a job application it got me thinking. Why do so many people stress out about addressing this criteria when they are applying for a job? Much of what I do in my job is to make learning meaningful and the skills set that we give students also needs to be relevant to today's world and I feel that interpretation of 'job jargon' or should I say 'industry jargon' is not explicitly taught. It is something that we all assumed to understand.  However I don't think that this is the case.

When I was in primary school in the 1980s we weren't given marking criteria and guidelines. (If fact we

Image by bigstockphotos.com

spent most of our time trying to record our favorite songs off the radio using our super cool tapes and walkmans.)However there were fairly detailed syllabuses for year 11 and 12 but for junior years in high school it was widely open to creative teaching on a range of topics and ideas. It wasn't until you were in your senior years of school that the whole assessment thing because seriously hectic. So for many people who were taught in schools in the 1980s they were given a task and then asked to interpret and complete it to the best of their ability. Of course the teacher would explain the task clearly but there was never the strict dot point and guidelines like there are today. So you might be wondering why I am rabbiting on about assessment tasks and being able to interpret them however I see that there is a direct link to this and being able to address selection criteria in a job application. Being able to read, interpret and analysis are higher order thinking operations. Not only does the information in the job application need comprehension it also requires much more thought than that in order to address all the requirements of a job. In many instances employers are looking for how you have used these skills and applied them to your current job or situations that you have encountered. Being able to understand and use the jargon to best address the selection criteria is paramount to even getting a look in with an employer.

After many discussions with students and teachers this week many felt that it is something that is time consuming and confusing at times. Many felt inadequate about really understanding what it was that the employer were asking and weren't confident using the jargon that was used in the job advertisement.

It seems that this current generation at school will have an advantage when it comes to applying for jobs

Image by bigstockphotos.com

because they are familiar with reading and understanding how this type of text operates. There has been much debate about increasing the retirement age to 70 and if this happens then we will all be working longer and applying for more jobs when we are older. It becomes much harder to compete with young people for work when they are confident in addressing selection criteria. Many of my students reflected today that having a gap in education and work to have children had greatly decreased their literary abilities in this area because they haven't been reading, writing and thinking this way for many years. If you don't use it you lose it. It is hard for them to compete for work with young people because they don't feel confident addressing selection criteria and using current industry jargon. This is why TAFE is yet again another crucial service for these people because we can help these adult learners understand the jargon and try and address the selection criteria so they at least get a look in for a job.

I don't know how this can be addressed but I do know that it is becoming increasingly harder for older workers to stay employed and be employed and I do hope that governments begin to tackle this problem in a more genuine way than they have off late. There needs to be a change in perception about older workers and their contribution to the work force because they have much experience and wisdom to contribute to the effective and efficient running of the nation's work force.

I'm not usually one to be so political but it is a concern that there appears to be a literacy gap for some adult workers and I do hope that TAFE will still be around long enough to help them.

Enough musings...

Until next week,

K

p.s. Just an aside, thanks so much for the great feedback from last week's posts. Don't forget to check out all the talks for TED x Sydney 2014!

Are Cognitive Enhancement drugs over perscribed?

So I had a fantastic weekend at TED x Sydney. It's not often I take time out of life to think about things beyond my world and situation. The event showcased scientists, professionals from the education and medical profession along with with talented musicians and artists. There were speakers with disabilities who highlighted the point that they live in the same world we do and often have similar jobs to able bodied people yet they are often treated so differently even when they don't want to be. Judy and Tim Sharpe were super inspiring and I would encourage you to watch their talk when it becomes available. They were the only talk that received a complete standing ovation from the audience.

I guess two of the speakers that stood out most to me were Neuroscienist Cyndi Weickert and Philosopher Nicole Vincent. It was so inspiring to hear about the advances into a cure for Schizophrenia from Cyndi. Her amazing journey and clearly passionate drive is seeking to really make a difference for suffers of this really debilitating mental illness. Nicole Vincent's talk on Cognitive Enhancement drugs has still got my brain thinking and I had a lively conversation with my colleagues today. These drugs may include Ritalin, sleeping pills and other stimulants that help you to focus or stay awake. She, like many others have some real concerns about the long term impact of these drugs on young and developing brains as well as consideration as to how these drugs might be giving some students an academic edge over others. This was something I

Image by bigstockphotos.com

hadn't really thought about. If an elite athlete took drugs to enhance their performance they would be stripped of their titles and shamed beyond all measure yet we have kids who take drugs to help them focus and learn whilst other students don't take any cognitive enhancing drugs. For some children who find that Ritalin does help them focus because they suffer from ADHD this can be a life saving gift for them but does this mean that they will have to take it for the rest of their lives in order to keep a job or function in life? As a stimulant it would be concerning the long term impact this might have on their body.

Image by bigstockphotos.com

For some academics and professionals who travel around the world to speak many take sleeping pills to help regulate their sleep patterns so they will be fresh to give talks. Are we getting to a stage where we need to take drugs in order to do our jobs? Is this ok? These were some of the arguments that Nicole pondered and I think that having a debate about this is essential or otherwise taking drugs for cognitive enhancement will become the norm. I don't have any real answers to these questions but I do think a debate about this is necessary and not one to be taken lightly.

Connecting with people outside the realm of education was great and broad networking is helping me stay current in terms of what different industries are facing at the moment and it also helps my general world view on a range of topics. Talking to people with experiences from a variety of industry backgrounds means they often come to topics with a slightly different perspective to mine. It's refreshing to look at something in a new way.

All in all I know that thinking outside the box can deliver new ways of approaching a problem or present a new perspective on a topic that once appeared so clear but now there may be different options to consider. I'm enjoying the mental stimulation and have been thinking of ways of incorporating some of the ideas that were presented at TED x Sydney into my classes and into conversation with family, friends, colleagues and students.

Try a TED talk with your class today.

Until next week,

K

Is there magic in teaching?

Yesterday I came across a TED talk that really got me thinking. Christopher Emdin presented a TED talk that considers pre-service teachers and their education and their journey to becoming teacher. Best watch this video first to understand the rest of this blog post.



Whilst I think there is great merit in wanting students to be engaged you can't manufacture something that is cultural different and perhaps unique to certain social settings. I know that this approach would not work with my students. There is a lot to be said about engaging speakers and techniques that you can use when presenting ideas to students however the students would soon become bored with this style fairly quickly if it does not come naturally to the individual teacher. 

Image from bigstockphotos.com

What can be drawn from this talk is that there are no magical tricks to teaching but rather it is the unique personality and style that we bring to our classes that can assist student engagement in the long term. It is our sound knowledge of our subjects and good incorporation of educational theory in relation to pedagogy and andragogy and excellent communication skills that can bring out the best in all of us. Experience is the one thing that can't be taught and for all pre-service teachers they need to bring with them life experience into the job and as the years go by they add their teaching experience to their skill set. 

I do agree with Christopher Emdin that mentoring is extremely important and perhaps there needs to be more of this in a teaching degree. There certainly can be more said about mentoring in schools no matter how long you have been teaching. Without dialogue about your classes teachers become stale and out of touch with not only their subject but loose enthusiasm for what they do. Mentoring and reflection should be part of normal teaching practice. New methods, new ideas and fresh ways of teaching are crucial to teacher quality and there should be more discussion about how this can be achieved in work places. 

The magic in teaching is created when a student connects with their learning

Image from bigstockphotos.com

and goes on a journey of discovery that captures and enlightens their lives. It doesn't matter how old learners are they can still enjoy the wonder of learning something new or gaining confidence in a skill they have been working at. Yes it is our job as teachers to engage our students to achieve these goals but we must be ourselves and bring to the job the unique abilities we all possess. I love the fact that my colleagues all have a different teaching style to me because they inspire me through their ideas and teaching methods. 

I do wish all my teaching friends a wonderful term 2! 

Until next week,
K