Bruce- Never can tell

AN ECOLOGY OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

© Julie Boyd 2012 Traditional models and theories of leadership are not necessarily helpful in a contemporary world. One of the challenges for educational leaders is in the realisation that education can no longer be quarantined from our broader society and environment. A theory of leadership derived from principles of ecology calls for a radical […]

Teacher Performance Measures: A Reflection

(C) Julie Boyd 2011 Not everything that can be counted, counts, and not everything that counts can be counted                                                                    Albert Einstein     The Grattan Institute recently wrote that a new system of teacher appraisal and feedback in Australia would improve teacher effectiveness, recognise our best educators and lift the outcomes of Australian students to […]

Stephen Heppell talking to Marc Prensky about the role of the teacher in todays world.

First posted on http://edupln.ning.com/video/marc-prensky-what-is-the-role-of-the-teacher-in-todays-world?xg_source=shorten_twitter

Why Teachers are Leaving the profession

This story shows how, and why, NOT to improve teacher performance through standardised test links to merit pay. A very salutory story. Terrific story by a brave ex-teacher. A teacher’s story: Why the DC Impact system Bloomberg wants NYC schools to emulate caused me to leave teaching First published on, and well worth a visit […]

Finnish Education – what the fuss is all about

Respected American journalist, Dan Rather, reports on what the fuss is all about over Finnish Education. It’s interesting that this is exactly what was happening in Australian schools in the 1990s. It is the greatest failure of Australian political advisors that this was not pursued, but rather our cultural cringe had us looking to America […]

The Flipped Classroom -newly invented – but used in Austalia 20 years ago

The Flipped Classroom Original post by Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.  at http://wp.me/pKlio-cq Due to Khan Academy’s popularity, the idea of the flipped classroom has gained press and credibility within education circles. Briefly, the Flipped Classroom as described by Jonathan Martin is: Flip your instruction so that students watch and listen to your lectures… for homework, and […]

Why Public School Teachers are Occupying Wall Street

5 Reasons Why Public School Teachers are Occupying Wall Street The classroom and the boardroom are often seen as dissimilar spaces. In classrooms, there are students and teachers; two groups of people that have the most insight on the current debate about what to do with the broken education system, but whom have rarely been […]

The Simple Complexity of Childrens Thinking

The biggest mistake many teachers make is to assume that students think the same way they do. As once said by the brilliant Bob Samples author of one of my favourite books ‘Open Mind, Whole Mind ‘ If I force the child to see the world in the narrow patterns of my history and myperspectives. […]

Schools Built from Bottles, Not Bricks

Guatemalan Schools Built from Bottles, Not Bricks Zak Stone The cost of building new classrooms and schools shouldn’t prohibit students in the developing world from accessing a quality education, but new construction, even using inexpensive materials like cinder block, can run up a five-digit bill in construction costs. Now, Hug It Forward, a nonprofit in […]

iSad – Memories of Steve Jobs – for my Grandkids

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” – #SteveJobs http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/cartoons Here’s to the crazy ones: a farewell to Steve Jobs by Michael Rose We knew. We may not have wished to know, and perhaps it was easier to push away that sense of impending sadness, the […]

Teachers Thinking of Leaving the Profession

News Education Teaching http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/oct/03/teaching-poll-behaviour Badly behaved pupils and parents put teachers off Survey by Guardian Teacher Network shows more than half of teachers have considered quitting profession Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent guardian.co.uk, Stressed teacher Is it worth it? Many teachers are thinking of quitting. Photograph: Gabe Palmer/Alamy British parents are increasingly badly behaved and neglectful, […]

Meta Literacy in Action

Learning without Frontiers: School libraries and meta-literacy in action

September 11 and Loss of Empathy By Alfie Kohn

RETHINKING SCHOOLS Winter 2001-02 September 11 By Alfie Kohn Some events seem momentous when they occur but gradually fade from consciousness, overtaken by fresh headlines and the distractions of daily life.  Only once in a great while does something happen that will be taught by future historians.   Just such an incident occurred on September 11.  […]

The Future Of Learning

Just lkistening to Steve Wheeler’s keynote on the Future of Learning. Excellent listen The Future of Learning View more presentations from Steve Wheeler

Learning

.prezi-player { width: 550px; } .prezi-player-links { text-align: center; }http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf A Recipe for Free Range Learning on Prezi

The Privatisation of Education

As Diane Ravitch tweeted this morning- a sad day for educational reformers. Article from the UK Guardian discusses the abrupt departure of the New York schools chancellor is only a temporary setback for the corporate ‘reform’ of public schools. Former Hearst executive Cathleen Black who has just resigned from her post as <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/07/schools-school-funding“>New York […]

Two-thirds of teachers want to quit. What is the Purpose of Education

NEARLY two-thirds of Australian teachers are considering quitting their jobs for a new career. So are teachers all over the world See: A love of teaching, but fear for the future: Fight over collective bargaining leaves one teacher uncertain about career choice http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42306729/ns/business-us_business The Centre for Marketing Schools was commissioned to survey staff satisfaction levels […]

Kids Thinking Outside the Box

How kids thinking outside the box can change an entire village, and their lives.
NOTE: If you can’t see the video, click on the header for this post

I’m Sorry I’m A Teacher

This powerful letter was written by an American Teacher, Alan Haskvitz, a member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and has been recognized many times as one of the nation’s most successful and innovative teachers. Accounts of his students’ accomplishments have been featured in books, periodicals, and on national radio and television. He is […]

Does Education Lead to Happiness? Or more money?

The (immediate) future of technology

Last night I watched my new 9 month old grandbaby totally bamboozle her father by flipping a skype screen- he had no idea how she did it or how to undo it! Technology makes for great toys. The question is how your do we expose kids to what forms of technology. This video raises the […]

K-12 Students and Technology

This video provides a students’ view of technology and how it can be used to engage them. The appropriate use of technology is the challenge for all teachers and education systems today.

The Future of Cooperative Learning

The Future of Cooperative Learning In a time of accelerated and massive change, when conventional resources are quickly being depleted, cooperative effort is needed to navigate the “rapids of change.” ABSTRACT The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation. Bertrand Russell Cooperative Learning is one of the best researched fields of classroom based practice […]

The Role of Teachers and Textbooks in a Democracy

For full article go to http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/teachers_democracy_sudan/ “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” — James Madison, 1788 This month’s historic referendum will determine southern Sudan’s future, either as an independent country of part of a unified Sudan. Voting ends on […]

12 Technologies On The Verge of Extinction?

http://gizmodo.com/5731594/12-technologies-on-the-verge-of-extinction Gizmodo is suggesting that the following technologies are on the verge of distinction 1) Pre-recorded Physical Media 2) Stereoscopic (with glasses) 3D TVs 3) eBook Readers 4) Consumer-Level Hard Drives. 5) Keys 6) Handheld Gaming consoles Those that will SURVIVE 1) Digital music/media players 2) Landline phones 3) Internal combustion engines 4)5)6) The PC, […]

Students Using Technology Effectively

This is what Australian Education used to be about – students as co-developers of their own learning. What’s happened in the past decade here is shameful. http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/MiddleGround/Articles/August2008/Article1/tabid/1704/Default.aspx In his article “The Digital Learning Farm” Alan November describes six jobs that outline creative ways that your students can make valuable contributions to their learning community.Tutorial Designers […]

iPad Generation

The iPad generation. Is this a great example of a child being ‘trained’? One posted comment ” it makes me pause and think…what is she learning?…when she grows up, will she feel more comfortable using machines, or relating with people? Just askin’.” The Tablet Generation – I’m Not Talking About the ’60’s, Your Kids Mobile Future […]

Student test data in assessing teacher quality.

A study released last month by the Gates Foundation supposedly offered up “some of the strongest evidence to date of the validity of ‘value-added’ analysis.” VAA makes the claim that teachers’ effectiveness can be reliably estimated by gauging their students’ progress on standardized tests.  But Jesse Rothstein, an economist at UC Berkeley, argues that the analyses in the […]

Testing turning kids off of learning

Comments from Blog ‘for the love of learning’ http://www.joebower.org/2011/01/our-system-tests-and-grades-young.html “It’s impossible to discuss education without being hit upside the head umpteen times by the word accountability. At the root of this word is a demonizing fear that there is this horde of pension-sucking, union-loving teachers who are laughing their lazy asses to the bank. This […]

Mixing Mind and Metaphor

<div><style type=”text/ .prezi-player { width: 550px; } .prezi-player-links { text-align: center; }http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf Mixing Mind and Metaphor on Prezi </divcss" media="screen">.prezi-player { width: 550px; } .prezi-player-links { text-align: center; }</style><object id="prezi_mojdt36mrozf" name="prezi_mojdt36mrozf" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="550" height="400"><param name="movie" value="http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf"/><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"/><param name="flashvars" value="prezi_id=mojdt36mrozf&lock_to_path=0&color=ffffff&autoplay=no&autohide_ctrls=0"/><embed id="preziEmbed_mojdt36mrozf" name="preziEmbed_mojdt36mrozf" src="http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf&quot; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="550" height="400" bgcolor="#ffffff" flashvars="prezi_id=mojdt36mrozf&lock_to_path=0&color=ffffff&autoplay=no&autohide_ctrls=0"></embed></object><div><p><a title="Talk […]

Math is is not linear

http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf&nbsp; Math is not linear on Prezi

While you read this, watch the world change

For and amazing collection of data click on   While you read this… watch the world change.

Putting Social Networking in it’s place

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

100 Things To Watch In 2011

Interesting summary of things to take note of in the upcoming year  

If you think you have challenges, check this out

VOTED_THE_BEST_EMAIL_OF_THIS_YEAR

Global Change Makers. Youth Economic Forum

Boorish, “in your face” behavior is everywhere.

Boorish, “in your face” behavior is everywhere. Most of the time, I’m able to avoid it, or walk away from it, but not tonight. Even as we walked away from the restaurant and passed our loud partiers at the curb, one of them spied us and sneeringly said, “Oooh, everyone be quiet now.” We just […]

The Personal Responsibility of Each Teacher

Each Teacher has the personal responsibility: 1.            To develop: Breadth and Depth of Repertoire of Strategies 2.            To create: Capacity to align strategies / learning environments / curriculum / assessment 3.            To build: Sophistication of personal teaching frameworks and ensure fit with broader society 4.            To maintain: Interest in / Commitment […]

Explaining Empathy Jeremy Rifkin by RSA

Multi-sensory and multi-modal learning. RSA animate are brilliant at providing graphic explanations of complex verbal explanations.

Jane Goodall: There Is Still Hope for the Environment

Social Networking

LinkedIn is for people you know. Facebook is for people you used to know. Twitter is for people you want to know. Facebook is for friends that are now strangers. Twitter is for strangers that should be your friends. The sad reality just through on Twitter! I wish i was friends with the people I […]

Education and Schooling

Albert Einstein didn’t read until he was eight or nine. Thomas Edison once said: “I remember I used never to be able to get along at school…I almost decided that I was a dunce.” Sir Richard Branson and Ted Turner both describe themselves as dyslexic. Teachers described Auguste Rodin, the sculptor, as “the worst pupil […]

The Purpose of Education

As you are no doubt aware, westernised education has already been through at least four, possibly five ‘eras’, each of which has had a cumulative impact on the next. The question is, what will establish Australia as a world leader in what’s next? A prediction, based on more than 20 research fields, 35 years nationally […]

A Dream School

David Suzuki’s ‘legacy’ – Auz ABC interview – Change now! Learn to live with environment or perish!

Tunnel People

Deep beneath Vegas’s glittering lights lies a sinister labyrinth inhabited by poisonous spiders and a man nicknamed The Troll who wields an iron bar. But astonishingly, the 200 miles of flood tunnels are also home to 1,000 people who eke out a living in the strip’s dark underbelly,  a flooded labyrinth under Sin City’s shimmering […]

Estonia leads internet revolution

Estonia leads internet revolution Their parliament declared internet access a basic human right in 2004. Why is our NBN not the same? Tiny Estonia leads internet revolution Among the former communist countries set to join the European Union on 1 May, 2004 Estonia is the smallest, but the most technologically advanced. Estonia’s children become computer-literate […]

Our work provides a synthesis of the following research bases and areas of interest

Since 1990 our work has been to take an integral approach to identifying fields of research and practice which impact, or should be impacting, on education, and to combine these into a systems approach to schooling. This list includes some of the fields which have been integrated into our educational frameworks which have been in […]