CPD Catchup

ESF CURRICULUM GROUP DAY 12 MAY

GA Conference review

1. Need a good basis of knowledge to build and put concepts into context. -not just 21C skills.
Knowledge is power- when does knowledge turn into understanding?
Why is it important - "pupils across all ages agree that having an excellent knowledge of the subject they are teaching is the most effective quality of a teacher"   -  Teacher? Facilitaor? or Geographer? -all 3

2. Reassessing Perceptions of the world - Brandt line and HIC/LIC is irrelevant now. Is our knowledge of the world current. keep up to date  Hans Rosling- Statistics aren't boring- Be careful the place that we teach doesn't become defined by the issues we are presenting- eg Is Bangladesh just flooding?. Is Brazil a massive favela? - use gapminder for statistics quiz.

IB REVIEW is a thematic approach possible?
-students identify recurring themes to link revision together. 
 1. Philippinos in HK. 2. Core Periphery idea. 3. Globalization/Global Interactions TNCs, 4. Environmental Sustainability. 5. Appropriate technology.   Other concepts  = examine- (look at other side too).  disparity,  empowerment,  sustainability.
Not enough time to do interesting teaching. course is interesting and contemporary. teach to the syllabus and use the command terms. 
worldmapper, bbc animations YEAR 7
Crossschool mappingGoogle mymaps -sense of place
Tell the story behind a place - emotional.
soundscape - bbc save our sounds. - places of peace,
http://makingmaps.net/
http://mappingweirdstuff.wordpress.com/
nodal map of distance direction from central place to sounds images....
youngpeoplesgeographies

Adam Nichols -knows geography of China - fieldtrip to china

---

IB REFERENCING & CITATIONS INSET  6/5/11  
Use citations tool in word to create bibliography and in text referencing. fill in forms in the toolbox first, then it does it for you.

MLA Referencing Guidance

Academic Honesty ppt
SonofCitationWebsite

---

SEEDS INSET DAY 11/5/ 2011   full notes:http://www.seedstraining.com/sis511/index.htm

THE BRAIN 101 - Build your Brain Muscle
golden era of neuroscience  - One of the fundamental challenges we face in education is learning how to learn.  What we know:

• We all have one, Its the same size and shape as everybody else's brain., It has the same parts as other brains...even Einstein's.
• However, the "genius" brain has more connections or "wires" that enable it to move information faster and to engage more of your brain's capacity. (The Neural Pathway)
• These wires can be developed just like a muscle. We could all be geniuses.

So how do we build the brain muscle? How do we develop those wires?

1. Use your body.
   The body generates the electricity your brain needs to power its massive amount of activity. Think of your body as the power plant for your brain. When you use and engage your body you create the energy required to build those new "wires". More wires = more brain capacity.
2. Try new things.
   Babies are the ultimate learning machine. Everyday they explore an exciting new world. They investigate everything with all of their senses. Every time that we try something new we fire up a new connection. When we practice that new behavior the connections get stronger and deeper...eventually becoming a habit...or something that we can do comfortably. Try new things everyday to keep your brain developing. Talk to new people. Go to new places. Try a new sport. Try a new musical instrument. Challenge your brain with new experiences and reap the rewards.

The EARN Model : Consider these factors and move through the paradigms that limit education.

ENVIRONMENT Physical environment affects mood and productivity. Make sure that wherever possible, your student is in an open, spacious, clean and well lit environment. Such spaces promote creativity and allow enough room for students of various learning styles to get comfortable. Be sure to find/create spaces with an abundance of natural light. Remember the concept of Prospect and Refuge. As humans, as mammals, our basic animal instinct makes us most comfortable in two types of environments. Prospect spaces allow us to "hunt", to take in the big picture and survey our options. Refuge spaces are our retreats...places of solitude, comfort and safety. ATMOSPHERE Focus on supporting risk-taking, inclusion and providing appropriate levels of challenge. Learning requires energy and risk. Surround your child with positive energy and be sure to celebrate mistakes. Risk-taking must be encouraged as it will accelerate the learning process. Open dialogues will help to extract learning from mistakes so that your child can make quick adjustments and get better results. Find ways to acknowledge their positive behaviors rather than focusing on their unproductive ones.  RESOURCES  Research has greatly supported the need for Social and Emotional development as part of the learning process. Physical activity has been directly linked to the healthy development of a learning brain. Assemble resources that supplement your child's traditional education. Technology - One great way to create change with resources is to make the use of technology variable. Challenge students (once in a while) to not use it where they normally would, and to use it in situations when the typically would not. Parents - Can they be enrolled to deliver, support or create learning experiences? Teachers - How are we teaming to create better results for students? Where can we collaborate? How can we support each other? NEED Be sure that your child has a clear short-term goal and sees the need for improvement and continuous effort. If they feel a need to change or learn, their intrinsic motivation will rise and their pro-active engagement in the learning process will sky rocket. WIIFM - Every human being tunes in to the same radio station...it stands for What's In It For Me. Make sure that you are prepared to convey why this particular piece of learning is relevant to the learner. Tap into the 3 key motivators that we learned on the Maze activity: clear short-term goals, specific support and mistakes = learning.Leaders must learn how to master the element of motivation. All change requires energy and both individuals and groups struggle to maintain that energy over time. MOTIVATION:  6 Key Motivator Clear Short-term Goals Break larger tasks into small pieces. Each time you complete a piece, the confidence builds and the momentum increases. Celebrating All Wins Every little thing that helps you to succeed should be celebrated. Make a habit of getting excited about even the smallest successes. Every win is a step toward the larger goal. Enrolling Others Success is a team sport. Don't try to do it all by yourself. Surround yourself with talented people and get them involved. Support Give specific support and maintain that support even if mistakes are made. Calling Time-Outs Even when things are going very well, take time to pause and reflect about what is working and what needs to be improved. This will keep everyone enrolled and on the same page. Acknowledging Others Make a habit of pointing out the positive things that people are doing. Let them know that you appreciate their supportive behaviors. People will be drawn to this positive energy. MISTAKES = Learning Opportunities Learning cannot happen without mistakes. Stop wasting time and make choices. No matter what happens, use the results as information or feedback. Great leaders understand the importance of these motivators. Practice these behaviors and you will become an irresistible leadership force

The Group Juggle Activity

The group juggle activity challenged the teams to make progress...fast. With only a few rounds of practice, each team made tremendous strides and their times were reduced drastically. Here are the key learning points from the activity:

1. Practice makes progress.
Each time we practiced, we made progress. That's should be our aim with our students as well. Let's support them in making small, measurable improvements each time they work.

2. Success can look different.
Every team was successful...and every team achieved their success in a different way. This is important to keep in mind when we work with students. They don't need to be just like everybody else, in fact they need to find ways that work for them as an individual. We are not developing clones, we are developing young people who are aware of their strengths and challenges.

3. Sharing ideas leads to breaking paradigms.
Progress got easier when we got a bit creative. When we tried new ideas and began to challenge the definitions of the rules, we found space to work in ways that enabled tremendous improvement. Getting better doesn't have to be hard...in fact, most successful people have found simple things that they can do repeatedly to become successful. Challenge your assumptions.

4. Work smarter not harder.
Remember the story of the chicken and the dog. Success is often found when we dare to re-examine our situation and eliminate a behavior that isn't getting us positive results. If something isn't working, try a new approach.

BOOKS

Brain Rules by John Medina A great synopsis of modern brain research. This book breaks it all down and illustrates what is most relevant and useful.

How Your Child Is Smart by Dawna Markova Understand the learning styles and ways to tap into your child's  learning potential.

Seven Kinds of Smart by Thomas Armstrong Learn about the theory of the Multiple Intelligences.

Major In Success by Patrick Combs A great resource for college bound youth or teens in transition.

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain  The connection between physical activity, emotional health, and brain-based learning capability has never been clearer...a must read.

Tools

Changing Minds  - tools

Graphic Organizers

Opening Minds UK

Opening Minds PLTS

Enquiring Minds -Future Lab

UK National Curriculum

Flip the Classroom- Global One World Classroom

Global One World Classroom - http://www.khanacademy.org/

Curriculum Change - Optimising Learning

Optimising Learning: Implications of Learning Science Research in 21 Century- Keith Sawyer 2008
Curriculum Change - How to make change happen - compiled by Alison Hampshire  
Curriculum New School Versions - Heidi Hayes Jacobs
What Universities Want - Compiled by Danny O'Connor

Sustainability as the Core

Educating with Sustainability at the core 
Nuffield STEM Futures Cross Curricular Projects on Sustainability
Whole school curriculum model based on sustainability -Marcia Behrenbreuch
Slow Schools Movement       
eco-schools

Why put Sustainability at the core
David Orr 1992 - Education as if the world mattered 1992!  full reading

"We ought to encourage our students to find their calling in good and necessary work, The best and most necessary work for our age involves in a thousand ways the recalibration of humanities values, institutions, behaviours and expectations with those of the earth. This is the task of education in our time. .. "Education which fails to clarify our central convictions is mere training or indulgence. For it is our central convictions that are in disorder, and as long as the present anti-metaphysical temper persists, the disorder will grow worse. Education, far from ranking as our greatest resource, will then be an agent of destruction." E.F Schumacher - It is time to address the ecological emergency as, in fact, a crisis of mind and of education."

Earth Policy Institute   "We are facing issues of near-overwhelming complexity and unprecedented urgency. Our challenge is to think globally and develop policies to counteract environmental decline and economic collapse. The question is: Can we change direction before we go over the edge?"(Lester R Brown) - PLAN B ......
People&Planet A gateway to the greatest issue of our time: the well being of the growing human family as it presses ever more heavily on the resources of our planet.
World Watch Institute - Vision for a sustainable world - delivers the insights and ideas that empower decision makers to create an environmentally sustainable society that meets human needs
GIFT: Global Institute for Tomorrow    Consumptionomics by  Chandra Nair
David Suzuki - we're going the wrong way. -we have to change the way we view the world

Lane Clark - Real Learning -Beyond Inquiry-where learning & thinking meet

Lane's Dream : That kids know how to learn- that they completely understand the stages of real learning. So they can independently and self directedly  navigate through those stages to begin to learn in areas of passion for them.  Engage in learning that ultimately makes a difference in their life and the life of others.  Knowing how to learn but ensuring that as you learn, that you are doing the best thinking you can. Get depth and breadth of thinking as they move through the stages with rigor. They need to own the journey! 

So they learn how to find out at many different stages of the model. Finding out tools are diverse and they need to pick the right one -differentiate through tool- they learn how to make the right choice.

Need tools, planners, processes and frameworks to help organize and plan to gain rigor.

Ultimately its about providing the tools to enable kids to invent ideate and innovate.............

Eventually they can plan their own journey selecting their own tool along the way.

Good change agents aren't afraid to look at their weakness. Your weaknesses are your opportunities.

Dancing  in  the  Light  -  perceptions  and  perspectives  on  inquiry  leaning  Marcia Behrenbreuch

"Teachers  are  perhaps  like  choreographers. They can provide the initial inspiration; they can plan the steps. They can rehearse the skills; they can tell when the performance is ready. But does a choreographer exist without dancers? The dancers improvise and change the steps. They bring their own unique skills and abilities.They bring their own creativity.But at some point, when the curtain goes up the dancers are on their own.They follow their passions; they solve the problems that arise. And the choreographer stands behind the curtain in the darkness Watching the dancers in the light."

Alison's Links to good vids on edtalks: Developing a thinking a generation
Questioning to develop thinking

Template for Enquiry from Together for Learning from Alison 

The Frame Changed- School Examples

What the students think

21C Learning - the answers   Conversations with Ameeta Wattall and Yong Zhao: Awesome vid- skills, spirituality, values and the only way forward is more creativity

“A creative curriculum would give greater priority to higher-order skills, such as learning to learn, problem-solving and self-assessment … would emphasise adaptability and the transfer of knowledge between contexts … for these aims to be realised, curriculum content should be reduced by half over the next ten years.

The Green School Bali 
Other Schools doing interesting things  Compiled by Alison
Projects at High Tech Highs   - great examples of how to run enquiries/projects
Coalition of Essential Schools - transforming public education USA

Changing the Frame - George Lakoff

Summary: Primary Metaphors are part of your physical brain. they are physical connections between synapses which have been connected and strengthened over time and are difficult to break.
Can we break the frame and change how we think of learning and what a school is.
Can we change the metaphor for learning and the way we think aboutit?

Learning could be a tree or forest which grows when nourished
The Learner could be an astronaut exploring and discovering the wonders of space

Personally I have changed many of my habits.  Could I change the way I behave and think and sustain it ? - probably go mad. - TARGET = I will take time to listen, be helpful and encourage conversation !
 

Carol Dwek- Growth Mindsets and Motivation

Changing motivation from money to purpose

Carol Dwek - Self Theories of Motivation:   full reading

Incremental/Maleable vs Fixed Entity Intelligence

Ch 1 Meaning Systems - People develop beliefs that organize their world and give meaning to their experiences(and justify them).  Different people's beliefs can create different psychological worlds leading them to think, feel and act differently in identical situations.

Mastery orientation = Successful individuals love learning, seek challenges, value effort and persist in the face of obstacles.

The Theory of maleable intelligence leads to mastery oriented qualities.- you learn from mistakes, taking risks, facing difficult situations, being stretched and failing.

Self esteem is not something we give to people by telling them they are clever, but something they get for themselves by teaching them to value learning over the appearance of smartness. - to relish challenge and effort and to use errors as routes to mastery.

2 reactions to failure are 1. Helplessness as in once failure is immenent one believes that the situation is out of their control. vs 2. Mastery oriented patterns

Ch 3 Looking Smart vs Learning - depends on if you see challenges as tests of intelligence or opportunities to learn new things. This is dependent on the way goals are set or viewed:

1. Performance goals - to look smart or intelligent or avoid looking dumb

2. Learning goals - desire to increase competence, learn new skills, master new tasks, understand new things- desire to get smarter. - more likely to choose harder challenges and be persistent in adversity.

These are not mutually exclusive but can be in conflict- Either choose a task that will make you look smart or one that you may look dumb at but learn something new.

Therefore - Set up tasks as opportunities to learn new things and get smarter, not as tests of how clever you are. When children are focused on measuring themselves from their performance , failure is more likely to provoke  a helpless response. When children are focused on learning, failure is likely to provoke  continued effort.

4. We can influence the way students view intelligence

- eg the brilliance of Da Vinci and Einstein was a result of their actions and environment not their genes.

When students have a fixed view of intelligence, those who most need remedial work are those most likely to reject it. They begin to have overriding concerns about looking smart and begin to sacrifice learning opportunities when there is a threat of exposing their deficiencies.

If you are an entity theorist and you fail it means you are thick- this means summative tests and exams are high risk, horrifying and demotivating. If you are a learning theorist they could be used as tools to get smarter with.- depends how you set it up.

 Every time people meet a challenge, exert mental effort and learn something new, their brain grows neurons and they get smarter

6, The Meaning of Effort

In fixed intelligence making a lot of effort or struggling  means your dumb. Its only the winners who feel smart, and only if they didn't have to work to hard to win

This is sad because  students may never come to value effort. Effort gives meaning to life. It means you care about something, that it is important, and you are willing to work for it.

In Incremental intelligence effort is what turns on peoples intelligence and allows them to use it to their full advantage. + it can foster a more collaborative atmosphere among students because everyone can feel smart by applying their intellectual abilities to the problems they face.

Often we praise students for their performance on easy tasks and tell them they are smart  when they do something quickly and perfectly. This is not teaching them to welcome challenge and learn from errors. We are teaching them that easy success means they are intelligent and that  errors and effort mean they are not. - Instead we should apologise for wasting their time  and direct them to something more challenging. In this way we may begin to teach them that meaningful success requires effort.

12 Belief in Potential to Change:  Nature vs Nurture. 

If a student believes a being can be nurtured for change and is therefore maleable he she is more likely to have an incremental approach to learning and believe in potential to learn/change grow.......

In an incremental mindset currently low skills and knowledge do not rule out high skills and knowledge later on. Assume achievement is the end point of a process.  Assumes that rehabilitation is possible.

Entity, fixed intelligence  theorists give up on others- they don't grant people the potential to grow, not themselves, not others. Incremental theorists see their own failures as problems to be solved and the same for others too.

16. More Praise That Backfires

-Praise for intelligence might make children shy away from challenging learning tasks that could jeopardize our positive judgment of them.

When children are praised for their intelligence after a job well done this increases their vulnerability. so they may be afraid of failure next time as they would lose status. Intelligence praise makes students so focused on performance goals that they will lie about their failure and it reinforces entity fixed intelligence theory

- Better to praise effort, process and strategies used to get there rather than final success. So that when they hit obstacles they can be confident of using learning processes and not afraid of failure.

17. Misconceptions About Self Esteem and How to Foster it.

We assume that having good self esteem is instilled by telling children how clever or good they are and puffing them up and helping them succeed. So we exaggerate the positives and hide the negatives, fearing that negative criticism will damage self esteem. like entity theory where children need constant success to feel good about themselves. When we boost their egos, hide deficiencies instead of helping them overcome them, and eliminate obstacles instead of teaching them to cope with them. This conveys entity theory, telling them intelligence is the most important thing. This may teach them to feel entitled to easy success and lavish praise for minor success. - recipe for disaster when world doesn't fall over itself to praise them or make them feel good or when the world makes harsh demands or rejects them.

Different view

We want our children to have basic self worth and know that they are respected and loved but after that self esteem is not something we give them. It is something they are in charge of. We can simply teach them how to live their lives so that they will experience themselves in positive ways. So its not something you have or don't have- but a way of experiencing yourself when you are using your resources well- to master challenges, to learn  to help others. Within an incremental framework self esteem is how you feel when you are striving hard to understand something new, when you master things independently, and use knowledge to help others.- What feeds your self esteem-meeting challenges with high effort and using abilities to help others- is what leads to a productive and constructive life.

To encourage this we can model enthusiasm for challenging tasks  and encourage positive attitudes to challenge in them, and we can tell students the truth. tell them where they are at and what they need to do to reach their goals.

When self esteem is derived from your own striving, from the use of your own efforts and abilities, it is not in conflict with others, Thus within the incremental framework, rather than being rivals for self esteem, peers can gain self esteem by co-operating and helping each other.

My Conclusions

So this complements personalised learning and close relationships

1. Find out where the learner is at

2. Discuss honestly where they are at and what needs to be done to achieve a goal

3. Praise effort and strategies for trying to get there.

- allows different students to be at different stages and support their progress not their performance.

- encourage students to get better at the way they do things.

- Turn exam revision into a game of improving skills.  Exam doesn't measure your intelligence, it measures how well you have practiced and developed skills and knowledge so you can take control of your grade. By practicing now and learning how to do hard questions you can influence your grade a great deal.
get smarter for exams by practicing specific skills like thee guys, they weren't born with it,, they developed their intelligence

Imagination in Education - What's the story?

Imagination in Education- The neglected dimension- Kieran Egan    
Somatic- Mythic- Romantic -Philosophic -Ironic stages of development
Mythic- Mystery, Stories, Metaphor, Imagery, Play, Drama, Dance, Song, Art...... put the spirit, creative, mystery into learning.
Romantic - Extremes of experience, Associated with the heroic, sense of wonder, the imaginative eye.
Connect with learners by using their points of reference. Engage them- turn them on to learning.
Give them freedom to explore and discover, plant seeds for them to investigate
Listen to learners - try to live in their world
Build relationships and trust.





Cognitive Tools Full Reading
http://www.ierg.net/
ierg frameworks and lesson plans

Teach less learn more.
Provide a flexible learning space designed for them, not for adults....
The staff room is the best learning space in our school but learners aren't allowed in!

BMW billboard -   Happiness  = Affluence   - shocking

Gaming4Learning - Bring it on

from Sean via Sue - definitely a way forward- just need the games.
foodforce  
http://www.peoplepowergame.com/
http://www.simsweatshop.com/game/
http://scratch.mit.edu/    - Build your own game
http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html
http://costoflife.ning.com/
http://www.itu.dk/people/hermund/3wf/index_content.htmlthe world farmer
 gaming newsreports http://interactivelx.com/
SIS Report on gaming in education - Go Christopher- Go Roy!

Authentic Voice - Humanities

14 great online tools for 21C learning

1. http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/ - The full list let the students go and choose the format
2. Marrying Written notes & web 2.0  http://digital-interactive-notebooks.wikispaces.com/
3. Screencaste -Record whats on your screen and watch it to understand process:  http://screenr.com/
4. Draw on your screen and capture it  http://skitch.com/
5. Make your own games- easy programming  http://scratch.mit.edu/
6. New search engine for answers in pictures and words  http://www.qwiki.com/
7. Wallwisher - post your ideas (on VLE) http://www.wallwisher.com/
8. type in for a Talking face http://www.voki.com/
9. 32 ideas - how to use google.docs in the classroom  http://www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/googledocs.htm
10. Create cartoons on line http://www.pixton.com/
11. Its still good http://classtools.net/
12. Social bookmarking form groups share and search  http://www.diigo.com/user/jsheriff
13 . Discussion boards-  like googl.edoc   http://shamblespad.com/
14. Use voicethread..... could be the answer to shared space where you can upload any file, view others and comment on them: http://voicethread.com/

Notes from the Humanities Strand on Shamblespad

Let students choose the most appropriate technology to get the task done in the time available

21 C Be Very Afraid - Listen to learners

GIVE CHILDREN A VOICE  stephen heppell   21C learning day 2

Connect to people, experts, other children outside school via email/ skype to find answers

Form own authentic vertical groups with team roles- real NGOs.  project based learning

Children's engagement with technology is going up but their dissatisfaction with the curriculum is going down. - turn it round - listen to them in design
They can morph into wonderful students if conditions and activities are right
Empower them to make choices and share and borrow ideas with each other to make change
How good might learning be? - listen to learners- must offer compelling seductive visions of why they should learn. - what do they want and need?

21C Learning HK

21C Learning - Help people to Help each other - Make it Real   21C Ning

 Heppel.net 

Allow students to take ownership of the space and engage in learning. Teach less, enable them to do more, provide tools for self direction. Knock down the barriers. we don't know what kids are capable of. Its not expertise that's important but experience- do it. Stop telling-start doing.

Move to self supported peer learning.  Create a responsive environment for an age of information abundance. transparency of data and information

There are new traction points for Hyperconnected children, they find each other to test their skills- learn by sharing through communication

Create International collaboration of different age groups.  People + Technology Breaks Cartels - dont need economies of scale

For years we have been holding children back with stabilizers that they don't need- let them take risks and do things for themselves.  Use the devices available - close staffroom and open shared space future maybe small local schools of 10.

Create an environment f playfulness, humour, music, praise rich culture. They must have membership, belonging and ownership. freedom.

Creative school, sharing, always on tech mash ups every device works, cloud based, vaulted, index of connectedness, annotation, narrative, reputation engine, fresh licencing,  community of practice, one world.

Innovative suprised learning happen at moments of distraction

How do you approach new experiences and solve problems ? - ask questions.

Summary: Challenge Children with surprising learning. We can mend some of the problems of the world with learning- conflict-poverty It has to be more seductive than the alternative or they will go elsewhere. We have to provide a pathway for great learning before children run out of patience

BeVery Afraid- Listen to our Learners