24/03/2015

Copenhagen 24th March - presentation


Imagination in the Classroom – notes from Copenhagen 24 March 2015

 
Choose a letter of the alphabet and keep all this secret. Write down the following beginning with that letter.

            first name

            animal

            job

            hobby / sport

            food

 

e.g. this is what they mean

            first name - Dorothy

            animal = family name - Dinosaur

            job - dentist

            hobby / sport - diving

            favourite food – doughnuts

 

Model the Q&A and let learners get to know each other.

 

       “NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”
Charles Dickens, Hard Times

When the focus was all on learning facts by heart. Has it changed?

What is a horse?
A beautiful, brave, powerful animal? NO!
'Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four
grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the
spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but
requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.’


 

Alas learning still seems to be all about:

One size fits all

Learning is linear

Idea of fixed ability

Facts are important

Examination success is the goal

 

Yet there is a change of focus: 

from

what we know about language

to what we can do with it

Common European Framework of Reference

 

And…

       Skills that were appropriate 20 years ago no longer prepare children for the world beyond school.. Changes in society are accelerating so rapidly that it is difficult to assess what factual knowledge will be needed for the future..

       Robert Fisher, Teaching Children to Think, 1990

 

 

       John Holt says that learning and experimenting is natural for children..

The child is curious…wants to make sense of things… is open and receptive… experimental.. bold… not afraid of making mistakes… is patient…can tolerate an extraordinary amount of uncertainty, confusion, ignorance and suspense..

 

       Imagination is an essential part of human intelligence.

       Creativity is applied imagination

       Ken Robinson, Out Of Our Minds, Capstone, 2001

 

UK National Curriculum Report, 1988, lists the following attitudes as ‘important at all stages of education’:

Curiosity

Respect for evidence

Willingness to tolerate uncertainty

Critical reflection

Perseverance

Creativity and inventiveness

Open-mindedness

Co-operation with others

 

Why be creative?

If we have 30 students in one class, they could go on to have 30 very different jobs.

They may change careers at least once in their lives.

Their jobs are likely to require thinking skills beyond knowing facts.

They will want a richer life than just a nine to five job.

They need to go on learning.

 

      

       The most important attitude that can be formed is that of the desire to go on learning..

       John Dewey, 1938

       (1859 – 1952,  American philosopher

       and educational reformer)

 

 

Using the words below make a one word sentence, then a two word sentence, then three, then four …. And keep going

teenagers     parents         radio 

            cows  coffee              politics      

a   in   on   an   to   we   their    I

sexy  green  fat  rich   quickly

dancing          is       eat  was  say  think

 

 

…feel best in flow.. fully involved in meeting a challenge, solving a problem, discovering something new. Most activities that produce flow also have clear goals, clear rules and immediate feedback..

Csikszentmihalyi

 

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Albert Einstein

 

How many things can you do with chop sticks?

 

 

       The only time my education was interrupted was while I was at school.

Winston Churchill

 

 

Why be creative in language lessons?

We are all different

Different response to same stimuli enrich learning

Personalise

Play with ideas and language

Make language and learning meaningful

Satisfaction - flow

Use language for a reason

Push what we use language for

 

 

                                                                   

 

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