new abcs newsletter aug 2011
TRANSCRIPT
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8/6/2019 New ABCs Newsletter Aug 2011
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www.futurelab.org.uk is a total ly amazing s ite
packed with research, handbooks, and great
practical ideas to bring classrooms and teaching
c loser to the wor ld students wi l l be enter ing.
Set as ide some time to go digg ing through their
s ite and find loads of great materials
Sticking with the Future Labs theme,
www.youtube.com/user/FuturelabEducation
is a bri l l iant col lection of videos for in
and out of the classroom. Mainly short
grabs, but most are excel lent conversation/ lesson starters.
Sir Ken Robinson is quickly becoming an academic
superstar. His name is popping up in more
conversations with me - usual ly about his great
videos from presentations he gave at either the
RSA (www.rsa.org ) or TED (www.ted.org).
Sir Ken has a wonderful way of showing how
education systems are NOT providing students
with the ski l ls needed for academic or real l ife
success at any level. He is not only right on the
mark, but wonderfully entertaining and an
engaging presenter with s imple ideas and
observations.
Insight FullHINT: Click on the images below to follow the links on the internet.
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Challenge 1: See if you can findall the ways that you put off doingimportant things / making importantchange. See if you can become a
finely tuned excuse spotter.
HINTS: You might want to turn on yourexcuse spotting in:
your quite/alone times, when you are among others, lesson planning, committees, meetings, planning days, home life, teams or groups, and social activities.
Theres no need to shout out whenyou hear someone making excuses,take note and then try and work toremove the barrier they (or you)have been pretending is stoppingthe change from going ahead.
Example Excuses: Some of themore common excuses include
Ill do X once Y happens REALLY??!! Only because youknow Y will never happen.
We cant do A because of B &C REALLY??!! Il l put goodmoney on B&C being tiny issuesthat are regularly used asscapegoats for most things
We tried that before and itdidnt work Well thats itthen??!! If at first you dontsucceed try, try again (except
for skydiving ).
I need to do up a plan andthen hold a committee meetingto plan the steering group!!Some change eventually needsorganisation around it, but thatisnt how it starts. Get the ball
rolling and then worry about thesmall stuff.
Im afraid and so you shouldbe all change is scary. Historyonly records those who chargedinto the frightening unknown andchampioned changed for thebetter.
Its time I activelyfought excuses soI can makeimportant thingshappen for mystudents, school,and community.
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Watch this!
The War on Kids was the f irst recenteducationa l doco I remember see ing
the f irst that went stra i ght to the
crux of the prob lems. The compar isons
between pr i sons and schoo ls wasnt just
an off the cuff statement every
c la im was i l lustrated with recent
examples, interv iews, or news stor ies to
back up the ir po ints.
The b i ggest cha l lenge that th is f i lm
puts to adults i s that we take the
easy way out when it comes to pav ing
the way for the next generation. Some
of the mirrors it ho lds up shows theunforg ivab le way adults set examples by
how they run schoo ls , how we prov ide
med icat ions for young peop le that
sedate rather than insp i re , and the
obsess ion schoo ls and governments have
with contro l l ing students rather than
educating them.
So th is one wi l l rea l ly tug at your
heart str ings ! Wait ing for Superman i s ful l of f irst hand stor ies and
journeys of young students and
education reformers a l ike . It s not a l l
just sad or tense stor ies , the doco a lso
br ings some fr i ghten ing stats and b i gger
p icture exposs that leave you shaking
your head at just how much adults are
mess ing up a system that wi l l d ictate
our soc iet ies future.
Students wanting to learn are h indered
at every step by se lf i sh adults and the
systems they create to make l ife eas ierfor themse lves . Schoo ls try ing to make
th ings better st i l l measure the ir impact
by how many students drop out, how
many tens of thousands of young
peop le they have let loose without a
proper education or any hope for a
br i ght future.
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As I went to check my favour ite UK
video s ite for e ducation (Teachers TV
in the UK) , I found the UK
government had stopped funding both
the TV station and the on l ine s ite,
forc ing them both to c lose . The 3,500
v ideos which prov ide amazing ins i ghts
for everyone invo lved in education,schoo ls , and students l i ves can now
be found through a number of
d ifferent s ites . Schoo lsWor ld .tv i s one
s ite with ambit ions to grow it s
offer ings and reach internationa l ly .
Looking forward to new content at
http:/ /www.schoo lswor ld .tv/v ideos/
To Do:1 . Watch War on Kids
Get Angry.
2. See Wait ing for Superman
Get Inspired.
3. Trawl Schoo lsWorld.TVGet Educated.
4. Search YouTube for v idsGet Experimental.
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Isnt technology just
the greatest thing ever?
Technology is only ever
meant to be something
that helps us get on
with doing our jobs
making the world a
better place, serving
communities, & creating
better stuff.
While many teachers try
and avoid technology
because they arent yet
used to it, others rely
heavily on computers at
every opportunity.
There is a time to use
technology, and a timeto go No-Tech. Before
you run off & get the
class to create a Power
Point Presentation, an
Excel Spreadsheet, or
start them copy and
pasting from Wikipedia,
see if other options
might be a betterlearning experience.
Would role playing a problem/solution be
a better idea?
How about giving thestudents the chance
to create a fantasy
world where none of
the current pre-
conceived ideas or
facts hold true?
Maybe let thestudents scrawl
ideas and questionson bits of scrap
paper, spread them
around the floor and
then sit amongst the
mess and pass stuff
around as they find
it.
Instead of headingto Google, get thestudents to come up
with a plan of
inquiry that
involves real people
classmates,
experts they need to
call or go and talk
to?
Building people skills,tactile or auditory
methods of problem
solving, and Blue Sky
Thinking (going beyond
the current boundaries)
may be a needed change
from hitting the
computer again.
------------------------
No-TechClasses.
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Blue SkyThinking.Blue Sky Thinking is when you put aside accepted beliefs,venture into free thought, & potentially change the world.
There are many classical examples of Blue Sky Thinking that we nowjust take for granted:
Copernicus Model of the Universe, Newtons Theories on Gravity, Einsteins Theory of Relativity, and The invention of the washing machine, lightbulb, and telephone.
These are amongst many examples that have had massive changes on
our understanding of the world and what is possible. Every bit of Blue
Sky Thinking required these people to put aside currently held beliefs
and try to imagine what would be possible if that idea was wrong.
Below are a few examples of more modern day examples that all started
with one person thinking beyond the current beliefs.
Speed of Sound Womens Rights The Internet Nuclear EnergyIt was a few
stubborn pilots &
engineers who put
accepted wisdom
aside & broke the
belief thattravelling faster
than sound was
impossible &
unsafe. The first
recorded manned
flight faster than
the speed of
sound was in
1947 by Chuck
Yeager.
It wasnt until the
turn of the 20th
Century that the
long held belief
that women
should have lessrights than men
was ser iously
challenged. A
notion that now
holds in most
societies around
the world & has
changed the face
of society & the
economy forever.
The Modern
Wonder that is
the Internet has
been a string of
Blue Sky
Thinking. Peoplekeep reimaging
what is possible
& then create it in
lightning fast
time.
Technologies,
business models
& methods to
connect people
productively are
evolving daily.
Possibly the
greatest
destructive &
creative force
that humanity has
harnessed lies inthe power of the
atom. People
continue to think
of new ways to
capture this
power safely,
even as examples
of destruction
keep occurring.
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1. How can we make this fun?I ts the age old problem in any topic - We know the moreentertaining and fun a class is the more students will learn andremember. Why should it be up to you to find all the ideas?
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2. What if all these things were wrong?Science is all hard and fast facts right? Actually things arealways changing in the world of science because some brave
scientist asks What IF?? and then discovers a flaw in theaccepted wisdom.
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3. What have I forgotten to teach you?Inspiring a whole class of enquiring minds is no easy task.Starting a chain reaction amongst a class can start from just
one question posed to them that catches them out of the blueand starts the spark of self directed learning.
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At the end of each month the school thatimpresses our panel the most will WIN
Module 01 ; Making Good Money.(Valued at 115 / US$ 175)
1 Goto www.newabcs.com/competitions
2 Use the free module 00 "Captains of Tomorrow"
to challenge your students to become innovators.
3 Post images, stories, & video links from your class.
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