As I said earlier last week I was really keen to locate some information regarding Erica McWilliam. Well, I’ve located the attached article which is absolutely AWESOME!
http://www.ericamcwilliam.com.au/personally-significant-learning/
Entitled Personally Significant Learning it masterfully pulls together so many education norms we must get our heads around as staff in front of students as well as leaders in schools trying to move our schools to being fantastic, vibrant and relevant to students of 2012 and beyond. Would be interested in people’s feedback if they too believe this is where education needs to be or if the thoughts are she (and therefore me) are way off the track!
Check it out – I think you will find it interesting at the very least.
Ed Charlton
A good read Ed. Thanks. Two things:
“the capacity to learn, unlearn and re-learn fast will beat knowing every time.” – getting our kids to want to do this is the challenge, getting teachers to take on this mindset is important.
“Site-specific conversations allow for sharing and borrowing of those strategies and routines between peers. Sharing and borrowing in smart ways, in turn, allows everyone in a school community to recognise and value the professional expertise that is on-site.” – this is why it would be great for every staff member to write a post once in a while, it would assist this to happen. More broader than this, it is why Twitter is the most valuable teaching tool I have.
In terms of the McWilliam article is the term she uses re: ‘low threat, high challenge classrooms’. I believe this is the real pinnacle of teaching and the craft of teaching. It is a phrase I am and will continue to strive to achieve.
I can only determine ‘low threat’ regarding sound relationships/lack of a fear of failure rather a transparent support network which allows all students to strive to achieve to their highest level.
The ‘high challenge’ is such a ‘challenge’ to try and achieve I think. What is ‘high challenge’ for one student could be beyond comprehension for another and therefore have them scared off. Guess it relates to your previous comments Nick about the need for ‘differentiated’ curriculum.
The ‘low threat, high challenge’ classroom, is a CHALLENGE for us to successfully achieve!