I have just listened into a National College Live Online Seminar called The Impact of New Technology on Children’s Learning.
It was well organised, attended my many more people than would have tuned up at a single venue and the speaker, David Mitchell from Heathfield Primary, was inspiring too!
Above all David resonated enthusiasm about LEARNING and in a calm, matter of fact way described how he had got 2 years of progress (6 sublevels) from his year 6′s in literacy last year primarily through class and individual blogging.
60,000+ words written by Y6 boys in 10 months – now that is impressive!
David’s approach to raising standards was one of listening to the learners (putting more site stats on the sidebar of the class blog when he could see how much the children valued the hits) and changing the direction of their learning journey according to their needs and interests even often allowing them to change the direction for them (personal blogging, but only when they had proved their proficiency on the class blog).
What appeared to be refreshingly absent in David’s classroom was a sense of panic or pacesetting urgency that can often follow in the wake of a new initiative.
For David raising standards was all about getting his year 6′s to LOVE LEARNING again and boy has he left a legecy in the hearts and minds of this class of independant learners as they embark on their voyage through Secondary School.
I’ve captured my learning from the 30 minute presentation in the mindmap below:
I’ll definitely be listening into the next National College Online Seminar called Dealing with difficult people: Developing an effective team 4.30pm on 8th December, more details here.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Hannah
Thanks very much for taking the time to listen to what I had to say about blogging and web2.0 tools in the classroom. I really enjoyed speaking to what I now know were really engaged learners and practitioners.
Your blog post captures everything I was hoping to get across so helps me to reflect on the key messages that I spoke about and understand if they have been digested by the people listening – clearly they have!
Just wanted to say ‘THANK YOU’ for taking the time to blog and share your thoughts.
David Mitchell
You are most welcome.
I think we share a similar ethos to learning and it was a real pleasure to contribute to the discussion that you inspired.
For me, as an educator of experienced teachers and school leaders, I believe that I inspire others to learn by putting carefully selected learning obstacles in their way and letting them choose how they tackle them.
It is up to a learner how much they get out of a learning experience and not me. Instead, it is my role to encourage, challenge, support and stretch individual learners. During a Learning PlayTime (aka a workshop or lesson!) I have time to do this because the people putting in the most effort are the learners, and not me. I will have put in a lot of effort beforehand in understanding their needs and interests and selecting the learning obstacles that best fitted these.
During a PlayTime it is my job to attend to individuals needs as they emerge and I do this best when there space for me to observe and interact. It also allows me space to think on my feet and to adapt what I have planned appropriately.
I’m looking forward to following you and to hearing how you are getting on encouraging and inspiring your new Year 6′s.