Changing the Education Paradigm - who's joining the Ken Robinson revolution?!

After watching the videos and hearing this amazing man and his incredible ideas, I now more than ever want to be one of the new wave that changes the way we educate our children.

What's so wrong with wanting to stimulate imagination and creativity, and tap into what makes a student resonate on all levels? I love art, music, drama and anything that sparks creativity and sustains my interest in the subject. Granted that not everything that interests others will interest me, but if it's done creatively, you've got me! Who's to say you can't adopt this approach with others?

In terms of our children, why are we so afraid to let them go a bit over the top, and heaven forbid, have a bit of fun along the road to learning? Some of the best lessons I have been privileged to take part in as an LSA, have been where teachers have made the learning real. Making Shakespeare come alive in an English lesson with puppets made by the students, making the structure of atoms with plasticine and marbles in Science, the list goes on...!

So what are your thoughts on this? My Gangnam Style parody is one of the ways I like to make learning a bit more fun and can engage students with its catchiness - the fact that it is current and popular is also a winner for making it relevant and easy to remember.

Has anyone else got any fun tricks in their teaching arsenal?

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Permalink Reply by Gina Allen on January 10, 2013 at 3:01am

There's an app or online tool that i just love, but the name escapes me.

Say you set students a topic to talk about - in my instance i may want students to investigate a certain classical composers and present back their findings. But you type in your topic and the computer randomly decides you have to talk about this topic "as a dance" or "as a mini play"

Starting something like this at the youngest age possible would firstly break down anxieties of speaking in front of their class and secondly be a fun way to not only do the research, but figure out how you are going to perform your findings.

A firm favourite of mine..... if only i could remember the name of it.

Gina :-)

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Permalink Reply by Lucy D Roberts on January 17, 2013 at 12:26pm

Gina that's a great idea - it could really work for contextual art research, getting students to present their findings using a particular art style or movement and paint, draw or sculpt their findings - brilliant!

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Permalink Reply by David Antrobus on January 16, 2013 at 5:41pm

It's the fun lessons you remember as a student especially if they are between dull ones. Engaging students is so hard anyway if you can do anything to raise your lesson above the normal I think it's worth trying. There is a side of me that says hold back and keep it within the normal boundaries but the more I talk and hear people's stories of education from when they were at school it seems the ones that were fun or tasks that were slightly different seem to be recalled. At the end of the day it's passion that drives the lesson and this is what you want your students to take away with them outside of the classroom. Do you want to be a catalyst or a director?