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nevbar1 posted a blog post

Sometimes school is stupid

Every now and then, we all have “one of those days”. They usually start out bad and go downhill from there.   Mine usually start off without an alarm to wake me. My high-tech radio has an in-built compassion circuit - whenever it senses that I am tired enough to really need a wake-up call, it very kindly refrains from disturbing my…See More
Aug 26, 2011
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nevbar1 posted a blog post

Mathematics education - dire or inspire?

Maths education – dire or inspire?You could see the panic in their faces - and then the relief.They were students in their final year of high school on a visit to campus to explore the possibility of “going to uni” after they finished their compulsory schooling. I had, perhaps perversely, set up an experiment. I had told them that two of them would find a red dot under their seat - and if they were one of these people they would come forward and participate in a simple mental mathematics…See More
Aug 22, 2011
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nevbar1 posted a blog post

Improving numeracy with the 7 C's

There have been many reformers offering ideas for improving numeracy in our schools.  Many of them advocate the use of specific commercial resources or explicit lesson plans – in short they offer recipes for teachers and schools to follow.    The quietly spoken Alistair McIntosh (formerly Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania,…See More
Aug 15, 2011
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nevbar1 posted a blog post

Validate - it's great!

It is no secret that a great deal is expected of schools. Our curriculum documents overflow with worthy content - and even some content that is perhaps less worthy.  Even if the teaching of academic skills and knowledge were all that was expected of schools the task of the teacher would be daunting. However, all educators know that much more is expected of teachers than “merely” teaching content matter.  Teachers are also required to nurture their students in areas other than the strictly…See More
Aug 9, 2011
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nevbar1 commented on nevbar1's blog post The Learning Tour of PISA
"Hi Steve, Thanks for the response.  There are a couple of things along similar lines that might interest you.  The Carol Dweck book "Growth Mindset" is really worthwhile in exploring the impact of an individual's attitudes…"
Aug 2, 2011
Steve Hargadon commented on nevbar1's blog post The Learning Tour of PISA
"Thanks so much for this post.  Fascinating.  Have you read anything that discusses this from the standpoint of family support structures, or correlations between social programs that support families and achievement?"
Aug 1, 2011
nevbar1 posted a blog post

The Learning Tour of PISA

The word of education is awash with data – particularly testing results. While I personally have significant reservations about both the use and usefulness of much of this data, due to a combination of   the harm it can do to students, teachers, parents and schools as well as the often unsound assumptions upon which it is based, it has to be acknowledged that not everyone shares my views.  However, I will  put my concerns aside  for the moment and share this video explaining the biggest number…See More
Aug 1, 2011
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nevbar1 posted a blog post

How to win the "best schools" race - don't play the game!

A week ago my knowledge of the education system of Finland was, to be honest,  almost non-existent.   I knew that they were consistently ranked number one of all “Western” countries in PISA testing but had no idea how they did it.  Then, last weekend, I attended a keynote address by Professor Teemu Leinonen, Professor of New Media…See More
Jul 25, 2011
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Jul 20, 2011
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Jul 12, 2011
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Jul 4, 2011
nevbar1 posted a blog post

“Visions of Students Today”. Whose education is it anyway?

If a picture is worth a thousand words ...how much is a video worth? These ones are priceless – for educators of post-compulsory students.  To call the two videos featured in this post “thought provoking” is an understatement. Both videos are created by Michael Wesch (pictured) – with a lot of help from students at Kansas State…See More
Jun 28, 2011
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nevbar1 posted a blog post

Mathematical Maverick – Dan Meyer – “Be less helpful”

If mathematics has a poster boy it is – or at least should be – Dan Meyer.  Meyer is something of a rarity in the field of public discussion of mathematics; he is not an academic, he is not an  educational administrator,  he is a teacher -  someone who works in real classrooms with real students with real mathematics.    It is this “real world” context that makes him worth listening to – and which provides the grounding for his instruction.Meyer is an advocate of authentic learning in…See More
Jun 22, 2011
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nevbar1 posted a blog post

Mathematicians' Lament - Paul Lockhart

Following on consistently in my habit of being the last kid on the block to discover something I recently fell upon “Mathematician’s Lament” by Paul Lockhart.  The history of the book is interesting in itself – it actually started life as a 25 page type written document that was presented to math guru Keith Devlin at a conference.…See More
Jun 17, 2011
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nevbar1 posted a blog post

Do we blame dentists for tooth decay?

I’ve been reading a lot of assignments of late to do with literacy generally and the “literacy wars” in particular.   Perhaps predictably the students fall comfortably into the “phonics” or “whole language” camps – few have made the accurate observation that both approaches co-exist in the classrooms of effective teachers.   Some…See More
May 31, 2011
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nevbar1 posted a blog post

On Donald Runsfeld, tuning TVs...and face to face learning.

I’m a fan of online learning and learning via the Internet.   The treasury of knowledge that resides in “the cloud” magically captured and reproduced via a series of “1” and “0” is simply staggering.  Despite a lifetime of reverence to the printed page I have become an enthusiastic user of electronic learning. If you know what you are looking…See More
May 15, 2011
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Currently on secondment to the University of Tasmania
Blog
http://nbnotewell.blogspot.com/
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nevbar1
About Me
A career educator for three decades with much more to learn about education. Away from work I love bush walking, a quiet read and a loud stereo. And good coffee.

Nevbar1's Blog

Sometimes school is stupid

Posted on August 25, 2011 at 9:42pm 0 Comments



Every now and then, we all have “one of those days”. They usually start out bad and go downhill from there.   Mine usually start off without an alarm to wake me. My high-tech radio has an in-built compassion circuit - whenever it senses that I am tired…
Continue

Mathematics education - dire or inspire?

Posted on August 21, 2011 at 10:00pm 0 Comments

Maths education – dire or inspire?



You could see the panic in their faces - and then the relief.



They were students in their final year of high school on a visit to campus to explore the possibility of “going to uni” after they finished their compulsory schooling. I had, perhaps perversely, set up an experiment. I had told them that two of them would find a red dot under their seat - and if they were one of these people they would come forward and participate in a simple… Continue

Improving numeracy with the 7 C's

Posted on August 14, 2011 at 11:29pm 0 Comments

There have been many reformers offering ideas for improving numeracy in our schools.  Many of them advocate the use of specific commercial resources or explicit lesson plans – in short they offer recipes for teachers and schools to follow.    The quietly spoken Alistair McIntosh (formerly Associate…

Continue

Validate - it's great!

Posted on August 8, 2011 at 4:59pm 0 Comments

It is no secret that a great deal is expected of schools. Our curriculum documents overflow with worthy content - and even some content that is perhaps less worthy.  Even if the teaching of academic skills and knowledge were all that was expected of schools the task of the teacher would be daunting. However, all educators know that much more is expected of teachers than “merely” teaching content matter.  Teachers are also required to nurture their students in areas other than the strictly…

Continue

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