Leadership

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Comment by Cheryl Doig on August 16, 2009 at 9:21am

Having just returned from some voluntary work in South Africa I can't help reflecting on the need for 21st century learners to be thinkers. This may sound obvious but educators need to model this and teach the skills that will help students think for themselves. Teachers need to let the students do the work and not dominate the classroom. They need to help students risk take, fail, reflect, self manage...

Comment by jeanettem on January 6, 2009 at 7:40pm

Tena koe Cheryl from NZ
Teachers as educational classroom leaders...
John Hattie an Auckland University professor has conducted a major study into what makes students succeed. Based on research into 83 million students from around the world the huge study shows that the key to effective teaching (for our 21st centry learner) is the quality of the feedback students get and their interaction with teachers. Five contributing factors include 1. Self-reporting; students understand their own progress 2. Cognitve development; students given work one step ahead 3. Evaluation; test results decide next steps 4. Micro-teaching; video analysis of lessons 5. Acceleration; work set ahead of age level.
Factors that do not contribute include class size, sustained silent reading, frequnt testing, homework and teaching test-taking. He also mentions the need to work out a way of paying NZ teachers extra for excellence, rather than experience. Leadership for the 21st Century should embrace this.

Comment by garyb on January 6, 2009 at 12:44pm

technology is not the issue

the curriculum and the purpose of schooling is the fundamental issue.

national and state requirements mandate certain knowledge and behaviours..for a variety of historical legacies

contemporary teching has the interests of the learner/student at heart...not the national requirement for 80% numeracy at gr3

web2 and technology is no different

if it is (only) going to be textbooks online and more worksheets...what's the point!?