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Tag Archives: teaching
ELPC Part 1: A fertile research question
When it comes to learning something new, just listening to an expert is usually not enough. Nor is passively reading. Usually we need to do something, to actively construct the knowledge ourselves, from a number of different sources and for … Continue reading
Posted in literacy, Pedagogy, University classes
Tagged community, culture, curriculum, literacy, MichaelWesch, teaching, thinking, university, writing
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Thoughts on ‘literacy across the curriculum’ from my students
The university course is now almost a fortnight old, and the 90 postgraduate students have all begun their blogs. The course is called “Literacy across the curriculum”, and the students have been writing about their current understanding of the term … Continue reading
Posted in literacy, University classes
Tagged classroom, community, education, learning, literacy, reading, teaching, thinking, university, writing
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On the nature of literacy (with a nod to Spinoza)
In my last post, I suggested (following a lead inspired by Neil Postman) that we’re waging war on illiteracy. But this is wrong. We’re battling ignorance. Our enemy (at whatever level we teach and in whatever discipline we teach it) … Continue reading
Posted in literacy, University classes
Tagged Aristotle, Beauty, classroom, community, education, literacy, questions, reading, Spinoza, teacher training, teaching, thinking, Truth, university, writing
3 Comments
The teacher as Napoleon Bonaparte!
I’ve been reading an entertaining essay by Neil Postman called ‘The educationist as painkiller’. He writes: … there is nothing worse than ignorance on the subject of education. This is so because the subject of education claims dominion over the … Continue reading
Posted in Pedagogy, Research, University classes
Tagged education, literacy, Neil Postman, reading, teacher training, teaching, thinking, university
4 Comments
Alex the parrot, Elizabeth Bennet and the soul’s code
As I read Maja Wilson’s Rethinking Rubrics and followed the discussion about this book on the English Companion Ning, I kept thinking about a growing divide amongst teachers around the question of what we’re meant to be doing in the … Continue reading
Posted in My English classroom, Pedagogy
Tagged Beauty, classics, classroom, EnglishCompanion, James Hillman, KarenLaBonte, MajaWilson, MichaelUmphrey, motivation, Ning, teaching, thinking, writing
9 Comments
A broken sleep
Last night I woke up at 3.17am. No, it must have been earlier than that, because I’d already been awake for while before I finally looked at the clock. Awake and worrying away at the thought that soon I’ll be … Continue reading
Posted in literacy, Pedagogy, Research, University classes
Tagged classroom, culture, curriculum, literacy, reading, teacher training, teaching, thinking, writing
5 Comments
Postscript to the story of Peter: the link between clearer thinking and better writing
After reading my story of Peter’s writing, Teresa Bunner wrote: It might be that a chance to go back and reflect on his work allows Peter to see for himself that he still has some work to go. After all, … Continue reading
My English classroom: challenging student stereotypes about satire
Our Year 10 satire course poses the question: ‘Should satire have an ethical intent?” It’s a bad question, I’ve come to realize, because it implies an option: that satire might have an ethical intent, or that it might not. I … Continue reading
Posted in My English classroom, Pedagogy
Tagged classroom, education, English, Ning, satire, teaching
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What do the students want to know?
First day of the new school year today. First class, Year 10 English, a class of pretty switched on boys. We’re starting a semester-long unit on satire, and I’d prepared reasonably carefully: a unit plan outlining where we would go … Continue reading
Posted in My English classroom, Pedagogy
Tagged classroom, English, questions, satire, school students, student expectations, teaching
2 Comments
Bringing the world into the classroom
I discovered John Holt when I was a young teacher in the 70s. His ability to closely observe and precisely describe children’s learning was an inspiration. So, when I decided to start writing this blog a couple of weeks ago, … Continue reading
A reflection on method and content
In a couple of weeks from now, I’ll be taking my first University tutorial. I’ll be with a group of education students taking a unit called Curriculum Studies. It feels good to be starting something new at this advanced stage … Continue reading
Birds fly, fish swim 