Finland vs The Slums; Who will we look to for inspiration in the field of education?

Here is another TED.com video that you have to see on how Charles Leadbeater went looking for radical new forms of education -- and found them in the slums of Rio and Kibera, where some of the world's poorest kids are finding transformative new ways to learn. And this informal, disruptive new kind of school, he says, is what all schools need to become.

http://www.ted.com/talks/charles_leadbeater_on_education.html

You can also catch it on my Vod Pod on the right hand column.

If you want to read more about the subject matter he covers you can find a copy of the report he bases his presentation on, on his website at

http://www.charlesleadbeater.net/home.aspx

I'm currently reading through it at the moment and gleaning for all the possible schools I want to visit on W.T.S.R.E. (World Tour of Sites of Radical Education).

I'll do another blog on that when I'm done.

Talk to ya later mates.

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation | Video on TED.com

Pink talks about intrinsic motivation and autonomy as the new ways to motivate employees.
The same goes for students; Reed Larson, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, writes about how to help young people develop initiative (2000). He extensively credits Ryan and Deci’s research in his discussion of how adolescents might be encouraged to self-motivate, remarking that the first of three “elements of initiative” (p. 172) is “intrinsic motivation, the experience of wanting to be doing and activity and being invested in it.” There is no way to manufacture or fake this condition, though with the right emphasis and planning, it can be kindled. The second part is “concerted engagement in the environment, with exertion of constructive attention in a field of action involving the types of constraints, rules, challenge, and complexity that characterize external reality.” An appropriate challenge is necessary and good for skill development. Making an environment that is realistically difficult is also exciting. Thirdly, it takes time to nurture real growth or to become secure in one’s own progress. Larson continues, “Initiative involves a temporal arc of effort directed toward a goal, an arc that might include setbacks, re-evaluations, and adjustment of strategies.”

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation | Video on TED.com

Teacher's Blogs

Here's a short list of interesting Teacher's blogs I've found along the way.

Dan Myer, Edutopia, Guerilla Educators, J.D. Howell,

List of stuff I have to Blog on..

Reaction to the critical pedagogy podcast-
New words Lancaster model of education
Why I haven't read Pedagogy of the Oppressed yet

My sense of inadequacy - before you can change anything you must understand it.

What is my motivations behind this blog in the context of the other great blogs I've found.

Idea; Interview yourself - do your own podcast and in it situate yourself in terms of your philosophy of education. Cover, pragmatism, are you an academic? (lazy, easy to write etc.), list of writers/thinkers to explore, the state of your political consciousness, basic counselling skilks, YSI & Larson, positive psychology. philosophy of psychology - my meeting with John McCarthy, active citizenship, Youth-led Development, Youth and Community Work, nation wide change, social democracy - Sweden and Finland, atheism, Ken Robinson, creativity, innovation and the smart economy, Key words - ownership, relevance and facilitation.

Aside; Instrumental Hybridity e.g. Heroic Leadership

Why my blog is annonymous.

Life as learning.

Positive psychology and education = Positive Education; What would it look like; the gratitude letter.

Quadratic Equations - from the Guerilla Educators Blog

Here's a link to their blog - Guerilla Educators.

Critical Pedagogy Podcast

Coventry University Podcast Service - Critical Pedagogy

This is what I have been listening to when I've been cleaning ovens in my new job as a warden of a student accommodation complex.
I salute Joyce Cannan, Gurnam Singh and the other Left academics involved for creating this valuable space critical pedagogy. Who knows their could be radicals walking amoung you right now with one earphone in listening to this podcast.... dun dun dun.

The podcasts so far include;

Joyce Canaan on the Neoliberal University, Critical Pedagogy and Popular Education

Steve Wright on Autonomist Marxism, Social Movements and Popular Education

Philip Chambers on Critical Reflection and Critical Pedagogy.

Michael Wlliams on Indigenous Pedagogy

Do Schools Kill Creativity? The famous TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson

This video contains the central thesis for his book - "The Element; How finding your passion changes everything" which is definately worth a read.

more about "Ken Robinson, (TEDTalks) - Do schools...", posted with vodpod

Sir Ken Robinson; Bring on the Learning Revolution

Part two of "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"

more about "Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learni...", posted with vodpod

Pedagogical ideas 1 & 2 (courtesy of Alan November)

And so here begins my list of pedagogical ideas (teaching methodology ideas).

1. ICT in the classroom; (This idea is from Alan November's video entitled "Myths and Opportunities; Techology in the Classroom".

One student each day would be designated the responsibility of the post of researcher for that class. The responsiblities of researcher would include; using particular subject specific search engines to generate a collection of resources.

2. There can be a ipod/audio production committee made up of some students who produce an audio track of what they learned that week, also you could have a newsletter committee who produce a newsletter on what they learned that week.

Two things that have to be explored; firstly, what kind of technology is needed for this kind of pedagogical process and secondly, maybe its unconfidence on my part but I feel I need some concrete advice from people who have done it before I could facilitate these processes.

Technology in the Classroom

Todays Video;

Myths and Opportunities; Technology in the Classroom by Alan November

Alan also references that together with ICT, negotiating control/authority can be a powerful force for youth development. As it evolves from being simply youth development to youth lead development.

Mathematics & Active Citizenship

Bottom line;
Mathematical Literacy is an important component of active citizenship and the democratic process itself.

References; Linking mathematics education and Democracy: Citizenship, Mathematical Archeology, Mathemacy and Deliberative Interaction by Ole Skovsmose published in ZDM Volume 30, Number 6 / December, 1998

Definitions;
Mathematical literacy (or Mathemacy); I agree with Ole who defines mathemacy as similar to Paulo Freire's notion of literacy which is more than simply being able to read and write but also competence in reading one's social life, being able to "read the world".

Active Citizenship; the active role of people, communities and voluntary organizations in decision making
which directly affects them. This extends the concept of formal citizenship and democratic society from one of basic civil, political and social and economic rights to one of direct democratic participation and responsibility (as defined by the Irish Government's white paper on supporting community volunteering and referenced in a white paper by the Irish Taskforce on Active Citizenship.

Main Body;
Skovsmose makes a very valid point. While I had always considered the mathematical dimension to democratic elections and the mathemacy to critical analyse media and governmental output. I had not considered students employing their mathemacy to generate their own input into the democratic process. Skovsmoses uses an anecdote to illustrate this point, recounting a project entitled "Our community" where a group of students mathematical investigate various pertinent issues in the local community. One aspect of this I would be wary of relates to the forum for the students. If the students carry out this research to find that their is not a suitable forum for their input (which there should be in a perfect world) then it can be very dis-empowering. In this case, Skovsmose invited the local major to have a conversation with the students, I would disagree with this course of action as it deprives the students of learning to discern the most appropriate method of the employing their research to the best effect (e.g. do you organise a meeting with the major or organise a public meeting and invite him to speak). Facilitation rather than orchestration.

Education Entrepreneurship

The bottom line -

We need to educate kids to be both active citizens and entrepeneurs.

What I'll be referencing -

A TED.com talk - by Cameron Herold entitled "Raising Kids to be Entrepeneurs"

A paper by David Hartley entitled "New Economy, New Pedagogy?" Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2003

A report by the National Advisory committee on Creativity and Cultural Education (Britian)titled "All our Futures" and nicknamed "The Robinson Report", this report was the precursor to Sir Ken Robinson's famous TED talk "How schools are killing creativity" and his book The Element.

This post is to be continued as I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment