I'm currently trying to pin down what I'm interested in so I'm just going to try and list them out;
1) project based learning and the psychology behind it - e.g. what skills do students develop when they are involved in a project which lasts a week compared to doing homework on a daily basis.
2) Personally, I want to complete change the present maths curriculum which is best suited to a time when calculators were the size of rooms, in favor of problem formulation rather than calculation. So that students don't spend their time on boring series of calculations which are nowadays done by computers. However, until that day comes I'll be manipulating the maths curriculum so the students can easily relate it to their day to day lives. Hopefully down the line I will also be involved in the development of the curriculum itself - transforming it into a set of knowledge and skills which are useful in day to day life as well as in employment. I believe the currently curriculum achieves neither of these goals - when was the last time you needed to simplify a quadratic equation at home or work? (Inspired by the work of Conrad Wolfram and Dan Meyer)
3) Democratic practices in the classroom - involving students in the three main areas of education which are curriculum (what the students learn), pedagogy (teaching methodology - how it is taught/how they learn it) and assessment (how knowledge of the curriculum is tested). If this involvement is facilitated in such a way as to balance student and adult input, then students personal development can benefit from developing the skills needed to being involved in this process. A correct balance of adult and youth input will also promote the students ownership of the process which will ensure they learn more, what they learn is more useful and what they learn they will remember longer.
Too much adult input and the students feel disempowered and apathetic, too little adult input and they flounder. (Inspired by the work of Ira Shor and of Reed Larson).
4) Creativity and innovation in the classroom - students must be free to express themselves and explore their passions through your subject. (Inspired by the work of Sir Ken Robinson)
5) Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the classroom - even though I don't know much about technology, I believe it is very important to increase its role in the classroom, not just to the ever increasing role it will play in the lives of students, but also for the simple reason - it can help. It can help you entertain and engage your students as well as lend a hand in terms of organisation. (Dan Meyer is fairly good on this too).
6) Critical media literacy - students developing an in-depth understanding of the role of the media in the social, cultural and political of this country. (inspired by no one in particular)
7) Civic Education - students developing an in-depth understanding of not just how the political system works in this country, but how they can employ their political voice to best effect. (inspired by how politically ignorant I feel, despite obtaining an "A" in Civic, Social and Political Education (C.S.P.E.) in 2003 - here's a link to the exam paper. (Useless is a term, which would be used generously in relation to this subject).
6) Philosophy of Pop Culture, e.g. examining the big and small questions behind cartoons, books, movies and music, e.g. the graphic novel "Watchmen" (this is more of a hobby of mine really that I would love to lead a class on - I believe passion in a subject is a good starting point for teaching.) (Inspired by the The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series).
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