What makes a good school?

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/02/wish-list-piecing-together-an-ideal-school-from-the-ground-up/

Chinese Proverb: apply to teachers?

They lower their heads to pull the cart instead of raising their heads to look at the road. 

The Satisfactions of Teaching (Elliot Eisner)

"Among the many satisfactions in teaching there are six I would like to describe. The first pertains to the opportunity to introduce students to ideas that they can chew on for the rest of their lives. Great teaching traffics in enduring puzzlements and persistent dilemmas. Certainties are closed streets, not locations that interest the mind. Great ideas have legs. They take you somewhere."

Read the rest (2 pages): http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/the-satisfactions-of-teaching-elliot-eisner/

Caring about, not just caring for

Teachers must learn to "...listen carefully to the voices of their pupils, to avoid humiliating them, to acknowledge good attitudes and good work with praise and to demonstrate always, their deep love for their work as teachers."

Day, C. 2009. A passion for quality: Teachers who make a difference.

Thank you Ken

Great stuff.
Educating individuals who know how to think, not zombies. The world needs this. Whole people.

Body language, presence, mana of teacher

Written over 100 years ago, but strikingly parallel to 21st century pedagogy:

"It is not the highest work of education to communicate knowledge merely, but to impart that vitalizing energy which is received through the contact of mind with mind and soul with soul. It is only life that can beget life."

4 Attributes of a High Achieving Classrooms

Context: the fifth component of CRCM (Culturally Responsive Classroom Management) is “Building Caring Classrooms”

To describe that, Catherine Savage (2010) says, “There are four attributes of classrooms that scaffold high achievement for culturally and linguistically diverse students:

‘The first is a strong, caring, respectful relationship  between students and the teacher. The second is a caring, respectful relationship among peers, creating a culture in which everyone feels safe enough to take risks. The third aspect is a task-focused, calm environment that enables everyone to concentrate and learn, and finally, the fourth aspect is high and clear expectations for academic performance.’   (Ross, Bondy, Gallingane & Hambacher, 2008)”

I would just add that the teacher too, feels safe enough to take risks!

Savage, C. (2010). Culturally responsive classroom management in NZ. In V. Green & S. Cherrington (Eds), Delving into diversity: an international exploration of issues of diversity in education. New York: Nova.

What do I mean by "good" questions?

1. Write fifteen numbers between 5.1 and 5.2
2. *Suppose you can weigh all integer masses (that's just code for weights like 1, 2, 3, 4...) from 1 to 60 using just six weights, putting the weights into one pan of the scale and the object into the other. (So each weight is a number, like 1, 2, 5, etc.) 
1. Which weights are used?
2. What about weighing all integer massess from 1 to 1000, or 1 to n?
3. How many weights are needed if you put the weights on both pans?
3. A number is rounded to 5.8. What might the number be?
1. What is the largest possible answer?
2. What is the smallest possible answer?
3. Describe all numbers that round to 5.8
4. What do you think this graph might represent?
5. Find a fraction between 1/2 and 3/4
6. If your calculator's 5 and 7 keys are broken, how can you calculate 732 + 577?
7. In how many different ways could you design a box-shaped building using exactly 24 cubes?

Features of "Good" Questions

• Students are required to do more than remember a strategy.
• Students can learn in the process of answering the question.
• Questions have several acceptable answers.

Features of "Good" Tasks

• All students are able to start the tasks.
• Individuals or groups need to be able to work productively with minimal assistance.
• Explanations and reviews are given to the whole class (despite mixed ability - all hear language appropriate to the task, others' ideas and alerts individuals to a range of possibilities).
• Tasks should be easily extended, student who complete the work should be given extensions of the original task (not something unrelated).
• Tasks should require minimal teacher direction. The teacher does not tell the students how to do the tasks.
• More than one solution and more than one path to a solution should be possible.

Sullivan, P. & Clarke, D. (1991). Catering to all abilities through "good" questions. Arithmetic Teacher, October 14-18.

*Averill & Harvey (2009), p. 19. Wellington: NCER press.

Sobel (2004)

What kids need to learn

“In 1970 the top three skills required by the Fortune 500 were the three Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1999 the top three skills in demand were teamwork, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. We need schools that are developing these skills.”
How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses
Paragraph 7, Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/free-thinkers/

"Teachers provide prompts, not answers, and then they step aside so students can teach themselves and one another. They are creating ways for children to discover their passion—and uncovering a generation of geniuses in the process."