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We need creativity not  standardisation! Education Readings By Allan Alach I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz How to improve the school results: not extra maths but music, loads of it Thanks to Al Ingham for this article. 'But at Feversham, the headteacher, Naveed Idrees, has embedded music, drama and art into every part of the school day, with up to six hours of music a week for every child, and with remarkable results. Seven years ago Feversham was in special measures and making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Today it is rated “good” by Ofsted and is in the top 10% nationally for pupil progress in reading, writing and maths, according to the most recent data.’ http://bit.ly/2klQVoC Helicopter Parents Need To Let Teachers Do Their Jobs ‘Ms. Streeter realized that " one of the greatest challenges for teachers and principals is dealing with stressed, over-reaching parents who, like me, can't see the...

Education Readings By Allan Alach I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz Preschool teachers need better training in science Not just preschool teachers … ‘Gerde said preschool teachers may struggle with science due to lack of quality training, preparation or an aversion to science. Teachers may also feel pressure from policymakers and school administrators to focus on literacy -- to the possible exclusion of science.’ http://bit.ly/2fAmqd6 Another Example of Less Teaching Leading to More Learning Delinquent boys made huge academic gains when freed from classroom lessons. Teach less - observe more ‘The experiment was started in January, 1924, and lasted until the beginning of June that year. During that period the boys were excused from regular school classes and, instead, were assigned to a special room created for them in a technical school.  The room was equipped with desks, blackboards, a large table, and a collec...

There have been a number of excellent reflections relating to the recent elections and one that caught my eye was written by Chris Perley titled 'I want to write about...' I want to write about... I want to write about how we cannot afford poverty , how stupid it is, how degrades  our economy and our spirit.  I want to write about the trends in our New Zealand economy to a power-crazed, corporatist, extractive, one-dollar-one-vote destruction of democracy ; the destruction of local enterprise and family owned farms – and why those targets of the corporate agenda would even think of voting for their own turkey christmas.  There is nothing good in this trend.  There is no creativity, nor meaning, nor soul. I want to write about how a strong community is your business friend, how treating people as things is stupid if you want a future for your own town and region .  The only people – if you could call them that – that benefit from treating us as third world coloni...

Whatever happens in the New Zealand Elections Jacinda Adern has made us proud  to be Labour. Education Readings By Allan Alach I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz Don ’t Say “Times” When Teaching Multiplication (And What to Say Instead) ‘ Choosing our words carefully can have a big impact on student understanding , especially when it comes to multiplication. Make this small change to your multiplication vocabulary today, so students can better visualize and comprehend this important concept. The word “times” doesn’t mean anything to students. ’ http://bit.ly/2xkf8Pa Should we 'pupil' kids or 'NAPLAN' them? Phil Cullen : ‘ Australia's casual indifference to the effects of mass testing on the learning progress of its school children , and its penchant for using children for excessive periods of school time for 'test-prep' , as if they are mere  inanimate objects available for the collection of...

Education Readings By Allan Alach I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz Data Driven Into the Weeds Data data everywhere and not a thought in sight ‘Having a data-driven school has been all the rage for a while now, because when you express your ideas, thoughts, and biases in numbers, they qualify as "facts," whereas judgment expressed in words obviously lacks data-rich factiness, and so should be ignored . Yes, the fact that I am 100% an English teacher may make me about 62% bitter about the implied valuing of numbers over words; I'd say I'm at about 7 on the 11-point Bitterness Scale, and that's a fact.’ http://bit.ly/2vUFcPc Don ’t Spend A Penny On Education Technology Until This Is Clear Virtual reality is it enough? ‘ This ‘keeping up with the Jones” is a familiar practice, especially in anything related to technology . That approach, though, can lead to imbalanced education policy , mediocre edt...