Greg’s Blog - principal (le?) learning

I have been trying to catch up on the numerous saved entries from Bruce Hammods blog recently. I enjoy Bruce… he has his crap detector turned up high. He also has the luxury of sitting far enough outside “the system” now to be able to critique with impunity. He and Kelvin Smythe have been promoting what we largely see as the New (or so I am told, now to be called REVISED - the wordsmiths are at work) Curriculum for may years.
Nothing much changes really does it. As one of my colleagues here in Dunedin put it the other day “learning styles is just a fancy way of saying a good range of learning activities”. May be a bit extreme but there is still some truth to it!

This from Bruce struck a chord:

Who we become is influenced by the talents, gifts and passion we develop that drive us to learn more - the competencies are a means to an end. We are driven by an evolutionary curiosity to make meaning of our experiences. As we explore we focus on the things that really interest us us, and as our interest grows we get better at whatever it is we like doing.

He is quoting Mary Chamberlain earlier in the post and responding to her comments on the Key Competencies. I think he is right - the Key Competencies are being seen as something new and onerous that will add tremendously to teacher workload. They shouldn’t …. we have been assessing them anecdotally for years. We all know the children who are successful socially, with their learning etc. The difference is the structure.
I do like Bruces’ focus on talents, gifts and passions … there lies the challenge! To help children find the things that light the fires for them. We have an obligation to provide opportunities for them to discover these thingsI believe. These moments are the ones where the lights come on and the class (or individual) gets so into the task/unit that it takes on a life of its own.

Now we can’t expect that all the time and I think we have to realise this. Sometimes what kids need to know or understand is pretty mundane. Some of what they have to do is “just because they do” (and we know better than they do). They will not always pose their own questions or be independent inquirers …. especially the younger ones. We are still teachers much of the time (in terms of actively managing the learning), only sometimes will we be standing back as mentors and guides. We have to make sure that when the genuine guiding and sharing opportunities arise we are poised, skilled and aware enough of them to make them the best they can be.
Now there is a challenge!

Key Competencies then are the vehicle to learning and inquiry; particularly to becoming inquirING. They are not just an end in themselves.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 3:45 pm and is filed under Learning and Teaching, Pedagogy, Theory, opinion, professional learning.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.