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“There are no wrong answers!”

Along with, "It's a skills based subject," the cry that there are no wrong answers in English is, I think pretty unhelpful. Take the example of teaching Priestley's perennial, An Inspector Calls. Every time we've finished the play, without fail, a body of students will be firmly persuaded that poor, unloved Eva Smith was murdered by the Inspector. I'm not going to bore you with why this interpretation is so wrong-headed, just take it from me that goes against everything that Priestley was trying to achieve. When I've pointed out - precisely and at length - why this view is incorrect, [...]

2019-06-03T08:52:59+01:00June 18th, 2016|English|

The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education

Joyous distrust is a sign of health. Everything absolute belongs to pathology. Nietzsche Maybe those bored by debating the purpose of education feel the way they do because everyone keeps saying the same things over and over with the result that we all become a little more convinced of our own rightness. Perhaps this is because of the way the debate has been framed? The Great Educational Debate has always been framed as being between Traditionalists and Progressives. While no one is ever happy with attempts to try to pin down these positions, they can be summarised thus: Of course it's [...]

2023-04-22T10:31:17+01:00June 17th, 2016|Featured|

A conversation about the best way to teach a new concept

A few mornings ago, Rufus William got in touch with an interesting request: @LearningSpy fancy doing a quick maths activity? You just need something to write with some paper — Rufus (@RufusWilliam) June 14, 2016 I’ll admit to being a little anxious, but in the spirit of enquiry, I agreed. This was the activity: A domino is made up of 2 squares. A pentomino is made up of 5. How many different pentominoes are there? I got out my paper and pen and duly set to work: I quickly realised the answer was ‘loads’. At that point I gave up and told [...]

2016-06-16T08:34:55+01:00June 16th, 2016|learning|

Why I'm optimistic about the new Chief Inspector

Guardian journalist and ex-teacher, Michelle Hanson thinks education in the UK is "going down the pan". In this article she tells us the memory of working as a teacher still makes her "feel a bit queasy" whenever she so much as walks past a school. I can only imagine what kind of horrors she might have endured and I have nothing but sympathy for the many thousands of teachers who, like Michelle, have chosen to get out of the classroom and do something less injurious to their mental health. She's absolutely right to point out that the "preparation, planning, note-taking, sudden irrational initiatives, testing [...]

2016-06-14T14:17:05+01:00June 14th, 2016|Featured|

Can phonics help us spell better?

Children's author and high-profile opponent of phonics instruction, Michael Rosen recently wrote this blog casting doubt on the idea that learning phonics could help people spell. He was writing in response to an article written by Debbie Hepplewhite in Primary Matters. Here's the extract with which he takes issue: The job of teaching and applying the English alphabetic code for spelling is NOT done by the end of the infants - it is just the beginning of a long-term need to be attentive, and to get to grips with, English spelling as an ongoing part of reading and writing.* Michael's argument is that [...]

2016-06-13T13:12:39+01:00June 12th, 2016|literacy|

Seven tools for thinking #7: Beware of ‘deepities’

This is the last of my posts on Daniel Dennett's tools for thinking outlined in Intuition Pumps. You can read the others here. Everyone wants to find meaning in their actions and the events which surround them; the idea that stuff just happens and there is no deeper meaning can be alarming. As such we are attracted to the profound. The Barnum effect - named after the American circus entertainer P.T. Barnum by the psychologist Paul Meehl in his essay Wanted - a Good Cookbook - is the observation that when we encounter vague, general statements we're inclined to leap on them and say, [...]

2018-02-10T09:10:28+00:00June 11th, 2016|Featured|

Seven tools for thinking #6 Don’t waste time on rubbish

Argue with idiots, and you become an idiot. Paul Graham Science fiction writer and critic, Ted Sturgeon coined what's become known as Sturgeon's Law: "Ninety percent of everything is crap." This is sometimes taken to be an excuse for throwing up one's hands in disgust at the paucity of original thought and beauty in the world, but that's not what Sturgeon intended. Speaking at a science fiction convention in 1951, what he actually said was this: When people talk about the mystery novel, they mention The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep.  When they talk about the western, they say there’s The [...]

2016-06-16T14:27:59+01:00June 9th, 2016|Featured|

Seven tools for thinking #5 Occam’s razor

All things being equal, the simplest solution is usually the best one. William of Ockham You've probably heard the old adage that if you hear the pounding of hooves echoing through the Wiltshire countryside you shouldn't assume a herd of zebras is on its way. The simplest explanation for a phenomenon is the likeliest and in this case you're probably safer to expect to see some horseflesh any moment. Of course, this isn't always the case. If you're on the African savannah then zebras are a more reasonable expectation. There are, of course, times when the simplest explanation won't turn out to be true, but it's a [...]

2016-06-09T13:01:21+01:00June 8th, 2016|Featured|

Seven tools for thinking #4: Answering rhetorical questions

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question. E. E. Cummings Everyone likes a rhetorical question, don't they? Do they? Think about it. Try answering it. Do you think everyone really does like rhetorical questions? Some people do, but everyone? Maybe some people hate them? You can see where this kind of thinking can take you. It might result in navel gazing, but, equally, it might help us spot some pretty flawed reasoning. Like the surely klaxon, a rhetorical question is an invitation for readers to agree, to gloss over the substance of a statement and just nod approvingly. Some rhetorical [...]

2016-06-08T11:45:33+01:00June 7th, 2016|Featured|

Seven tools for thinking #3: The “surely” klaxon

Rumack: Can you fly this plane and land it? Striker: Surely you can't be serious? Rumack: I am serious. And don't call me Shirley. Airplane, 1980 It's natural to want to build consensus. We're all guilty of sometimes assuming that what we think is true or reasonable will be thought true and reasonable by everybody else. Often though, what we decide is true is just wishful thinking. Sometimes this is simply lazy thinking, sometimes it's bullshit. I've written before on how to spot and avoid bullshit: it's a fine line between calling bullshit and applying the principle of charity. A good rule of thumb [...]

2017-09-12T20:47:36+01:00June 6th, 2016|Featured|

Seven tools for thinking #2: The principle of charity

Ah! What a divine religion might be found if charity were really made the principle of it instead of faith! - Percy Bysshe Shelley A few weeks ago I wrote about the philosopher, Daniel Dennett's recommendation that we value our mistakes, learn from them, and never make the same mistake again. The second of Dennett's seven tools for thinking from Intuition Pumps is to respect your opponent. This is something I really struggle with. Debate in education is as ideologically riven as any other field where there are few certainties and no absolutes; evidence is nearly always contingent. But you'd never know. The [...]

2017-09-12T20:41:49+01:00June 5th, 2016|Featured|

Top Gun for Teachers

On March 3, 1969 the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to insure that the handful of men who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN. As I'm sure you know, these are opening credits of the 1986 movie starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer as pilots graduating the elite Navy fighter school. What you may not know is the background to [...]

2016-12-31T15:29:19+00:00June 1st, 2016|training|
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