Andrew Reid - Constructivist Learner

A positive start to the school year

Andrew Reid — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:39:34 +0000

I must be doing something right. As each year goes by I try my best to help our students develop their independence and become more responsible. Every year I see small but positive improvements in our students.

This year in the first 3 days of class I have had several year 11 students pressing me for the dates I am going to run the after-school coursework club. Having spent so many years chasing them, it is nice for them to be chasing me for a change. Even more impressive is that I don’t even teach them this year and they have hunted me down in their own time.

Our qualification results were excellent with our KS4 GCSE students getting 81% grade A*-C.

My A-level classes are fired up and I have a good feeling about their commitment this year. Once again, developing independence and responsibility is paying off.

Education needs to be turned on its head

Andrew Reid — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:54:32 +0000

I just came across this article at the productivity website Zen Habits.

It is the longest post I have seen on Zen Habits. It is clear that the subject of education strikes a chord in people when they start to evaluate “the system”.

Reading the article reminds me of the TED video by Sir Ken Robinson. If you value education you MUST watch this video and can find it here.

Love of learning

Andrew Reid — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:30:15 +0000

While researching “Learn to Learn” programmes I came across this quote from John Holt that sums up really well how I feel about educating our children.

“Since we cannot know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.”

While this looks like a modern quote written for a technology driven world with a high rate of change it is in fact a lot older as John died in 1985. Like many of the best quotes it is enduring and timeless.

Coping with technology

Andrew Reid — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:59:22 +0000

I saw this great way of looking at technology from a Douglas Adams article How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet. Although it puts a smile on your face when reading it I think it does so because there is a hidden truth in its message:

everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;
anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;
anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to work out how old you are.This observation can help us understand which generation finds what technology difficult.

Blogs in Plain English

Andrew Reid — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:10:53 +0000

For anyone who wanted to know what all the fuss is about blogs here is another ‘to the point’ explanation from CommonCraft. They have already covered RSS and Social Networking and help demystify great Internet technologies.[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Seth Godin’s take on curiosity

Andrew Reid — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:35:45 +0000

Those that know me well understand my core belief that curiosity is one of the key success factors in learning. I think curiosity is the both the fuel and the cement that drives and constructs our knowledge building process.

I came across the post called ‘curious‘ by business guru Seth Godin which has his own interesting take on curiosity.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Merry Xmas

Andrew Reid — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 13:57:05 +0000

Have a great Xmas break everyone and thanks for all your support in 2007. Enjoy the eCard below:

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Learning a language in under an hour

Andrew Reid — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:26:16 +0000

I am a regular reader of the blog of Tim Ferriss. I really like his 4 hour work week book but don’t know if I am quite ready to outsource my life just yet!

I came across this great article from Tim about How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour (Plus: A Favor). It makes for some really interesting reading and provides lots of transferable ideas about learning anything new. Perhaps I can use Tim’s technique to give me a rapid headstart to learning a new language.

This may help out on my planned drive to Mongolia next summer.

Learn2Learn 1 – Training Session

Andrew Reid — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:50:31 +0000

We had Cath Daley a ‘Learn2Learn’ consultant in our school today giving a team of seven teachers, including myself, some training on improving the level of independent learning that goes on within the school.

It was an interesting day and gave us a lot to think about. It is difficult not to get excited about it. Do we want:

our children to learn independently?
our children to be able to attempt and solve their own problems?
our children to leave the school as life long learners?

The hard part is going to be to put these ideas in to practice and share our enthusiasm with the rest of the staff. The next step is for us to meet again having given this some thought and set our objectives for the future of getting our students to become better learners.

Do schools kill creativity?

Andrew Reid — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:26:38 +0000

For those working in education this TED video by Sir Ken Robinson is a must watch. It is both inspriring and funny. It really makes you think about our current education system and what we can do to help us prepare our children for a changing world.