Modern Learning Environments

 

There is a reasonable amount of hype in the education community around the subject of modern learning environment or MLEs.

Mark Osborne has written a good summary which is worth a quick read.

http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/white-papers/modern-learning-environments

To accommodate and facilitate a best practice 21stC learning culture and pedagogy, learning areas need to have space and flexibility to cater for individualised and collaborative learning as well as large group or class presentations. Learning resources, such as technology, need ready access and ease of storage.

Wellesley is in a fortunate position having the whole school rebuilt over the last 10-12 years with our school hall/gym being the last facility to be completed. The design brief was driven by the learning needs of 21stC learners. Our learning areas are all built over code so there is plenty of open space adding to the teachers’ flexibility in implementing and facilitating the curriculum. If needed, most classrooms can accommodate two classes of children for activities such as meetings and presentations. We have break out spaces between classrooms which are ideal for collaborative learning, or small group teaching. These same spaces allow for individuals to pursue their inquiry studies, practise speeches, model making, cooking etc

Throw in the mix, large specialist areas for the visual arts, music, drama, dance, science, technology, learning support including GATE programmes and our students are well supported. Last year we opened an incredible resource, our new library. This is a stunning, stunning learning area and we are all enjoying it immensely. The small auditorium attached is adding great value.

Having large open playgrounds is a treat at the best of times but we are spoiled with the sea at our front door and the bush at our back door. In between are large fields, courts, creeks and a storybook dell where I am sure angels come to play at night.

As Mark Osborne says, “Working in an open, flexible learning environment where inquiries are shared, interventions devised collaboratively and reflections based on both self and peer observations, leads to a more robust, continuously improving community of practice.”

We are very, very lucky with our MLE but, at the end of the day, give me a committed and talented team of teachers to work with in a tent over mediocre teaching in fine facilities. Fortunately we have the former and solid pedagogy, passion and commitment will win out every time. It’s just nice to support our teachers with current and relevant resources.

Lastly enjoy this TV 3 clip on MLEs.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Bringing-the-Kiwi-classroom-into-the-digital-age/tabid/367/articleID/304224/Default.aspx?ref=video_2012-11-22

 

Helicopter Parenting

Charity Mid Winter Swim

Helicopter parenting! Have you heard the term? I am reluctant to write about this concept as I know it will sound righteous and possibly induce thoughts of,  ‘he thinks he knows it all’ and ‘he’s always on about this’!

Well, I don’t mean to sound righteous and I certainly don’t know it all but I have made plenty of mistakes as a parent and after a long teaching career, observed what works with regard to parenting and what doesn’t.

The term ‘helicopter parenting’ is about being overly involved in your children’s lives. That is, always ‘hovering’ and finding it difficult to allow your children to take age and stage appropriate risks and deal with life’s ups and downs without trying to ‘save’ them from life’s disappointments and challenges.

I have to acknowledge it is sometimes difficult to know when to stand back and when to step in to try and help your children. A classic example is when a child misses out on something which is competitively selected such as a school team. It is normal as a parent to deeply feel your child’s disappointment but rightly or wrongly, you have two choices at this stage.

Firstly to step in and allow your child to see you question the process or even suggest that s(he) is actually better than some of the children who won selection. In this case, if the child does eventually make the team, his/her self-esteem is likely to have been compromised with a prickle of doubt that (s)he is there on merit versus mum or dad’s persuasive skills.

The other choice is to take time to show your child that you understand his/her disappointment and sympathise accordingly but also encourage them not to give up, to keep trying hard to show the coaches that they are keen and capable so when an opportunity through sickness or injury comes about, they will be considered again.

In Time Magazine’s ‘Health and Family Matters’, Bonnie Rochman(*) wrote an article called, ‘Hover no more: Helicopter Parents May Breed Depression and Incompetence In Their Children’.

http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/22/hover-no-more-helicopter-parents-may-breed-depression-and-incompetence-in-their-children/n

This article highlights that ‘helicopter parenting’ can be a problem even in young adults’ lives. Bonnie refers to a study in the Journal of Child and Family Studies which summarises the findings of a survey of  297 university age students. According to the study (and this supports my observations), the more parents cross the line and get too involved with their children, the more they risk stealing a child’s opportunity to reach their potential. On one hand we have to be a supportive mentor and model, yet know when to step back and when to step forward to offer advice and intervene. 

Holly Sciffrin, lead author of the study and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington, is quoted as saying, “Parents are sending an unintentional message to their children that they are not competent. When adult children don’t get to practice problem-solving skills, they can’t solve these problems in the future.”

 “These parents have the best intentions,” says Schiffrin. “They are being involved to help their child be successful. But as we know from the previous study, that high level of involvement is stressful for parents and it is not benefiting the kids. It’s actually harming them.”

Parenting is such a tough job and at times can be very confusing to know what to do. It is so often a fine line we walk. Some of the best parenting advice I have seen is from D.A. Hutcheson, Head of Nightingale-Bamford School in NY city. She said,

“Life can often be a struggle, and mostly we don’t enjoy that struggle. Yet life would be dull without it. As a parent myself, I don’t like seeing my children struggle but it is in that struggle where children learn the most. Really, as much as possible we should let our children negotiate the bumps and ups and downs of school themselves, rather than sweeping in to negotiate it all for them. That’s the best gift we can give our children----so when we are not around, they can be successful on their own.” 

Sound advice in my view!

Bonnie Rochman@brochman

* Bonnie Rochman writes about pregnancy, fertility, parenting — the ups and downs of being    a kid and having one — for TIME.