Let’s do something difficult!

I would like to thank Frank Havemann for his experiences on the difficulties, challenges and joys of taking on a challenge.  Frank encapsulates the importance of continuing to learn and how it helps us to develop as teachers and people. 

Let’s do something difficult! By Frank Havemann

One of the bits of advice that really stuck with me from my not-so-distant PGCE was the suggestion to try something genuinely challenging every once in a while. “Thank you very much”, you might respond, “my Year 10 are challenging enough on a warm Friday afternoon.”

Fair enough. What I really mean is attempting to learn something you find difficult, to empathise with the sheer frustration of “not getting it”, of the struggle with learning that some of our students encounter in our lessons. What does that mean in practice? Here are a few examples that have taken me out of my comfort zone over the last year and a bit.

Learning a new instrument:

I have always wanted to play the drums, so I finally started practicing. And it’s frustrating, because my ears are trained well enough to tell me how off-beat I really am. I want results immediately, and I want to play the exciting stuff, but instead it’s just lots of patient practice to get better slowly.

Planning a maths masterclass:

Planning and resourcing are my teaching nemeses, so taking on extra planning for a group of 40 G&T kids for a 3 hour session made me very nervous. Instead the process forced me to confront my process head-on, and to push through some of the blocks I had set myself. It was a lot of work, but it felt good to accomplish something genuinely challenging.

Learning a new subject:

I took a class in economics at university, and though interesting, it didn’t really make sense to me. Recently, the imminent collapse of western civilization(hyperbole alert!) suggested it might matter after all, so I started studying from the beginning, just to find out what parts of whose claim were nonsense, wrong, inflammatory or otherwise misguided. I’m still working on that one. It turns out some of the materials on economics are drier than, well, let’s just say they are quite dry. But I am trying to stick to it, and do a bit of revision (as it were) every week.  

So what have I learned ?

My students aren’t the only ones who want results immediately.

It is difficult to read something that is technical, even if you are interested.

It is really difficult to motivate yourself to do something if you are not interested.

None of these are surprising, but all of them feel quite different when you experience them for yourself. It is good to be reminded how it feels to struggle to

learn something.

Do you have examples of things you tried and struggled with? How has it helped your teaching?

Why we need a little fun in our learning! - Stairs Volkswagen Commercial.

It is easy to be very earnest about learning and teaching.  We all take it very seriously, sometimes too seriously.  We are all, (in schools, in Local Authorities, at Ofsted and in Government) very aware of the pressure to get the best examination results for students.  However, we must guard against the drive for effectiveness and efficiency actually having a damaging effect and turning our students away from learning. 


Why do I suggest this?


Well, we do not always look forward to or do what is best or good for us, do we?  How many of us eat foods high in salt and saturated fat, knowing what harm it can do?  How many people smoke, knowing full well of the dangers this entails?  Why do we do these things? Simply becasue they are pleasurable. 

So what has this to do with learning and teaching?  In fact what does it have to do with any type of leadership? 

Well if we want to get people to do things differently or get people to change their behaviours; it is not enough to explain to them why it would be better for them to change - we have to make this change more attractive or more fun.  So within the classroom, and in particular as we prepare for revision, we have to try to motivate our students to work hard and give up time that they might otherwise be spending playing in their X-Boxes or Playstations. So if we plan a little fun into our lessons by using games and competitions to learn; or by doing other mad -cap things that put a smile on our students' faces then we have a fighting chance of getting them to do that extra bit that might lead to success. 

I know it is not easy to always keep things fun but it is worth trying our best to get some fun in where we can.

Cambridge Don fixes the History Curriculum and solves our literacy problems in a single swoop

There is a really interesting article about the development of litercy skills and essay writing attached to this link.  Cambridge don sets out historic events pupils must learn  I can see and sympathise with the argument, and it is clear that we do have to address how we improve students' literacy.  Expecially so in the face of new technology; it is difficult to persuade students of the joy in writing when they are desperate to play on their X-boxes.  The problem goes way beyond teachers drilling students for exams.

However, I do wonder what Professor David Abulafia has included in his 31 key events in British history that all students should know. I hope he's included 1320 - The Scottish Declaration of Independence which was signed at Arbroath Abbey.  It would be a glaring omission if it's not there.  Or is that just my opinion? 

Is the UK really do poor at Maths?

There was a startling article published in the telegraph recently on the number of adults that struggle with primary level mathematics; Numeracy Campaign: 17m adults 'struggle with primary school maths'  What is even more worring is (if this article is accurate)the UK's attuitude and approach to maths. Can it really be true that we don't value this subject?  It seems obvious to me that if we are to genuinely have a knowledge driven economy, that we need to to promote the appreciation of maths.  It is crucial to so many modern technologies.  Just as happened with traditional industry; it looks like the world has overtaken us.  Quite frankly it just doesn't add up!