Hi everyone,
The start of the 2014-15 academic year felt like a bit of a
warm up. This two week break has enabled me to plan what I think is required to
do next over the upcoming weeks. If this year is anything like 2014, it will
prove to be incredibly fun, interesting and rewarding. Even today, I received
some incredibly positive and kind feedback from a past student via her
brother’s (who I am currently teaching) learning portfolio. Positive and
unexpected feedback like that really does make all the hard work worthwhile. I
am looking forward to sharing it with a wider audience via the Classroom 21
FB page later on in the year.
I am really looking forward to getting back to Classroom 21
and hearing how much fun my students have had during their Christmas and New
Year holidays with family and friends. I also can not wait to begin teaching
again. My students and I have so much to do to prepare for the summer GCSE examinations.
For my Yr 11 classes, it really is an incredibly important time of year, as if
they begin preparation for their examinations now they will provide themselves with
an amazing opportunity to achieve their full potential. One of my most
important tasks is to try and motivate each of them to begin their independent
learning and preparation now. I have found a number of very important pieces of
research and the associated evidence to try and assist me to do this. A number
of investigations have been carried out into the most useful techniques a
person can use to maximise their chances of achieving their best. The results
of various investigations all points to the fact that distributed practice over
a long and sustained period of time as well as practice testing are the best
techniques available to be able to recall information. I found a really cool
article over the holiday on the Big Think website, which summarises this
perfectly. Follow the link below to read the article by Neurobonkers entitle, Learning How to Learn,
I have sent this information to all of my students over the holiday via The Learning Portfolio, I am hopeful they will do themselves a favour and begin their preperation as soon as possible.
During the break I was able to review everything that had
occurred on the Classroom 21 page, particularly with regards to how I introduced The
Learning Portfolio to a wider audience. Having thought about it, ultimately I do not think I described or explained what we have been doing well enough. Not a problem, as
everything is a learning experience. I have had time to plan the next
screencasts, which will hopefully enable people to
understand what we have been up to and why. It will hopefully look something like this,
1.
Classroom 21’s vision and our first goal –
Inspiring learning by personalising learning.
2.
How we did it – Classroom 21’s ethos, The
Learning Portfolio, neuroscience and the reptilian brain.
3.
The evidence of our success – Looking forward to
that!
4. Classroom 21 & The Learning Portfolio - The future.
I am sure after these screencasts everyone will have a
much better understanding of what we have been up to and why. If you are
reading this and think of anything else it would be worthwhile including, as well as any other feedback, please feel free to let me know. Thanks so much as always.
