Aren’t We Doing It Already?
I’m revisiting the Mitchell Institute’s reports by Bill Lucas on capabilities to glean from their insights what it means to create a capability-focused curriculum in a post-lockdown world.
The Art Of Parent-Friendly Resources
Thirty years since the introduction of ‘common core’ standards and progress maps have passed. However, what have we done to nurture parents’ understanding of education jargon like “thinking skills” and “learning progressions”?
A Fantastic View Of Human Learning
Phrases like “That’s a fantastic result”! and “Fantastic work!” trumpet high praise for students in our classrooms. What is the meaning behind those praises and ‘the fantastic’ in general as a creator of learning experiences? This is how I see it.
What Next For Curriculum Writers?
Reflections On Professor Geoff Masters Keynote at the Australian Council For Education Research Conference. Professor Masters poses some confronting questions. Why do education systems seemed fixed on sorting students into post-secondary pathways? And why was this at the expense of guaranteeing excellent progress of every student in the K-10 compulsory years of schooling?
Retelling an old forgotten story in an original way.
This lesson introduces you to At the time of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, comedians Roy Slavin and H. G. Nelson (John Doyle & Greg Pickhaver) were given the role by Channel 7 to be the ‘official’ commentators for the Games. The episode of Australian Story (14 May 2020) traces the 35 years of … Read more
Sources of laughter rearranged
Radical Pantomime Courses introduce young writers to creating comic stories for their local communities. They show how comedy is a socially powerful tool for bringing communities together. The images of different audiences watching a comic pantomime testify to the on-going tradition of comic pantomime in English theatre, as we see below in the illustration an … Read more
Laughter is the best medicine revisited
Introduction The benefits of laughter have been known for some time. Now, in the middle of a pandemic, the message is being constantly relayed through medical information sights that capitalise on the old saying that ‘laughter is the best medicine‘. However, as we know with good advice, the nodding reference to good advice is vastly … Read more
Blending Philosophy For Children & Better Thinking Skills.
Firstly, congratulations on daring to have fun in inquiring how the two curious creatures visit, trip over and are dumped on the shores of ten different islands. We guarantee that you and your students will share many adventures exploring how motivation and purpose shape decision-making and problem-solving. Red Wool Editions’ Why In The World Are … Read more
Awakening brain cells
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” Dr Seuss.
Benefits Of Comic Business
Why should we build a community of young comedy writers at this time? That is the question which I believe I can answer through twenty years of researching how writing comedy has been instrumental in the creation of one of the fastest growing industries in the 21st-century, the Creative and Cultural Industries The bottom line … Read more