If you have just landed on the blog, start here. (more…)
Yacapaca
Great teachers spend less time marking and more time teaching
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In the early years of the Space Race, it was discovered that ordinary pens do not work in zero gravity. NASA spent 2 years and millions of dollars developing an incredible ‘space pen’ that incorporated a tiny pump. Meanwhile, Soviet cosmonauts took pencils.
Maybe you have seen this infographic from the World Economic Forum (citing this OECD report) showing that (more…)
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Your students type a lot, but I’ll lay odds that they type badly. Prompted by internet guru Seth Godin‘s blog, I’m going to reprise an argument I had with Mark Leighton a while ago, about why it’s vital to teach them to type properly.
Here, paraphrased, are Mark’s arguments as to why he didn’t need to teach typing separately, and my ripostes.
My students can type anyway
No, they can hunt and peck. To call that typing is like saying someone can drive if they can (more…)
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The ‘exam paper’ has been around for the last 14 centuries and it is still going strong. The way things are going, the exam-paper looks likely to outlast even the news-paper.
But it shouldn’t. Paper-based exams are a hideously-unreliable method of assessing competence. Here are some of the major reliability problems of (more…)
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Meet Beatrice Wongsanguan, Y11 student at Patana School in Bangkok. Beatrice is the first student ever to achieve the 8th Dan belt in Yacapaca.In case you do not know, we copied the Judo belt scheme to describe our levels. Students earn White Belt almost immediately, the work up through the colours to Black Belt. After that, they get into the Dan grades, and progress becomes much harder. Achieving each grade is 60% more work than achieving the previous grade was. 60% may not sound like a lot, but it compounds up very fast.
Belt grades are earned primarily through diligence. Regular practice, regular revision and participation in the voluntary extension activities such as peer assessment are key. Beatrice has been using Yacapaca since Y7 (I looked up her records) and is clearly a top performer even in a school renowned for its work ethos.
Congratulations Beatrice! Read the full story in the Patana magazine.
Yacapaca 