Summer Holiday Reading

Because in my memory of childhood there is always the smell of bubbling tar, of Pinke Zinke, the briny smell of the sea. It is always summer and I am on Scarborough Beach, blinded by light, with my shirt off and my back a map of dried salt and peeling sunburn. There are waves cracking on the sandbar and the rip flags are up. My mum, brown as a planed piece of jarrah, is reading a novel by John O’Hara… Tim Winton   I believe that if... Read More

‘The New Science of the Teenage Brain’

The current October edition of National Geographic has an interesting article on the ‘teenage brain’. I do not usually buy this magazine but waiting for ferries in Hong Kong, and the incredibly inexpensive cover price compared with Australia, has led me to buy a couple recently for articles of ongoing interest. The New Science of the Teenage Brain does not tell educators anything completely new, if you have been paying attention for... Read More

What motivates us?

 I really do not know what motivates me but I am, most people would say, ‘motivated’ and very enthusiastic. For some things. I am sure that the things I enjoy give me the satisfaction of, to paraphrase Kipling, filling the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run but it is hard to define or understand. RSA Animate has been exciting educators, well everyone actually, for some time now and I have regularly, as have... Read More

Bring on the Learning Revolution

Sir Ken Robinson’s books and talks, quite simply, inspire! His sense of humour and rejection of neo-factory models of education are a beacon of light for those who wish to reform the educational hand children are dealt. His passion for moving towards a ‘personalised curriculum’ is the most important educational idea of our, or any other, time. These brief and quotable quotes, Why Teaching is Not Like Making Motorcars, give the uninitiated... Read More

Brainology – Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn

“More and more research is showing that our brains change constantly with learning and experience and that this takes place throughout our lives…we have shown that what students believe about their brains — whether they see their intelligence as something that’s fixed or something that can grow and change — has profound effects on their motivation, learning, and school achievement (Dweck, 2006). These different beliefs, or mindsets,... Read More