The power of gender politics Learning spaces and environments are political spaces. Subtle actions, tones, images and words can create realities for students in school. These realities influence the identity claims, expression, values and beliefs students hold about themselves. Some of the areas available to this influence include gender, cultural identity, ability and valued social interactions. This list is a brief … Read More
Choosing a school – The Long Term view
The Long Term view You and your family will have to consider what you feel comfortable with in terms of expectations of teaching and assessment styles. Choosing a school, means placing your trust in people and a system to do the best for your children. You have to know what ‘the best’ looks like for you, your partner and your … Read More
Choosing a school – What type of school?
Choosing a school – What type of school? The next thing to think about is the type of school that you want to send your child/ren to. Some of the things that impact on how a school is run or how teaching is approached include the following: Is the purpose of the school skill driven? Many American-style schools tend to … Read More
Choosing a school – Who is the learner?
Choosing a school – Who is the learner? I was recently asked to suggest a school for two students I had taught for several years. The families were moving to another country and they were also considering international schools as a possibility. After some consideration I thought it might be useful if I shared some ideas I held about choosing … Read More
AUTHOR FEEDBACK
Each day we have been reviewing books that support different topics or issues in the classroom. We recently reviewed ‘Madeline Finn and the Library Dog’ Written and Illustrated by Lisa Papp Published by Old Barn Books. The review and suggested learning activity can be found in our BeConWiz BOOK ROOM, along with lots of other reviews in the Back To School section. … Read More
Student Agency in Learning
ABN 11 902 872 865 © 2018 beconwiz.com – All Resources, ideas and illustrations are copyrighted Who can? You Can – The Agency Toucan The commitment to ensuring student agency is addressed in IB schools is receiving greater attention in this coming school year. Like all ideas and buzzwords it can appear to be a ‘good’ word and assume all … Read More
Exploring Differentiation
ABN 11 902 872 865 © 2017 beconwiz.com – All Resources, ideas and illustrations are copyrighted When approaching teaching and learning through constructivist practices, one of the lovely things it makes apparent is that all learners learn and understand the world in myriad ways. In order to use constructivist practices effectively, a teacher must get to know how her/his different … Read More
An introduction to inquiry Part 4
Illustrations and Ideas © 2016 BeConWiz.com Connected to the card set “What can inquiry look like?” This blog post is dedicated to Alison Francis and Todd Richer, who invited me to consider new possibilities as a teacher while teaching their son in Prep. It was a steep learning curve, but I am grateful for the opportunity and the possibilities it offered me … Read More
An introduction to inquiry Part 3
These blog posts are about how teachers can use a constructivist approach to co-construct learning spaces with their students In the past teachers have been invited to think about the learning environment as a ‘production space’, resulting in a factory-like approach to setting up the room with all decisions made before the students even entered the room. Decisions like who sits … Read More
What is constructivist learning? An introduction to inquiry Part 2
Teaching and learning, particularly that embedded in an institutional setting, has a long history of change. These changes influenced what was taught, what was considered real knowledge, to whom learning was made available and what methods of teaching were preferred. Teachers have found themselves constantly re-positioned through these changes as experts, best friends, mentors and now as IT brokers. The … Read More