Miles O'Shea Archives
What If?
Posted on March 31, 2023
What if there was nothing called school until today? What if the concept of formal education never existed until right now? Would we create a system that has evolved to its current state in the year 2023? I think it’s easy to answer the last question and more difficult to answer the first two. But […]
Maverick Teaching – Close Your Door and Teach
Posted on March 31, 2023 Leave a Comment
A few years into my teaching career I met up with a former professor of mine. She was largely responsible for inspiring me to continue on the path to becoming a teacher. However, over the first few years in the classroom, the subtle comments from colleagues and administrators managed to push aside the inspirational messages […]
Maverick Teaching
Posted on March 30, 2023
The term Maverick has an interesting ring to it. A Maverick is simply defined as an individual who does not go along with the group. So why am I focused here on the term Maverick Teaching? This is a concept that I’ve been thinking about for some time and practicing in one form or another […]
School and Running
Posted on May 6, 2021
School always seems like it misses the mark to me. We’ve built a huge infrastructure to educate children and it doesn’t do what we need it to do. But, this system does do what it’s designed to do. The problem is simply that the design and the structure have chosen the wrong target and severely […]
School is School
Posted on December 5, 2019
I think that most would agree that there is enough available research that points to the fact that the traditional stand and deliver, industrial model of school is not what is best for learners in the 21st century. We know that students learn best when given autonomy and freedom. We know that students learn from […]
Talent and School
Posted on May 16, 2019
What is the purpose of school and what should school do for the students who attend? This is a question often contemplated but rarely answered. According to Sir Ken Robinson, the purpose of school should be to help students discover their natural talent and to develop that talent. I would tend to agree with his […]
Core Curriculum: Why?
Posted on May 13, 2019
The division of the natural world into subject areas is needed at the university level as students are exposed to advanced concepts that require intense levels of investigation. However, by creating a high school system, and then a junior high system, and later a middle school system based on the model of artificially dividing knowledge into fields of study, students are presented with material in ways that separates it from the world in which they live.
Freedom to Learn
Posted on May 10, 2019 1 Comment
We are teaching the same things in the same ways to students in 2019 as we did in 1948. It’s almost unbelievable. Now, if I were to design a curriculum that was driven by student needs and interests, it could truly apply to students in 2019 and 2089.
Learner Centered
Posted on May 9, 2019
Student-centered learning is a common buzz term in education. Basically, researchers and like-minded educators are attempting to impart to teachers that students must be at the center of what is being taught. This process is described as breaking the traditional stand and deliver model that has been occuring in classrooms since the dawn of time. […]
By Any Other Name
Posted on May 9, 2019
Today I was struck by just how entrenched people are in their own ideas and beliefs. I supposed this entrenchment exists in all areas of ones life, but I think it often becomes very apparent in education and among educators. I mentioned today to a few of my teaching colleagues that I thought the school […]
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