Miles O'Shea Archives
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 […]
Because we care
Posted on April 29, 2021
Trust and care are demonstrated, not said. Almost anyone can say that they care about someone else. However, there’s a very far space between someone saying it’s true and having the other person feel that it’s true. Research tells us that most teachers say that they care about their students and believe that their students […]
Teaching the Most Difficult Students
Posted on April 21, 2021
In a previous post, I Don’t Want to Be Taught, I wrote about reaching students who don’t seem to want to comply and learn. Well that was just on the surface and there’s so much more to the process than just a few simple steps. So if you’re on board with wanting to try and […]
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 […]
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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