Chair-less classrooms?
Here's a news story about a chair-less classroom.
I'm all for teachers and schools who make play and physical activity a priority. I've seen classrooms use core stability balls in really cool ways. But let's examine this story a little closer.
Did you notice the trifolds?
I'm less impressed with the "core stability balls" and more concerned about the trifolds on the desks. Don't get wrong, I think the core stability balls are kind of cool. I enjoyed watching the kids exercise and play with the balls.
However, if I had to choose between a chair-less classroom with tri-folds on every desk and a trifold-free classroom with chairs, I'd keep the chairs.
So what's wrong with the trifolds?
Alfie Kohn explains that when we say to children, "I want to see what you can do, not what your neighbour can do", this turns out to be code for "I want to see what you can do artificially deprived of the skills and help of the people and resources around you. Rather than seeing how much more you can accomplish in a well functioning team that's more authentic like real life."
Of course, we shouldn't have to choose between trifolds and chairs.
I think my point here is that we need to be careful about how we justify play for our elementary children. I have three points:
I'm all for teachers and schools who make play and physical activity a priority. I've seen classrooms use core stability balls in really cool ways. But let's examine this story a little closer.
Did you notice the trifolds?
I'm less impressed with the "core stability balls" and more concerned about the trifolds on the desks. Don't get wrong, I think the core stability balls are kind of cool. I enjoyed watching the kids exercise and play with the balls.
However, if I had to choose between a chair-less classroom with tri-folds on every desk and a trifold-free classroom with chairs, I'd keep the chairs.
So what's wrong with the trifolds?
Alfie Kohn explains that when we say to children, "I want to see what you can do, not what your neighbour can do", this turns out to be code for "I want to see what you can do artificially deprived of the skills and help of the people and resources around you. Rather than seeing how much more you can accomplish in a well functioning team that's more authentic like real life."
Of course, we shouldn't have to choose between trifolds and chairs.
I think my point here is that we need to be careful about how we justify play for our elementary children. I have three points:
1. We shouldn't have to justify play for young children. Jean Piaget told us a long time ago that "Play is a child's work". We borrowed the termkindergarten from Germany where it literally translates to "children's garden" which is suppose to focus on playing, singing, practical activities and social interactions. There is something very wrong with our elementary schools wh
PETITION: Make Math Memorable
Here is a petition by Educators For Thoughtful Pedagogy that supports Alberta's recent shift away from mechanistic pedagogy and teaching strictly through rote memorization and repetitive worksheets.Here's what the petition stands for:The OECD’s most recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results have Math should be about understanding not followinginstructions and memorizing.
