These notes were made after attending the 'Vibrant Schools Conference of 2005-09-29 organised jointly by Wiltshire LEA and Bath Spa University College. The keynote address was given by Guy Claxton, author of a number of titles on the subject of 'Building Learning Power'.
Building Learning Power
- Reason v. Intuition
- Focus on learning: 'Teaching is parasitic on learning'; 'Learning is senior to teaching'
- Improving learning: 'learn more'; 'learn better'; 'become better learners'; 'become lifelong learners'
- Evolution of learning to learn: 'Tools and techniques'; 'Style and conditions'; 'Teaching thinking'; 'Cultivating transferable learning dispositions'
- 'Learning to Learn': 'tray' metaphor (cartoon) offering coherence, support; not JABI
- 'Learning muscles' (17? - create own)
- 4 R's: Resilience (locking on to learning); Resourcefulness (knowing what to do when you don't know what to do'); Reflectiveness (strategies and self-awareness); Reciprocity (social: learning alone and with others)
- Talk 'Learnish'
- ICT: Learn Independently, Collaboratively, with Teacher
- Developing habits of mind: Able... Ready... and Willing
- Simple strategies to begin a culture change: 'What we can do if we get stuck' poster; 'Things we don't know' (questions) on PostIts; Hatty the hamster; Scale of attention (distracted to focused) - make it age-appropriate
- Importance of language ('What's in a word?'): say 'learning' not 'work'...
- ...'How' v. 'what'; 'could be' v. 'is'; 'effort' v. 'ability'
- Questionnaire (always/ often/ sometimes/ never): 'I think I am good at learning', 'I know what to do if I get stuck', 'When I can't do my work I avoid it', 'I think I can get better at learning', 'I like it when my work makes me think hard'
- TrackingLearning: On-line
Personal Responses
- Hope to integrate the Vibrant Schools initiative with existing MA work; and LSPS project
- Themes to hold onto include: vocabulary of learning; 'thinking skills' (e.g. maths text)
- Tension (mismatch) between my avowed intention (disposition) to be inquisitive (e.g. philosophically) AND an undeniable tendency to be authoritative and authoritarian in the classroom (more obvious recently?)
- My disposition/ habit is to supply tasks/ activities; certainly not consult overmuch
- How are colleagues to be invited to be involved? How much ('levels of involvement')?
- Collective action research - but not on my terms, with me as expert
- Recognition of trust in colleague's practice; missing from mine with same group: I fear a loss of control
- Learn from colleagues, overtly
- Imaginative response required; a reweaving; need for a metaphor (dispositions? habits?)
- 4 R's for lesson feedback?
References
- 'Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind', Guy Claxton
- Prof. Joan Whitehead et al: 'Evaluation of BLP in the Bristol Education Action Zone'
