Alison Mooney - interesting to have four personality types, but all equally important. I think I'm a bit of a mixture but mostly "a peaceful." My character traits are easygoing, diplomatic and patient. I am a balanced, calming, levelheaded and approachable. I thought it was a great presentation and I spent most of the time thinking about the adults I know and fitting them into types, however it would be quite enlightening to fit my students into the types and come up with a plan to teach to those needs. We often talk about learning needs and character traits are just another way to look at it.
James Nottingham - P4C - Using picture books to get children to think and question more deeply. You don't have to come up with all the answers. There are a variety of benefits to why you might teach?/encourage? Philosophy in the classroom, the most relevant to me at the moment is getting participation and more focussed questioning from the children.
James Nottingham - Challenge, Wobble and Roll - This workshop brought up again, are we challenging/teaching our children or giving them the information for them to regurgitate. It made us all very aware that our perception, as teachers, is quite different from every other teacher. I need to have the children in the learning, or wobble, zone. That's the zone where the children are thinking "why can I not do it the way I know?" another interesting thought, that will be expanded upon tomorrow, is - be careful what you praise, it can get in the way of the learning zone. Isn't it interesting at Finland's educational success and yet they only have 18 hours teaching time a week. The difference - they use a model based on Vgotsky and we, in New Zealand use a model based on Piaget.
Websites:
Www.p4c.com
Www.Jamesnottingham.co.uk
