Learn-Develop-Grow

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay There's something to be said for what you think is a lost cause.  If you can't do anything about it, at least raise a laugh - a joyful belly laugh or a nervous whimper or a knowing snigger - there are choices aplenty for those who will squeeze fun out of anything and lemonade out of lemons. The Lying Kind "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics!" these lines attributed to Mark Twain, among many other contenders since the 1850s, got me thinking about the connection with what we are doing with numbers, kids and even schools these days. Actually we have probably been doing it since Mark Twain's time too which might have prompted him to opine, "Never let school interfere with your education."  We have been reducing the kids to performance statistics, perhaps preparing them for performance appraisals in corporate life? 98% of our students have scored 90% or more says one institution 100% success rate!  sa...

Image by  Rudy and Peter Skitterians  from  Pixabay   [Some of us might remember the good old vinyl records that occasionally got stuck in a groove. The music went round and round, repeating the same phrase over and over, till someone stepped over and lifted the stylus arm.  Hence, was born the phrase for anyone who keeps repeating the same things over, "like a broken record".  Sorry to put you through this again, but I feel quite strongly on the subject of online teaching and learning.  The two terms are inseparable as I believe that the result of "I Teach" is that "You Learn" and not "I have taught". Read, react, object, share, comment .. but give me some feedback, please.] Over the past seven months I have been part of a teaching and learning community that has been challenged by the new normal - it's been seven months, so we are dropping the quote marks around those words.  But we also need to learn from the experiments, successes and fai...