My niece in Massachussetts sent me an extract from the New Zealand Herald about our Minister for Education Evidently Ms Parata is considering a return to basic Arithmetic in the Primary Schools syllabus.
She needs to study history, then engage her brain before she sets her mouth in motion.
In 1949-50, when I was a student at Ardmore Teachers Training College ourMaths tutor, Ernest Duncan, taught us and anybody else who would listen about Numbers and how to organise them so it was easy to understand the processes. The same Ernest Duncan left New Zealand to lecture in the United States, It took twenty years for his ideas to be accepted here. He organised the New School Mathematics programme and brilliant advisers like Joan Paske in Wellington devised programmes for teachers to put into effect. There were charismatic advisers like Nan Tiddy and school inspectors; like Kelvin Smythe who helped teachers put into practise what research showed about children's learning.
At the same time Duncan and the other lecturers at Ardmore were teaching us about child development, how a young brain works, the stages of understanding involved.
Ms Parata herself needs to go back to basics and learn about how children's brains develop. Children are not sheep to be fed through the drafting yards of rote learning. They are not in a race against other nationalities. Right now our children are living the only life they will have, they should be developing ideas and concepts which will help them live that life with confidence. Telling them they are three seconds behind in answering an algorithm is not the way.
1. CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH PLAY. At each stage of development every child practices the next stage through play. (Professor Brian Sutton-Smith Queens University New York; one of our New Zealanders who escaped our puritannical regulated culture).
2. CHILDREN NEED FREE PLAY WITH CONCRETE (REAL) MATERIALS. Piaget, Cuisennaire and dozens of others have preached this for decades. Children need loads of physical experience, running, jumping, dancing, throwing, catching, dropping,and talking about what they are doing ; That is the way they develop Mathematical concepts.
3. CHILDREN NEED TO DEVELOP A SENSE OF RHYTHM AND BALANCE. That way they eventually recognise the patterns which make learning, Arithmetic especially. logical and easy.
4. CHILDREN NEED PARENTS WHO UNDERSTAND THEIR DEVELOPMENT, who don't see schooling at a mindless race.They need to be involved and their children's teachers need to accept them as allies. .
ALSO Schools need small classes, fifteen max. and young, well trained teachers. Many enlightened ideas about child development have withered because penny pinching governments refuse to spend the money needed for educational improvement.
T
Friday, February 22, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
BOOKS THAN CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
My Twelve year olf grand daughter gave me a book for Christmas. The Swerve, How the Renaissance Began by Stephen Greenblatt (Vintage) ISBN9780099572442 tells about the poem by Lucretius, a Roman Poet who died in 55BC called On the Nature of Things.Greenblatt tells a rivetting story about a fifteenth century book hunter,Poggio Bracciolini, seeking old manuscripts in a monastery in Germany. When he finds an ancient parchment he recognises it as a copy of A Roman poem which St Jerome tried to supress in the 4th century, yet it was known and quoted in spite of the Inquisition.
According to the ba ck cover Poggio found 'a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas - that the universe functioned without the aid og gods, that religioud fear was damaging human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion. These ideas fuelled the Renaissance, inspiring Boticelly, shaping the thought of Montaigne, Darwin (his grandfather owned a copy) and Einstein.
)f course, after reading 'The Swerve' which is a superb stue story that reads like high quality fiction, I had to get 'On the Nature of Things'. My copy, translated by Sir Robert Allison, was published by Arghur L Humphries in 1919.
Books 1 and 2, Atoms and the Void. Spenser translated whole chunks of it into The Faerie Queen.So did Shakespeare and Byron. . Lucretius rather contradicts the Big Bang, and intelligent design. There are atoms of infinite shape and number, and the void Over enormous stretches of time atoms swerve and meet and form new shapes, thus the universe evolves.
Books 3 and 4 Psychology, Sensation and Thought. Lucretius was a believer in the teachings of Epicurus. .This life is all we have, there is no afterlife.
If you are wondering how all this knowledge was lost for so many centuries ask the Pope, he and his precedents have a great deal to answer for.
According to the ba ck cover Poggio found 'a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas - that the universe functioned without the aid og gods, that religioud fear was damaging human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion. These ideas fuelled the Renaissance, inspiring Boticelly, shaping the thought of Montaigne, Darwin (his grandfather owned a copy) and Einstein.
)f course, after reading 'The Swerve' which is a superb stue story that reads like high quality fiction, I had to get 'On the Nature of Things'. My copy, translated by Sir Robert Allison, was published by Arghur L Humphries in 1919.
Books 1 and 2, Atoms and the Void. Spenser translated whole chunks of it into The Faerie Queen.So did Shakespeare and Byron. . Lucretius rather contradicts the Big Bang, and intelligent design. There are atoms of infinite shape and number, and the void Over enormous stretches of time atoms swerve and meet and form new shapes, thus the universe evolves.
Books 3 and 4 Psychology, Sensation and Thought. Lucretius was a believer in the teachings of Epicurus. .This life is all we have, there is no afterlife.
If you are wondering how all this knowledge was lost for so many centuries ask the Pope, he and his precedents have a great deal to answer for.
Friday, February 1, 2013
SHOULD RICH PEOPLE SPEND OR SAVE/
Paul Allen is the 48th richest billionnaire in the world' He is one of the founders of Microsof, but has left the partnership..
He owns a yacht, the Octopus, 127 metres long, with helipads, 2 submarines, a tennis court and it is bigger than the frigate Denis Patrick Davies served in during World War 11.
It docked in Timaru Harbour on Friday. I am tempted to drive up and look at it.
Why am I telling you this? A couple of neighbours reckon that Paul Allen should not spend all that money on a pleasure craft when people are out of work.
Well I would rather see shipbuilders, engineers, electricians, welders, upholsterers fitters, painters, sailorsand all in employment building a yacht than building weapons and vessels of war. And if the rich do not spend their money how is it going to circulate or trickle down ?
I hope the Octopus has a library with a lot of real books in it. Now there's a thought, a novel to beguile a billionnaire who has everything.
He owns a yacht, the Octopus, 127 metres long, with helipads, 2 submarines, a tennis court and it is bigger than the frigate Denis Patrick Davies served in during World War 11.
It docked in Timaru Harbour on Friday. I am tempted to drive up and look at it.
Why am I telling you this? A couple of neighbours reckon that Paul Allen should not spend all that money on a pleasure craft when people are out of work.
Well I would rather see shipbuilders, engineers, electricians, welders, upholsterers fitters, painters, sailorsand all in employment building a yacht than building weapons and vessels of war. And if the rich do not spend their money how is it going to circulate or trickle down ?
I hope the Octopus has a library with a lot of real books in it. Now there's a thought, a novel to beguile a billionnaire who has everything.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF XMAS
On the thirteenth day of Xmas
my love sold on Trade Me
12 Drummers Drumming
kids who had found drum kits under the tree very early Christmas morning left there by Santas who should have had more sense..
22 Pipers Piping
most fom Otago's Scottish Pipe Bands, some from an Irish band and a couple from Waitaki BoysHigh School.
30 Lords a leaping into Oamaru Hartbour to escape the drummers and pipers.
36 ladies dancing; Eighteen practising River Dance, Fourteen doing a Highland Fling above crossed swords and four poi dancing and doing Hornpipes at the same time.
40 maids a milking; cows, goats, llamas and sheep; farmers' daughter working furiously because their mothers are dancing, their fathers leaping and the Fonterra tanker is due any moment.
35 swans a swimming; black swans, naturally this being the Antipodes.
42 geese a laying, not one being the goose that laid the golden egg, it having been culled centuries ago, but if those ladies ever stop dancing, or their daughter finish milking, goose eggs make great pavlova!
40 G-O-O-O-LD RINGS The Olympics are three years away.
36 calling birds making more noise than drummers and pipers combined.
30 french hens, laying les oufs pour les omelettes for the lords to eat when they stop leaping.
22 turtle doves cooing like mad and doing unspeakable things under their perches.
No partridges, sorry my love ate them all and spewed up over the pear trees.
my love sold on Trade Me
12 Drummers Drumming
kids who had found drum kits under the tree very early Christmas morning left there by Santas who should have had more sense..
22 Pipers Piping
most fom Otago's Scottish Pipe Bands, some from an Irish band and a couple from Waitaki BoysHigh School.
30 Lords a leaping into Oamaru Hartbour to escape the drummers and pipers.
36 ladies dancing; Eighteen practising River Dance, Fourteen doing a Highland Fling above crossed swords and four poi dancing and doing Hornpipes at the same time.
40 maids a milking; cows, goats, llamas and sheep; farmers' daughter working furiously because their mothers are dancing, their fathers leaping and the Fonterra tanker is due any moment.
35 swans a swimming; black swans, naturally this being the Antipodes.
42 geese a laying, not one being the goose that laid the golden egg, it having been culled centuries ago, but if those ladies ever stop dancing, or their daughter finish milking, goose eggs make great pavlova!
40 G-O-O-O-LD RINGS The Olympics are three years away.
36 calling birds making more noise than drummers and pipers combined.
30 french hens, laying les oufs pour les omelettes for the lords to eat when they stop leaping.
22 turtle doves cooing like mad and doing unspeakable things under their perches.
No partridges, sorry my love ate them all and spewed up over the pear trees.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
LIVING RICH BELOW THE POVERTY LINE
My personal income us quite a long way below that imaginary line which is supposed to divide supporters of Key, English & co from the poor. I live in a fishing crib which was a workman's hut when the Waitaki Hydro scheme was being built. My car is 20 years old, But I don't feel poor. I have kind neighbours and we help each other out according to our abilities. It is a very pleasant life..
This morning I received a little video from Rose Ward, one of my Loutro friends. I have pasted it on to my Facebook wall for others to share because I think it says a lot about human values.
We have all read and heard about the people who live on rubbish heaps and make a living from scavenging, well this community (I think it is Brazillian but I could be wrong) still scavenge, but they have turned their piece of the rubbish dump into a suburb, with trees and little shanty houses AND
they have made instruments out of rubbish so their children can learn music AND
the children's orchestra is playing at symphony concerts!
They call themselves The Landfilharmonic.
And in my opinion they are having a richer life than the celebrity billionnairs on their umpteenth marriage who have to go into detox regularly.
Just shows we don't need a high income to have a rich life.
This morning I received a little video from Rose Ward, one of my Loutro friends. I have pasted it on to my Facebook wall for others to share because I think it says a lot about human values.
We have all read and heard about the people who live on rubbish heaps and make a living from scavenging, well this community (I think it is Brazillian but I could be wrong) still scavenge, but they have turned their piece of the rubbish dump into a suburb, with trees and little shanty houses AND
they have made instruments out of rubbish so their children can learn music AND
the children's orchestra is playing at symphony concerts!
They call themselves The Landfilharmonic.
And in my opinion they are having a richer life than the celebrity billionnairs on their umpteenth marriage who have to go into detox regularly.
Just shows we don't need a high income to have a rich life.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
OUR REVELS NOW ARE ENDED
I always thought of Shakespeare's Tempest as a comedy but Thomas Ade's grand opera made me think again, Ade's is a very English composer and conductor and his music for The Tempest was exactly that, tempestuous, full of discords and clashes. The libretto, was adapted from the Shakespeare play by Meredith Oakes, but I am a phillistine, English libretto in a grand opera grates on my ear.
But the singing was magnificent, especially Audrey Lunar as Ariel who had to screech incredibly high notes yet kept in tune while flitting about above the stage, she never really comes down to earth.. Ariel and Caliban were undoubtedly creatures of a non human world, yet they showed their humanity brilliantly, especially Caliban.
The set of Prospero's Island was a recreation of Las Scala Opera House in the nineteenth century. The chorus was unidentified. In the play they are spirits of air and water. In the opera they could have been the audience of La Scala, in opulent costume, strolling about in a dreamlike trance.
The costumes were opulent. Prospero's tattooes, newly applied for every performance were a work of art in themselves.
We left the Cinema after three hours thirty minutes, feeling rather stunned, with a lot to think about' where modern music is going ' the brilliant stage effects possible with to-days technology; and what was Shakespeare really getting at in this play?
Saturday, December 8, 2012
THE BRIDE WORE GOOSEFLESH!
The bride looked beautiful in the wedding dress she had found on Trade Me, a simple Grecian style chiffon with gold shoulder brooches; cost $10.00 including the shoes! Her bouquet was a sheath of day lillies out of the groom's sister in law's garden. The groom's eldest brother took the photographs.
Instead of an organ and church aisle the bride and her father walked to the wedding site to the music of a string qhartet, four retired people who play at weddings for pleasure. Instead of Lohengrin they
played 'I can't help falling in love with you' because bride and groom are both Elvis fans. Lunch time joggers passing by smiled and waved.But it was so cold both bridesmaid and flower girl, aged eight, were shivering. Somebody crept forward and wrapped young Jessica in their own windbreaker.
Afterwards we all headed to the Petone Working Men's Club, ate sandwiches, scones and chocolate wedding cake.
Remember the story of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas?' Well this wedding reminded me of that, all the expensive trimmings were stripped away and we were left with what a wedding day should have; happiness, love and memories, in spite of the weather.
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