The Education Continuum

Book Launch at Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln

Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln are holding a launch for two of our titles, Relationships and Sex Education 5-11 and Teaching and Learning on Foundation Degrees, on Friday February 17th at 4pm.

Do come along to the launch to meet the authors and celebrate the publication of these projects if you can. The first 30 attendees will receive a complimentary glass of wine!

Alison Baker
Senior Commissioning Editor

Calling all P4C devotees!

A new series of the Philosophy Now radio show will be broadcast every Tuesday at 6-7pm GMT (7-8pm BST) on Resonance FM through to the middle of December. If you’re interested in learning more about the P4C movement, or in search of inspiration for your philosophy sessions, it’s definitely worth a listen. For fans of The If Machine, our very own P4C maestro Peter Worley has already featured on the show, and you can listen to him in action by visiting here and downloading the podcast.

Rosie Pattinson
Editorial Assistant (Education)

Author of The If Machine at the Howthelightgetsin festival at Hay

Peter Worley, author of The If Machine and forthcoming title The If Odyssey did a cracking talk at the fringe philosophy and music festival at Hay this year, and if you missed it you can view it in all its full-length glory here. By way of a brief, mind-bending introduction, I now hand you to the man himself, Peter Worley:

In this talk I hoped to introduce the audience to an example of the sort of session to be found in The If Machine as well as some of the facilitation techniques described in the book, such as 'if-ing, anchoring and opening up', 'thinking avenues' and dialogic discussions.

I wanted the audience to experience a session so that they are not simply receiving a report of how philosophy is done with children but seeing it from the inside. So, if you watch the talk you will see a discussion on a philosophical thought experiment, a discussion about the discussion on the philosophical thought experiment, and by watching it you will also engage in a further discussion of your own, on the discussion on the thought experiment and on the discussion on the discussion on the thought experiment.

It’s as simple as that.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

A May musing from Mike Kent…

Mike Kent’s Tales from the Head’s Room came out last week, and to mark the occasion, we’re giving a sneak preview. Based on Mike’s most popular TES columns, the book charts a year in the life of the London primary head, with all its ups and downs and hilarious episodes. Here’s a favourite of ours from the month of May…

Fifty-one

Life is a rollercoaster ride

I’ve always enjoyed taking school assemblies. Sure, you can chat about healthy eating, or why it’s daft to smoke, but you can also introduce your own interests. During the past year I’ve told the children how I became a writer, how magicians cut people in half, how I taught myself the banjo, how I sprayed a door on my classic MG, and how I built a little cinema in my loft. My message is simple. Life is a lot more interesting than watching television or fiddling with a PlayStation.

Occasionally, something I’ve demonstrated really fires them up and they talk about it for days. My rollercoaster Assembly, for example. I’ve loved rollercoasters since I was thirteen, and I’d recently been with my family to Florida, riding some of the tallest and most exciting in the world. In Assembly, I demonstrated how they’d evolved over the last 50 years – stacks of science here. I held up large, colourful photos of vertical-drop coasters, wooden coasters, looping coasters. I explained acceleration speeds and braking technology. Then a little history – and screams of delight – when I ran an old Super 8 film taken from the front car of a Big Dipper at Blackpool. And finally, by swinging a bucket half full of water in a complete circle, I showed how centrifugal force helps hold riders in the car, even when they’re upside down.The children were astonished when the water didn’t come out, and Alison stayed behind after Assembly, looking at the bucket thoughtfully. ‘Could I have a go at that?’ she asked. ‘It takes a bit of practice’, I said. ‘Come and see me tomorrow when I’ve time to show you.’ Throughout the day I was stopped by children asking how I’d done ‘that magic trick with the bucket and water’. ‘It wasn’t a trick’, I’d say. ‘It was centrifugal force – I explained it to you in Assembly.’ ‘Yes,’ they’d say, ‘but how did you do that trick with the bucket and water?’

On Wednesday at playtime, Alison knocked on my door. Would it be okay for her to have a go if she went to the Nursery and borrowed one of their little buckets? I explained that the Nursery was closed for the day, and that she should try tomorrow. I was sure she’d forget – and that would save our tiniest children from being showered with water. On Thursday, two things happened. In the morning, two Infants children rushed excitedly into my room brandishing corrugated paper plates and pieces of wood. ‘We’ve wrote a roller coaster rap!’ they said, and proceeded to dance around my room, singing the words and working up a lively rhythm with their plates and scrapers. Secretary Sandra peered round the door, scratched her head, and disappeared again. Then, in the afternoon, David came to see me. He’d gone home after my Assembly, seen his dad painting the ceiling, and offered to show him a clever trick with the contents of the paint kettle. Dad, fearing for his carpet, informed his son that if he went within a metre of the kettle he’d emulsion his head. Then, on Friday, Alison was back – with a bucket from the Nursery. Never one to rain on the bonfire of enthusiasm, I stood her in the middle of my room, moved everything out of the way, put some water in her bucket, and told her to have a go. Taking a deep breath, she swung the bucket upwards, took fright, and showered herself with water.

Next week in Assembly, I’m going for the easy option. I’ll just tell the children why they shouldn’t lock each other in the toilets.

Rosie Pattinson
Editorial Assistant

What If ...?

 
On Wednesday, Rosie Pattinson and I were proud to attend the book launch for Peter Worley’s excellent ‘The If Machine: Philosophical Enquiry in the Classroom’ at the Institute of Education. There was quite a turnout of various ages and levels of fame, with comedian and broadcaster Robin Ince; Philosopher of Education, Michael Hand; Editor of Philosophy Now, Rick Lewis and Editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine, Julian Baggini all in attendance – but it was the incredibly articulate children who had experienced Pete's philosophy sessions previously who stole the show.

Pete facilitated an enquiry from the book which left everyone scratching their heads and most of us using parts of our brains that felt underdeveloped, at best. But perhaps this is the point. Most children in the UK do not get to do any philosophy in their formal education – I certainly didn’t. A few lucky souls have the opportunity to study it at A level, or in the IB but it is a subject largely absent from lower secondary and primary education.

In the book, Pete explains with remarkable simplicity and clarity how children can be taught to identify necessary and sufficient conditions, to avoid circular definitions, to focus on falsifying rather than verifying general claims, and, above all, to ‘if’.

‘Iffing’ is Pete’s term for the technique of bracketing concerns about the truth of a claim in order to investigate its conceptual implications or entailments. And surely that is the greatest intellectual skill that any human being can learn in this age of information and opinion overload – to be discerning and to question the validity of everything they are told to take at face value. Learning to philosophise is precisely a matter of acquiring and practicing these techniques – something that few of us have ever done before.

Michael Hand referred to Pete’s first book as ‘The best book of its kind currently available … An invaluable resource for teachers wanting to try out some philosophy in their classrooms … A significant contribution to educational theory’. I would, of course, agree with these three endorsements, but would like to add one of my own. This is a book of inspirations – for teachers, children and anyone interested in the World and the power of the mind. It has certainly inspired me, and I hope that it will inspire many others in the months and years to come.

Peter Worley will be partaking in a roundtable on philosophy for children at the LSE on 23 June. Check back on the blog for further details later in the year.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Fourth edition of Getting the Buggers to Behave is out now!

Pedigree Chum, anyone?

To celebrate the launch of the new edition of this international bestseller, we're offering you the chance to win a copy and a mention on the companion website!

For those of you who’ve never read Sue Cowley’s prodigious bestseller Getting the Buggers to Behave, you won’t yet be familiar with some of the slightly zany tactics Sue employs to get her kids to listen, and actually enjoy listening. My personal favourite is ‘The Can of Dog Food’, which can be found on p.115 of the new edition:

Description:

This activity was originally used for design technology, and it shocks the students into paying attention. Of all the suggestions I’ve ever made, this has attracted the most controversy. Your teaching style probably needs to be ‘comic and quirky’ or possibly ‘edge of madness’ to pull it off. Prepare your can ahead of time: cut the base off the tin or split open the pouch carefully; empty it out and wash it well; chop up the Mars bars and mix this with the jelly; refill the can or pouch and fix it back together with glue or tape. (Note: an easier alternative is to swap the labels over between dog food and something more appetizing.) Explain to the class that the lesson is about packaging. Show the students the can of dog food, open it up, and then eat from it. Offer it round the class, to see if anyone will have a taste. You’ll get a lively reaction to this opening, but your students will eventually quieten down to hear what you have to say.

Have you ever used a slightly off-the-wall starter to get your students’ attention? If so, we want to hear from you! If Sue likes your idea the best, you’ll win a free copy of the new edition and a mention on the companion website. To enter, just email mwilson@continuumbooks.com with your ‘edge of madness’ story before 30 September 2010.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

When “listen to me” is not enough…

Guest post by Continuum authors, Jacqui Woodcock and Liz Spooner

Last weekend, we were lucky enough to be asked to speak about our work on developing listening at the International Chromosome 22Q.113 deletion syndrome conference. We met parents and practitioners from across Europe and America and it was interesting to hear that they face similar challenges when trying to teach children with poor listening skills. The question we were most often asked was “What has changed? Why do children now find it so hard to keep listening?”.

The answer is not straightforward but the rise in screen-based entertainment and its impact on children’s play seems to be a common factor in many countries. New findings from The Nielsen Company (October 2009) show children aged 2-5 now spend more than 32 hours a week on average in front of a TV screen. This is 32 hours a week when they are not playing and listening to other people.

Consequently, increasing numbers of children are starting school without these foundations in place. When this happens saying “Listen to me” is never going to be enough. However, the good news is that our own research has shown just a small amount of targeted teaching can make a big difference to this key skill in school.

Jacqui and Liz are authors of Teaching Children to Listen: A practical approach to developing children’s listening skills, published in January 2010. It recently scored 5/5 in bulletin: The Official Magazine of The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Guest post by Richard Gerver, author of Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today

 It's Time to Take Control by Richard Gerver, author of Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today

So we are now three months into David and Nick's new bluey orange dawn and Michael has caused havoc at the DfE; BSF has been scrapped as has the Rose review and it appears that little Michael wants everyone to live the Academy dream...unless you want to set up a free school of course! Fascinating that he hasn't talked about children once...or teaching and learning. Truth is I'm not sure that Michael has a plan...although he is rather wedded to the ideology of Ed Hirsch... Knowledge is power!

It appears to me that Michael has left us with a Dyson-sized vacuum which allows us as educators to create our own policies around children and teaching and learning. It appears that we have two years to prove that Dave's Big Society should include educational freedom from central political control...maybe amidst the crumbling buildings and daft back to basics rhetoric there really is a brave new dawn. I am wholly optimistic that the future now belongs to teachers and students and it is our time to prove that we know and do what is best for our schools, our pupils and most importantly, their futures.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Richard will be speaking at the Technology and Learning Conference for the School Board's Association of America on Oct 21 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona and at Institucion Educativa SEK in Madrid on Oct 16 2010.

Parents offer 'hidden help' with mathematics

I just wanted to let you know that one of our authors, Rosemary Russell recently wrote a really interesting piece on the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) website on how parents can help, and are helping to reinforce numeracy skills in their children.

The part that parents can play in really boosting a child's number sense and skills acuisition is a hot topic, and finding out how to tap into the reasons parents do offer their children extra support in maths at home is an issue that deserves exploration.

 

Rosemary is the author of Help your Child with Numeracy Ages 3-7, and Help your Child with Numeracy Ages 7-11.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Free Friday Resource!

It's always good when somebody passes on a link to a good website - instant resources at your fingertips! This week I have John Potter (of the London Knowledge Lab) to thank, who emailed me about http://www.futurelab.org.uk - an organisation dedicated to transforming teaching and learning through the use of innovative practice and technology. There are a wide range of podcasts available to support practitioners - and in episode 5, John discusses primary school technology with Sue Cranmer. All the podcasts are available to download and share - so do take a look!

In March we are publishing Primary Schools and ICT, written by John, Sue and Neil Selwyn. This book explores how ICT can be improved in primary schools - drawing on the experience of over 600 pupils. Check back on our blog in March to see a free chapter and preview of this book!

Enjoy your weekends!

Jennifer Tighe

Marketing Executive