Administrator's Corner
HOW TO MAXIMIZE TALENT THROUGH
BLENDED LEARNING.
BY MURAD SALMAN MIRZA
interval (10.30) and lunchtime (12.15).
OUTCOME: The lesson had a positive
ethos, relationships were constructive
and friendly, and the students enjoyed
showing they could position the hands
on the clock correctly. By the end of
the lesson, most students’ familiarity
with hour, quarter-past, half-past and
quarter-to was secure and they showed
this by completing the worksheet
correctly.
M
y last few articles have
explored the importance of
capacities and skills in the
future lives of children and
young people. I have looked at how
schools can prepare students for an
unpredictable future, including how
great teachers promote ‘learning to
and how’, recognising that teaching
and assessment that focus solely on
knowledge acquisition are not serving
students’ future interests sufficiently. I
have referred to a range of capabilities
and learning skills that are vital for
handling unpredictable change and
which underpin students’ capacity to
be ‘change adept’. We know this stems
from being able to apply a wide range
of skills and having the experience
to choose the best suited strategies.
Most recently I explored the concept of
‘learning space’ – the cognitive space
that effective teachers give over to
students so that students can develop,
apply and consolidate capabilities and
skills for themselves. I offered a few
questions to help schools evaluate the
extent to which they provide students
with ‘learning space’. To illustrate this
approach further, I will now describe a
lesson I’ve seen many times and which
you will probably recognise. I will then
offer reflective questions focusing on
what I see as missed opportunities,
08 |
Mar - Apr 2018
|
|
pointing to how the lesson could have
added much greater value by providing
students with ‘the learning space’.
PURPOSE: The lesson is intended
to consolidate young students’
recognition of analogue time using a
conventional clock face - all students
are expected to recognise hour,
quarter-past, half-past and quarter-to.
The teacher also declares an intention
to promote students’ creativity.
APPROACH: Each student has a
cardboard clock face and is required
to place the clock hands at the time
requested by the teacher. For around 20
minutes, the teacher asks the students
to show a range of times on their clock
faces. The teacher then gives the
students a worksheet comprising six
blank clock faces alongside specified
moments in the school day. Students
are required to draw clock hands to
illustrate these moments including,
for example, assembly (9), morning
Class Time
But, how well did the lesson promote
students’ wider capacities and skills?
Can you identify how students
developed creativity, for example, as
the teacher had intimated they would?
Probably not. But students could have
been invited to create their own ways
to illustrate time. They might have
done this using all sorts of imaginative
approaches, perhaps not even
involving a worksheet, and in so doing
could have taken forward the teachers’
intention to develop their creativity.
However, in creating the worksheet,
the teacher occupied the ‘learning
space’ rather than the students.
And what about learning skills? We
can all see the many opportunities
where students could have worked
collaboratively, for example, or where
they could have consolidated their
learning
using
peer-assessment
approaches. But these skills were not
required because this was a whole-
class, teacher-directed lesson. As such,
students had little substantive space
to think or learn for themselves. Their
engagement was limited to following
instructions and answering questions.
Overall then, while the lesson was
successful in consolidating students’
knowledge of clock faces and time, it
did not promote students’ capabilities
and skills. What could have been
a complete and enriching learning
experience contributing to students’
future needs, turned out to be an
opportunity missed.
Murad Salman Mirza is an innovative thinker and an astute practitioner in areas
within and associated with the fields of Organizational Development, Talent
Management and Business Transformation. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed
at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/muradsalmanmirza/