Set Our Teachers FREE!

There is news from the U.K., which is home to Harry Potter, the boy wizard, and J.K. Rowling, his creator.

You already know that the Harry Potter series was a world-wide phenomenon that sold zillions of the seven-book series and made J.K. Rowling a billionairess as well. Children around the world loved the series and identified with the young wizard. I classify the series as somewhat along the line of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, in that they use stories to teach life lessons to young people. But many people, especially in my neck of the woods, think they are EVIL!

No matter what you may think of the books, as literature, pulp fiction or bogey-man stories, there is no denying that they stirred interest in reading in many, many young people.

Now there is a cute, and informative, story from London that shows Potter-mania has produced MORE positive results.

A primary school in an economically-depressed area of London jumped from bottom-ranking to almost the top 5% in the nation over the last three years after deciding to let students pick the theme for the curriculum each year. Students voted for Titanic, then Africa, then Prince and Princesses. Finally, this year, they selected the Harry Potter theme. And it was MAGIC!

“Year classes have been named Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, after the school houses at Hogwarts, the wizards’ school attended by Harry in the novels and hit movies.”

“The children wave wands as they join in the fun of learning and staff have got in the spirit of things by donning wigs and costumes.”

“So enthralled are the pupils by their lessons that behaviour in class has improved as well as their results shooting up.”

Improvement has been so drastic, that the school is able to attract top teachers. And morale among students has been magic also.

“The official report describes achievement at the school as “outstanding”.

“Pupils enter the school with standards well below average. Over the last three years, standards and achievement have improved greatly and were above average in Key Stage 2 tests in 2006,” it says.”

“Pupils are enthusiastic about their work in mathematics and particularly enjoy practical tasks and those that allow them to investigate mathematics. Some pupils said they enjoyed calculations because they knew what they were doing and they liked getting things right.”

“They commented that mathematics is fun because they are always challenged and their teachers link it to the work they are doing in other subjects. Lessons observed were taught through the topic being covered in literacy. For example, subtraction was seen as a spell by ‘Harry Potter’.”

“The interim report added: “Behaviour in lessons was of the highest standard and reflects pupils’ enjoyment.”

“Pupils were confident and all were able to work independently when required.”

There are several key points that I want to emphasize here:

• Schools in the U.K. have the same terrible problems that those in the USA are experiencing - high dropout rates, violence and bullying, falling standards across the board, etc.




• There were no additional funds employed to implement these themed curriculums, other than individual expenditures for props and costuming.




• Teachers are allowed to use their creativity in helping the students implement the theme for the year.




• Students feel invested in the success of each year’s theme because they participated in the selection.




• Because the students are involved and invested, behavior has improved drastically.

“”Letting the children choose a theme for each term has had a massive impact on their enthusiasm and motivation.”

“We don’t have any behaviour problems at all, even though we attract children who have been previously excluded.”

It’s important to remember that it is NOT just the Harry Potter theme that caused such improvement, but students taking ‘ownership’ for the success of each year’s theme. Education is something they are involved in, not something that is “done to them”.

Teachers need to be allowed to utilize their creativity if we are to achieve peak performance in our schools. An entire plan is devoted in “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland for changing our schools to allow for teachers to use their professional training to help students succeed. In The Kingsland Plan, Teacher Groups would control curriculum under state-mandated guidelines. Emphasis on joy in learning, rather than continuous testing and preparing for testing is a hallmark of the plan.

There is no arguing with the results seen in a small school in England that was previously failing miserably. Creativity is far more of an inspiration to students AND teachers than droning on through outdated lesson plans.

TO ALL TEACHERS: Order the book, “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland. Learn how you can be a part of the movement to improve public education in the USA! If you have contacts to help keep this movement going and growing, contact us at: tuxedopress@wctel.net

Forward to a Better Future!

Brennan

Filed under: Education News