Learning Never Stops

Hmm...Is it okay for any one to say, " I am knowledgeable."? During my college days I had come across a book called The dialogues of Plato. In it Plato refers to Socrates who had said, " The only thing I know is that I don't know." I have never forgotten the sentence. I am now reading The Tao of Pooh. It's such an easy read and yet so powerful. "Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully. "Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever." "And he has Brain." "Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain." There was a long silence. "I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything." In other words, your knowledge can come in the way of your understanding of something! And another favourite quote: "But isn't the knowledge that comes from experience more valuable than the knowledge that doesn't? It seems fairly obvious to some of us...

Central idea: Markets are organized to enable the exchange of goods and services. This is the big idea the students will learn by the end of the 4 short weeks ahead of us. How do we help them understand the role of money? The Barter trade is a good way to start. The students will be asked to bring an item that they want to barter. And then we let them loose. Chaos! The students were mingling, negotiating, persuading, assessing, planning and communicating! They clearly understood what double coincidence (during the trade) without me having to teach them anything!

The students are looking at writing and how man has used it to express his feelings. In the "PYP Making it Happen" it falls under the theme How We Express Ourselves : "An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express our ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs, and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic." In order to create internationally-minded students, we need to look at content through the lens of carefully selected "Attitudes", in this case:  empathy and tolerance, two vital ingredients that promote open minded and pluralistic denizens of the world. OBL The death of Osama Bin Laden opened old wounds for many. People were excited and curious about many aspects of the sitiuation. Was it justifiable to kill a human being who was unarmed? He harmed many innocent citizens of the world, so was it okay to take his life? Bury him at sea? These questions were discussed i...

I have just introduced literature circle in my classroom. I thought the kids were ready as they had been independently using reading strategies for sometime. It would be quite interesting to observe whether they were able to further their appreciation of books through literature circle discussions. After taking them through what literature circle was all about and having short mini lessons on each of the roles they were to have, I let them loose. From the videos, I could assess myself as a guide. I know :( I should talk a little less and listened more. It's good practice I think for teachers to record themselves and see where they are going wrong and what they did good. The questions we ask are so crucial. While listening, I was reflecting how I could ask better questions, pause a while longer... So at the risk of exposing myself...here goes. Excuse the quality of video. They are shot from my Android. I will try and post the other videos as soon as possible!