Learning Never Stops

Today, in our PSHE lesson, the students were trying to prioritize various things such as air, water, food, shelter, mobile phones, playground, senses, etc. I was pleased to note that they immediately drew from their knowledge of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. They struggled with placing shelter and senses . Some thought that they would rather have their senses (be able to see, hear) than shelter. Others preferred shelter ( and spoke of home as a place with caring people in it) to their senses. When I pointed out that there were homeless people who were deaf and blind, there was a moment of silence in the class. The thing that surprised me most was that children would rather have a mobile phone than a playground! Well, I shouldn't be surprised. I have seen my own kids hooked to their phones. The students felt that communication was far more important than a playground. They also felt that they could play anywhere; and all phones had games. B...

...with tasks that can be fun and engaging. CAVEAT None of these tools are new. You have probably used them or heard of them.The question is, have they been used to create authentic learning or are they forced? Can they be improved upon? This particular group of students have taken to IT like fish to water. Dr Sugata Mitra's project "Hole in the Wall" addresses this innate ability of children to learn on their own! I  hardly set up my classroom blog and the kids are already posting comments, commenting on their friends' posts and embedding pictures. I taught them nothing. Just gave them their passwords. "Hey kids! Slow down will ya? I need to TEACH you bloggin' rules first!:" :) "Nah", they probably mutter under their breaths..."Just show us what to do and we'll figure out how." Activity one : Hero Hunting How do we show recognition of heroes? What do we do to remember their deeds and celebrate them? On Heroes of Hyderabad  ...