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Earlier this year a group of teachers I work with explored the 'Eight Cultural Forces' identified by Ron Ritchhart of Harvard's Project Zero. In doing so we decided to focus on our use of the term learning instead of the word work. Our goal was to bring our language choices into the spotlight and explore how a more deliberate focus on learning might alter the culture of our classrooms. Two terms later this focus persists and it is worth reflecting on the effect that this has had.

"Finding interesting ways to evaluate, reflect and report on work and projects can be tricky. Many students struggle to engage with the reflection properly as it is often a dry, unentertaining end to any unit or project. But that's where the Green Screen App can help. (How-to help sheet below) Remember: People don't learn from experience. People learn when reflecting on experience. People learn more when they can witness their own reflection."

"iPad No Longer Optional"

"The other day, I noticed one of my daughters playing a puzzle type game on my iPad. It was obviously challenging and often frustrating but she kept at it regardless. The game was direct problem solving and my girl was deeply engaged. It was then I had an idea. If any learner who found themselves disengaged from a school task had permission to select from a list of problem-solving, "brain igniting" games, it might mean they return to the task more energised to tackle it or suggest other solutions."

COVID19 has taken the rule book on change, torn it into small pieces and thrown most of it out the window. What might this mean for education?

"Nothing matters more for economics and human living standards than innovation. It's innovation that has allowed us to cure diseases and extend life spans. It's innovation that has drastically increased the pace of transportation and communication, and ultimately it's innovation that has let most people do high-wage work rather than subsistence agriculture. What the researchers found is fascinating. They discovered that both an actual ability to invent things and early life exposure to a culture of innovation and opportunity are crucial to driving inventions. Ability itself is, of course, unevenly distributed. But in the United States, so is opportunity - with huge numbers of highly skilled children from unfavorable backgrounds seemingly locked out of pathways to careers as inventors."