It's the little things...

Whilst posting the following 'Thought for the Week' on my Google Classroom "Never stop doing those little things for others. Sometimes those little things occupy the biggest parts of their hearts"... I received this e-card from a Y7 student.

It couldn't have summed up the past school year any better; however, it was comforting (and reassuring) to know that despite all of the obstacles in the past year or so, that we can still make an impact. Thank you T- little gesture that makes such a big difference.

One Head, Two Brains

Another great podcast from Hidden Brain. One which dispels the common misconceptions (and adds new clarity and scientific knowledge) about the 'left brain v right brain' debate.

Fine detail v Big picture

It was interesting for me to discover that the left and right hand side of the brain perform similar operations; however, the way in which they do is completely different.

The left hand side looking at the immediate, the here and now and fine detail, whereas the right hand side of the brain processes the big picture, concepts and abstract thinking.

Examples.

Imagine a bird collecting food- the left hand side will be focused on getting the worm from the ground. The right hand side will be focused on ensuring the bird doesn't become lunch for potential prey.

In Basketball the left hand side will be focused on throwing the ball into the basket. The right will be focused on other players, the fans, the timings, the passage of play, the importance of the game etc.

How does this relate to teaching?

Although it has been part of my everyday practice for nearly a decade*, admittedly, over the past 18 months, due to a) the fluidity and uncertainty of covid-19, and b) moving to a new school in a new country with established ways of working, it is been difficult to share the bigger picture every lesson with students.

*I normally do this with red bubbles that get updated to green as we progress through a module.

The bigger picture is something vitally important to allow the left hand brain to see what it is doing ion the here and now- but also for the right brain to see how things fit into the bigger picture.

Hopefully this is something that we can can discuss at the upcoming department development day, as part of how we want the D&T provision to look, in terms of consistency across different teachers and non-negotiable's that we want to see in every lesson.

Me, myself and IKEA

I really love the NPR / Hidden Brain podcasts.

They focus on human psychology and are usually about non-teaching related issues- but can be directly transferred into our professional practice as educators.

Me, myself and IKEA is a really interesting podcast and resonates most with me at around 16 minutes in.

I feel that there maybe an element of 'wanting to show competency'; but would also argue that this isn't a necessarily an 'ego' or 'narcissistic' drive. I believe that it is more to do with integrity, self satisfaction, metacognition and learning, through the process of making a product.

The tactile connection with materials, appreciation for where the materials have originated, skills, craft and intelligence required, alongside the reward and joy of making a completely unique one of a kind product from scratch, is something I truly try to embed into my students. In this rapidly changing world of 'I can click a button and have something just as good delivered to me tomorrow'.