Ideas from a rainy day
Here is a collection of ideas offered in Paide Arvamusfestival on August 13.
Everybody should feel themselves comfortable at school, as if at home.
School is a place for learning. Everybody should have passion to learn.
Positive emotions that can be evoked by the love of learning.
Teachers should have supportive colleagues.
When you´re successful in learning you feel happy.
Should we be happy at school? Why should we be happy?
You want to feel accomplished. You should always enjoy what you´re doing.
Learning is rewarding. Reward might come a bit later.
We need to keep the challenges at school.
How can we make those happy who don´t want to learn? Should we try?
It´s easier to learn when you experience positive emotions.
You feel accomplished when you go through challenges. We should learn to love challenges and risks. Because without risks we risk innovation, even entrepreneurship. The road to success is not only built through success.
Everyone should feel happy. Finding meaningfulness in learning. A teacher can make it meaningful.
The key is in the hands of the teacher.
The question are you happy at school is a complex one.
Collaboration of the teachers, important to do together. Isolation of the classroom should be brought down.
Teachers should be sharing their responsibilities.
Students making their own choices: subjects, projects - feeling more motivated. Involving parents is important when children are younger, 15-16-year-olds want to make more of their own choices and be responsible.
What needs to be changed?
1) Evaluation of learning to support student´s future learning - evaluation to mean more than grades at the end of the term.
2) Children want to interact and move and not listen to a grammaphone for an hour and be quiet. Prepare before and come together to implement - flipped classroom.
3) Teaching how to socialize - not only giving information.
4) Involving the parents more. Most parents don´t expect children to be happy at school.
5) Understanding more about learning - what it is? Teachers as experts of learning. The efiiciency of learning. Schools as expert centers for learning.
6) To be creative
7) Collaborate
8) Be responsible
9) Take initiative
10) Listen to others
How to get parents involved more? Hundred collects ideas - the wordl´s greatest parent night coming on Jan 18, 2017. We need to change the image of school. Some parents have had bad experience themselves. Teachers need to show their human side as well.
Teachers should show an example of doing things together. Individual learning goals also for teachers - development program for teachers. Setting themselves challenges - bringing in more learning for teachers, making a place to learn at school.
Changing the paradigm for teachers - breaking down the walls and having open space.
Measuring teachers and schools -
In-depth analysis from teachers to parents about their kids.
It´s never too late to learn. You can go back to school whenever.
Very competitive world around us. Teaching for tests and exams vs teaching for life.
Hannu Simola has collected ideas about a school as a place. School is always a group of people.
We need to see beyond comparison and tests. We should be cautious in making changes - do we know what effects what. Making innovative solutions visible to the society and show that things are happening in school, although slowly sometimes.
Competitiveness and readiness to make mistakes. People are very different and some are motivated by competitiveness. Some are happy about choices, some would be paralysed.
Not knowing the starting position makes comparing meaningless.
What is the aim of the student? Did he/she aim for 100 or 15%?
Not everybody can get or need to get a master´s degree.
We should be focusing more on evaluating and valuing creativity and analytical skills.
How to build good self-esteem?
School is not the only learning place. We are learning everywhere, all the time. (omnipresent learning)
Teachers knowing what they are doing and why.
Being efficient, smart and fast etc but not being happy - or not admitting that.
School should be a journey where people feel happy with all the ups and downs.
We need more happy teachers at school - as role models. When teachers are happy, students are happy.
Listen to what they have to say?
The society should support the teachers.
Focus on what is best, even at school. You are getting some knowledge, you are learning something new.
To learn to be better in relationships we have.
100 Reasons to be Happy at School
There are actually several reasons we can and should be happy at school. Several reasons and several solutions how to do it. Let´s see if we can make it to hundred together.
Here and at this moment the reasons and solutions are divided into following categories:
Environment - think of physical, emotional, social environments and anything connected to it
Long-term goals - anything beyond daily schedule and regular lessons or seemingly tedious homework
Skills - what kind of skills are developed or recognised at school?
