Experiment: Critique something assumed to be amazing. I’ve always been a bit resistant to the trend toward planning differentiation. I attributed my own skepticism to the fact that the push for planning differentiation came from administrators, especially those peddling the Charlotte Danielson teacher evaluation (or some offshoot), which I hate with every fiber of my…
Experiment: Explain an example of when the “worst case scenario” actually happens — the repercussions of distortion. The most important chapter of this — the effect of distortion on teachers. Check out the less important, introductory chapters 1,2,3, 4 and 5. This entire series of posts could be perceived as overly critical of John Hattie. But, the source of…
Experiment: Explain an example of when the “worst case scenario” actually happens — THE REAL LIFE EXAMPLE This entire series of posts (see chapters 1,2,3,4) was prompted by a few Facebook messages about John Hattie’s “visible learning” research. I recently contacted a former colleague looking for a favor and they mentioned a silly reflection form required of all…
Experiment: Explain an example of when the “worst case scenario” actually happens — the reality of “postivism” — sounds great, right? Check out Chapters 1,2, and 3 for the introduction to this part! I believe that one of the reasons John Hattie’s “visible learning” research isn’t a “big hit” with teachers is that his view of reality is very…
Experiment: Explain an example of when the “worst case scenario” actually happens It is a common perception that statisticians are liars. Statistics lie! Or, more accurately, it is easy to hide the truth through poor reporting of statistics. The statistical methods behind John Hattie’s “visible learning” series may be hiding the significant flaws in the…
Experiment: Explain an example of when the “worst case scenario” actually happens — this part is sadly typical though. If you’d like an introduction to this topic, please check out: Distortion- Chapter 1 I was first introduced to John Hattie by an administrator who was suffering from “workshop disease”. This administrator had just come back…
Experiment: Explain an example of when the “worst case scenario” actually happens. Research is a tricky field. I recently criticized an article for its findings being easily distorted to fit an unintended agenda. The author was very reflective about the limitations of the research, but the paper contained numerous sections that could have been quoted…
Experiment: Now connect it to the literature. I wrote earlier about my opinion about a student’s end of year speech critical of her school. There are a few elements of this story that connect to the literature I’ve been reading. Just a quick wrap up of the original story. The student spoke up against what…
Experiment: Explain something I have experienced but couldn’t explain at the time. When I was still a teacher, I sat in a staff meeting which had the stated purpose of improving morale. The first exercise was for each member of our small group to share the one word that described how they were feeling at that time…
Experiment: Finding the message behind the words. My PhD supervisor makes a very funny gesture when describing the word “discourse”. He sort of moves is fingers around like he is able to touch the individual molecules in the air. Discourse is not the same as truth, it is just the different messages around a topic…
Emily Winchip 