Take5

So – there we were W7 – and there they were, 63 first years, giving Poster Presentations to an audience of 70+ people. They had explored ‘learning spaces’ and constructed great arguments that referenced the reading (Thornburg and Giroux) and dazzled us with their Posters, their Prezis and their animations… It was thrilling How did we reach this lofty pinnacle of academic practice? Well – a couple of weeks before the Poster Presentations we prepared text-scrolls of just two key articles with which we wanted the students to engage: Giroux’s article on lessons to be learned from Freire: http://truth-out.org/archive/component/k2/item/93016:lessons-to-be-learned-from-paulo-freire-as-education-is-being-taken-over-by-the-mega-rich And […]

The apocalypse is over – we struggle out of our bunkers into the forlorn landscape. All is dust, rubble, destruction – and we have been tasked with world building: What world would you build? How do you ensure everybody is housed, in good health and well fed? How will your world run? How will you educate people? What laws might be needed? What are we talking about? Simulations and role plays Learning is intellectual and cognitive – learning is also embodied and emotional. Arguably, successful learning is active whole body learning. To facilitate whole body learning, we have devised a […]

Last week we met our new students – typically faced with lecture theatres full of unknown faces – exuding anxiety – or hiding their stress behind faces of studied nonchalance – or boredom – or both! Adrenalin and cortisol levels were flying high – everybody’s brains shrank to the size of a pea and panic ensues as we realise that we have forgotten everything – remembered nothing – impostors all. So – the Take5 question for us was, could we find a different way to introduce a module that did not involve us telling and the students forgetting everything we […]

Welcome to Take5! So – it’s Week Zero (W0): another day another dollar; another Semester and another Year.  Change is all around and we can’t help noticing doing Inductions and Preparation for Study courses how things move on. Buildings, rooms, modules, staff and of course students – all moving – all changing – and all diverse. ‘Diverse’ could be a prefix for London Met – and no matter what sort of student you have taught before – it’s all changing again. Everybody is already exhausted and wondering where the summer went … and here we are – the Take5 project – […]