Mini goals 3 - Do they care about the right reasons?

Teacher unions, governmnets, teachers, middle management, senior management, curriculm heads, parents. They all have a lot to say about education. The internet is lit up with education reform talks. Parents think teachers don't know what they are doing. Teachers who got left behind. Teachers who think they are brilliant but are not. Teachers who really are amazing. Governments who argue about more tests. Governments who argue about less tests. Teacher unions who argue against merit pay. Teachers who moan about middle management. Management who micromanages. Managments that don't do enough. Schools that sell themselves as excellent. Schools that really are excellent.

There is so much politics in education, on the small and large scale, that I am starting to wonder how many of the decision makers make their decisions based on the students and how many have ulterior motives. It is for this reason that my mini goals this week are as follows:

1. Ask the students how they would like to learn about a topic. Work with their ideas to show them that their voice matters.
2. Provide those students who clearly struggle to write in their books with an alternative method
3. Encourage students to make mistakes. As is so typical, most students will leave an answer blank rather than guess, and then wait for me to put the answer on the board so they can make sure they got it 'right'. I need to encourage my students to learn from their mistakes.