Should I comment on the shift of society from teaching the value of delayed gratification to only caring about instant gratification and the effect it could have on future societies and even lead to a fall into the dark ages?
No? Well then let me just comment that maths is easily the most annoying British-ism EVER.
pat: surely ‘mobile phone’ is our most annoying ‘British-ism’ ever! :)
cell phone? pah!
Easily the best thing I’ve heard in YEARS! I was a 1st grade teacher, in San Diego, California (USA) and imagination is the key to learning! Leave it to a British Teacher to use, what is (easily) one of the best and most popular series of Children’s Books, as a tool for learning! I wish more teachers would use their imaginations. Bravo! Hermione WOULD be proud!As I’m sure JKR is. The possibilities are endless!
Fantastic! I am all with whatever works to get kids to learn. I remember my daughter’s Kindergarten teacher helping the kids learn the sounds of the letters by singing to the tune of “Who Let the Dogs Out” (Who let the S’s out, Sssss, sssss, sssss, ssss) Really fun for the kids and memorable.
Math is one of the most annoying americanisms, although how americans pronounce aluminium is really annoying. Most words seem to be pronouced phonetically.
I love stories like this. Being an educator, I enjoy any insight into what motivates people to learn. I’m sure that not every kid in the school responds to this sort of thing, and it probably isn’t even so much that it is Harry potter that makes it work – rather, I’m guessing that it is giving kids a little bit of respect to take ownership of their own motivations ot learn. Go kids!
and @ Molly: In the US, we DO pronounce aluminum phonetically – we just spell it differently!
This is wonderful! :D I’m totally gonna use that math spell in school…
Jessie I totally agree….I sincerely hope that Mallory woman has read this….if anyone needs to understandanything about education(with or without Potter)its her. And which great school is this????I wouldn’t mind repeating all my elementary years again if they were gonna be like this….
A friend who teaches fourth grade in one of the worst NYC schools has had much success with this kind of approach. At the beginning of the schoolyear, kids throw out ideas for that year’s theme. Then they research, present to their classmates, campaign for “their” theme and finally vote on it. For the rest of the year all the studies are tied into that theme.
One year it was “the history of New York City”, and the next year it was “Ancient Greece”. I don’t know if they’ve done a “Harry Potter” year yet!
Brilliant idea. I think Jo would love it. Most important is that the school has gone from bottom 25% in the country to near top 5%.
am i the only person who thinks this is retarded??? as much as i luv hp it is only a series
Actually, Pat, MATH is one of the most annoying Americanisms ever. Maths is the abbreviation for Mathematics. They are plurals because Mathematics is an umberalla term for a multitude of different subjects: algebra, arithmatic, geometry, triganomitry, calculus, statistics etc etc.
I think this is pretty neat. I happen to Homeschool my kids, and I always thought it would be fun for a couple of semesters to call our subjects those of Hogworts. We could do Herbology, and learn about plants and gardening, we could do chemistry and call it Potions etc… Kids eat this stuff up, and it makes it fun. I think it also helps them see that all knowledge relates to something in the world. It may just be a series of books that’s made up…but it has valid knowledge contained within! Very fun!!!
interesting! learning made much more enjoyable—that’s wonderful! i commend this. it doesn’t harm the kids… it does the opposite. so great! =)