The Learning Success Blog

Do we have expectations ‘of’ our students, or ‘for’ our students?

My guest in the series is Simon Brooks, who spent years implementing cultures of thinking into his classrooms. He now helps teachers introduce the framework in their schools.

In this series, we’ll take a closer look at practical ways to implement the theory behind it all.

This is part 1 of the 8 part series with Simon Brooks about implementing cultures of thinking in our schools.

In part 1 we discuss the cultural force of expectations.

Listen to the podcast.

Greg Miller is the newly appointed Principal Leader of the new St Luke’s Catholic College in Sydney’s Marsden Park.

The new school will open its doors in 2017. While the opening of a new school doesn’t sound all that remarkable, St Luke’s will incorporate a complete, or whole school, approach to innovation.

It will also commit to continually working out how to move forward in an increasingly complex world.

Greg Miller spoke to me on the Learning Capacity Podcast and shared how he sees this unfolding.

Listen to the podcast.

Real innovation in education, or just talk?

Greg Whitby is the Executive Director of Schools for the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta where he is responsible for 78 schools.

He is at the leading edge of education reform, and he joined me on the Learning Capacity Podcast to discuss the new St Luke’s College opening in Sydney’s Marsden Park in 2017.

Almost everything is up for a rethink, Greg Whitby said. Starting with how the new Principal Leader is selected, the new school will provide a radical shift from traditional school thinking. 

Listen to the podcast.

John Spence is an international business thought leader and influencer, and also a guest lecturer at universities such as Harvard, Stanford and The University of Pennsylvania.

According to John, reading is the path to success at school and in business. John is an avid reader, and claims that reading has made a lasting impact on his life and career. He reads 100 to 200 books a year.

I caught up with John on the Learning Capacity podcast to find out more about his story, and what insights he has for Australian & New Zealand students, parents and educators.

Listen to the podcast:

Simon Brooks spent many years implementing Cultures of Thinking in his classrooms.

He now helps teachers implement the framework in their schools. He’s worked closely with Ron Ritchhart and the Cultures of Thinking team at Harvard University’s Project Zero.

Whilst change can be a challenge for many, Simon’s passion to see children truly learn enables him to effectively share the long term benefits of Cultures of Thinking.

I caught up with Simon on the Learning Capacity Podcast to find out how he starts the conversation with schools and their teachers.

Listen to the podcast.

It’s a sensitive issue, but disadvantaged students are definitely worse off.

A new analysis of NAPLAN  results shows a clear link between disadvantage and lower student achievement.

This is a national issue which affects us all.

Dr Peter Goss from the Grattan Institute spoke to me about it on the Learning Capacity podcast. Listen to him explain how we can use NAPLAN data to help identify where help is needed most.

Listen to the podcast.

Templestowe College principal Peter Hutton is creating real education revolution. He’s introduced radical innovations that some would either welcome or reject. 

Now in its sixth year of its transformation, Templestowe College has gone from being a basket case on the verge of closing, to a thriving school where they have to turn away new student enrolments, and even applications from teachers desperate to get in. 

Why aren’t more schools like this?

I spoke to him during a break in the Improving Initial Teacher Education conference in Melbourne recently. Listen to the conversation on the Learning Capacity podcast. 

Listen to the podcast.

Have you ever wondered what doesn't work and what works best in education?

Well, Professor John Hattie has and in 2015 he wrote about it in two papers:

• "What doesn’t work in education: The politics of distraction".
• "What works best in education: The politics of collaborative expertise".

John Hattie is the Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at the University of Melbourne.

He’s also the Chair of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leaders, and co director of the Science of Learning Research Centre.

His work is known worldwide. 

The titles sound provocative and controversial. But the message is quite simple. One year of input should equal one year of progress, for all students, no matter where they start.

It sounds obvious, but John Hattie argues we are too easily distracted from the real issues. And we don’t harness the power of collaborating with our best educators to create what he calls a "coalition of the successful".

I caught up with John at the Improving Initial Teacher Education conference in Melbourne, in April 2016. He spoke to me on the Learning Capacity podcast where we dug a little bit deeper into these two papers.

Listen to the podcast.

Mimma Mason is the Cogmed Manager for Pearson Australia, and has previously explained working memory on the Learning Capacity podcast.

But she also spends much of her time helping people understand the emerging field of educational neuroscience. Is it another band wagon, or pop science?

We’ve asked this question before, and it seems like the consistent message is that educational neuroscience is now increasingly informing educational practice and research.

So if it’s for real, how do we implement it? And what does this mean for future teacher education and professional development?

Mimma helps us understand what to make of it all in a discussion on the Learning Capacity podcast. 

Listen to the podcast episode:

Dr Ron Ritchhart’s work on Creating Cultures of Thinking has helped transform the process of learning in classrooms around the world.

Creating Cultures of Thinking has developed from Ron Ritchhart's work as a part of Project Zero at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.

Project Zero is a 50 year old organisation that began with just a few researchers, and now has over 30 employees.

Ron spoke with The Learning Capacity podcast and talked about his book, Creating Cultures of Thinking: the 8 forces we must master to truly transform our schools. It’s challenging, and in some places confronting, but the stories he tells are quite compelling.

Listen to this Learning Capacity podcast episode: