Εξετάσεις: Πώς να ελέγξουμε το άγχος των εξετάσεων

Failing an exam will not be a catastrophe... There is always a Plan B – or a resit. It is not the end of the world – just a bump in the road.

                           how-to-beat-exam-stress-with-just-the-power-of-your-brain-59552

Εμείς - γονείς και δάσκαλοι - θα αφήσουμε τα παιδιά να ονειρεύονται;

H ταινία " Ο δάσκαλος που άφηνε τα παιδιά να ονειρεύονται" (2006) του Daniel Losset

Μερικά επιλεγμένα αποσπάσματα της ταινίας

Και μια θέση - σχόλιο για την ταινία:

Comments from Antonis Stergiou

Χρήση μέσων κοινωνικής δικτύωσης από τους νέους: αφορμή επαναπροσδιορισμού του ρόλου των ενηλίκων.

Μήπως, τελικά, η χρήση των μέσων κοινωνικής δικτύωσης πρέπει να μας προβληματίσει ως ενήλικες, αλλά και ως εκπαιδευτικούς;

A day in the digital life of teenagers

With each generation the public consciousness conjures up a new fear for our youth: where once it was rock ‘n’ roll, today the concern is that teenagers’ lives are dominated by digital media. The worry is that the digital deluge may affect their capacity to learn, to converse, to spell, and more besides. Have they no time for the leisurely face-to-face conversations of old, for spending time with family, or even for a good night’s sleep uninterrupted by the glowing screen of a smartphone? I spent a year with a class of 13-year-olds to find out…

Switching on and off – as they choose

This insight into the lives of 28 teenagers reveals how diverse their lives and approaches are. While most possess phones and use Facebook, they use them differently to pursue different interests, sometimes deployed to connect with others and sometimes to tune them out. There are many reasons for this, but the more we know about teenagers’ lives the clearer it becomes that young people are no more interested in being constantly plugged in than are the adults around them. What they want is to have the choice of when and where to disconnect from the often rulebound and conflicted world of grown-ups they find themselves in.

Digital devices and the uses they put them to have become teenagers’ way of asserting their agency – a shield from bossy parents or annoying younger siblings or seemingly critical teachers, a means to connect with sympathetic friends or catching up with on going peer 'drama'. In fact the overriding importance of agency to teenagers is shown in the way they avoid the growing digital embrace of their schools– teachers' use of digital media in class or email or the internet to contact them at home is met with whispers and even slower walks home, so as to extract the maximum time spent with friends and unobserved by adults.

As adults and parents, we might spend less time worrying about what they get up to as teenagers and more time with them, discussing the challenges that lie ahead for them as adults in an increasingly connected world.

Teacher man... a staggering and a real enthralling book... ένα βιβλίο που πρέπει να το διαβάσουν όλοι

 

Some interesting passages that I loved...

Teacher Man, by Frank McCourt

There’s nothing sillier in the world than a teacher telling you don’t do it after you already did it. page 16

It is the function of the young to get rid of their elders, to make room on the planet. You know that, don’t you? The Greeks knew it. Read the Greeks. Students may like you, they even love you, but they are young and it is the business of the young to push the old off the planet.  You have to be selfish. The airlines tell you if oxygen fails you are to put on your mask first, even if your instinct is to save the child. page 40 & 255

And remember: teachers who sit or even stand behind their desks are essentially insecure and should try another line of work. page  40

I don’t see a class as one unit sitting and listening to me. There are faces showing degrees of interest or indifference. It’s the indifference that challenges me. page 147

At the start of each term I told the new students of creative writing. We are in this together. I don’t know about you, but I am serious about this class and sure of one thing: at the end of the term, one person in this room will have learned something, and that person, my little friend, will be me. page 199

You know what teachers do to poems. Analyze, analyze, analyze. Dig for the deeper meaning. That is what turned me against poetry. Someone should dig a grave and bury the deeper meaning. page 223

In all my years teaching at school, only one parent, a mother, asked if her son was enjoying school. I said yes. He seemed to be enjoying himself. She smiled, stood up, said, Thank you, and left. One parent in all those  years. page 235

The Big Question: What is education, anyway? What are we doing in this school? On the left side of the blackboard I print a capital F, on the right side another capital F. I draw an arrow from left to right, from FEAR to FREEDOM. I don’t think anyone achieves complete freedom, but what I am trying to do with you is drive fear into a corner. page 253

Ο Φρανκ Μακ Κορτ, δάσκαλος σε σχολεία της Μέσης Εκπαίδευσης, περιγράφει τη ζωή του στα Λύκεια της Νέα Υορκης, όπου στην προσπάθειά του να μην περάσουν απλά τα χρόνια για να πάρει σύνταξη προσπαθεί να προσεγγίσει τα παιδιά έξω από τους συνηθισμένους δρόμους μέσα από προσωπικές αντιφάσεις και συγκρούσεις.

Ο συγγραφές έγραψε το βιβλίο σε ηλικία 70 χρονών περίπου. Ήδη είχε τιμηθεί με το βραβείο Πούλιτζερ για το πρώτο του βιβλίο «Οι στάχτες της Άτζελα». Στον πρόλογο γράφει για τους λόγους που τον οδήγησαν να γράψει το βιβλίο:

...Στην Αμερική, οι γιατροί, οι δικηγόροι, οι στρατηγοί, οι ηθοποιοί, οι άνθρωποι της τηλεόρασης και οι πολιτικοί γίνονται αντικείμενο θαυμασμού και ανταμείβονται. Οι δάσκαλοι όχι. Το δασκαλίκι είναι η καταφρονεμένη παρακόρη των ανθρωπίνων επιτηδευμάτων. Στους δασκάλους λένε να χρησιμοποιήσουν την πόρτα υπηρεσίας, να κάνουν το γύρο του σπιτιού και να μπαίνουν από πίσω. Τους μακαρίζουν που έχουν Τ.Ε.Χ. (Τόσον Ελεύθερο Χρόνο). Μιλάνε γι' αυτούς συγκαταβατικά και, εκ των υστέρων, τους χαϊδεύουν τ΄ ασπρισμένο τους κεφάλι... 

Βιβλίο γραμμένο σε πρώτο πρόσωπο, αυτοσαρκαστικό, αιρετικό, άμεσο σε τραβάει να το διαβάσεις.
Αν μάλιστα έχεις σχέση με την εκπαίδευση θα βρεις μέσα μια πραγματικότητα που βιώνει ο εκπαιδευτικός ανεξάρτητα χώρας και συστήματος εκπαίδευσης.