The Perfect School

Some weeks ago, I gave my pupils in the 9^th and 10^th grade a task where they could use their expertise. You probably wonder what kind of expertise that would be. They are of course experts in being pupils, nobody knows the school better than them.

Warm meals are popular.

“If you were to create a new school system, how would it be?” was the questions I gave them, and from their answers, I have made a summary which includes a lot of different topics that are relevant to school.

When should the day at school start and end, homework, subjects, technology and many more topics were mentioned. Most pupils talked about what kind of changes they wanted, but someone also mentioned what they would keep from today’s school system. Here is a list that shows the topics, and I have ranged them so that you find the most popular topics at the top.

Technology Twenty-four answers said something about technology, two meant that we should use it less, while the other 22 meant that more or better technology increase learning.	Smartboard and teachers that know how to use them iPad or Mac Tablets instead of books more technology that can motivate the pupils (like kahoot) No pencils and paper No blackboard Better computers not use the computer all the time no mobiles at school Free phones and computers to use only at school Wifi with password that changes every day CCTV-cameras at school
Subjects Fifteen pupils had meanings about the subjects, and their opinions differed a lot.	Like it is today More subjects Three compulsory subjects + several electives like nature & science, religion, second language ++ Math + Norwegian + English are basic subjects, you can choose between the rest and have them in periods (courses) More wood work More practical subjects Practical subjects without grades Marketing and finance Not so many subjects French + Spanish as well as German Less theory subjects Like it is today + add the new subjects “nature” where you have to have your lessons out in the nature
Start/end school Twelve pupils had opinions about when to start in the morning and when to end the school day. A few also said something about how many days a week at school, and how long the vacations should be.	8 am - 2.30 pm 9 am – 2 pm 9 am – 3 pm 9 am – 5 pm 10 am - 2 pm 10 am - 4.30 pm (7 lessons) 10 am - 5 pm  (open to 7 pm) Like it is today End earlier 4 days a week Longer summer vacation
Food Almost everyone among the eleven pupils that mentioned meals, wanted warm food at school, and a few talked about Norway, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, that doesn’t spend money on this, while for instance Sweden does.	Warm meal Warm meal once a week, Free breakfast Three lunch breaks Allowed to eat during the lessons
Tests Some want more tests while others want less. Nine pupils had answers that covered this topic.	Like it is today Not more than one test a day Maximum two tests a week Weekly tests in every subjects, End-of-year test and repeat the year if you fail. Rewards to the best pupils Not many tests because they make pupils feel bad when they fail Change the one-day-exam into three tests so that if you fail once you can havenew chances to do well.
Homework Surprisingly only nine pupils mentioned homework, does that mean they normally don’t need to spend very much time doing school work at home?	No homework Choose if you want to do your homework at school with help from teachers Not so much as today Very little homework Do the homework in the last lesson
Furniture Also nine pupils mentioned the furniture, and most of them wanted softer chairs.	More comfortable chairs Office chairs Bigger desks Bigger desks with drawers Desks with power connectors
Classroom Bigger, lighter and warmer classrooms would probably be popular, this was mentioned in nine answers.	Open all day Redecorate Classrooms for listening only Big and light classrooms All classes should have their own classroom Round classrooms with many windows Heating in the floor
School uniforms Five pupils meant that this would be a good idea, and that it would reduce bullying in school.	Yes
Transportation Only three pupils mentioned the transportation to school.	Bus all the way home Free bus wherever you live Eco-friendly buses

At the end I will also mention some suggestions that came up, but which are a bit difficult to put into the categories above.

• Enough help for every pupil
• Start school at the age of eight
• Divide into boys and girls only in a couple of subjects (PE)
• No bullying
• Allowed to go to the shop
• Library at school 

Kahoot

Gaming is fun and learning is useful, but how can we combine them. The answer might be Kahoot, a social game where you combine knowledge with smartphones and competition.

I was introduced to Kahoot when attending an ict-seminar half a year ago. More than 200 people were crammed together in an auditorium at NTNU in Trondheim. It was not difficult to understand I was not sitting together with a collection of athletes. Teachers who looked they had swallowed footballs instead of playing with them, square eyed ict-administrators, bossy dressed headmasters and some cavemen that I don’t know much about except that I can tell from the pale green face colour, they hadn’t seen the sun the last couple of years.

Well, enough about that, every one of us were trying to answer the instructor’s questions as quick as possible, and the way to do so was to push either the red, blue, yellow or the green button on the smartphone. After we had answered one question the top score was showed on the screen in the front of the classroom, which of course trigged our competitive instinct…on the next question I want to do better, I want to enter the top score list!!!

Can “gameshows” or a quiz turn out to be educational? It is definitely fun, but is it more than only fun? Well, the answers will of course depend on what kind of questions you put into it, and what kind of goals and audience you have. You cannot put open questions that require long answers into Kahoot, this is a tool where you have to be short and concise. However, if you want some answers about facts like numbers, names, places, etc., this quiz tool fits perfect. As a teacher, you therefore have to accept the limits of this tool, but you should also know what it does better than most teachers and schoolbooks – a motivator for the students to find the answers, which means the students is led into a learning process, some of them without knowing.

In this video you can watch 5th graders use Kahoot

I am convinced you can use it in any subject at school. Maybe you want to use it as a teaser when you introduce a new topic in geography. Testing what the students have learned from their homework in maths, or your latest lecture in music, works perfect with Kahoot. You can also let your students make their own questions and create a Kahoot they can use in class, asking questions and teaching others is often the best way of learning.

As you probably understand from what I have written, I am a Kahoot fan, and if you are a teacher or a student, and have not tried it yet, you really should hurry up and enter this webpage where you can make your own Kahoot games: https://getkahoot.com/

Have fun and end up smart!

Can it be fun to learn about Peer Gynt?

My blog is called “Learning is Fun” and in a previous blog post I jot down some thoughts about this. My conclusion, if I had any, was that you are in a learning process almost all the time, maybe except when you’re asleep. You don’t only learn things at school, but also among friends, from your parents, on Internet or from books. But often, the best way to learn new stuff is to do what you’re going to learn, not just read about it. Are you going to be a plumber, well then you have to do some plumbing, not only read about tubes and hoses in a plumber book. If you want to become a drummer you have to practice on the drum set, you can’t learn it only from reading.  But theory is also important, a plumber have to know what kind of tubes he has to use in different situations, if he uses wrong dimensions, water leaks and expensive damages might be the result.

In school it’s easier to work with practical activities in some subjects than others. Music, arts and crafts and PE are subjects where we mostly do things instead of read about them. But it is more challenging to find good practical activities in English, Norwegian, religion and social studies. I really want tips about how we can make these lessons more fun and interesting while you are learning at least as much as you do today.

Here is a video from a lesson in Norwegian (I can’t guarantee you that our school has economy to hire all these people….sorry..)

Netiquette

After today’s brainstorm in class about netiquette, lists of guidelines or rules popped up. Here is a summary.

• Don’t “touch” things you don’t know what is – use safe websites.
• Be critical to information you find on the Internet - use trusted sources.
• Don’t give personal information to strangers.
• Don’t bully online….or anywhere else.
• Be positive when you give comments to other people, or when you write about someone else.
• Use “free to copy” (Creative Commons license) pictures, texts or music, or ask the owners first, when you want to post something on your website or blog.
• Don’t be a hacker or create viruses to hurt other people
• Think twice about what you’re going to post on Internet. Don’t post stuff you might regret.
• If you’re going to meet someone you have only met on Internet, you should bring someone with you.
• Be careful with clicking on ads, they might be viruses or you might even be hacked.

A lot of good advices, don’t you think?

What if learning isn't fun?

My blog is called “Learning is fun”, but what if I’m wrong. Maybe learning can’t be fun. I think everyone agree with me when I say that you have to learn to read, write and calculate to live a normal life in our society. It also might be necessary to have some particular education to get a job. But is it fun to learn or is it just some boring stuff you just have to go through?

Well, first I have to figure out what learning is. Is it only at school you learn stuff, or do you also learn different things in your spare time when you surf on Internet, when you visit new places in your holiday, when you play the guitar or talk to your old grandfather? I think that everything you experience might turn into new knowledge, and suddenly you have learned something new without thinking about it. Isn’t that cool… learning without thinking about that you have to learned something?

I think that when you have new experiences, like repairing your bike that just broke down, talking English or even Spanish to the guy in the ice cream bar at the beach in Spain, you don’t think about learning. If you are very in to Volvo or BMW, and suddenly find an article on Internet about a brand new model that will be on the market soon, you have learned something new. If you like playing the guitar and manage to compose your own song, you have learned something new. I think that most of you agree with me when I say that these are not boring ways to learn, they even might be fun.

But what about school? Is everything you learn at school boring? If so, how can we turn the school into a more fun and interesting learning arena? I want comments!

Good advices

Useful advices from headmaster Hallgeir Gammelsæter when he opened the new academic year at Høgskolen i Molde August 20, 2014. This is an extract from the end of his welcome speech (rbnett.no)

Even though many people think so, and especially here in Norway, the welfare and knowledge will not come by itself. I have two important advices to the students, the first about organization. You will have much freedom; some of you will have days without lectures, so to organize your studies and spare time well will be crucial.

The second advice is about language and communication. This is a central point in today’s society, and to develop a good language it requires reading. You should prioritize books that take a long time to finish, and I’m not only talking about your school books.

Especially the last lines about reading are important, are universal and include every single human on earth. Without having good reading skills, you will have problems with acquire new knowledge, both at school, at work and in your private life. 

Irregular verbs rap

Memorizing page after page with lists of irregular verbs in three different forms feels like a nightmare to many pupils. I doubt most teachers are able to copy the guy in this video, but he has certainly found a fun way to keep his pupils' focus...enjoy :)