Chris Betcher

There is a cliche that ones hears a lot in education about the need for teachers to not be a "sage on the stage", but rather a "guide on the side". The main idea behind these two cute terms is to denounce the role of a teacher as being a "sage"; the font of all knowledge in a classroom, someone who stands in front of the empty-headed students and tells them everything they need to know. We decry this idea of a sage, and quite rightly too. In a post-Google world, the notion that anybody - including a teacher - could still be the source of all information and wisdom is pretty ridiculous. Likewise, the other half of this expression implies that the more proper role of a teacher is that of being a "guide" for students. Someone who goes along on the journey with students as a partner in learning. As my good friend Tony Butler would say, it's about creating a "big brother, little brother" relationship with students rather than a ...

You may have noticed that it's been a bit quiet here on the blog lately. I've not been writing here as much as usual and I've really missed it! There have been a couple of reasons for this little sabbatical, but the most significant one was the book project I've been working on with Mal Lee. For almost a year now (OMG, has it really been that long?!) Mal and I have been writing a book together about the use of interactive whiteboards for education. It's been a huge project, partly because it's been a lot to write - nearly 60,000 words - but mostly because it's been an absolute journey of learning for me as we've written it. I'm pleased to say that the finished manuscript finally went to the publishers this week! In case you're interested, here's a little bit of background into the book... Mal Lee is an ex school principal and he provided a lot of the insights around the management, funding and leadership aspects of implementing IWBs effec...

One gem of wisdom I've quoted a number of times on this blog is from a speech given by professor Seymour Papert, and it goes like this... "The model that says learn while you’re at school, while you’re young, the skills that you will apply during your lifetime is no longer tenable. The skills that you can learn when you’re at school will not be applicable. They will be obsolete by the time you get into the workplace and need them, except for one skill. The one really competitive skill is the skill of being able to learn. It is the skill of being able not to give the right answer to questions about what you were taught in school, but to make the right response to situations that are outside the scope of what you were taught in school. We need to produce people who know how to act when they’re faced with situations for which they were not specifically prepared." What I really like about that quote is the idea that it's not the specific content of what we teach that rea...