Creative Teaching & Learning

Whats your passion

Stephen Koepplinger writes exclusively for PE and ST about his inspirational Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to New Zealand

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      string(380) "8 PE & Sport Today • Winter 2005FeaturesSports World“What’s yourpassionmate?” wasthe most common question Ireceived when I was inAustralasia as a WinstonChurchill Fellow. My passion isto be ‘Teacher-coach’ and it hasinspired me to set up a charitycalled ASAP (After SchoolActivities Programme;www.asapscotland.org). I setthis up because, from ..."
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      string(5653) "8 PE & Sport Today • Winter 2005FeaturesSports World“What’s yourpassionmate?” wasthe most common question Ireceived when I was inAustralasia as a WinstonChurchill Fellow. My passion isto be ‘Teacher-coach’ and it hasinspired me to set up a charitycalled ASAP (After SchoolActivities Programme;www.asapscotland.org). I setthis up because, from myperspective as a classroomteacher, there needs to bemore after school activities for11- to 16-year-olds. I want toset up national school basedStephen Koepplinger writesexclusively for PE&ST abouthis inspirational WinstonChurchill Travelling Fellowshipto New Zealand…What’s YourPassion?activities similar to what isbeing done in Australia, Canadaand New Zealand.When I first came to Britain10 years ago from America, Irealised that I needed moreeducation and training to realisethis ambition. For me thedifference between educationand training is that trainingteaches one to do a job thatcurrently exists while educationteaches one to do a job that isyet to exist. I undertook an MScin Water Resources EngineeringManagement and trained as aprofessional engineer for fiveyears, which gave me excellent    SportsWorld9PE & Sport Today • Winter 2005project managementexperience. I gained furthereducation by completing theStrathclyde MBA achievingAMBA’s (Association ofMasters of BusinessAdministration) ‘Student of theYear’ this month.Armed with the educationand training needed I took up ateaching job in a sociallydeprived area of Glasgow, theonly school in Glasgow that hada running track. I thensuccessfully petitioned theWinston Churchill TravellingFellowship (WCTF) toinvestigate how school sport ismanaged in Australasia. TheWCTF provides a ‘chance of alife time’ for professionals totravel abroad to further theirskills and expertise.Australia and New Zealandface very similar issues withyouth culture as we do inBritain (obesity, crime, anti-social behaviour etc).  Aftertheir poor performance in the1976 Olympics they launchedan advertising campaignfeaturing “Norm” – a typicaland loveable couch potato –which was widely shown in the1970s, with the slogan ‘Life, bein it!’. This stimulated a culturechange as regards attitudes toschool sport and it was aprivilege to learn from theAustralasian experience inmanaging this culture change.Sport and PE – similarbut differentIn Australia, the term “PE”refers to the curricular subjectwhile “sport” refers to extra-curricular sporting activities. Inthe 1990’s,  Australia ran PE andSport in parallel and teachers inother subject areas routinelytrained to be sport coaches butthere was a general feeling thatPE should have an official statusas an educational ‘Key LearningArea’ (KLA). To establish this, PEmade a separation from sportwith PE taking on additionaleducational responsibilities suchas Personal Development,Sexuality and Citizenship.Sport is considered tooperate outside the KLA arenaand as a result is not a part ofthe board of study and notemphasised in teacher trainingcourses. Therefore, teachers inother subject areas are nolonger trained to be coachesor referees.This has led to a concernthat there will be a greateremphasis on PE teachers takingon additional roles andresponsibilities as the ‘authority’in the school for sport and hasled to a heavy workload for PEteachers.  As the teacher:studentratio is 1:30 and the coach:teamratio is 1:10, obviously one PEdepartment cannot satisfy thisneed.Ideally the majority ofchildren should be involved inafter school activities and, if thiswas the case, even if we had100 per cent of teachers fromall subjects volunteering tocoach a team after school withthe guidance of the PE staff, wewould still need to augmentthat valued resource.ASAP aims to fill this gap byestablishing relationships withkey employers to allow theiremployees to have paid timeoff to assist with after schooltaster sport sessions.  Thetasters would occur twice aweek (two 90 minute sessions)for five weeks for a total timecommitment of 15 hours.ASAP would ask theemployers to donate half ofthis time, i.e. give theemployees 7.5 hours paid timeoff for them to serve as avolunteer community coachfor the taster programme.Entrepreneurial spiritIn Australasia, I wasencouraged by theentrepreneurial flair of teachercoaches who lead sport andthis took on many differentforms. The first person I metwho delivered sport in thisway was a PE teacher who hada passion for rugby.Unfortunately, the schoolalready had a ruby coach sothey assigned him to basketball,a sport he knew virtuallynothing about. He got a bookout of the library, read up onBasketball and is now running ahighly successful Basketballclub. The club has signed aMemorandum ofUnderstanding with the highschool to help finance andbuild a state-of-the-artbasketball court. The club isoperated on a ‘user pays’principle and runs from 6-11pm with a paid administrator.The next “entrepreneur” Imet was an English teacher whohad a passion for football. Hewas concerned as New Zealandteachers were undergoing anindustrial dispute and worriedabout the future of after schoolactivities. He told me: ‘I did notcross the picket line but at 3.30 Iwas there to coach my team. Ifigured I would suffer throughbeing an English teacher as longas I could not coach my sportafter school.’’The final inspirationalteacher was a man who had theschool build a tank and used itas a swimming pool. He alsosaw that there was a big enoughfoot print on the school groundto run a 300 metre trackaround it and used it to runfriendly track competitions.A"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Whats your passion

1 Jan 2005

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      string(5617) "children to slow down, stop, and allow their thoughts to develop and materialise. Though not impossible, this is much harder for children to do using a tablet or laptop, where writing happens significantly faster, offering less time to think and meditate on the words being chosen.This slowness is also valuable as it can help with problem solving. Research published by the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Washington in the United States (Berninger et al., 2006) found that using multiple strokes instead of singular key presses on a laptop or tablet, which requires someone to spend more time on each letter and word, gives the brain more time and space to process and think about what it is producing, leading to more creative writing.This again highlights that while creativity is, of course, subjective, handwriting is a mechanism that we can use to facilitate children’s creativity, providing them with a tool that lets their natural creativity flow as best as possible.Self-expression – handwriting helpsThe benefits of handwriting go beyond allowing for more creative writing. There is also a lot to be said for its ability to act as a release, encouraging self-expression in children. Simply, handwriting isn’t about neatness or which pupil can write the prettiest cursive letters. It is fundamentally about expressing oneself. And those benefits are far reaching.As mentioned previously, we are seeing a push-back from teachers and parents against attempts to introduce overly prescriptive assessment criteria and marking guidelines on primary school children. There is in this a definitive call for self-expression to be encouraged and valued in the classroom, and it is therefore incredibly important that we prioritise things, like handwriting, that will help children to engage in these key areas of self-development.So how can we put this into practice?My experience with the Write Your Future campaign, working with children in schools to encourage handwriting skills has taught me that it is essential to come up with activities that encourage their active engagement with learning. Often, lessons that teach handwriting to children are dull and demotivating – hardly inspiring creativity.But there are plenty of ways that we can teach handwriting to children of all ages, making it accessible and fun, and encouraging creative thinking even during the learning process (See Teacher Tips – Write Your Future, 2018).Top tip – sand drawingGet your pupils to use a stick to write out letters in a sandboxThis activity is perfect for younger children who are just starting out on their handwriting journey. The activity combines a familiar play activity with learning for children who haven’t had much exposure to writing, engaging their sense of touch whilst teaching them basic handwriting skills.Top tip – celebrate handwritingOffer children the chance to write their favorite poems (or quotations) out for a displayGive children a selection of poems to choose from and encourage them to read them aloud to each other, choose particularly interesting combinations of lines and then write out poems, or quotations. It is important to give children the chance to say, discuss and feel the words and how they work together.Top tip – what’s your passion?Find out what your class is passionate about. Whether this is climate change, animals, space travel or technology, you can bring these topics to life in the classroom. Ask children to write a few words or a letter about a cause they are interested in. For example, they could create a poster for a wildlife centre or suggest a new spaceship design to NASA.There’s no better way to encourage children to write creatively than to get them talking (and writing) about something they care about. Finding out their passions is a sure-fire way to combine handwriting practice with creative thinking and writing. Parents can take this further by encouraging their children to write down their imaginative thoughts. Children are full of natural imagination, and getting them to write their creative thoughts down on paper can make a big impact on their handwriting development and on their ability to develop their creative thinking.Top tip – sometimes looks matterGet colourful pens and pencils to encourage children to be creativeThis may seem elementary, but many teachers may have seen that giving their pupils new and colourful stationary can make the world of difference in how they engage with the tasks set for them. 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Creative Teaching & Learning

Valuing the Art of Handwriting

10 Oct 2018

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      string(5617) "children to slow down, stop, and allow their thoughts to develop and materialise. Though not impossible, this is much harder for children to do using a tablet or laptop, where writing happens significantly faster, offering less time to think and meditate on the words being chosen.This slowness is also valuable as it can help with problem solving. 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Often, lessons that teach handwriting to children are dull and demotivating – hardly inspiring creativity.But there are plenty of ways that we can teach handwriting to children of all ages, making it accessible and fun, and encouraging creative thinking even during the learning process (See Teacher Tips – Write Your Future, 2018).Top tip – sand drawingGet your pupils to use a stick to write out letters in a sandboxThis activity is perfect for younger children who are just starting out on their handwriting journey. The activity combines a familiar play activity with learning for children who haven’t had much exposure to writing, engaging their sense of touch whilst teaching them basic handwriting skills.Top tip – celebrate handwritingOffer children the chance to write their favorite poems (or quotations) out for a displayGive children a selection of poems to choose from and encourage them to read them aloud to each other, choose particularly interesting combinations of lines and then write out poems, or quotations. It is important to give children the chance to say, discuss and feel the words and how they work together.Top tip – what’s your passion?Find out what your class is passionate about. Whether this is climate change, animals, space travel or technology, you can bring these topics to life in the classroom. Ask children to write a few words or a letter about a cause they are interested in. 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Leadership

Handwriting Your Way to Self Expression

12 Sep 2018

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      string(5608) "responsibility to build a betterfuture,” Pete says. “They really value their education overthere and in particular the arts – seeing it as a way of helpingto mend the past and learn from the mistakes that havebeen made.“It makes you realise we – who have so much moreand have been through so much less – so often take oureducation for granted. When I came back I was tellingstudents that I would not be sympathetic with any badattitude or misbehaviour. In Tuzla students have onemicroscope and a set of wall bars for a whole class andthey are grateful. I was telling our lot that they shouldrealise how privileged they are and make the most of theiropportunity.”WildlifeNot long ago Veronica Carter sold her first photographs– red squirrels snapped on the Isle of Wight. The Foundationstage and e-learning manager at Camelsdale First Schoolin West Sussex, she took up wildlife photography sixVeronica Carter sharpens her focus by photographing wildlife25June/July 2008    Managing Schools Today   Lifestyleyears ago after really enjoying a school project on digitalphotography and has been back several times since. “Theyare very protective of their red squirrels over there,” shesays. “Official tourist board brochures say: ‘We welcomeall visitors as long as you are not grey with bushy tails andbig front teeth’!”A self-taught photographer, Veronica went on tocomplete an Open University course in digital photographyand now spends many a school holiday photographingBritish wildlife. “I can’t see the point of going abroad whenthere is so much of interest within these isles,” she says. Sowhether it’s orchids unique to certain areas of Kent, red deerin Scotland, or puffins, kittiwakes and eider ducks on FarneIsland, Veronica, who was named BBC online Photographerof the Year for her shot of squabbling terns (see it on herwebsite www.vcarter.co.uk), finds photography particularlytherapeutic.“At school you can be chasing around doing all sortsof things at once,” she says, “whereas when you arephotographing something you can become completelyengrossed in just one thing in a really focused manner.It’s so completely absorbing that sometimes you forgetjust where you are!”The National College for School Leadership might beencouraging schools to employ business managers toease the administrative burden on head teachers, but onehead it seems, can’t get enough! As a director of EnglandBasketball, Bob Mitchell, vice principal at BeauchampCollege in Leicestershire, spends much of his time inmeetings, writing strategy documents and deciding uponpolicy. Much like being a head teacher really! Admin it maybe, but for Bob, who for the past 20 years has coached thesport at all levels – including a stint with the national team– it is far from a burden. “Basketball has given me a lot ofgood times over the years and I am keen to put somethingback into the sport,” he says.England Basketball is the governing body of the sport.It operates the English Basketball Leagues for men andwomen, as well as the England national team, and wasinvolved in the establishment of the Great Britain teamin December 2005. The organisation is also responsiblefor increasing participation in the sport and developingthe next generation of young players. This summerBob and the rest of the executive committee will set upregional institutes of basketball, which will act as centresof excellence for training the best of these youngsters. Theplan is to have five to cover all areas of the country and Bobhopes that Beauchamp School will be one. “Top playersfrom the region will be able to continue their studies hereand get high-quality coaching,” he says. “We run A-level PEand BTEC sport and will soon be introducing a foundationdegree in coaching, so it’s an ideal place for elite sportsplayers to study.”Bob has been all over the world coaching basketballbut is happy now to play more of a backstage role. “We’relooking to build a strong GB team for 2012,” he says. “Itsnot as easy as it sounds because teams have to qualify– not even the hosts are guaranteed a place these days.”Who knows – maybe one of Bob’s pupils will be steppingout in the Olympic basketball arena to take on the mightyAmericans in four years’ time.Conquering the peaksYou have to be a bit crazy to like extreme sports. Flingingyourself out of an airplane at 5,000 feet or screamingdown free-flowing rapids in a kayak takes a certain typeof character. Mountaineering is Greg Walters’ passion.At Redbridge Community School in Southampton he ishead of outdoor education but in his spare time he hasconquered some of the world’s most impressive mountains:Kilimanjaro, Meru and Elgon in Tanzania, and Mont Blancin the French Alp, not to mention the major mountains inthe British Isles – including all 284 Scottish Munros.For someone whose working life is a bit of a rat race, thesolitude and the peace and quiet of mountaineering is verywelcome. “You tend not to meet many people and thoseyou do are like-minded,” says Greg, whose first foray intothis world came at the age of 15 when a friend said: “Let’sclimb that hill.”This summer he is taking a group of gifted & talentedYear 11s to Mexico as part of a World Challenge expedition.The month-long visit is split into four sections. A weekof acclimatisation, where everyone gets used to thealtitude and lack of oxygen, is followed by a week on anagricultural commune where the youngsters will helpwith reforestation. In the third week Greg will lead theyoungsters up La Malinche volcano"
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Leadership

Getting away from it all

14 Jul 2008

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