Current musings

For this first post I thought I would just delve into something that has been happening in my Level 1 class. First of all I have to say I am a massive fan of Jumpstart. For those who don't know, jumpstart is the process whereby we move the year 9s into year 10, and the year 10s into year 11 for the last four weeks of the academic year - allowing a 'Jumpstart' for learning.

So for my year 11s, we are essentially four weeks ahead of where we would otherwise be. Thats four weeks extra time for assessments, for external preparation, but also four weeks to go deeper.

This year I am blessed with a very good group. Some I had taught before, some I hadn't. But they are very able, and most want to go 'deeper' with their thinking. They may be a little reluctant at times to do the work, but are always willing keen and able to discuss the world in a relatively adult manner.

This prompted me to try something - Philosophical Fridays. I have the class period 6 on a Friday, and more often than not they do not want to "do" work. And so given we are ahead, I have decided to try something.

For this term, I am going to bring up a topic for discussion that has some link (however small) to the work for the week. The idea will be that we might discuss, debate, watch a video, with an intention of deepening thinking. The students will be allowed to do this providing they work hard for the other periods that week.

Last Friday I asked the class if violence could be justified if one is oppressed. This links to much of what we have been doing in our study of Black Civil Rights in the United States. The class was very lucky to have Mr Dunn visit (randomly) who discussed his experiences in South Africa.

I am on the lookout for other topics for the class to reflect on, and hope that this informal approach will be embraced by the students, and perhaps be something that they look forward to.