Professor Guy Claxton

Yesterday was our ICTPD Home Group Meeting in Palmerston North where a group of passionate ICT facilitators under the leadership of Marg McLeod come together to talk about their progress and challenges. I was introduced to the ideas expressed by UK’s Professor Guy Claxton. I think I was the only person in the room who had never heard of him- does he blog or Twitter??? He talks so much sense and thanks to @craigsteed I was able to access his interview on Radio New Zealand as he visited NZ recently. It was great to listen to the man talk about Building Learning Power.

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To listen to the audio click here.

He talks about building reflective practice, developing emotional habits of mind, strengthening cognitive flexibility and encouraging social- collaborative action.

I totally agree when he discusses ‘brittle learners’- the ‘good’ girls who fall apart at first sign of failure, the ‘clever’ kids who fear making mistakes, who fear trying for fear of failing and letting others know that they are not ‘perfect’. Making mistakes is something to learn from and to grow from and not a sign of failure.

Listening to this audio leads me to want to read ‘Building Learning Power: Helping Young People Become Better Learners‘- me actually read a book- with paper and pages??? Haven’t done that for ages.

Does anyone have a copy I can borrow as part of my holiday reading?