C.E. Jottings

Potential has the potential for a great deal of potential confusion in education

Andrew Sutton distinguishes "ability" and "potential" saying "The two should never be confused." Personally I would not confuse them as I have no use (and especially see no use in Conductive Education) for the term when thinking about the education or upbringing of children. I added a Comment to Andrew's post to this effect. "Whether fulfilling, reaching or unlocking, I am at a loss to understand how the notion of potential, however defined, contributes anything to my understanding of pedagogy.... Read more →

"Think. Innovate. Be yourself." Is there relevance for conductive education?

"Let's face it though, some societies are rather more amenable to the notion of transformative pedagogy than are others." (Andrew Sutton on Conductive World. "Is there relevance for Conductive Education?"). I'll let you work out for yourself the relevance I see in the cartoon by Peter Steiner. Or you can just have a good laugh. [Posted without his permission and with apologies, therefore, to Peter Steiner.] Read more →

More potential nonsense. Sadly. But some good reading, too.

There are few enough books written by those who have cerebral palsy. "I'll Do It Myself" by Glenda Watson Hyatt is one that I have throughly enjoyed reading and highly recommend. (Her blog is on my recommended reading list, too!) Another quite different book but equally enjoyable read is "George's Travelogue", by George McDowell. One of the best regular blogs (because, like the two books, it challenges comfortable, conventional thinking) is "Lawyer on Wheels" by Ralph Strzałkowski. (Both the latter... Read more →

Being great is rarely a product of not giving a damn

Tom Bennett's latest post "Twilight of the GCSEs; new balls, please" came to me via Twitter and was such an amusing read on a serious subject that I stopped to read others of Tom's posts. That's how I came to read his post on 5th August Lessons from the Olympics 2: Wanting the World is not enough Here's how you inspire a child: Part 1: You tell them they are capable of just about anything Part 2: You tell them... Read more →

All human beings are transformable. Last Year in Hong Kong. #CondEd

I’ve not recently been doing as much leisure reading as usual. Half-read is my ‘Christmas book’ “Charles Dickens: a Life” by Claire Tomalin. Also half-finished is a book I started ‘before the fire’ Trevor Royle’s “Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638-1660”. Nearly finished, though something quite else, is “The Hungry Cyclist: Pedalling The Americas In Search Of The Perfect Meal” by Tom Kevill-Davies. One book I bought just a few days ago and am now reading for... Read more →