Tips for Raising Learners

Over the last few months I have been thinking about some of the challenging (but very interesting) ideas I came across when reading a book titled ‘What’s the Point of School?” by Guy Claxton and will post more on those as the ideas distil a little more.

Towards the end of the book there is a focus on families as learning communities, acknowledging that as children do not come with an instruction manual, parents necessarily spend a lot of their time in the ‘Don’t Know’ zone. It urges parents to embrace being a Learner (rather a ‘Knower’), reminding us that it is never too late to further exercise our own ‘learning muscles’. In the process we can provide valuable role models to our children about the process of learning.

Here are the tips for a family as a learning community

•  Be a visible learner for your children 
•  Involve children in adult conversations
• Let them spend time with you while you are doing difficult things
• Involve children in family decisions
• Tell your children stories about thyo0ur learning difficulties
• Encourage children to spend time with people who have interesting things to share
• Don’t rush in too quickly to rescue children when they are having diff
• Restrain the impulse to teach
• Don’t praise too much – use interest rather than approval
• Acknowledge the ‘effort’, not the ‘ability’
• Make clear boundaries and maintain them
• Don’t over stimulate – boredom breeds imagination
• Choose multi-purpose and open ended toys
• Encourage different kinds of computer use
• Talk to children about the process of learning (without offering too much advice)
• Watch and learn groom your children’s learning