We have been having our ussual pre-term teachers meeting which has involved a fair amount of professional development. Yesterday we were looking at pedagogical approaches and it made me think about the different ways that we can present things to our students. I use mountain climbing as a metaphor.

Some might argue that telling someone they can't do something is the best way of ensuring that they do but it's a dodgy strategy. My daughter's Spanish class were going on a trip to Spain but only the 4 best in the class got to go. My daughter asked if she could go and her teacher replied that the whole class would have to be sick before she got to go. One year as an exchange student in Panama followed by a grade 6 in Spanish B and an elective class at Oklahoma university culminated in her becoming the Spanish teacher at her old school. All thanks to her old teacher?

The best scenario is when a student wants to know and that is very much up to their experience in their previous school. In my experience Nordic countries are very good at planting seeds. The curriculum is not deep but it's interesting. So, what makes a student want to climb a mountain?