Visiting the Vikings.

The vast majority of the pictures in this post are credited to the most wonderful Mr Magic who has managed to take over 4GB of photos in a short span of our weekend escape to Copenhagen.

Ever since I've studied Vikings for my A-level History course, I've been in love with the Vikings. There is something extremely captivating about those men and women who traveled all across Scandinavia, into Britain and even further afield to North America. For this reason a trip to Copenhagen was a real highlight of my summer holiday. Finally I got close to the history of the Vikings. And it was brilliant.

On the way to meet the Vikings!

If you want to follow in the footsteps of the Vikings, I wholeheartedly recommend Vikingeskibsmuseet (The Viking Ship Museum). It's located in Roskilde, in zone 8 of the Greater Copenhagen and is easily reachable by a train and a 25 minute walk across the town.

If I were to describe the museum in one place I would say incredible. Mr Magic said that I looked like a child in a sweet shop and this is really how I felt for half of the day when I was at the Vikingeskibsmuseet.

There are remains of real Vikings ships in the museum building, you can try on a Viking outfit, but the real attractions were all outdoors. You could try your luck in Viking games, board a reconstruction of one of the ships on display, have a go at using an axe, listen to a story about reconstruction works in Roskilde and try traditional weaving. It also turned out that I'm really good recognising types of trees. But the real highlight was a trip on a reconstruction of an 18th century ship modeled on Viking ships. It was made entirely of wood, with a rough wool sail finished with horse hair. We even had a chance to experience first hand how hard it was to sail this ship: each of us on the boat was given an oar and we had to row back to the harbour. It was tough, but real fun and I could really feel like a Viking. I felt like a little girl who was given a present which she wished for for ages.

Throw Thor's hammer.

Here we go!

6 out of 8 on the wood knowledge test

Waiting for the rowing expedition.

The trip wouldn't be complete without buying some appropriate gifts. Mr Magic got me a pair of earings with Freyr, a Norse god of fertility, which is a lovely addition to my collection of quirky earing. I've also got a Viking keyring to ensure the Viking inside of me has a companion nearby at all times. As a more interactive gift, we got a Viking Attack card where you can rub in the Vikings, Saxons and their weaponry yourself where you want. I'm yet to do this one, saving it for a quiet evening with some wine.

Little Freyr earings.

Viking attack rub down fun

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Next time: my ordeal at the canal swim. Keep an eye out for it!

Sunday Special: Faith is important.

Recently I've heard an interesting comment. Apparently in the US, when you say you are religious, you are met with an overwhelmingly positive response. Interestingly, when you are not a believer, it is somewhat suspicious. In the UK, on the other hand, being religious is seen as something strange, to be kept away from others. Maybe this should come to no surprise, since in the UK the number of people describing themselves as of no faith was greater than those identifying themselves with Christianity (49% as compared with 43%, as reported by The Economist). Recently I've seen an advert for a sale of a deconsecrated church with the surrounding burial area for as little as £100,000.

Faith is on the fall, even though we make little acts of faith every day. Every day when we drive, fly or turn up to a meeting with another person we make an act of faith is a sense: that the others will drive responsibly, that the pilot is competent or that our companion actually turns up. We can call it the natural faith. Yet it's somehow more difficult to make this leap of faith when it comes to the existence of God (supernatural faith). Why is it so much easier in the former than in the latter case?

I sometimes worry whether my faith is a sort of wishful thinking that I employ to satisfy my need of a purpose in this life. It's admittedly a comforting thought that there is someone there who cares about you. I am very well aware that deeply human desire to make sense of things and feel like it all has a purpose. At the same time I'm deeply convinced of the existence of the Almighty. There is something that continuously pulls me in the direction of God, even though I struggle so much and have so many questions. And I question continually. I'm like a child who always asks why does it need to be so?

Faith is important, because it is an anchor to which I can return. It always stays the same. Wherever the lives leads me, God is still there and still loves me the same. It's a breeze of constancy is the time of change. Most importantly, faith is important, because I do think, indeed, I'm convinced, that faith is true. And you should keep hold of what is true. Truth is beautiful.

16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. 

Hebrews 6:16-20 

Exploring East Riding of Yorkshire.

This summer we decided to explore the north part of England. First stop was Hornsea- a quite seaside village. There is not much here, but there is a Tesco Superstore and a leisure centre. To our amusement we discovered an overabundance of churches, each of a different denomination. Hornsea Mere is a local attraction which we've almost missed, but thankfuly on the last day we found an our to cycle down there and admire the view. And we even caught a rainbow over the sea one evening!

one of the many churches in Hornsea

Sacred Heart church

Some bizarre figures in front of the Methodist Church

Hornsea Mere

Rainbow!

Then Beverley, a market town with surprisingly many shops and some rather odd street names, which we visited in search of a place a little bigger than tiny Hornsea where we established our base.

Next day, York. The place is absolutely beautiful. We didn't get much chance to explore it properly, but we found a few nice spots. Fairfax House is highly recommended! I've never seen such a dedicated team of museum guides, each room had a person willing to share their knowledge about this place. One lady talked us through pretty much every piece of furniture in Viscount Fairfax's bedroom! There was also an exhibition about Georgian pastimes and pleasures, including ballooning and watching public hangings. Charming, isn't it?

And thus the exploration of Yorkshire came to an end. Next stop: South Coast.

Pseudo-science of teaching.

Teaching is full of myths and misconceptions. Why is that so? I suppose that teachers are desperate to explore new strategies that might work for their students and improve their learning. Any good-sounding ideas seem to get adopted by schools. There also does not seem to be the same sort of rigour with evidence as it happens in medicine for example.

And thus the myths proliferated and multiply as the time goes. Some might think that these are wholly innocent. But what effectively happens is that precious time is taken away from learners. Spending your energy on chasing the newest fad in education instead of concentrating on teaching is never productive. This is why it is so crucial why it is so important to distinguish science from pseudo-science in teaching. The demand on teachers' time makes is really hard to reconcile with doing proper research into what techniques have a proper scientific grounding. This is why blogs such as Evidence into Practice are so helpful. There are also many books and articles which are freely available that can extend your knowledge. I believe it is absolutely necessary to dedicate some time to become a more informed practitioner.

Here are a few common myths:

1. Learning styles: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic (VAK), we all heard it. This is simply not  thing. There is no scientific basis for this theory. Daniel Willingham explains this really well in the video below. So instead of adjusting the way of delivery to the supposed "style" of the pupil, present the material in the most appropriate mode.

2. We remember only 5% of a lecture, 10% of what we read, 20% of what we see and hear and 75% of what we do: which supposedly means that the most effective way of teaching is experiential. This is often presented as a pyramid like the one below:

source: washingtonpost.com

Lots of nonsense. As Lalley and Miller (2007) point out in The Learning Pyramid: Does it point teachers in the right direction?:

The research reviewed here demonstrates that use of each of the methods identified by the pyramid resulted in retention, with none being consistently superior to the others and all being effective in certain contexts. A paramount concern, given conventional wisdom and the research cited, is the effectiveness and importance of reading and direct instruction, which in many ways are undermined by their positions on the pyramid. Reading is not only an effective teaching/learning method, it is also the main foundation for becoming a “life-long learner”.”

 Very good article debunking this myth can be found here.

3. Brain gym: I'm not sure where to start with this one, really. If you haven't heard of this one yet, brain gym is  a set of movement activities such as "crawling, drawing, tracing symbols in the air, yawning, and drinking water" (Hyatt, 2007)One of the organisations providing brain gym training claims that it can influence and improve:

• Concentration and Focus
• Memory
• Academics: reading, writing, math, test taking
• Physical coordination
• Relationships
• Self-responsibility
• Organization skills
• Attitude

Miracle cure to all the problems, isn't it? We should be surprised that we are not all going around rubbing our stomachs and patting our heads. Yet there is no scientific evidence of any of the claimed benefits. Of course, physical exercise is a healthy habit and we should encourage children to get active, but making them do ridiculous manoeuvers with their body is not a good idea. A little bit of exercises in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon lesson to wake everyone up- yes; brain gym - absolutely not.

Wanting to improve your practice is absolutely crucial both for your professional development and, more importantly, for the improvement of pupil progress. But we need to be weary of fancy fads. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. And whatever you try, always think: does it make any sense? Is there any evidence behind it?