Still Thinking is the website of Dr Barry Hymer, a UK-based freelance educator and Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University’s Centre for Teaching and Learning. An experienced teacher and educational psychologist, Barry Hymer has delivered keynote and workshop presentations at numerous national and international conferences, and worked in a training and consultancy capacity with many thousands of teachers, students, parents, governors, teaching assistants and inspector-advisers. Barry Hymer’s work aims always to respect the capacity of teachers and students to take ownership of their learning agenda, in a way which allows them to realize their personal and educational values in their own practice.
Barry’s three latest books are the Gifted & Talented Pocketbook, The Routledge-Falmer International Companion to Gifted Education (co-edited by Tom Balchin, Barry Hymer and Dona Matthews) and Gifts, Talents & Education: A Living Theory Approach (co-written by Barry Hymer, Jack Whitehead and Marie Huxtable). If you require any more information than you can gather from this site, please feel free to contact Barry Hymer by using the link.
Latest Blog Entry.
So, 2010 is well underway and the snows of Christmas and New Year are long-forgotten (or are they?), and the joys of the Spring Term are well-established. I’ve very much enjoyed my first few weeks of the new year, meeting many new folk and a few old friends too. Highlights have included a few days P4C-ing in a wonderful primary school in Leeds – thank you to the staff and pupils of Temple Newsam Primary – and memories of many powerful contributions to the enquiries held over those days – not least one young man’s observation that “You’ve got to be bad, sometimes, to find the goodness in you.” That last-words reflection arose from the stimulus of Des’ree’s ‘You Gotta Be’ song, and the Y5 class’s chosen question, “Why does it say, you gotta be bad?”
Other highlights so far have included working with thoughtful and reflective teachers in Eastbourne (The Grand Hotel lives up to its reputation – I struggled to find my way around my bedroom suite without an A-Z), Grimsby, Middlesbrough and three London boroughs. And later this week I’ll be enjoying working with Chris Watkins of the London Institute of Education at a conference in Sheffield – our first meeting since enticing him up to Cumbria to speak at a conference in 2005. Chris’ work is always deeply thoughtful and educationally congruent, and it continues to inspire and challenge me – as it does many educators across the land and beyond.
To anyone who missed the ad in last week’s TES and who, like Chris and myself, is an admirer of Carol Dweck’s hugely influential work on fixed and growth mindsets (think AfL, Building Learning Power, G&T, wise praise …), have a look at her itinerary for a UK tour in June: www.carol-dweck.co.uk. It’d be lovely to welcome you to one of these conferences. They’re recruiting well, so please apply soon to be sure of a place.
Posted on: 7th Feb 2010