– Engagement, depth and challenge in Irish classrooms
Magenta Principles Posters also available – Click HERE for more details.
The Magenta Principles is an umbrella phrase that refers to a philosophy and an approach to teaching based upon the premise that learning should be both exciting and engaging. More specifically, the phrase represents a pedagogy underpinned by an unshakable belief that:
- Learning is the consequence of thinking… therefor our job is to get them to think
- Language is central to thinking… therefor our job is to get them to talk
- Learning is an active process… therefor our job is to get them doing.
We talk about the Magenta Principles – but in reality there is just one principle: in order to make sense of the information that comes their way, students have to do something to/with it. The question therefore becomes: What are students required to do with the information they encounter in the classroom? It is central to the approach and the answer gives us the Magenta Principles – students could be asked to reduce it, change it, assemble it, add to it, arrange it, sequence it, classify it … the list goes on and on.
This book has been supported by the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD). The organisation first invited Mike to work in Ireland in 2013 and has subsequently invited him to run annual series of Magenta Principles workshops throughout Ireland.
The verb magentify is increasingly becoming part of teachers’ professional vocabulary and this book is illustrated with over one hundred examples of how Irish teachers have used the Magenta Principles in Irish classrooms. It also includes a number of case studies that outline how Irish schools have successfully introduced a Magenta approach to learning and teaching.
