My timetable has been such that I have 3 whole days this half term with no teaching hours in the day. Rather than use this time to set up for the new academic year (new schemes mainly!) I decided it would be far more developmental to go and see an academy of the type we're becoming.
In September, we're due to become an LAET, a London branch of the Academies Enterprise Trust. Our sponsor is the LDA, and the Mayoral office - Boris Johnson's baby! It's been a little difficult to set up (in teaching you are always dealing with people who are often non-contactable due to being in the classroom most of the time!) but after an emergency phone call with me asking if I could visit an Academy THE NEXT DAY (!), I finally went on a visit.
The school itself was quite far away, in a very different part of town! The intake was completely different to ours, and their buildings looked old and dated. However, the meeting indeed was developmental. I realised just how far we had come as a school already under the guidance of our headteacher and how much we already do regarding AET expectations.
It has made me really positive regarding our future under the AET and I know that I, for one, will be embracing the change whole-heartedly.
3 Jul 2011
15 Jun 2011
Emergency INSET
My HoD is in charge of co-ordinating the trainee teacher INSET across the school. This is usually taken by AST's, SLT, etc, but yesterday he asked me if I'd do it! Today!! Don't give me much time, will you?
The topic was to be VLE's (Virtual Learning Environments) and luckily I already had a presentation prepared for a different audience so was quite happy to do it. I discussed what a VLE is, why use one and how we can use it to enhance our teaching.
MY PRESENTATION:
I made the point that the people in front of me were at the start of their careers and it was up to them to push technology as the future of learning.
I then handed out a document of all the things I could think of that a VLE could be used for:
An interesting question arose. "Is there a danger of VLE's making teachers obsolete?" Ultimately my answer is "no". Children will always need a teacher to guide their learning. But I pointed them to the work of Sugata Mitra and his "Hole in the Wall" experiment. His work is so very interesting because it shows what children can actually learn BY THEMSELVES if given the means to do it:
The topic was to be VLE's (Virtual Learning Environments) and luckily I already had a presentation prepared for a different audience so was quite happy to do it. I discussed what a VLE is, why use one and how we can use it to enhance our teaching.
I made the point that the people in front of me were at the start of their careers and it was up to them to push technology as the future of learning.
I then handed out a document of all the things I could think of that a VLE could be used for:
An interesting question arose. "Is there a danger of VLE's making teachers obsolete?" Ultimately my answer is "no". Children will always need a teacher to guide their learning. But I pointed them to the work of Sugata Mitra and his "Hole in the Wall" experiment. His work is so very interesting because it shows what children can actually learn BY THEMSELVES if given the means to do it:
Two quotes I must repeat from the second video (attributed to Arthur C. Clarke):
"A teacher that can be replaced by a machine, should be"
AND
"If children have interest, then education happens."
9 Jun 2011
Children's Shakespeare
A bit of a personal one this one.
My own child has shown an interest in reading some Shakespeare after looking at some works at school. She's 10. Now I know that if I hand her my copy of "The complete works of Shakespeare" it will frighten the life out of her and possibly put her off ever trying to read Shakespeare again!
So I put out a call for help to primary teachers on Twitter and got some replies. Apparently the BBC did a series of "Animated Tales" from Shakespeare plays so that looks pretty promising. I was also given the name of some book re-telling the stories in child-friendly speak so did plan to look them up.
But I also put out an equivalent call for help from English teaching colleagues I worked with at my previous school but am still very much in contact with. The response there was great. I immediately ordered two recommended books that tell the stories as comic strips an apparently are very popular with children. I'm yet to take delivery of them but will come back and offer my opinion of how exciting they are for young children.
My own child has shown an interest in reading some Shakespeare after looking at some works at school. She's 10. Now I know that if I hand her my copy of "The complete works of Shakespeare" it will frighten the life out of her and possibly put her off ever trying to read Shakespeare again!
So I put out a call for help to primary teachers on Twitter and got some replies. Apparently the BBC did a series of "Animated Tales" from Shakespeare plays so that looks pretty promising. I was also given the name of some book re-telling the stories in child-friendly speak so did plan to look them up.
But I also put out an equivalent call for help from English teaching colleagues I worked with at my previous school but am still very much in contact with. The response there was great. I immediately ordered two recommended books that tell the stories as comic strips an apparently are very popular with children. I'm yet to take delivery of them but will come back and offer my opinion of how exciting they are for young children.
8 Jun 2011
Maths Unit 3 non-calc paper 2011
So I'm assuming I'm quite safe to talk about the Maths paper my year 11 sat on Monday afternoon.
It was a bloomin' pig of an exam! It missed out so much and made the questions it did have into the hardest type possible! Surface area wasn't your 'right' prisms - it was comparing cones and hemispheres! Changing the subject wasn't your standard formula - it had the new subject as both numerator and denominator of a fraction! Ratio wasn't just 'shared in a given ratio' - it had a convoluted way of working out the ratios!
All I can say is I hope that the next (calculator) paper is reduced in difficulty to counteract the harshness of this one OR they seriously drop the grade boundary!
We'll know by Friday.......
It was a bloomin' pig of an exam! It missed out so much and made the questions it did have into the hardest type possible! Surface area wasn't your 'right' prisms - it was comparing cones and hemispheres! Changing the subject wasn't your standard formula - it had the new subject as both numerator and denominator of a fraction! Ratio wasn't just 'shared in a given ratio' - it had a convoluted way of working out the ratios!
All I can say is I hope that the next (calculator) paper is reduced in difficulty to counteract the harshness of this one OR they seriously drop the grade boundary!
We'll know by Friday.......
26 May 2011
There's already a discipline policy
In the course of work (setting a one hour detention for a shockingly poorly behaved pupil) it was pointed out to me that a discipline policy already exists at school. I was questioned as to whether I'd set a 10 minute, then 30 minute first!!
Now I'm all for doing the right thing and blending my policy to fit in with school's, BUT - this one is awful! It looks as though it was put together purely for our OfSTED inspection late last year. It doesn't seem to allow for major disruption to a lesson and setting a meaningful length detention. It states 10 minutes. If the pupils sits the 10 minutes, the matter is closed! If they fail to attend, 30 minutes, then one hour, etc!
So to my mind, effectively, this means that a pupil could mess up repeatedly and get 10 minutes every time. As long as they turn up for the 10 minutes (and let's face it, that's easy enough to factor into your day), they can continue to misbehave!
Well, I'm sorry. The system MUST allow for entry onto the structure at greater than 10 minutes for more serious behaviour! I'm quite happy with my version of a discipline structure and would prefer to run through mine than the school's one!
Now I'm all for doing the right thing and blending my policy to fit in with school's, BUT - this one is awful! It looks as though it was put together purely for our OfSTED inspection late last year. It doesn't seem to allow for major disruption to a lesson and setting a meaningful length detention. It states 10 minutes. If the pupils sits the 10 minutes, the matter is closed! If they fail to attend, 30 minutes, then one hour, etc!
So to my mind, effectively, this means that a pupil could mess up repeatedly and get 10 minutes every time. As long as they turn up for the 10 minutes (and let's face it, that's easy enough to factor into your day), they can continue to misbehave!Well, I'm sorry. The system MUST allow for entry onto the structure at greater than 10 minutes for more serious behaviour! I'm quite happy with my version of a discipline structure and would prefer to run through mine than the school's one!
25 May 2011
Year 11 leaving....
Our Year 11 are already long past the time they need to leave school and begin study leave. They are probably the last set of year 11 in the whole borough to be released from compulsory schooling.
To be fair, they've been really good so far. They've not complained about not leaving, attendance has been the best I've ever seen from a year 11, even at this point of the year, and they have attended all lessons as expected.
Today, however, I noticed a change. Particularly within my own tutor group. I've noticed the silliness start to emerge. The desire to maybe strart creating havoc - albeit a very muted version of havoc. They want to throw their bags around. They want to leave the classroom to find other yeaar 11's to talk to, to play with.
Who can blame them? They are 2 days away from leaving school. They've even finished their entire English course - exams and all! They know that their lives are about to take a huge turn.
For me, it's not the end of their schooling - it's the beginning of the rest of their lives!
To be fair, they've been really good so far. They've not complained about not leaving, attendance has been the best I've ever seen from a year 11, even at this point of the year, and they have attended all lessons as expected.
Today, however, I noticed a change. Particularly within my own tutor group. I've noticed the silliness start to emerge. The desire to maybe strart creating havoc - albeit a very muted version of havoc. They want to throw their bags around. They want to leave the classroom to find other yeaar 11's to talk to, to play with.
Who can blame them? They are 2 days away from leaving school. They've even finished their entire English course - exams and all! They know that their lives are about to take a huge turn.
For me, it's not the end of their schooling - it's the beginning of the rest of their lives!
23 May 2011
Purpos/ed
What is the 'purpose of education'?
Sometimes it feels that its sole function is as a glorified baby-sitting service! Somewhere for parents to know their kids are safe, whilst they go to work, or indeed, anything else they feel like doing of a daytime.
Genuinely though, I think the purpose of SCHOOL is to equip youngsters with the knowledge to succeed in life, be it academically or socially.
But education is so much more than just school. I believe that we never stop learning just by living, and that some of us actively seek out new things to learn constantly. I learn every day. I learn from the children at school, I learn from the adults at school, I learn from my own child, my family, the TV, the computer. I learn from my Master's degree course.
I learn because I want to learn. I am hungry for knowledge, to KNOW. If I don't know something, I know how to find it out.
Maybe this leads us back to the purpose of education (albeit school education) - to learn the ability to KNOW how to find something out for oneself!
Yesterday, I recieved the book 'Purpos/ed' (pictured below). It's a crowd-sourced collection of short essays (500 words), written by people I admire in the world of education about their view of the purpose of education. People who are also hungry to learn, but also to teach. I am very much looking forward to reading it!
Sometimes it feels that its sole function is as a glorified baby-sitting service! Somewhere for parents to know their kids are safe, whilst they go to work, or indeed, anything else they feel like doing of a daytime.
Genuinely though, I think the purpose of SCHOOL is to equip youngsters with the knowledge to succeed in life, be it academically or socially.
But education is so much more than just school. I believe that we never stop learning just by living, and that some of us actively seek out new things to learn constantly. I learn every day. I learn from the children at school, I learn from the adults at school, I learn from my own child, my family, the TV, the computer. I learn from my Master's degree course.
I learn because I want to learn. I am hungry for knowledge, to KNOW. If I don't know something, I know how to find it out.
Maybe this leads us back to the purpose of education (albeit school education) - to learn the ability to KNOW how to find something out for oneself!
Yesterday, I recieved the book 'Purpos/ed' (pictured below). It's a crowd-sourced collection of short essays (500 words), written by people I admire in the world of education about their view of the purpose of education. People who are also hungry to learn, but also to teach. I am very much looking forward to reading it!
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