Again I haven't blogged for ages so I apologise for being slack. I guess there are not many things going on in my life at the moment that are interesting enough to blog about so I might just blog about my feelings.
I am a bit apprehensive about next year. At the moment I am spending my days (in between sailing and walking to the beach and getting sunburnt - I really should buy some sunscreen) studying the Russian Revolution in order to organise myself for teaching Yr 12 History next year. Somehow it was so much easier when I thought that I was teaching English. I guess there wasn't that load of content to learn like there is in History. English has content, don't get me wrong, but it is content like issues and novels and themes and character relationships and those are the things that are second nature to me, not remembering dates and years and facts and figures. My passion for history comes from a firm belief that we should know what has happened in the past and learn from it so that we do not repeat the mistakes that those before us have made. I like the action and reaction aspect of history and the feeling I get when I realise why something is the way it is today because of something that I have learnt from the past. (I dont even know if that all made sense so I will change the topic).
As well as the content being intimidating, I will be working with a teacher next year who is new to the school, because my colleague who was teaching both history classes this year has taken another position. This concerns me because of the 'unknown' factor. I have only met the new teacher twice, and really don't know how we are going to go working together. The school that she is coming from is very different from our school and she is used to having only 7 students in her year 12 class whereas she will have at least 22 next year. I was really hoping, I guess, for someone to give me guidance, and I really don't know now if that will be the case.
To make matters even more interesting, the course has changed for next year, which means that I cannot just follow the lead of the teacher who is leaving and pirate all of his SACs etc, because they all have to be written from scratch.
The upside to this is that there will be plenty of PD opportunities for me next year (I am booked into 2 already!) I am eager and willing I suppose so I will just do my best I guess.
Anyway, I guess that it is another challenge for me to face, and so long as I dont fall on my arse next year, it should make me a better teacher and better able to help design curriculum and plan out my year from scratch.
I feel like I am rambling a bit now.
Onto other news. Another task that I am undertaking next year is a website for my students. I am in the middle of designing the website, with the help of a good friend from school who is a bit of a guru, and I intend to put up lecture notes and information for my Year 12's so that they can work at home and print things out at home, and to have online tasks for my Year 7's and Year 11's. I am really interested in making better use of ICT in my classrooms next year, and I have managed to get my Year 7 class timetabled into a computer lab once a week in order to have them do more online tasks, and to better utilise computers, not just as a way to type up a story or some work, but as a way to enhance their learning and to enhance their expression of their english work.
I did a PD a couple of weeks ago on using ICT in the classroom. It was quite interesting - nothing that I thought was revolutionary, but a lot of interesting ideas. The guy running the PD comes from a laptop school and decided that if they were going to use laptops then he was not going to use paper at all. He therefore had lots of ideas about how to bring computers into the classroom. Some of the ideas I felt werent enhancing tasks that we already do, but were merely transferring a lot of what teachers already do, into an electronic medium. I am not interested in doing things on the computer that we could do just as well on paper. Even so, there were also a lot of ideas in the PD that translated into new and interesting activities to try out in the computer lab. Now all I have to do is work out the things I will use and start designing the tasks for next year so I can put them up on my site!
The more I sit here typing the more I realise how ambitious I am being these holidays with the amount of things I am trying to get done. I guess that is why I have chained myself to the study this week!
Oh well, the longer I sit here the less I get done!
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Friday, December 10, 2004
The End of the Beginning?
Well, I just taught my last class for this year. I feel: relieved, tired, sad, excited, reflective and grateful. Relieved and tired and sad to be finished, excited to have survived my first year and to be planning for next year and grateful that I have landed myself in such a supportive school environment for my first years. One thing that I can say about this year is that no matter how difficult a day has been or how hyperactive a particular class have been on occassion, I have not once felt that I was in the wrong profession. Where else do you get to form so many relationships both with staff and students that are so uplifting and worthwhile? In what other profession do you have the challenge of people management, coupled with public speaking, improvisation, problem solving, welfare, curriculum planning and implementation and the responsibility for the minds of your charges? And what a massive responsibility we take on every day. However it is not a responsibility that is daunting or overwhelming, rather, for me, it is a responsibility that is exhilarating, and one that I am happy to carry every day.
I went on a four-day camp last week during which I was responsible for feeding the 20 students (with only a tent, barbeque and hot-plate at my disposal) three square meals a day and snacks in between! Rather than being a negative experience, I had the most fantastic time, and it was all because of the students.
I learnt: That my taste in music is exactly the same as the students (I wonder how long that will last!)
That despite the fact that punk and rock and metal were the order of the day in terms of the music the students enjoyed, they still had the mindfulness to offer to help me out constantly, to run errands to the supermarket, to help with the house(or should that be tent)work, and to make my camping trip as easy as possible.
Even when the students were waking me up at 2 am in the morning to get help to find the panadol, they were so polite and apologetic that it really wasn't a chore.
The students at this school, and I am sure many others, really are so pleasant to be around, and it comes out even more so in situations where we take them away from school.
My year 7 Form group, who I also teach for English are another bunch of students that I could happily spend all day with. There is something about the energy and enthusiasm of the students, no matter how over-the-top they are being that means that despite the fact that they are exhausting more often than not, I am never tired of them.
So I guess that this is the end of the beginning…the end of my first year of teaching, and the beginning of the next installment for me, with new students, new subjects and new challenges.
I am more than ready to face them all!
(Well…maybe after Christmas!)
I went on a four-day camp last week during which I was responsible for feeding the 20 students (with only a tent, barbeque and hot-plate at my disposal) three square meals a day and snacks in between! Rather than being a negative experience, I had the most fantastic time, and it was all because of the students.
I learnt: That my taste in music is exactly the same as the students (I wonder how long that will last!)
That despite the fact that punk and rock and metal were the order of the day in terms of the music the students enjoyed, they still had the mindfulness to offer to help me out constantly, to run errands to the supermarket, to help with the house(or should that be tent)work, and to make my camping trip as easy as possible.
Even when the students were waking me up at 2 am in the morning to get help to find the panadol, they were so polite and apologetic that it really wasn't a chore.
The students at this school, and I am sure many others, really are so pleasant to be around, and it comes out even more so in situations where we take them away from school.
My year 7 Form group, who I also teach for English are another bunch of students that I could happily spend all day with. There is something about the energy and enthusiasm of the students, no matter how over-the-top they are being that means that despite the fact that they are exhausting more often than not, I am never tired of them.
So I guess that this is the end of the beginning…the end of my first year of teaching, and the beginning of the next installment for me, with new students, new subjects and new challenges.
I am more than ready to face them all!
(Well…maybe after Christmas!)
Monday, December 06, 2004
Blogging on
I guess I haven't really blogged for a while for a couple of reasons. One, I have been busy writing reports and beginning my planning for next year, and two, because I seem to have this idea that anything that I put in the blog has to be profound (or at least mildly worthwhile!). I think that I really should get over the idea of only writing down those things that I think are profound otherwise I might only blog once a year!
Anyway - news with me - Finished reports last week and started cleaning my desk. It really is amazing how much crap you can accumulate in 1 year, and how many places you can find to put it that are out of the way. It took me a couple of hours just to sort out all of the mess, decide what needed to be kept and then discard or file. I am the sort of person who hoardes almost everything (I still have school work from primary school (and most of it at that!)). But now that I have a desk at school that needs to be a functional work space as well as a storage area, I need to be a bit more ruthless. I am already running out of room, and now that I am taking year 12 History, I am adding a whole new array of books to my shelves.
The only thing that is certain for next year when it comes to my allotment is that I will be taking one of the Year 12 Revolutions classes. I have started re-teaching myself the content (I did the subject as a year 11 student in 1997) and am beginning to work out how I will present the information to the students. It is actually quite exciting, because for the first time since I have started teaching I will have a set content to teach, rather than themes and novels and issues.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't place History above English in terms of enjoyment or in terms of which subject is best, it will just be a new challenge for me, but one that I am looking forward to. In a way, the factual content makes History easier to teach because it follows a more linear pattern than studying an english text.
School is interesting at the moment. The Year 7's and 8's are high as kites because school is nearly finished (not until next Tuesday for them mind you) and all they want to do is make noise and carry on like a pack of crazies! I have to find ways to try and harness their energy and focus it but all they want to know is whether the work we are doing now will be assessed. How many more times can I hear the line "if it's not being marked then what's the point in doing it?"
The Year 10's and 11's have been finished for quite a while now, but are back today and for some of the week doing their orientation for next year. It is really nice to have my senior students back in the school, because they are all coming up to have a chat and a laugh (and to tease me because we still have a week and a half of school!) I certainly would not like to teach in a junior school - i enjoy the balance that the seniors give you. I also took a year 11 orientation english class with the year 10s today and they were so quiet! Don't think that will last much past the first lesson of next year!
As I am sitting here amongst the rubble that I have dumped on my desk during today, i am looking at the inch thick layer of dust on my shelves and thinking that perhaps a little more than filing is in order! In fact maybe I should be doing that now...
Anyway - news with me - Finished reports last week and started cleaning my desk. It really is amazing how much crap you can accumulate in 1 year, and how many places you can find to put it that are out of the way. It took me a couple of hours just to sort out all of the mess, decide what needed to be kept and then discard or file. I am the sort of person who hoardes almost everything (I still have school work from primary school (and most of it at that!)). But now that I have a desk at school that needs to be a functional work space as well as a storage area, I need to be a bit more ruthless. I am already running out of room, and now that I am taking year 12 History, I am adding a whole new array of books to my shelves.
The only thing that is certain for next year when it comes to my allotment is that I will be taking one of the Year 12 Revolutions classes. I have started re-teaching myself the content (I did the subject as a year 11 student in 1997) and am beginning to work out how I will present the information to the students. It is actually quite exciting, because for the first time since I have started teaching I will have a set content to teach, rather than themes and novels and issues.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't place History above English in terms of enjoyment or in terms of which subject is best, it will just be a new challenge for me, but one that I am looking forward to. In a way, the factual content makes History easier to teach because it follows a more linear pattern than studying an english text.
School is interesting at the moment. The Year 7's and 8's are high as kites because school is nearly finished (not until next Tuesday for them mind you) and all they want to do is make noise and carry on like a pack of crazies! I have to find ways to try and harness their energy and focus it but all they want to know is whether the work we are doing now will be assessed. How many more times can I hear the line "if it's not being marked then what's the point in doing it?"
The Year 10's and 11's have been finished for quite a while now, but are back today and for some of the week doing their orientation for next year. It is really nice to have my senior students back in the school, because they are all coming up to have a chat and a laugh (and to tease me because we still have a week and a half of school!) I certainly would not like to teach in a junior school - i enjoy the balance that the seniors give you. I also took a year 11 orientation english class with the year 10s today and they were so quiet! Don't think that will last much past the first lesson of next year!
As I am sitting here amongst the rubble that I have dumped on my desk during today, i am looking at the inch thick layer of dust on my shelves and thinking that perhaps a little more than filing is in order! In fact maybe I should be doing that now...
Monday, November 22, 2004
Procrastination
I am sitting here at the end of another school day trying to think of something to distract me from reports and what better than to pour my brain out to a computer screen! It seems that so much can happen in one school week that sometimes you don't really have time to think.
I am learning also that schools can be unpredictable places to work and just when you think that you know what your teaching allotment will be for the following year, everything changes. From the beginning of my time here, although I was hired as an English teacher, I have made it known that History is my other method and that I would like to take on some History as well next year. My KLA manager has been priming me for a Year 12 English class for the last half of this year, and I was really looking forward to it. The only teacher at this school that takes Year 12 History also takes Year 12 International Studies, and therefore, next year, was going to have 4 Year 12 classes next year. I was getting myself ready for Year 12 english next year, and then would try to get in some Year 12 History as well the following year. Just when I thought that my allotment was totally sorted, the History teacher has got a new position as Head of History at another school, leaving the school in panic mode because there is not really anyone to take his place. I have been asked to do one Year 12 History, and if a new staff member cannot be hired, I will be taking on both of the Year 12 History classes.
The prospect is really exciting, but not without its problems. One, I had really started thinking and planning for a Year 12 English next year, and am disappointed that I may not get to take it. Two, if a new staff member is hired to take the History with me, then I will be working with someone that I do not know and do not necessarily get along with.
And at this stage everything is still up in the air. If I only take 1 Yr 12 History, I might be persuaded to take a Year 12 English as well, thereby doubling my preparation.
I know that whatever happens, the support will be there to get me through, including the support of the History teacher who is leaving. He is going to spend a couple of days with me helping me plan and passing on the textbooks. He is also more than happy to be in close contact with me throughout the year.
So I have gone from an allotment of 1 Year 12 English, 1 Year 11 English, 1 Year 7 English, 1 Year 8 English and a Year 7 History
to an allotment of possibly 2 Year 12 History classes, 1 Year 11 English, a Year 7 English, and maybe something small like a Year 7 History.
Interesting.
I sort of like knowing what is going on, but I won't know probably won't know for another week. At least I have been told that I will have at least one History class so I can begin to plan.
I had a phonecall from VATE today about being involved in a beginning teachers conference that they have going on next year (thanks Scott!) and it sounds like a really interesting opportunity to share my feelings and experiences as a first year out teacher. I would love to get more involved in VATE, both in terms of being involved in conferences and that sort of thing, but I would also like to be doing some more writing. I have been to a few good PD days this year and it really makes me keen to be as innovative as I can. Just the chance to share ideas and techniques with other teachers is exciting. There seems to be, to a large extent, a lack of discussion about actual teaching methods and games and techniques to make the classroom more interesting. No two teachers approach the same content in the same way and no two teachers present it to the students in the same way, but it seems as though we presume that everyone teaches the way that we do. Maybe there is a fear of sharing. I wonder why?
Anyway, I have probably pondered enough today and the reports are no closer to being finished!
I am learning also that schools can be unpredictable places to work and just when you think that you know what your teaching allotment will be for the following year, everything changes. From the beginning of my time here, although I was hired as an English teacher, I have made it known that History is my other method and that I would like to take on some History as well next year. My KLA manager has been priming me for a Year 12 English class for the last half of this year, and I was really looking forward to it. The only teacher at this school that takes Year 12 History also takes Year 12 International Studies, and therefore, next year, was going to have 4 Year 12 classes next year. I was getting myself ready for Year 12 english next year, and then would try to get in some Year 12 History as well the following year. Just when I thought that my allotment was totally sorted, the History teacher has got a new position as Head of History at another school, leaving the school in panic mode because there is not really anyone to take his place. I have been asked to do one Year 12 History, and if a new staff member cannot be hired, I will be taking on both of the Year 12 History classes.
The prospect is really exciting, but not without its problems. One, I had really started thinking and planning for a Year 12 English next year, and am disappointed that I may not get to take it. Two, if a new staff member is hired to take the History with me, then I will be working with someone that I do not know and do not necessarily get along with.
And at this stage everything is still up in the air. If I only take 1 Yr 12 History, I might be persuaded to take a Year 12 English as well, thereby doubling my preparation.
I know that whatever happens, the support will be there to get me through, including the support of the History teacher who is leaving. He is going to spend a couple of days with me helping me plan and passing on the textbooks. He is also more than happy to be in close contact with me throughout the year.
So I have gone from an allotment of 1 Year 12 English, 1 Year 11 English, 1 Year 7 English, 1 Year 8 English and a Year 7 History
to an allotment of possibly 2 Year 12 History classes, 1 Year 11 English, a Year 7 English, and maybe something small like a Year 7 History.
Interesting.
I sort of like knowing what is going on, but I won't know probably won't know for another week. At least I have been told that I will have at least one History class so I can begin to plan.
I had a phonecall from VATE today about being involved in a beginning teachers conference that they have going on next year (thanks Scott!) and it sounds like a really interesting opportunity to share my feelings and experiences as a first year out teacher. I would love to get more involved in VATE, both in terms of being involved in conferences and that sort of thing, but I would also like to be doing some more writing. I have been to a few good PD days this year and it really makes me keen to be as innovative as I can. Just the chance to share ideas and techniques with other teachers is exciting. There seems to be, to a large extent, a lack of discussion about actual teaching methods and games and techniques to make the classroom more interesting. No two teachers approach the same content in the same way and no two teachers present it to the students in the same way, but it seems as though we presume that everyone teaches the way that we do. Maybe there is a fear of sharing. I wonder why?
Anyway, I have probably pondered enough today and the reports are no closer to being finished!
Saturday, November 06, 2004
A window to next year
Due to the fact that my Year 11's have finished and my literacy support student was not at school, yesterday I only taught 2 periods - and the first two of the day at that! Instead of being disappointed at this lack of class time, I actually started planning for next year. I know at this time of the year it might seem a bit odd to say that I started planning for next year, but I am actually really excited about next year. I guess that it will be like a new beginning in a lot of ways, but with familiar scenery and subject matter. I know that I will be having at least 1 Year 7 English class next year ( I had 2 this year) and so I have gone back to the beginning of this year in my mind to work out what I would do differently next year. It is funny to look back on what I did - all perfectly okay lessons, but I remember how I felt during the lessons. I was so new in the first week of this year, that I was learning as much if not more than my little scared year 7's were!
I was juggling planning with teaching with learning about the school and the discipline policy and the bell times and all the other things that you have to deal with in a new job, let alone a teaching position.
But I have been there and done that, and nothing is as hard as your first time doing something new. I am so much more confident than I was at this time last year, and so much more relaxed about the year to come. At this time last year I had just finished uni, and I had been hired by my school already, but I really had no idea what to expect.
I think I have come a long way in a year. It is easy to forget just how big an adjustment a new career is, and I think most of the time, because I just get on with it, people forget that I am new and that I might not really know what the hell they are talking about!
There has not been a single day this year, even when my year 8's were hanging from the rafters or when a lesson just really didn't work when I thought that I was in the wrong career. No matter what has happened during the course of this year, I have known all along with certainty that this is what I want to be doing with my life at this point in time, and that I will hopefully continue to love the job for many more years.
I was juggling planning with teaching with learning about the school and the discipline policy and the bell times and all the other things that you have to deal with in a new job, let alone a teaching position.
But I have been there and done that, and nothing is as hard as your first time doing something new. I am so much more confident than I was at this time last year, and so much more relaxed about the year to come. At this time last year I had just finished uni, and I had been hired by my school already, but I really had no idea what to expect.
I think I have come a long way in a year. It is easy to forget just how big an adjustment a new career is, and I think most of the time, because I just get on with it, people forget that I am new and that I might not really know what the hell they are talking about!
There has not been a single day this year, even when my year 8's were hanging from the rafters or when a lesson just really didn't work when I thought that I was in the wrong career. No matter what has happened during the course of this year, I have known all along with certainty that this is what I want to be doing with my life at this point in time, and that I will hopefully continue to love the job for many more years.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Sitting here a bit frustrated at the end of another school day. The problem is that I don't know who to be frustrated with; the year 7 student with a reading and writing level of a grade 3 and the concentration span of a gnat, or the school system or that has thus-far failed him and continues to do so? This student has completed virtually no written work, or work of any other kind in any of his subjects. He is on literacy support, which appears to be helping him slightly with his reading but not with his spelling or grammar or writing in general, and the only way that he seems to do any written work is if it is a creative writing piece and he has the use of a computer.
Should I be angry, that this student is so weak and yet refuses to concentrate and make an attempt on his work, or is it not his fault, because, by the age of 12 he should have a skill base to draw on which he somehow has missed? I am concerned that this student will just become lost in the system and that he will leave school illiterate. He is not concerned because he is convinced that he will enter a trade when school has finished, but I would like to think that he will at least leave school with basic written communication skills. I don't think that enough has been done to enable this student to function. Has he been failed by his primary school for promoting him (after already keeping him down one year) from primary to secondary, or are we not helping in secondary school by continuing to promote him through the year levels despite a lack of work and a lack of interest in school in general?
On the other end of the spectrum is one of my senior students who is extremely capable, and manages to get fantastic marks with minimum effort. I questioned him today about why he does not put any effort into his work and he told me not to worry, because it wasn't just my class, but it was all of his classes. I asked him why he is content with doing the bare minimum and he told me that he is not interested in going to uni, he wants to do a tafe course (which is great if he knows what he wants to do) but he believes that because he doesn't need to go to uni, getting good marks is irrelevant to him, and therefore he does not try.
I suggested to him that wasn't it worth trying to be the best that he could be in everything he does rather than to spend his last couple of years of school mucking around and being bored? I told him about how I had had 2 part time jobs whilst I was studying, one after the other, and even though I knew that I was not going to be spending the rest of my life in retail positions, I did my best for the time I was there, and that this benefitted both my development, and the development of the company that I was working for. I don't understand how he can make a decision that he does not need school, that marks are irrelevant and that he is not going to challenge himself in any way at school!
Why does this make me so frustrated? Is it because I see other students trying really hard and yet still struggling? Is it because I want to see all of my students being the best that they can be? Or am I just wanting him to be interested and doing well because it feeds my ego to think that he is enjoying my class? Maybe I feel that he is taking his intelligence for granted? Am I expecting too much from a 16 year old? HELP!
(i did warn you there would be ranting!)
Should I be angry, that this student is so weak and yet refuses to concentrate and make an attempt on his work, or is it not his fault, because, by the age of 12 he should have a skill base to draw on which he somehow has missed? I am concerned that this student will just become lost in the system and that he will leave school illiterate. He is not concerned because he is convinced that he will enter a trade when school has finished, but I would like to think that he will at least leave school with basic written communication skills. I don't think that enough has been done to enable this student to function. Has he been failed by his primary school for promoting him (after already keeping him down one year) from primary to secondary, or are we not helping in secondary school by continuing to promote him through the year levels despite a lack of work and a lack of interest in school in general?
On the other end of the spectrum is one of my senior students who is extremely capable, and manages to get fantastic marks with minimum effort. I questioned him today about why he does not put any effort into his work and he told me not to worry, because it wasn't just my class, but it was all of his classes. I asked him why he is content with doing the bare minimum and he told me that he is not interested in going to uni, he wants to do a tafe course (which is great if he knows what he wants to do) but he believes that because he doesn't need to go to uni, getting good marks is irrelevant to him, and therefore he does not try.
I suggested to him that wasn't it worth trying to be the best that he could be in everything he does rather than to spend his last couple of years of school mucking around and being bored? I told him about how I had had 2 part time jobs whilst I was studying, one after the other, and even though I knew that I was not going to be spending the rest of my life in retail positions, I did my best for the time I was there, and that this benefitted both my development, and the development of the company that I was working for. I don't understand how he can make a decision that he does not need school, that marks are irrelevant and that he is not going to challenge himself in any way at school!
Why does this make me so frustrated? Is it because I see other students trying really hard and yet still struggling? Is it because I want to see all of my students being the best that they can be? Or am I just wanting him to be interested and doing well because it feeds my ego to think that he is enjoying my class? Maybe I feel that he is taking his intelligence for granted? Am I expecting too much from a 16 year old? HELP!
(i did warn you there would be ranting!)
Monday, November 01, 2004
So young but so old!
This year really seems to have flown and I guess it is because it is a year of firsts for me; first teaching position, first classes, moving out of home. Already it is time to say goodbye to one of my first classes, my Year 11s. I think because the year 11s are my only senior class I have become closer to them in a lot of ways than I have with my Year 7s and 8s, and it sounds a bit sad, but I will actually miss them.
Sitting watching the Year 12's final assembly a couple of weeks ago made me think about what I will be like when my first lot of Year 7's from this year are finishing school. I will feel so old and yet I will only be 28! I think I will be sad enough when it is my Year 11s from this year leaving next year, and I only had one year of teaching them!
The upside to the year 11s leaving so early is that I will only have 3 classes once they are gone, which is quite exciting. It will allow me to start planning and organising myself for next year. I really want to be a lot more organised next year than I was this year. I guess I know the things that I think worked and those that didn't and so I will be using the next few weeks to try and rework my units of work so that I am happy with the outcome and so that the job is getting done.
Although, really, with teaching, what works with one class doesn't necessarily work with another so it will be interesting to see what my classes are like next year.
Well I guess that one ending (with my year 11s) will lead me to next years new beginning.
Sitting watching the Year 12's final assembly a couple of weeks ago made me think about what I will be like when my first lot of Year 7's from this year are finishing school. I will feel so old and yet I will only be 28! I think I will be sad enough when it is my Year 11s from this year leaving next year, and I only had one year of teaching them!
The upside to the year 11s leaving so early is that I will only have 3 classes once they are gone, which is quite exciting. It will allow me to start planning and organising myself for next year. I really want to be a lot more organised next year than I was this year. I guess I know the things that I think worked and those that didn't and so I will be using the next few weeks to try and rework my units of work so that I am happy with the outcome and so that the job is getting done.
Although, really, with teaching, what works with one class doesn't necessarily work with another so it will be interesting to see what my classes are like next year.
Well I guess that one ending (with my year 11s) will lead me to next years new beginning.
Friday, October 29, 2004
The Beginning
Well I guess I have finally taken the plunge and begun blogging. I am hoping that having an outlet to reflect, rant or just crap on about not much in particular will spare my friends and colleagues from having to put up with the reflection, ranting and crapping on that usually comes out of my mouth!
Not really sure what it is that I want to say today other than I have really been thinking about what it is that I am doing at work, and where I would like to be next year. I guess with my Year 11 class finishing next week and my first year of teaching wrapping up, I am reflecting on this year, and beginning to look toward planning for next year.
I feel that in a way I became complacent this year (as much as a first year teacher can be complacent) and as I am such a perfectionist, I don't feel that I did the best job that I can do. Resolution for next year - plan harder, work harder, play harder.
I want to make a difference, be doing new and wonderful things and I want to develop and enhance those things that I have done this year that have made a difference. First order of the day for next year is technology, beginning with blogging. Technology in the classroom, and its use in the classroom to enhance literacy both in english and other subjects is something that I am interested in. I would like to find more ways to incorporate these technologies into my classroom. Not in a way that will make the technology the focus of the lesson, but in a way that will allow the technology to enhance and advance the learning that would already be going on.
In order to make these changes, I also have to tackle the inevitable timetabling problems that occur with computer labs in schools, and the lack of resources. Fortunately i have a supportive school and feel confident that the administration will be welcoming of any changes I would like to make. Have a colleague who is more technically minded than me so we might get together and try to write some curriculum together.
I would also like to PD myself to death so that I enhance my own skills when it comes to technology. Although I am interested in ICTs, I am guilty of not knowing as much as I would like to. This in turn frustrates me when I don't know how to do something I think would be great. We really don't know the full resources available to us until we get out there and seek them out.
Anyway, I have successfully wasted the last 2 periods on a Friday afternoon and I don't even feel guilty! Now for period 7 down at the pub...
Not really sure what it is that I want to say today other than I have really been thinking about what it is that I am doing at work, and where I would like to be next year. I guess with my Year 11 class finishing next week and my first year of teaching wrapping up, I am reflecting on this year, and beginning to look toward planning for next year.
I feel that in a way I became complacent this year (as much as a first year teacher can be complacent) and as I am such a perfectionist, I don't feel that I did the best job that I can do. Resolution for next year - plan harder, work harder, play harder.
I want to make a difference, be doing new and wonderful things and I want to develop and enhance those things that I have done this year that have made a difference. First order of the day for next year is technology, beginning with blogging. Technology in the classroom, and its use in the classroom to enhance literacy both in english and other subjects is something that I am interested in. I would like to find more ways to incorporate these technologies into my classroom. Not in a way that will make the technology the focus of the lesson, but in a way that will allow the technology to enhance and advance the learning that would already be going on.
In order to make these changes, I also have to tackle the inevitable timetabling problems that occur with computer labs in schools, and the lack of resources. Fortunately i have a supportive school and feel confident that the administration will be welcoming of any changes I would like to make. Have a colleague who is more technically minded than me so we might get together and try to write some curriculum together.
I would also like to PD myself to death so that I enhance my own skills when it comes to technology. Although I am interested in ICTs, I am guilty of not knowing as much as I would like to. This in turn frustrates me when I don't know how to do something I think would be great. We really don't know the full resources available to us until we get out there and seek them out.
Anyway, I have successfully wasted the last 2 periods on a Friday afternoon and I don't even feel guilty! Now for period 7 down at the pub...
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