Work at the moment is hard work. Part of what I love the most about my current role is the fact that I get to truly have a say in the running of the school and the leadership team do just that- lead the school, determining much of the direction, detail and vision of the school. It is so energising and affirming to be doing a role that not only has responsibility but that also has true consultation and collaboration and creativity attached to it. I am implicitly trusted to do my job - there is no-one looking over my shoulder and checking or questioning or controlling. I am given the ability to run my own faculty, design innovative curriculum from scratch and incorporate technology as I see fit. I feel like I have been given a license to fly this year - and it is amazing how much you achieve when you are given the tools and the freedom to imagine what it is that you wish to create.
In the 6 months I have been at this school I feel I have undergone an amazing journey. When I got the job I felt like perhaps I was a fraud and surely at some point they would work out that I didn't know what I was doing and kick me out. I truly believe though, that it is not until you really venture out of your depth that you are forced to swim and that these are the times that we see what we are really capable of. I never really felt stifled at my old school, but now I realise that I was so bound by the institutions that had been set up over years and that I felt that I didn't have the power to change. I dreamed of big things, and even put in place some substantial changes, but the fact remained that much of what happened in my old school had happened the same way for years before, and would continue to happen the same way for years to come, because people were not willing to change, and despite the flood of younger staff, the ceiling never moved and the innovation was never complete. Not that I think that innovation is ever an end point, or something that can be achieved and then moved on from, but when you starting point is the past and not even the present then how can you imagine a different future?
The liberation I have experienced at this school is complete. A liberation from a cage I never realised I was in. One where I maintained the status-quo and didn't try to be really different because I didn't see that I could be. Now I feel like all the walls are down and I am able to imagine the best, most interesting, innovative, engaging ways to deliver curriculum and to design curriculum because I have the technology, freedom and support at my fingertips. This school wants me to be innovative and enables it and my growth in this short space of time has shown the power of autonomous leadership in opening up new worlds to staff.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Direction
Today we had a couple of researchers come out from Deakin to do a study on Innovation in schools. The principal nominated me as one of the people who would be interviewed for the study and it was actually a turning point for me in terms of how I am thinking about what we are doing at this school and how we are creating a culture and curriculum and teams and relationships. It is amazing the things you articulate when asked some interesting questions about leadership, curriculum, students, expectations, etc. I will post the transcript up here later (once I receive it) because I really want to record this point in time and how I am thinking and feeling about things and about what we are doing at this school. Here are some of the things I was thinking about:
What is it that creates a culture at a school?
What creates highly aspirational staff/students?
How does leadership impact on these things and create the feeling of autonomy and ownership and excitement?
Why am I loving my job despite the workload and why am I so energised by it?
What is it that is giving me that energy?
This conversation really got me thinking about my Masters next year. I have always wanted to do further study. The idea of academia appeals to me but I was thinking of doing a Masters in School Leadership which is entirely course work because I was thinking that maybe that would be a good way to get back in to the study. The problem is that although I am interested in Leadership I don't really think that is what drives me and so I have been worried that if I start a Masters I will not enjoy it and it will seem like a chore rather than an opportunity to really explore what I love about what I am doing. So I have been really undecided about what I should do and asking around for ideas because although I am interested in the idea of research, I haven't had a clear idea of what that would look like for me. What would I research? What am I interested enough in to sustain me for a few years?
Today's interview has really got me thinking. Deb was really good at synthesising the things I was saying to her and said that a lot of what I was talking about was exploring different elements of a teacher's identity and how I am operating in this environment in a whole lot of different ways. This idea interests me. I feel so passionately about this school and what we are doing here that I want in some way to explore that and unpack that and share the lessons we are learning with whoever wants to listen. The opportunities and the thinking and the creating that goes in to designing and building a school from the ground up are so involved and exciting and interesting that I think there is a whole lot to say.
So I think I still have a lot of thinking to go before I work out what it is that I want to do but I feel like this discussion has set me on the right path and got me thinking about the right things and stopped me thinking about a Masters in a way that is so theoretical and abstract and really thinking about what I am doing in my work life at the moment that I could be really examining and thinking about and sharing. I want to research something that interests me and I want the writing that I do to be more narrative than academic - readable, accessible and an interesting insight in to what is going on in schools where innovation is a mandate and a lifestyle not an option!
So much to think about. I think step one is to post more to here, thinking about what we are doing in the classroom and to really start filtering down what it is that I am really interested in exploring. I will also be contacting my university friends for advice and focus and my principal to work out what my options are here!
I feel even more excited about where I am at the moment than I already was. My whole experience this year has taught me that nothing is more exciting to me than the freedom and autonomy and creativity that I am afforded at this school. This is something I want to nurture even further.
What is it that creates a culture at a school?
What creates highly aspirational staff/students?
How does leadership impact on these things and create the feeling of autonomy and ownership and excitement?
Why am I loving my job despite the workload and why am I so energised by it?
What is it that is giving me that energy?
This conversation really got me thinking about my Masters next year. I have always wanted to do further study. The idea of academia appeals to me but I was thinking of doing a Masters in School Leadership which is entirely course work because I was thinking that maybe that would be a good way to get back in to the study. The problem is that although I am interested in Leadership I don't really think that is what drives me and so I have been worried that if I start a Masters I will not enjoy it and it will seem like a chore rather than an opportunity to really explore what I love about what I am doing. So I have been really undecided about what I should do and asking around for ideas because although I am interested in the idea of research, I haven't had a clear idea of what that would look like for me. What would I research? What am I interested enough in to sustain me for a few years?
Today's interview has really got me thinking. Deb was really good at synthesising the things I was saying to her and said that a lot of what I was talking about was exploring different elements of a teacher's identity and how I am operating in this environment in a whole lot of different ways. This idea interests me. I feel so passionately about this school and what we are doing here that I want in some way to explore that and unpack that and share the lessons we are learning with whoever wants to listen. The opportunities and the thinking and the creating that goes in to designing and building a school from the ground up are so involved and exciting and interesting that I think there is a whole lot to say.
So I think I still have a lot of thinking to go before I work out what it is that I want to do but I feel like this discussion has set me on the right path and got me thinking about the right things and stopped me thinking about a Masters in a way that is so theoretical and abstract and really thinking about what I am doing in my work life at the moment that I could be really examining and thinking about and sharing. I want to research something that interests me and I want the writing that I do to be more narrative than academic - readable, accessible and an interesting insight in to what is going on in schools where innovation is a mandate and a lifestyle not an option!
So much to think about. I think step one is to post more to here, thinking about what we are doing in the classroom and to really start filtering down what it is that I am really interested in exploring. I will also be contacting my university friends for advice and focus and my principal to work out what my options are here!
I feel even more excited about where I am at the moment than I already was. My whole experience this year has taught me that nothing is more exciting to me than the freedom and autonomy and creativity that I am afforded at this school. This is something I want to nurture even further.
Monday, August 09, 2010
The Ultranet
Yesterday every government school in Victoria had a pupil-free day in order to launch the Ultranet to staff and teach them how to use it. I am one of the Ultranet trainers at my school. Although we are currently using the features of Google Apps heavily in our school and are quite happy with the capabilities, we wanted to train our staff yesterday in the ultranet so that we can have a detailed discussion about how we might use it. The phase two rollout of the Ultranet will have student tracking and assessment capabilities that are potentially more advanced than what we are using now, so we wanted the staff to be Ultranet literate by the time this next rollout occurs. At JMSS we are in the lucky position that most staff are highly computer literate and our daily work includes heavy ICT use. The students all have tablet computers that allow them to access any online resources and lesson plans wherever they are and much of our curriculum and staff and student collaboration occurs online.
Unfortunately, as most of us predicted, the system fell over at around 9am when most of the teachers in the state attempted to log in. Although this was a much-needed capacity test for the system, around the state many a "plan B" was unveiled and rolled out to fill the Ultranet gap. In my 'plan B' I had decided to show a couple of the Common Craft videos on Social Networking and Social media, and then discuss what Twitter is and how we could use it as a professional networking tool and to communicate and interact with students.
This session was a big success. The staff were not asked to join twitter, I merely discussed how I use it and what I think it is good for, however as I was talking, most of the staff in the room joined up and starting contributing to the discussion. In fact, JMSS now has such a twitter presence that I think I have created a monster!
Throughout the day I had been following twitter discussions around the Ultranet as I find that twitter is often very useful as a news source and generally quicker than most other communication channels. The beauty of the discussion around the ultranet yesterday on Twitter is that it put me in touch with a whole lot of Victorian educators - something that will help expand my professional online network. For me this was a big plus because part of the way I use twitter is as a way of keeping up with what is going on in education, however it is not easy to find good teachers to follow. I feel like that has been the biggest gift that yesterday gave me.
The other upside for this day was the chance to do some collaborating as a group. Any school who did not have a plan B that was technology and pedagogy focussed really missed an opportunity to get some serious thinking and planning done around what the Ultranet means for Victorian schools and how technology can be better used to enhance teaching and learning. For many schools who have not had the access or the know-how to access technology in their teaching, the Ultranet means big changes and more options. That is something that the media have failed to acknowledge in their reports today about the failure of yesterday's training day. They have also failed to acknowledge the hard work that went in to many school programs for the day, and the learning that came out of it.
Unfortunately, as most of us predicted, the system fell over at around 9am when most of the teachers in the state attempted to log in. Although this was a much-needed capacity test for the system, around the state many a "plan B" was unveiled and rolled out to fill the Ultranet gap. In my 'plan B' I had decided to show a couple of the Common Craft videos on Social Networking and Social media, and then discuss what Twitter is and how we could use it as a professional networking tool and to communicate and interact with students.
This session was a big success. The staff were not asked to join twitter, I merely discussed how I use it and what I think it is good for, however as I was talking, most of the staff in the room joined up and starting contributing to the discussion. In fact, JMSS now has such a twitter presence that I think I have created a monster!
Throughout the day I had been following twitter discussions around the Ultranet as I find that twitter is often very useful as a news source and generally quicker than most other communication channels. The beauty of the discussion around the ultranet yesterday on Twitter is that it put me in touch with a whole lot of Victorian educators - something that will help expand my professional online network. For me this was a big plus because part of the way I use twitter is as a way of keeping up with what is going on in education, however it is not easy to find good teachers to follow. I feel like that has been the biggest gift that yesterday gave me.
The other upside for this day was the chance to do some collaborating as a group. Any school who did not have a plan B that was technology and pedagogy focussed really missed an opportunity to get some serious thinking and planning done around what the Ultranet means for Victorian schools and how technology can be better used to enhance teaching and learning. For many schools who have not had the access or the know-how to access technology in their teaching, the Ultranet means big changes and more options. That is something that the media have failed to acknowledge in their reports today about the failure of yesterday's training day. They have also failed to acknowledge the hard work that went in to many school programs for the day, and the learning that came out of it.
Once again I have been slack...
So this is a post that talks about some of the things I have been thinking about over the last month. Probably the most enlightening thing to happen this term has been the Presentation I went to by Andrew Douch who is a leader in innovative teaching practices and creating online resources. Check out his website by clicking on his name. I have been following Andrew for a while but I felt at my old school that creating online resources would not be as useful because the students had virtually no access to computers in the classroom. Due to the fact that at JMSS we have a one to one tablet program, I feel like I can finally do all those things that I ever wanted to in terms of ICT. The fact that we are working in a team teaching, open plan learning space also means that it is even more important to steer away from chalk and talk and to use the classroom times for interaction and creativity and communication.
So I started creating online video-tutorials in order to start taking some of the content out of the classroom and in to the students homework or down time. The Andrew Douch presentation was really just in time for me because it helped to give me a context to what I was doing and to focus in on not only what I wanted to get out of the project but also what was possible to get out of the project. It made me think more critically about how I want the pedagogy of my english classes to run and has really set the agenda for me in terms of future directions for English at this school.
Here is what I'm thinking:
- All the content based "chalk and talk stuff" will now be turned in to video tutorial podcasts to be posted online. This includes topics like "annotating news articles" "how to write a language analysis essay" "writing persuasively" etc.
I have already created 5 different tutorials.
- Students will be expected to watch these tutorials as "pre-learning" ie, before they come to class.
- Classes will be spent with interactive activities, communication, group work, presentations, and creative pursuits - things that students can't do on their own.
- We are also building in more opportunities for one on one conferencing - where students get to bring in what they are working on and get their teacher's help and advice.
- We are also working on creating workshops that students can withdraw in to during work time if they need extra help with certain elements of the content.
All of these strategies will help students to work at their own pace, watch and rewatch presentations if they need to (saving you from answering the same questions over and over from students who were not listening), interact with each other and the teacher in a way that best suits them, ask more questions, get more individual time with the teacher, and be more responsible for their own learning. It also claims back the classroom from the content a bit too.
Of course the downside is that these tutorials take time to create but with any basic screen capture software and good content, the payoff is that you create it once and it is there for years. Each year we can build on the information that is there, rather than recreating the wheel or repeating the same information time and time again. As the years go on, students have a solid bank of tutorials to draw from, something that helps them get the extra reinforcement that they need from their learning experiences.
The beauty of this also is that you know that each teacher is contributing to the creation of resources and that despite who their classroom teacher is, the students all have access to the very best lessons and advice from ALL of the English teachers at the school, something that you cannot say in most places.
It will take away any element of competition from between teachers and classrooms because everyone is working for the good of the whole cohort and not their individual class.
So that is my utopian classroom vision for English at JMSS. I feel that although there is still much to be done, we are well on our way to creating a dynamic, interesting and relevant curriculum that engages kids and meets their needs when and where they need them. Now, back to it!
So I started creating online video-tutorials in order to start taking some of the content out of the classroom and in to the students homework or down time. The Andrew Douch presentation was really just in time for me because it helped to give me a context to what I was doing and to focus in on not only what I wanted to get out of the project but also what was possible to get out of the project. It made me think more critically about how I want the pedagogy of my english classes to run and has really set the agenda for me in terms of future directions for English at this school.
Here is what I'm thinking:
- All the content based "chalk and talk stuff" will now be turned in to video tutorial podcasts to be posted online. This includes topics like "annotating news articles" "how to write a language analysis essay" "writing persuasively" etc.
I have already created 5 different tutorials.
- Students will be expected to watch these tutorials as "pre-learning" ie, before they come to class.
- Classes will be spent with interactive activities, communication, group work, presentations, and creative pursuits - things that students can't do on their own.
- We are also building in more opportunities for one on one conferencing - where students get to bring in what they are working on and get their teacher's help and advice.
- We are also working on creating workshops that students can withdraw in to during work time if they need extra help with certain elements of the content.
All of these strategies will help students to work at their own pace, watch and rewatch presentations if they need to (saving you from answering the same questions over and over from students who were not listening), interact with each other and the teacher in a way that best suits them, ask more questions, get more individual time with the teacher, and be more responsible for their own learning. It also claims back the classroom from the content a bit too.
Of course the downside is that these tutorials take time to create but with any basic screen capture software and good content, the payoff is that you create it once and it is there for years. Each year we can build on the information that is there, rather than recreating the wheel or repeating the same information time and time again. As the years go on, students have a solid bank of tutorials to draw from, something that helps them get the extra reinforcement that they need from their learning experiences.
The beauty of this also is that you know that each teacher is contributing to the creation of resources and that despite who their classroom teacher is, the students all have access to the very best lessons and advice from ALL of the English teachers at the school, something that you cannot say in most places.
It will take away any element of competition from between teachers and classrooms because everyone is working for the good of the whole cohort and not their individual class.
So that is my utopian classroom vision for English at JMSS. I feel that although there is still much to be done, we are well on our way to creating a dynamic, interesting and relevant curriculum that engages kids and meets their needs when and where they need them. Now, back to it!
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