Term 3 started with our official opening. 150 official guests, weeks of planning, the Minister for Education Bronwyn Pike and a bit of a circus really! We had to change our normal timetable to fit around the minister's schedule and the kids had a weird 'third-of-a-period' where they acted like they were doing something so that when the minister came through she could check out the sort of work we do at our school. Very surreal but an affirmation that we are an 'official' school and that everything we have worked hard for is coming together. Many special guest speakers and much food later, the kids finished off their period one classes and the hard work was done!
I feel like this term things are really coming together. I came down with the 'Man-Flu' (given to me by the special man in my life) in the last week of the holidays and I still have a bit of a mannish voice and 'snotty' nose a week and a half later, and it kind of put me behind schedule. Forced me to relax a bit though I guess!
So far this term (and by this term I mean in the last three days) I feel like I have really taken steps towards organising my time at work more efficiently. There is so much to do in a day and I felt a bit like I was playing catch up during first semester rather than taking the bull by the horns and being proactive. I think given the fact that we are in a new school and starting from scratch it has been easy to let some things fall by the wayside and my house leader duties certainly took a back seat to the more pressing issue of curriculum development. Some things that happened at the end of last term really bought the student management procedures to our attention so over the holidays the house leader team had a meeting where we came up with an abridged policies and procedures document for house leaders and classroom teachers to ensure that everyone knows what their responsibilities are in terms of student management and wellbeing. This way we know we have procedures in place so that kids won't slip through the cracks. We are now tracking, reporting, and pre-empting student issues with more rigour and a tighter process.
What I really love about this school is the way that the responsibility for student health and wellbeing is shared amongst our staff equally. Rather than having a top heavy process or one where two people are responsible for 200 kids, every staff member is a tutor who is responsible for the welfare of 10-13 kids and they are the first port-of-call for any issues. Escalated issues are then referred to the house leaders. I have scheduled time in my week where I do admin activities - following up student work and doing my attendance reports and chasing kids and this makes me feel more organised and also makes me use my time for efficiently. Instead of sitting around looking at an overwhelming pile of work and not knowing where to start, I now have a super detailed timetable and schedule and the time that isn't devoted to house stuff and meetings is devoted to curriculum development. I think this way I will be more efficient.
I have also put in to place some extra elements of the curriculum this term that will make it easier for me to track my students. Due to the fact that we have a one to one computer program, all of our curriculum documents are online and the students can access all their work from home or school. They have a Personal Learning Site of their own and they post all of their class work online. This stops us from having to collect and mark workbooks and we can access the work from home or school to check it. I have also added an extra column to the lesson plans titled "What should I be able to explain by the end of the lesson." The students are given 10mins at the end of each lesson to put up a blog post online that reflects on what they learnt in the lesson and explains the dot points under the "what should I be able to explain" column. I think it is a nice way for the students and staff to measure the student's level of understanding of the themes and ideas of the class. It will help us determine which areas of the content are problem areas for students and how we can cater our extra support sessions in class. In order to systematically track the kids I have timetabled in an extra period as part of our English meeting time where we can sit together and look at our students work and plan and chat about their progress.
I am excited by the curriculum we are creating and I guess it is all a bit of an experiment at this stage because it is something that I have not tried before. It is all about trying to get the balance of the classroom right when the classroom is an open space full of students. The aim is that with the digital resources online, teachers will be more free to run "just in time" workshops with students and extra support sessions in areas of need. That is the next layer I need to embed into the curriculum. Right now I should probably get off the computer and get back to finishing off these digital resources.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Yong Zhao - 21st Century Learning Skills Workshop
One of the other leading teachers and I went to a workshop in the city yesterday run through the innovations and excellence branch with renowned academic and educator Yong Zhao. I think that the point of the day was for this particular branch to work out what their next project would be and we were there to help them workshop ideas. Yong Zhao had some interesting things to say. I have been to plenty of sessions on 21st century learning in the last 5 or so years but some of the things he was saying were a little more left of centre. He was asking us to think about what knowledge we think is of most worth in this age of technology and information and suggesting that now that we are in a globalised world, and distance no longer defines us, what determines how well an adult will succeed in this global market is what you can give them that makes them worth more than the others who would cost less to pay. Companies will hire people from any where in the world if their labour is cheaper than somewhere else so it is not necessarily about qualifications any more but about what students have to offer.
Zhao believes that what matters in this global economy is
- diversity of talents
- creativity - not skills
- entrepreneurship
- passion
He believes we can encourage this in students through personalised learning - and by that I mean not the watered-down version that we have been attempting to do here for the last 10 years, but actual, personalised learning based on developing the students strengths and helping them reach their own personal life and career goals through resources and learning styles. No standardised, national curriculum with tests to check whether students have met pre-determined benchmark levels.
Interesting stuff that is so far removed from the current moves of education towards standardised, centralised testing and reporting.
This certainly raises questions and also provoked some ideas for me. I have been working these holidays on creating electronic "video" documents that work through the steps of language analysis in a way that covers the sorts of information I would normally chalk and talk. I will be providing students with these sorts of resources, and paper based resources and the learning from these documents can occur whenever and whereever they see fit. This means that during class-times I can run work-shops on the things that the students are struggling with and spent time with individual students working on their own particular concerns.
I am hoping that as the year progresses the english curriculum becomes more and more interactive and student focussed and self-paced like I always hoped it could be.
I will leave this post with a couple of questions posed by Yong Zhao:
What knowledge is of most worth? _Herbert Spencer 1859
Which human jobs should be replaced in schools?
What matters?
What strength does our school have that makes us different or unique?
How to we spread innovation?
What is the cost of high test scores? What do you lose?
How often do we trust out students?
Zhao believes that what matters in this global economy is
- diversity of talents
- creativity - not skills
- entrepreneurship
- passion
He believes we can encourage this in students through personalised learning - and by that I mean not the watered-down version that we have been attempting to do here for the last 10 years, but actual, personalised learning based on developing the students strengths and helping them reach their own personal life and career goals through resources and learning styles. No standardised, national curriculum with tests to check whether students have met pre-determined benchmark levels.
Interesting stuff that is so far removed from the current moves of education towards standardised, centralised testing and reporting.
This certainly raises questions and also provoked some ideas for me. I have been working these holidays on creating electronic "video" documents that work through the steps of language analysis in a way that covers the sorts of information I would normally chalk and talk. I will be providing students with these sorts of resources, and paper based resources and the learning from these documents can occur whenever and whereever they see fit. This means that during class-times I can run work-shops on the things that the students are struggling with and spent time with individual students working on their own particular concerns.
I am hoping that as the year progresses the english curriculum becomes more and more interactive and student focussed and self-paced like I always hoped it could be.
I will leave this post with a couple of questions posed by Yong Zhao:
What knowledge is of most worth? _Herbert Spencer 1859
Which human jobs should be replaced in schools?
What matters?
What strength does our school have that makes us different or unique?
How to we spread innovation?
What is the cost of high test scores? What do you lose?
How often do we trust out students?
Monday, June 28, 2010
Post 101 - getting lost
Apparently this is my 101st Blog at this site - it has only taken me 6 years to get there! I often feel like I get lost. Not that I lose my way really, but that I have an incredible ability to block out anything that I don't want to or have time to deal with. I can be focused on the next task at hand to the detriment of the whole picture sometimes. It happened in my first long term relationship- I blocked out the fact that I no longer wanted to be in the relationship in favour of addressing only the things in my life that were easy to deal with. I learnt the hard way then that that was not something that is sustainable. No matter what you decide to block out, inevitably it is still there when you come back to it- and may, in fact, have become worse.
At the moment I feel like I have dropped a few balls. Work for me is hectic but fantastic and I am focussing a lot of my energy on getting the job done. I come home at night, after 10 or 11 hours out of the house and I am tired and just want to sit on the couch like a vegetable. This bothers me though. It seems sometimes like I am living to work and not working to live and there needs to be more balance. A lot of the time I can't be bothered cooking dinner let alone preparing a packed lunch for school the next day and as a result we have been eating badly. I have put on over 5 kilos since the wedding a year ago and I really don't like it. I need to somehow find a balance between work and health and 'me' time because it is only going to get worse if I don't do something about it now.
I am trying to get back on track. I have organised to go swimming one night after work with a workmate. Another two nights a week I am supposed to go walking with another one of my colleagues. So it is just the diet really. I sat down, on this, the first day of my holidays, and planned out what I will eat for lunches and for snacks because these have been my biggest issue. I have made a shopping list and am currently trying to work up the motivation to get off the couch and go out and purchase said goods. I want to make the holidays my kick-start to a healthier lifestyle rather than a eat-fest which is what it can be if I don't watch it.
I also think that professionally I need to make this year at work about more than just surviving. I am already looking around for the next challenge but I think I really need to make sure that I am doing everything at work to the best of my ability before I start piling more work on myself. I have been thinking about doing a masters next year, partly just to give myself some concerted time to think and reflect on what I am doing and how I can improve. I seem to never make enough time for that these days. Maybe this blog is part of the answer. I will be having a chat these holidays with my boss about what he thinks I should do in terms of post-grad study and am doing some soul-searching myself about what is motivating me and what I want to get out of the next few years. I want to stop letting life pass me by and make some concerted decisions about where to next.
At the moment I feel like I have dropped a few balls. Work for me is hectic but fantastic and I am focussing a lot of my energy on getting the job done. I come home at night, after 10 or 11 hours out of the house and I am tired and just want to sit on the couch like a vegetable. This bothers me though. It seems sometimes like I am living to work and not working to live and there needs to be more balance. A lot of the time I can't be bothered cooking dinner let alone preparing a packed lunch for school the next day and as a result we have been eating badly. I have put on over 5 kilos since the wedding a year ago and I really don't like it. I need to somehow find a balance between work and health and 'me' time because it is only going to get worse if I don't do something about it now.
I am trying to get back on track. I have organised to go swimming one night after work with a workmate. Another two nights a week I am supposed to go walking with another one of my colleagues. So it is just the diet really. I sat down, on this, the first day of my holidays, and planned out what I will eat for lunches and for snacks because these have been my biggest issue. I have made a shopping list and am currently trying to work up the motivation to get off the couch and go out and purchase said goods. I want to make the holidays my kick-start to a healthier lifestyle rather than a eat-fest which is what it can be if I don't watch it.
I also think that professionally I need to make this year at work about more than just surviving. I am already looking around for the next challenge but I think I really need to make sure that I am doing everything at work to the best of my ability before I start piling more work on myself. I have been thinking about doing a masters next year, partly just to give myself some concerted time to think and reflect on what I am doing and how I can improve. I seem to never make enough time for that these days. Maybe this blog is part of the answer. I will be having a chat these holidays with my boss about what he thinks I should do in terms of post-grad study and am doing some soul-searching myself about what is motivating me and what I want to get out of the next few years. I want to stop letting life pass me by and make some concerted decisions about where to next.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
What do I want to know about English in an open plan learning space?
I have been asked to think about what I want to know about my English classes and what data I would like to collect regarding English in an open plan learning environment.
These are the things that I would like to know short term.
-What the students like about English
-How they think it could be better
-Do they feel we cater to their needs?
-Do they feel like they are cared about?
-What do they want to learn?
-Do they think we use the spaces effectively?
-How is English at JMSS different from at their old school?
I think I would also like to do a study that would tell us if we are adding value to the students over their time in English at JMSS. At this stage we don't have any real data about their potential and our potential to help them realise their own.
Just some quick thoughts. I think I will need to ponder this further.
These are the things that I would like to know short term.
-What the students like about English
-How they think it could be better
-Do they feel we cater to their needs?
-Do they feel like they are cared about?
-What do they want to learn?
-Do they think we use the spaces effectively?
-How is English at JMSS different from at their old school?
I think I would also like to do a study that would tell us if we are adding value to the students over their time in English at JMSS. At this stage we don't have any real data about their potential and our potential to help them realise their own.
Just some quick thoughts. I think I will need to ponder this further.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Another new beginning
Here is my new blog resolution: to blog at least once a week about what is going on and about things I am reading and connections I am making. I feel like a lot of the time I get bogged down in the fact that there is always something that needs doing in this job and these "guilt bag" items are the things that I prioritise over everything else. For the remainder of this year I am going to try to make blogging a priority.
I am reconnecting with the education community digitally, at least this is my aim. I have just set up a twitter account and have added a whole lot of educational sites - let me know if there are good ones I should add.
Today I went to Ultranet training - I was quite excited because this is my first glimpse of what the ultranet can do since my old school was a trial school many years ago. I am pleasantly surprised by its functionality. Coming from a school using Google Apps (which I find intuitive and clever and functional) I was more than a little concerned that the Ultranet was going to be a cruel and dysfunctional joke of an online network that was miles behind what we are already using. I am pleased to say that this is not so. The ultranet appears to have much of the functionality of Google Apps, but what it lacks is the ease of navigation of Google Apps, and the high end functionality. We will certainly not be replacing everything we do with the Ultranet once it goes live, because the systems we have in place are suiting our needs perfectly and doing much of what the ultranet will, but I can see that for the majority of schools who do not have a system in place at all, it will be a revolution in the way that they do things and in the way that they communicate with each other and with students.
One of the things that I have loved the most about coming to this new school is the technology. Due to the fact that every student has a tablet computer, the sky is the limit in terms of what you can reasonably expect them to do in a class. I found that at my old school access to technology was limited and intermittent, and it made you reticent to do anything because it wouldn't work anyway (and I am one of the believers! imagine how the technophobes felt!) At this school, with the combined strength of tablets and google apps - we are doing everything! Curriculum online, groups set up for student communication, sites for student parliament, curriculum, student groups etc. Google docs created and shared in class, google forms used to survey students and collect data in real time for a variety of purposes.
When technology is working for you and not against you it is the most liberating feeling as an educator. I feel like everything I ever wanted to do in a classroom in terms of communication and collaboration is possible here and there are very few drawbacks.
So this is what the Ultranet Pd made me think about.
I am going to try to do some professional reading as well and post on here my thoughts. At the moment I am investigating starting my Masters next year too so stay tuned! I think that I really need to wake my brain up and start learning again in a variety of forums and that is what I'm going to try to do!
I am reconnecting with the education community digitally, at least this is my aim. I have just set up a twitter account and have added a whole lot of educational sites - let me know if there are good ones I should add.
Today I went to Ultranet training - I was quite excited because this is my first glimpse of what the ultranet can do since my old school was a trial school many years ago. I am pleasantly surprised by its functionality. Coming from a school using Google Apps (which I find intuitive and clever and functional) I was more than a little concerned that the Ultranet was going to be a cruel and dysfunctional joke of an online network that was miles behind what we are already using. I am pleased to say that this is not so. The ultranet appears to have much of the functionality of Google Apps, but what it lacks is the ease of navigation of Google Apps, and the high end functionality. We will certainly not be replacing everything we do with the Ultranet once it goes live, because the systems we have in place are suiting our needs perfectly and doing much of what the ultranet will, but I can see that for the majority of schools who do not have a system in place at all, it will be a revolution in the way that they do things and in the way that they communicate with each other and with students.
One of the things that I have loved the most about coming to this new school is the technology. Due to the fact that every student has a tablet computer, the sky is the limit in terms of what you can reasonably expect them to do in a class. I found that at my old school access to technology was limited and intermittent, and it made you reticent to do anything because it wouldn't work anyway (and I am one of the believers! imagine how the technophobes felt!) At this school, with the combined strength of tablets and google apps - we are doing everything! Curriculum online, groups set up for student communication, sites for student parliament, curriculum, student groups etc. Google docs created and shared in class, google forms used to survey students and collect data in real time for a variety of purposes.
When technology is working for you and not against you it is the most liberating feeling as an educator. I feel like everything I ever wanted to do in a classroom in terms of communication and collaboration is possible here and there are very few drawbacks.
So this is what the Ultranet Pd made me think about.
I am going to try to do some professional reading as well and post on here my thoughts. At the moment I am investigating starting my Masters next year too so stay tuned! I think that I really need to wake my brain up and start learning again in a variety of forums and that is what I'm going to try to do!
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Things to be thankful for:
I have had a few posts mulling around in my mind over the last few months but with all the craziness I never made time to get them down. I want to make a list of the things I am thankful for, because I feel that this new job has been the best move I could ever have made and I want to capture the moments I have been thankful for so far.
1. Having a job description with specified roles and responsibilities.
2. Being trusted to do that job.
3. Having a genuine voice in all decision making. It makes me feel valued.
4. The opportunity to work with many people that I admire and aspire to be like. I feel like I am learning so much every day from every interaction.
5. The opportunity to challenge myself and learn and grow. So important to feel like I am improving rather than stagnating.
6. The team of people I work with and the team of staff I lead. Amazing people who work so hard and just want the best for this school.
7. The students - a little bunch of nerds who just want to be as good as they can be at everything. Brings back memories of a little 'darce-nerd' from yesteryear!
8. Most of all I am thankful that I took the leap in to the unknown once again despite being scared because it really is only when you do this that you once again start to learn and grow.
1. Having a job description with specified roles and responsibilities.
2. Being trusted to do that job.
3. Having a genuine voice in all decision making. It makes me feel valued.
4. The opportunity to work with many people that I admire and aspire to be like. I feel like I am learning so much every day from every interaction.
5. The opportunity to challenge myself and learn and grow. So important to feel like I am improving rather than stagnating.
6. The team of people I work with and the team of staff I lead. Amazing people who work so hard and just want the best for this school.
7. The students - a little bunch of nerds who just want to be as good as they can be at everything. Brings back memories of a little 'darce-nerd' from yesteryear!
8. Most of all I am thankful that I took the leap in to the unknown once again despite being scared because it really is only when you do this that you once again start to learn and grow.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
First day of Teaching at the new school!
So after two full on weeks of meetings and planning and collaborating and debating and brain overload we started school with our brand new first lot of Year 10s on a three day camp. I have to say it was one of the better camps I had been on. Getting to know the kids on a camp was really interesting. The highlight of the camp was a talent show that showcased ACTUAL talent - and a lot of it. The most amazing performance was from a student who prefaced his act with the admission that he had never performed in public before. He got up with his guitar and the hand written lyrics and notes to the song he had penned himself and started to play. The kids could see it had taken him a lot to get up there and that he was very nervous. He then made a mistake on the guitar and it seemed like he was going to give up and leave the stage, or worse, cry. Rather than heckling him off-stage as may have happened in another school, these kids started yelling out keep going, and other encouragement and started clapping and cheering him to keep on going. He had a great voice and despite other mistakes and him seeming like he was going to break down a couple of times, he kept on going and got through his whole song and earned himself a standing ovation from the crowd of kids. Not only was this the gutsiest thing I have ever seen from a kid - putting himself out there with a crowd of complete strangers but the crowd's reaction to him made me want to cry too- I really think these kids will be amazing and I am so excited to be part of something that promises to be so special.
So today was the first day of teaching and it was really nice to get back in the classroom. It feels like my job was just administration for the past few months and although I have said in the past that I don't think I would mind if my job involved less teaching, I actually think that I'm changing my mind. Despite how tired I am coming off the camp and straight into teaching I am energised by this job in a way that I haven't been for a while. The staff team are amazing and every day I have moments where I smile to myself thinking that this whole thing is too good to be true and wondering how I was so lucky to end up here.
It's not all peaches and cream, don't get me wrong. The building is not finished and the university buildings we are working out of are quite old and spread apart so that all of my classes are literally a five minute, brisk walk out in the elements. I can't get used to leaving so early for class!
We only just got a printer/photocopier so you can imagine how frustrating it has been not being able to do things as basic as print and copy, especially because the student's laptop tablets have been delayed a second time so we can't even provide them with electronic documents. Having said that though, we are already high tech in our tablets and the programs we are using and I feel like I can use all the skills I have acquired over all these years and really help to create something great. This school is really appealing to my techno-loving self - so much so that I now have an iphone too which is synced with my email and my calendar etc. I feel like all my Christmases have come at once!
In all, despite the fact that I would like to go to bed and not wake up for days, I am buoyed by the start of this school year in a way that i haven't been for a while. I don't think that this is a reflection on my old school, rather a reflection of my itchy feet when it comes to change and challenge and new experiences. I know for certain that I have made the right decision. Bring on the rest of the year!
So today was the first day of teaching and it was really nice to get back in the classroom. It feels like my job was just administration for the past few months and although I have said in the past that I don't think I would mind if my job involved less teaching, I actually think that I'm changing my mind. Despite how tired I am coming off the camp and straight into teaching I am energised by this job in a way that I haven't been for a while. The staff team are amazing and every day I have moments where I smile to myself thinking that this whole thing is too good to be true and wondering how I was so lucky to end up here.
It's not all peaches and cream, don't get me wrong. The building is not finished and the university buildings we are working out of are quite old and spread apart so that all of my classes are literally a five minute, brisk walk out in the elements. I can't get used to leaving so early for class!
We only just got a printer/photocopier so you can imagine how frustrating it has been not being able to do things as basic as print and copy, especially because the student's laptop tablets have been delayed a second time so we can't even provide them with electronic documents. Having said that though, we are already high tech in our tablets and the programs we are using and I feel like I can use all the skills I have acquired over all these years and really help to create something great. This school is really appealing to my techno-loving self - so much so that I now have an iphone too which is synced with my email and my calendar etc. I feel like all my Christmases have come at once!
In all, despite the fact that I would like to go to bed and not wake up for days, I am buoyed by the start of this school year in a way that i haven't been for a while. I don't think that this is a reflection on my old school, rather a reflection of my itchy feet when it comes to change and challenge and new experiences. I know for certain that I have made the right decision. Bring on the rest of the year!
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