Day 30 - Fearless Educators

I've always thought of myself as a fearless educator, pushing the limits and doing something different with my class, as I'm not afraid to get it wrong and say I'm sorry.  I love the feeling you get when you push it that little bit further, the excitement in the class when they are doing something different.

Reflecting upon this, it has always been within the limits of the school.  So, to answer the final 30 Day Reflective Blogging Challenge topic - what would you do as an educator if you weren't afraid?

*Skype experts across the world
*Tweet more often
*Share with the world the amazing things we do
*Present at a conference
*Ask why more often

Imagine what the world would be like if we were all fearless educators!

D24 - Educational Trends

Educational trends or initiatives come and go all the time.  As educators we like to keep up these as we all know education is forever changing.

Today's post from the 30 Day Reflective Blogging Challenge is what educational trends captures your attention and why?  I know for me it is anything where I can teach more meaningful for the students such as the work from Jeff Anderson or personalising learning with a strong link to LwDT.

However, I think the bigger question isn't about what educational trends that capture you, is how much of it do you get to try out and use authentically to make it your own before moving onto another trend?

For me and my experiences I have seen a lot of trends come and go quickly through our school.  For the trends that have stuck with me, has been the PLP (personal learning plan) which the children have all their individual targets to work on and how Jeff Anderson delivers his lessons with a strong reading/writing link.

It is up to the schools to take a good look at these trends, see how it fits them, and give their staff enough time to experiement, get it wrong, play around further, discuss it, make it their own, keep the parts that fits, then move onto the next.  The saying that springs to mind is: quality not quantity!

 

Day 19 - The Power of Reflection

Reflection is a powerful tools we use as teachers to ensure we are doing the best job we can.  Teaching kids to reflect and see the value behind it at times can be very hard, especially when they have either done it before but ineffectively or haven't experienced it at all.

Some of the tools I use for reflection in my class is:

• Checklists and TimelineWhen undertaking a longer unit of work such as an inquiry topic, I like to use checklists paired with a timeline.  This helps teach the children to:
  - make sure they've fulfilled all the criteria
  - map out a long term project, meeting milestones
  
  I always begin with very structured to model to the children how to do this then as the year goes on they take more and more responsibility for their own checklists and timelines.
  
  At each milestone, we discuss what they should have achieved and where they should be now - usually this is just small reflection by looking at their checklist and timeline, marking off where they are.
  
• Mid and End of Term ReflectionsThis is common practice in our school.  Some teachers do it weekly where others do it at the mid and end of the term.  I prefer to do mid and end, this is in the form of questions which stay the same throughout the year for them to reflect upon their learning as a whole.  I encourage the children to re-read their last reflection to see if they achieved what they set out to or what they need to continue to work on.
  
• It feels like Punishment!  I feel Successful!Some of the children "coast" through the term, where others put their heads down and work hard.  I work with a level where they are about to be much more responsible for their learning so giving them the tools is necessary. 
  
  I believe a part of that is feeling the "punishment" or disappointment of not doing as well as they could have and the kids who did not "coast" their success is in their work - this is where I feel you get the most powerful reflection and motivation for the next.

As an educator I want the children I work with to think critically about what they're doing, why they're doing it, and how they can do more.

Day 18 - Metaphors f Teaching

I often struggle to think of metaphors, most probably why this post is so late, when teaching or thinking about them.  After a hunt around I came across the following quote from Socrates.  

Image sourced from moco-choco

This links back to Paulo Freire's empty vessel idea.  This rings true with me as an educator I can only give a little spark it is up to the learner to continue to add the fuel to make it grow as big as they want it, then I can help them nurture it.  On the other side, it is also my responsibility to restart the flame for those who have gone out - some learners need more help than others.

Day 16 - Super Powers in the Classroom

My son is a huge Marvel and DC fan, along with many of the students in my class.  I had used this interest to do a Super Hero activity through Maths Shed where the children learnt about multiplying/dividing/rounding/subtracting decimals and mode/median/mean.

When I read this yesterday I started to think about the different super powers I'd like such as invisibility, super speed, etc.  I decided to have a real think about it and had a look around the internet where I came across this website - IGN's Top 100 Coolest Super Powers.  Going through the list to find a "cool" super power there were the usual ones you know of however there were other powers like self confidence, empathy - isn't it interesting that these are considered super powers.

Back to which one I would like and how it would help, it would have to be...

PHYSICAL DUPLICATION

It doesn't seem so exciting but being able to duplicate myself so that I can work with all the groups in my class.  The ability to personalise everything in the class would benefit all the learners as I would be able to workshop for them, give 1:1 help, the list of what I could do was would endless!  

It would be slightly scary for the children to have so many of me but I think they would get used to it!

Day 12 - Back to the Future

I like to plan for the future and look to what I want to do next.  As we all know education is forever changing, just like taking on a university paper this year was something that was planned to do but changed.

The question today is how you envision your teaching changing in 5 years?

• Children will be blogging their achievement/learning progress - or sometime similar to this
• Classes will have their own PLN to source experts to help them develop their projects
• Workshops would be something everyone does - children nominating workshops they need for their learning
• Children being actively involved in the decisions made for their learning and how they're going to learn it based on their needs and interests

A part of this question brings up thoughts of what would I have done, thinking about that, this is what I would like to have done 5 years in the future:

• Ra and I would have developed our version of personalising learning.  This is something I am passionate about and would like to see this well developed and in use.
• Presented this to a wider audience other than the staff
• I am unsure if I am meant for the classroom or management, I would love to have done some time in a curriculum role as a deputy principal to further develop staff professional learning
• Grown my PLN 
• Become a competent blogger to continue to share my love of teaching

We never can plan for what will happen and how things will change.  But for now, this is the plan, the hope.

Inspiration...I don't have to look far!

Day 7 of 30 Day Reflective Blogging Challenge - an inspirational colleague and why?

I was lucky to have been taught by some amazing teachers and this list would be very long however they all had some things in common:

• Passion - for the job and for us
• Laughter - they laughed with us and wasn't afraid to laugh at themselves
• Perseverance - when we didn't understand or needed additional help they were there, going the extra mile

I was further molded by great educators in university, who too shared the same love for the job.  

Now working, I'm have inspirational teachers all around me.  Again all these teachers have the above in common.  I have picked up some "tips and tricks" so to speak along the way and still use them today.  So I want to change that statement to...

 Students that have inspired me and why?

 

Over the years the students have taught me different things.  Inspiration causes us to create a change or come up with an idea for change.  This is what has happened to me...

• Patience - counting to 10, keeping a calm neutral voice
• Knowing me, knowing you - we all need to relate to each other in some way, we're human - aren't we!  We need to listen and observe.
• Boundaries - is something that is need to be put in place at the beginning and never let them slip
• Feedback - so invaluable, especially when they know they can be frank with you

So why are the student inspirational to me?  They're all very different, all with their own challenges/needs/interests.  They push me to be the best that I can be, that's why they're my inspiration!

Day 6 - What "Good" Mentors Do

I've taken some time to reflect upon this, as most of us just react to the situation relying upon our experiences and knowledge to inform us.  

This year I have got my 3rd PRT (Provisionally Registered Teacher) since becoming fully registered in 2008.  With much reflection upon each of them it reminds me of my dad and all his little pearls of wisdom which, dear I say it, I hear myself saying to these PRTs!

That lesson I think has been one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn.  Not only as a teacher but as a person too.  As teachers we all like things done a certain way and accepting this is sometimes a hard pill to swallow.

I too have also had some amazing mentors...but that's for Day 7's blog post.  So, I'll save it till then!

This blog post seems very timely as next term I am becoming an associate teacher for a 2nd year student teacher and will be finishing up my year with my PRT.  

So, my thoughts on what "good" mentors do, they...

• Observe and listen - not only to what they see but having the time to debrief at breaks/end of day
• Question - they don't give answers, they help you find the answers
• Communicate - being clear in what is needed, reflections, etc.
• Walk the talk - models what they are talking about
• Say sorry - we all make mistakes, no one is perfect
• Are human - the most important part of it all, we're all human!  Getting to know the people you work with not only as a professional but as a person is so important.  Links back to Dad's words of wisdom and understanding that will help you get the most of of the people you work with.