I am MisterJim

The What, How and Why of it all

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:25:00 +0000

We are hypocrites, most of us. We don't mean to be, but we are.

Bold words, I know, but I am not attacking us with venom or unreal expectations.

This line of thought started when I went on a child protection course as part of my new role I am SDP (senior designated person) for safeguarding. It's not a role I relish, but it is vital. I realised over the day that there is an awful lot of that I am ignorant of. That got me thinking of conversations I've had with people about pedagogical practice. I've said things like, "How did you hear about the child-led learning? Was it based on anyone's work?" To which the response it, in an often patronising tone.

"You know a lot about things, don't you?"

No, I really, really don't.

The worry for me is we, as teachers, follow government guidelines because we have to. We teach because we want to. We don't always learn why we do things because we haven't got time to.

I recently watched a Ted.com video about leadership, through iTunesU. It talked about the three zones of marketing and how the conception was backwards. People were looking at things the wrong way round. This was called, The what, how & why. This model can be applied to us as teachers and educators.

The most common zone is 'What'.

It's the first zone most people focus on. What are we doing today? What is our learning objective? What is 3 x 5? Etc. what is a safe zone to sit in, because when people ask you about 'what', you are able to give an answer.

The next is 'How'.

How comes next because it's the process of delivery for the 'What' section. How do I translate my paper plans into practice? How did you know 3 x 5 was 15? The 'How' part is our stock in trade, the bit we do, for the most part, pretty well.

The least investigated, is the 'Why'.

Bizarrely, this is the area we are most interested in the children using. Why did you think you did well? Can you explain why 3 x 5 was 15? Why did you hit him with your shoe? All these questions can, and probably mostly, have the answer of "I don't know".

In terms of pedagogy, I don't know enough to spout whether this has been said before. Like the title suggests, I'm a hypocrite. I think it's better to know what you are and want to change than to not know what you do and seek to preach.

In terms of change, What am I asking for? Do I want to know the theoretical underpinnings of each individual style of teaching, perhaps for the teachers to include reference to which practitioner has influenced the plenary for Tuesday's lesson on word problems? No, I don't. I want them to hone their craft by having access to people who have had great ideas. People who, when we describe what they do, we get giddy and want to try it ourselves.

I want them to focus more on 'Why' they are doing something and less on the mechanics of what and how. I want them to feel free enough, trusted enough and confident enough to take a tangent and understand the potential for learning is everywhere.

I will be using this model for appraisals, lesson observations and general discussions, starting, always, with a 'Why'.

How about, "That was a great lesson. Why did you choose that particular approach? How can you adapt it next time to better suit the needs of your boys? What do you feel went well?

Effective Behaviour Management starts with consistency.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:13:00 +0000

Every classroom I've been in has rules. Some are phrased as a positive statement "we are good listeners", others are more clear cut, "Don't rock on your chair". Teachers view these are the backbone of the classroom. Their proverbial rod of iron, so to speak. In one class I went into, they had a full display board of rules. 15 of them. In my opinion that's way too many.

As an NQT my main focus was to be a good teacher by ensuring my teaching happened. I needed rules that allow me to teach the lessons I'd planned. Nothing unusual about that. But the interesting thing was, one year, I didn't put up my class rules display (I had 7 rules on my display and I think it's probably lurking on TES resources or primary resources or somewhere) and the strangest thing happened... The class did as I expected them to do without the big list of things they had to do.

Instead, I invested in them. I created private spaces in class that they owned, that I wouldn't go in unless I asked them. These were nothing more than a tray with their name on, but the simple act of explicitly making it private meant there was significantly more value attached to it than a normal tray would have. The other staff also respected these spaces and as a result, they had ownership (physically) of the classroom and also the beginnings of respecting a shared space.

So what has this got to do with rules? Lots actually. It prompted me to look at the need for rules. Why did I no longer need to refer to a definitive list of rules? What had changed? What was I doing that was different? The answer was nothing had changed. I have always set my stall out and stuck to my word.

It is actually the act of being consistent in your approach, coupled with clear expectations that ensures good behaviour management. I know this all seems common sense and it's nothing new to those of us in the job, but here are my tips for effective classroom management.

1. Be consistent: if you say you don't accept that type of behaviour, there had to be a consequence for the offender's actions. Don't move from your position, but also, don't put yourself in untenable situations. Similarly, praise will be valued, not when it is lavished upon them, but when it is hard earned. Praise the small things, they are more important. The big things will follow, I promise.

2. Care: obvious, right? But vitally important. If you care, they care back; it's human nature.

3. Embody the values that you want them to value. If you ask them to say please and thank you, do it too. To everyone, without exception. They will copy you.

4. Create a class identity. Don't say 'my' class, say 'our' class. Talk openly about the classroom being their space as well. Perhaps create a class parody of a popular song, or a poem that includes them in it.

5. Value their work. Display it. Get parents in to see it. Photocopy it and send it home.

6. Don't tell them lies. Even when you want to.

These are some of the things I do. I now have two rules in my classroom. Always try your best & be honest in all things.

That applies to everyone, teachers and pupils alike.

It depends where you start....

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:53:00 +0000

When I was fourteen, I went to Ireland with my dad. We stayed at one guest house and, while walking up a few flights of stairs to the room by the owner, he gestured left saying, "The breakfast room's there." A few more flights of stairs later and I couldn't remember which floor the breakfast room was on, so I asked him to tell me. He looked at me, thought for a moment and said, "Well, I guess it depends where you start." I never thought about this as a educational point before, but it's a thinking one. As educators we are stuck in a rigid system where numbers, levels and data indicate position, both within class and league tables, yet that can inhibit thinking. His approach to answering my question was to remove what we naturally perceive to be the obvious absolute: the building is rigid & therefore we must move around the building. He put me as the rigid element and moved the building to fit my requirement. To him, the problem wasn't confined by the framework within which I had posed it, based on my accepted view of the world, he manipulated his response based on a different set of parameters, ones which I am only just beginning to understand. That got me thinking about the new draft curriculum. It mentions the word practice a lot. An awful lot, to be honest. So much so that I started to think about changing my approach to teaching and it didn't seem to fit at all. Then I remembered Kilkenny man. So, I would suggest we do practise things. But not quite the way the lord Gove intended. when practising a skill or setting a task, ensure the viewpoint is changed from time to time. Make the children uncomfortable by removing things that are familiar. Then practise figuring out why things are the way they are. Thinking skills are integral to empowering independent and lifelong learning and underpin successful, employable and engaging adults. It is though experience that we improve.

Leaders of Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 May 2012 19:01:00 +0000

Today, a group of Year 9 students from Hodgson Academy, came in to run a 90 minute session with my Year 5 class. They were self-penned "Leaders of Learning". I like that. A lot of schools, mine included, have digital leaders or similar, but in a way, it restricts the good work they can do to one educational avenue - digital/technological based stuff. I think I'm going to steal the Leaders of Learning thing. I like the multi faceted nature of the title, implying that their role is to be a broad and informed tier of leaders - much like schools are trying to implement with management structures. Why not make use of children's abilities in a much more efficient way? I think digital leaders just expanded for me.

Thank You, Mr Maloney, for helping my child to fail.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 May 2012 06:12:00 +0000

From the title, I expect you think this post is all negative. That's logical, based on the failure element of it, but it's wrong. This was a magic moment that happened with a parent the other day.

Her child - a bright girl - has done really well with me this year but, as I keep saying, I've not really done that much, it was all her own efforts. Her mother responded by saying something really interesting, in my opinon, which is paraphrased below:

Every year we've been told how well she's doing, how she's brilliant at everything and is top of the class. You've told us how she's all of those things, but also how she can move forward and what we can do and why we should. You've put her in positions where she'll fail, where she can't rely on her academic intelligence and watched her struggle and then explained why it's okay to feel that frustration and how to overcome it. Thank you, Mr Maloney, for helping my child to fail.

This comment came off the back of a lot of work about the importance of coping strategies for higher ability children, but all children in general. The root of this was started by a quote which I was introduced to by Dawn Hallybone, a teacher in London.

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Samuel Beckett

That's up on my door and I make the meaning of that quote tangible in every activity I do. I purposely plan opportunities for failure as it is not the great demon that children historically are told they should avoid, but a companion on their learning journey towards a successful and invigorating future.

Being a Political Football

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:40:00 +0000

I wanted this to be eloquent. I wanted this post to whizz through the ether and bounce onto Michael Gove's desk and for him to smile at the clever turns of phrase and rhetoric. I haven't got the bloody energy. You'll have to make do with this:

I am lucky that I am in a career that I love. That statement is one that many, many thousands of people cannot say. It is, unfortunately, increasingly difficult to believe it anymore. Teaching isn't about just, well, teaching. In the last two weeks I have cleaned cuts, dealt with arguments, healed broken hearts, acted as judge and jury, cajoled, supported, fed (yes, fed), parented, reassured, inspired and taught.

The main problem is that my profession is viewed as a political football. This is historic, I know, and I should state I knew this was the case before training to become a teacher. But most recently, the analogy of a football is defunct.

Teaching is not a political football. It is the tennis ball in the longest and most frenetic rally the world has ever seen. The problem is that I do not believe that either player gives two sh^%s about the ball, they are simply trying to out-maneuver each other by pelting it. I wonder if they have any idea about how the ball feels. I'll tell you how I feel. I feel tired. Tired of having to defend myself when I haven't done anything wrong. Tired of feeling guilty about going to sleep at 1am after marking for 3 hours once my planning was re-written based on the events of that day. Tired of getting to work at 7am, so that I can complete paperwork for awards so that the school doesn't get told it isn't doing its job.

So tired of it all.

I know we are in a recession. I know there are cuts to be made. I accept that my pension is going to be pilfered, my working life extended to the point just before I atrophy but I am FED UP TO THE BACK TEETH of not being able to spend enough time teaching.

Sir Michael Winshaw's supportive statement towards teachers & stress was a low point for me. It must have been ever so hard to be a head when you had no national curriculum to follow, not health & safety edits, SEFs, SIPs and the rest. I bet going to all those meetings with external agencies was hard to manage - or figuring out how to fit all the additional requirements of an overcrowded curriculum into a school day, differentiating for the needs of the different groups within schools and not forgetting ensuring all the work you do is transparent and accessible for all stakeholders. Oh, hold on. Sir Michael, you are supposed to be on our side and your comments make it harder for us all; thanks.

I then read a post that summed up perfectly what I was thinking (and what I'm trying to say) Mark Clarkson wrote this blog post. I know exactly what he means and I completely agreed with Doug Belshaw's comments on his blog post reply (hence why I'm not adding to it here).

I love my job, but the more political games that are played with it, the harder it is to do it properly. They talk a lot about reforming, reshaping and re-energising the curriculum but they are using the wrong tools for the job. They're trying to bake a cake with a sledgehammer. In the Guardian, one politician talked about the model for teaching in Japan and how we could learn from it. The one thing we need to take from there is that teachers are afforded respect and are trusted to do the job.

I am not going to sit here and lament our workload. All jobs require hard work - if you want to be the best at what you do, you work your backside off. But please don't tell me I get '15 weeks paid holiday' and I need to 'get a grip' until you've done a year in my job at the level and pace that I maintain and at the standards expect from myself.

TeachMeet Lancs 20th March

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:11:00 +0000

So, another TeachMeet has been and gone in the blink of an eye. This one was particularly good for a few reasons:
1. There were teachers there from both primary & secondary education.
2. There were new presenters
3. It reinforced a lot of common ground that we all have.

Oh, the presentations were pretty good too.

Ben Gristlewood @mr_g_ict kicked off proceedings talking about how he uses Twitter to engage his Year 12 pupils. It was a real insight into tackling the misnomer of social media in secondary schools and it'll be interesting to see how it develops over the next few months too. His blog is http://mrgristwood.edublogs.org/

Next up we had Jasmine Renold @JRenold who talked about how using Google Docs - specifically Google Forms had eased workload at her school tremendously and how it had helped to develop better relationships with parents.

After that, David Mitchell @deputymitchell took to the stage to talk about his favourite two web tools. 1 was an app that lets him post work quickly to the Well Done Blog, the other was AudioBoo. Both were really useful and you could see the furtive scribbling across the room.

Then came me. I waffled on for a bit about how the cultural shift at a school is important when creating and updating a curriculum. The talk involved harnessing the skills of the pupils and using their enthusiasm to drive the curriculum.

I then did a quick talk on using storybird.com and how fantastic it is at developing writers and sharing good work.

After that, John Sutton @hgjohn spoke about some of the fabulous things that blogging can do to impact on children's learning. He spoke about projects he's been involved in and intimated that there are more in the pipeline - watch this space or simply check it out here: creativeblogs.net. He even roped @cherise_duxbury to talk about the Live Writers blog - well done Cherise, for standing up without preparing!

After that we had an off the cuff presentation by Chris Cox on Symbaloo.com a web curation tool. It looks seriously cool so am going to be giving that a go for sure!

Thank you to everyone who attended and presented at this TeachMeet. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again in April at TeachMeet Bolton!

A big thank you to Nigel Kirkham @nigelkirkham and his team for the use of Woodlands Conference Centre & BrainPOP UK, Vital & Espresso for sponsoring.

100WCGU Week 33

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:07:00 +0000

Thank you for your lovely comments on the last piece of writing. It's been one of those weeks, as I've only just got round to publishing them now - sorry!

This week, Julia has given us a picture prompt.

Here goes.

Red Rum - Favourite of the masses, Master of the grasses.

03/05/65 to 18/10/95

Red Rum, originally owned by Noel Le Mare but bought by his trainer Ginger McCain, lived life to the full, overcoming obstacles in the way Dan Dare would do. He fell just once in over a hundred races.

His training routine, masterminded by McCain, led him to victory at the Grand National in 1973, then 1974 - becoming the first horse since Reynoldstown back in 1934. He came second twice more and, at the ripe old age of 12, won by a masterly 25 lengths.

100WCGU week 32

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:00:00 +0000

...Take a Leap of Faith...

Close your eyes.

Breathe

Heighten your senses and FEEL things around you.

Shuffle forwards and curl your toes around the edges.

That's it.

Relax. Everything is fine. You're fine. You've got this.

It's okay.

There's no rush.

You have to come to it in your own time.

Remember everything you were told and just go with what feels right. I know you can do it.

Close your eyes.

Breathe

Heighten your senses and FEEL things around you.

Take a leap of faith...

Open your wings and

S O A R

little bird of mine.

100WCGU wk22

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:33:00 +0000

Now for this week. Very simple:

…is it me or are bells ringing?….

My 100WCs have tended to be either serious, or sad. I thought that I would attempt to do something slightly more interesting. I must say that the original draft for this challenge was over 300 words, so a lot has been removed, but I hope enough has also been left for people to fill in the gaps for themselves.

"Boy," growled the stranger, "get to the bell tower and tell the monks to ring that bell for all they've got. I'll to the rest." He narrowed his cold, blue eyes and in that moment, the boy didn't know who he was more afraid of. He nodded vigorously and ran.

The stranger turned his back to the boy and stood resolutely at the foot of the bridge, arm casually resting on the hilt of his sword, staring at the enemy. The attackers smirked and drew nearer, almost surrounding him. Without a hint of fear, the stranger smiled,
"Is it me, or are bells ringing?"

He charged.

100 WCGU wk 21

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:21:00 +0000

This week's challenge is a picture prompt. I quite like picture prompts, they allow so many tangents.

Our classrooms are windows. Children's views are shaped by the pictures we paint, the opportunities they envisage. We are responsible for the window's upkeep: treat it with consistent care and attention and it will open seamlessly to worlds that are beyond their wildest dreams; leave it untouched and those worlds will remain forever out of reach.

The window is open to the world to view, some outsiders simply point out what is missing from times they spent inside. Others like to castigate and deride. Most smile knowingly, remembering with fondness the people who opened windows for them. People like us.

Between Earth & Sky

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:39:00 +0000

I found this chapter I wrote a while ago, for a book that has never been finished. I would really appreciate some feedback.

I've uploaded it as a pdf, which is to protect the original work (just in case I ever finish it!).

100WCGU wk #20

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:21:00 +0000

The prompt this week is to use at least one of these for inspiration.

…the powers that be / the apple of his eye / the writing on the wall…

It was early in the Autumn

When she took herself away.

The trees in our orchard cried leaves for her;

She was the apple of their eye, their Mistress.

She said it was, "Inevitable".

Powers that be had deemed it so and so it was

Fruitless to pursue it.

Her one way trip.

The marks of her passing are writ large on the cold orchard walls.

They are writ larger, though, in me.

Homework isn't all bad

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:04:00 +0000

On Tuesday, I set the class a task for homework.

Build a rocket or spaceship

Simple, right? Well yes and no. I asked them to spend two weeks and they weren't allowed to cop out and buy a kit, they had to make it - the more homemade the better. There was also a catch to it too, Tuesday next week (29th November) we would have an after school gallery where parents will be invited to attend and see their child's work.
But wait! What about those who have obviously had help? That's allowed - as long as they admit it. There's this stigma attached by some educators to homework because of the notion that parents 'interfere' with homework tasks, so the work isn't a true reflection of the child's capabilities.

I'm really looking forward to bringing the parents into our class and letting them share what we do. Transparency is very important to me as an educator and engaging the parents by enthusing their children is the best tonic for our jaundiced education system.

I'll post photos and get the class to add blog posts in a few weeks. Fingers crossed people turn up!

Lest We Forget

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:31:00 +0000

This week's 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups has an apt prompt this week.

Lest We Forget

My grandfather fought in The Great War. He signed up at 15, forging documents to do his duty. He spoke to my father about the tremendous guilt he felt about the things he did in order to survive. He was a kind and patient man, a quiet man with quiet ambitions. I never asked him about the war. In a way, by not asking I was honouring what he did. He knew he was lucky. I think that was possibly the heaviest of his burdens.

Under the clouds of war, humanity hangs on a cross of iron. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Power to the People

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:44:00 +0000

I set up a Linoit page on my class blog, asking for the children to come up with things they wanted to learn about in the upcoming weeks.

I must admit, I expected the ideas to be a bit naff, like "Let's build a rocket and fly to the Moon for lunch." etc.

How wrong I was.

Here are some examples of the ideas they came up with:

I was so impressed with the quality of the ideas that they had, that this Wednesday afternoon, we are going to pick the best ideas and put them into the topic for this term.

Power to the People.

Space & Aliens

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:46:00 +0000

After a conversation on Twitter with a few people (specifically Nicki Allman & Dawn Hallybone) I had some help in brainstorming things I could teach over the next few weeks.

I should mention at this point, that I've not taught so far this academic year, due to breaking my leg just before the end of the summer holidays, so I still need to get to know the class. Nicki very generously sent me some fabulous plans for work based around Dr Who (the BBC Schools links are here). I'm definitely going to do a few weeks based on that, but I felt I needed a buffer, or a 'getting to know each other' week - but one that would allow a good deal of learning to take place.

I've created a topic plan for a week's worth of lessons (not including Maths, which I keep as stand-alone lessons) based around the book The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers
Please bear in mind that there are gaps & not a lot of detail, but if you can pinch an idea or two, then please feel free to. You can access the doc here.

100 Word Challenge week 16

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:06:00 +0000

Both images courtesy of Julia Skinner's blog http://jfb57.wordpress.com

This week's 100WCGU has to use the following picture prompt from the view of vegetarians. I couldn't decide what to do, so if you'll forgive me, I've attempted it twice. Good luck to me...

Attempt Number 1:

Vegetarian:(waving leaflet) "Do you know that McDonalds bid against Pedigree Chum for their meat consignments?"

Me: "Actually yes, I did."

Vegetarian: "And that there's more chicken in the packaging than in the nuggets."

Me: "I wouldn't be surprised."

Vegetarian: "You should try mung bean burgers. They're scrummy."

Me: "Why? I like the other sort - with meat."

Vegetarian: "That's disgusting. Do you know how many cows died to provide meat for your burgers last year?"

Me: "No, but..."

Vegetarian: "..7 million- and that's just the UK! Do you want to sign my petition?"

Me: "No, I want a Big Mac."

Attempt Number 2:

My wife is a vegetarian. She had never eaten meat. Her sister was the militant; forcing the family to become anti-establishment foodies, spouting the cause in favour of free-range goats & McEvil McConsumerism. Everyone else grew out of it, but Pam, well, she was institutionalised. She told me that it was the chew.

"Nothing vegetarian has the resistance of a good slab of beef."

I tried everything to cure her, but she resisted. Imagine my surprise when I came home to find her tucking into a corned beef sandwich. All it took was a dose of pregnancy.

6 weeks left.

ICT Self Assessment booklet

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:50:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across ICT Teaching & Learning Framework 2011, which was written by Matt Lovegrove and included contributions from Steve Greenfield, David Sheppard & Claire Waite.

Here is the Framework which can be found on his blog.

The beauty of this work was that it was licensed for sharing, remixing and adapting. This is exactly the type of thing we should all be doing in my opinion and I must sincerely thank those who wrote it for saving me a tremendous amount of time by not having to write my own.

What I did do, however, was to create a self-assessment booklet that can be used in conjunction with the framework.

I hate assessment, but this book allows the children to assess their learning at the end of the week. I've factored in time to my timetable to allow reflection. This, in turn, feeds into my planning & because it's done on a weekly basis, it's easy to keep on top of and lasts about 20 mins.

Here's an example copy of what I've done. Please help yourself to the word docs at the bottom if you want to amend and change things.

If you can't see the box below, please use this link to access the files

100 word challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:16:00 +0000

Little puffs of brown meander their way to the hardening ground. The vibrant colours of endless summer have abandoned the world. Muted, the autumn leaves lead us inexorably towards the bleakness of winter. Our world is numbing. Fingers creep inside pockets. Coat buttons are done up. Smiles become grimaces.

Spelling Clouds

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:44:00 +0000

I hated learning spellings as a child. My mother would despair of me, because I would learn 7 of the pre-requisite 10 weekly spellings, as I figured out that my teacher would accept 7/10.

I hated the boredom associated with lists. Some people thrive on lists (my wife is the casing point) but I am more visual.

It was a tweet from @halfpintgill that sparked my interest.

I thought that was a fabulous idea - and one that I could turn into an ongoing record for the children.

At my school, we use Learning Logs for our homework, as a lot of schools do. I encourage the children to complete the work in a lot of different ways, online, through models, practically and so on.

This is an 'add on' to their homework where we will create a word cloud of the half termly spellings, where each week they gain another part of the puzzle. The idea is they can see their knowledge building 10 words at a time and can identify the amount of work that can be built upon gradually.

All I ask is that they learn the spellings and create at least 5 sentences that incorporate as many different words as possible.

Here's what I mean:

In class, I separate children into 3 spelling groups in the traditional mode. Each group would be given their spelling list as a small image 5cm x 7cm (ish), that could go into their learning log on a designated spelling page.

Each week, the design is different, so that a collage of spellings can be created over time that will be eye catching.

Independent Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:20:00 +0000

This evening on #ukedchat, the discussion was about 'independent learning' or 'IL' and it's importance in the curriculum.

In my opinion IL is an umbrella title, one so multi-faceted that we probably need to invest a lot of time determining the rationale behind it.

One point that came across was from Miles Berry that Independent Learning is something innate, present from birth as a survival mechanism so teaching it is contradictory. This is something that I agree with and yet we are in a system that has institutionalised our lives to the point where children are taught out of this. They become so reliant on being told what, when and how to do things, that they forget what they are genetically programmed to do.

And there's my mistake. I'm talking about these children in the third person. The point is that we have all fallen into the habit of providing knowledge as teachers. There is no blame associated with this, we are as caught up in the status quo as they are. We know, however, that we need to change and this evening was so refreshing to be able to see so many educators out there are changing or challenging the regime.

Independent Learning Opportunities in my class.
In April of this year, I created a Project Day. I looked at the work that Oliver Quinlan had been doing, to great success, at Robin Hood Primary School with his Year 4 class. I liked the independence they showed and the desire to see things through.

I spoke to my class, explaining that they could do whatever they wanted to do as a project, providing that they could produce an end product - and by that I mean that they could reach their goal in a day.

I provided a Project booklet, as a guideline, (which once I find on disc I will upload) and explained that the children had to book adult help. My teaching assistant & I blocked out 20 minute sessions and left the blank paper on the wall.

My Project Book by Jim Maloney is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

If they didn't plan for help, they wouldn't get it.

The result was that the children went away, thought about what they wanted to learn, planned a learning journey, resourced the project themselves, showed time management skills, identified areas where they needed support, problem solved, adapted, communicated but most importantly, learned. Not just about the project, but about themselves as learners. They identified skills they didn't think they had and fell short of things they took for granted.

Here are some photos of the kids in action and a link to their comments on last year's class blog.

One child chose to compose and perform his own song.

Cakes created in an Easter basket. They were good.

snake skin modelling

Art Attack style fish tank.

A model of the Windmill in Staining. Detailed down to the door colour

Working on each other's project, to help everyone to finish

A wooden model of the Empire State Building. Eventually!

Book about his pets

Stop Motion animation

Water scenes.

Education & me. How we didn't get along

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:47:00 +0000

My father rang me up last week and explained he had found my old school reports and would I like to keep them. My reaction was adamant. No. Never. Full stop.

There are reasons for this instant decision. I did not do well academically at school. My reports are littered with examples my failures punctuated, rather unceremoniously with pompous and sardonic comments that did not, in any way, show who I was then, or am now.

That got me thinking. I was fortunate to go to a rather selective (and expensive) private school. I was told that it would provide me with a platform for the rest of my life. The school did provide good, solid ‘sit up’ education; I learned the classics, took 3 languages and played sport using facilities most people would give their right arm for. But by the age of 17, I was failing in every imaginable way.

I found that the education system I was in required a level of self discipline that I just didn’t have. If there was a crack connecting Set 1 and Set 2, I would seep through it into the next level and so on. I continued to seep until I hit the water table in Set 6. It was not for lack of ability. Teachers would mutter that I was ‘wasting my talents’ and ‘wasn’t it a shame’.

At 17, I made the decision to leave the school where I was, at that time, only studying 2 A-Levels (although studying is perhaps the wrong word) and moved to another school. Actually I decided to move to another country, in another continent.My father was working in Abu Dhabi and I applied to Dubai College. The condition of me going there was that I drop a year and begin my A-Levels again.

In my opinon, doing this demanded a tremendous amount of inner strength and a desire to not fail anymore. It is as if my educational gag-reflex had suddenly kicked in. Here was a kid who could have continued to coast, done nothing and gone nowhere, a product of a spoiled, Public School education, but I knew it wasn’t right.

Knowing something isn’t right and being able to change, however, is an entirely different proposition. In the film The Day The Earth Stood Still, John Cleese’s character said that ‘it is only at the precipice, that we change’. I didn’t change when I moved schools. But I moved to a system that would not allow me to fail. The teachers there spent hours (unpaid) tutoring me and motivating me and, from my teenage perspective, punishing me. They would not allow me to stand on the precipice unsupported, they tied a rope to me and said, “Go on then, if you’re that determined to mess it up but we’ll only pull you back afterwards”.

I couldn’t understand why they did this$ I didn’t know why they’d be interested in a kid like me who broke the rules, picked fights, was rude, argumentative, lazy and, in all honesty, a tosser.

Now I do.

This self-destructive pattern is one that I see in every classroom I go into. There are children who have ability – and intelligence – but who lack the discipline to get what they need out of it. So the question I ask myself is, was it my fault I failed so spectacularly, or was it the fault of the system that I was allowed to?

As a teacher, I tell the children that I struggled at school. I tell them about my mistakes and we talk about how I should have done things. It grounds me, as a person, to hear them, at 9, extrapolate how I should have acted. It also enlightens children who see themselves in the same way that I used to as a child.

I could come up with a condition, like ADD, I do fit the profile, but I rather like Sir Ken Robinson’s approach to this ‘epidemic’. It’s a fallacy. I simply wasn’t saved in time to achieve my academic potential. But I was saved in time to realise that I could achieve something if I worked hard. After becoming a teacher, I have worked hard, but I’m always conscious of addressing the needs of the children I teach as individuals, not as a class. That way, they’ll look back as adults and realise that I caught them just in time.

100 Word Challenge (this one has a ring of truth to it..)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:18:00 +0000

"Now children," began Mrs Jobs, smiling, "today we have a very special visitor. His name is PC Harvester and he's going to talk to you about car safety."

“Reme...” As she spoke, the door opened and PC Harvester walked in.

"Good afternoon, children." exclaimed PC Harvester. "I have a question. Does anybody’s Mummy or Daddy drive quickly?"

Hands shot up and a voice from the back squeaked,

"My daddy drives fast, he has a Ferarri."

"Golly," said PC Harvester, "and does your Daddy wear his seatbelt?"

"Only when the bas***d coppers are around."

...out of the mouths of babes...

Sometimes we need to step back in order to move forward

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:21:00 +0000

It's been a while since I put fingers to keyboard and wrote something on my blog, or any blog for that matter. I think it has less to do with workload & more to do with overload.

Social Networking on various levels had begun to take over my approach to a lot of things, most noticeably my work, but it had begun to encroach on my personal life as well.

Frank, educational discussions were taking place after clocking out time, I would lie awake at night and follow a hashtag stream from an earlier Twitter debate. I would be sitting on the sofa with my wife, ostensibly watching the TV, but my head wasn't. I was actually becoming so obsessed with all things that were educationally cutting edge, that I was beginning to neglect my marking, assessment and correcting my planning where necessary. In essence, my desire to push the boundaries was threatening to impact on the children in my care.

But how did it get to this? Honestly, I don't know. I suppose I was trying to keep up with the Jones to a certain extent, but more than that, I allowed myself to open up to too many possibilities at once and as such I lost my way.

I've spent the last 3 - 6 months figuring out what I want direction I want my teaching to take, where I see myself being a few years down the line and I guess I need to fettle my interests a bit in order to come out of the other end a better and more accomplished teacher, learner and leader.