One of the most inspiration teachers I get to work with…do buy his book!
The Lazy Teacher
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Monthly Archives: February 2010
Confident Communicators Project Is Go!
I’m just recovering from an amazing day at Bath University where we launched our collaborative schools’ research project. I work with a wonderful, dedicated team who are making all of this innovative learning a reality.
The ‘Confident Comminicators’ project is designed to work on several levels:
1. Develop learners’ self confidence through their communication and collaboration skills.
2. Provide a learner-led research project which will run over the next five months.
3. Create opportunities for teachers to adopt the role of facilitator and observer of learning, using strategies adapted from EYFS practice.
4. Allow learners to work in teams to ‘research the future’.
5. Raise aspirations of learners & teachers.
6. Use podcasting to develop ‘quality learning conversations’.
What a day! A special word of thanks (tinged with buckets of awe) for the ‘glue’ of the day, Mr Jeremy Stockwell (follow on Twitter @jeremystockwell). He absolutely pinned down the essence of the day in what, how and why he said & did what he did.
Suffice to say, I now know how to breathe and, as one teacher reflected on how tired she was at the end of the day (the students were similarly exhausted!), “…it’s great to be tired in a different way.”
Indeed it is. More on the project as it develops.
Twitter does it again! The Most valuable professional Development
I posted a comment on Miriam Tanti’s blog months ago, suggesting that she try out Twitter and here’s the result…
How about we give @miriamtanti a follow to let her see the REAL power of Twitter for educators now she with us?!
Thanks, Miriam, for the mention! Check out Miriam’s blog at www.miriamtanti.com
The Most Valuable Professional Development … Twitter
February16
I’d like to thank Zoe (@fullonlearning) and my colleague Joyce for getting me onto Twitter. I have to say that I was quite skeptical with the whole concept of twittering: Did I really care to be informed of the latest movements of a group of people, many of whom I have never met? I mistakenly made the direct connection between the Tweet and the Facebook status … regular updates of what people are having for dinner, the documentation of their attendance to their child’s athletics carnival, their wishes to leave work and go to the beach … I’m sure you get the idea. All bits of information that really have no impact on my life, and honestly could do without. But I was pleasantly surprised!
Several weeks ago I created a Twitter profile @miriamtanti and whilst I have not yet made any significant tweets I have managed to locate key stakeholders and ICT educators and read about their latest endeavors. In such a short time the global network I have joined on Twitter has allowed me to access a wide variety of the latest resources, literature and research that each of my global counterparts are pursuing. The hours that they have saved me from trying to locate such information on my own via search engines and online databases, and the new insights and perspectives they have exposed me to – my teaching and research is all the richer for it.
In terms of global collaboration, networking and professional development there is no ICT tool that has made a greater impact than Twitter, every educator should get an account!
Teacher Voice
I’m just returning from an excellent day with two secondary schools and their feeder primaries exploring ‘Gifted & Talented’ together for a whole day. This resulted in over 200 teachers coming together to think, discuss, share and plan for the last day of an exhausting, snow affected term. My role was to deliver the keynote and then I had the privilege of working with the teachers throughout the day as an on-site consultant. In truth, this role was simple…watch, listen, observe, answer questions (usually with further questions, such is my way) and then listen again as they developed their concrete plans for provision. The departments from the two schools either worked together for the whole day or worked for concentrated sessions on their own and then joined each other to compare and share their planning.Doing this kind of work around the country reaffirms my firm conviction that commitment, passion and enthusiasm is very much alive and well in teaching. I wish the media would spend some time listening to this. I wish politicians would spend some time seeking it out and watching it.We rightly develop strategies to ensure that learner voice is amplified in our schools and that young people have an authentic say in how they learn. I wonder whether, particularly at this time in the political calendar in the UK, it is time for us to develop similar strategies for teacher voice? We need to invest in the creation of a culture of reflection and learning conversations between teachers. There needs to be deliberately constructed, systemic collaborative learning opportunities for schools to come together in their entirety to share their values and develop their practice.The day ended with everybody back in the main hall. Action plans for every department had been completed and evaluations submitted.An inspirational day. And, as ever, much more to think about for me.Happy Term Break!
Full On Learning 