Moving On

This Blog has been good to me but I'm moving. Transferring to Wordpress. Hope to see you there.

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Nothing Should Be ‘beyond our reach’

While reading Bill Strickland's ‘Making the Impossible Possible’, an engrossing memoir of one man's successful quest to change lives, I, as usual, took copious notes on my Kindle. In this story of the Manchester Craft Guild and Strickland's inspirational tale of 'living the dream', the reader discovers how a simple lump of clay sent him on his way to an amazing life, and amazing lives for others.

Strickland's life story is extraordinary. His belief in creating beautiful things to enhance the lives of those who may not experience anything anywhere near beauty resonates very strongly. The power to create wonderful ceramics, to grow orchids, to play amazing jazz allowed individuals with low expectations in life to completely turn around their worlds and make a success.

What a refreshing reminder of the reason why education is important. Strickland not only provided amazing things for his students to make and do, he also showed them what a better world looks like. Isn't that something we should all keep in mind? If we want our children to be lifelong learners then we must show them what a learning life looks like. We must model being learners and share our thoughts and challenges and difficulties, not just tell them; we must share our strategies for overcoming difficulties, not just tell them; we must admit our confusions, that being wrong and making mistakes is okay and not just tell them. Strickland did and still does this every day of his life.

I have finished the school year now and this book has both enthused me and reminded me that all learning is wonderful. I’m delighted to have a few weeks off but am already mentally preparing for next year. Strickland’s book has inspired me to provide great lessons which are more active for the pupils than they are for me. Let them do the work and watch the magic happen.

‘...all of us have the potential to make our dreams come true, and that one of the greatest obstacles blocking us from realising that potential is that what we believe, or are told, the things we want most passionately are impractical, unrealistic, or somehow beyond our each.’

Bill Strickland

‘Making the Impossible Possible’  p.9

If I have learned one thing this year it is exactly this; nothing should be ‘beyond our reach’. Our children deserve every learning opportunity we provide.  This is a book which will stay with me for some time.

Watch Strickland's TED Talk here:

A Summer of Learning

The seven weeks of summer holiday with which I am about to be blessed are, of course, very welcome. I could also add words like 'well-deserved', and spout cliches like 'time to recharge batteries','take stock' and I'm sure, various others. Their overuse should not dilute their importance.

What is very clear, however, and always has been, is that the summer holiday, perhaps, highlights the greatest of social divisions in education. For, while better off families holiday in wonderful cities around the globe, visiting historical sights and experiencing other cultures, the less well off forget about school and learning altogether, relieved at the six-week release.

I've been thinking about a summer project for some of my senior pupils but the obstacles can seem like too much at times. My school does not start a new timetable in June so I have no idea who will be sitting in front of me in August - school structures don't really provide the conditions to make summer projects possible.

Even so, if I'm expecting students to continue to learn over Summer, should I do the same? Do we teachers view the six or seven weeks holiday as a break from everything? Should we? Or should we set ourselves a project? I don't mean school work but something that engages and excites us. Lifelong learning is for all of us after all and we must model good learning for our students.

I've written recently about how this year has been one of the most stimulating of my teaching career. I am exhausted, however, and in need of a break from school but I would argue that the most exhausting part of teaching is not the preparation and the marking; it is the every day performance, the standing up in front of an audience all day, every day, forbidden from having an 'off day' in front of your students. I find this the most exhausting part of my job and the prime justification for a lengthy holiday. Even so, if learning is so important, I must try and be a good model.

A challenge, then. For those of you about to go on holiday - in Scotland - and those with holidays on the horizon, what about giving yourself three learning targets. Forget school, but focus on learning how to do three things you've always wanted to do. Blog about your experiences if you like but of course that's not necessary. Reflect on the experience though; become a learner again.
Here goes.

By August I will have taken my first piano lesson.
By August I will be able to bake great bread.
By August I will make something amazing out of wood.

Like all New Year's Resolutions, I'm starting with real enthusiasm and good intentions. These are
genuinely things I'd like to learn to do. I hope to continue blogging over the summer and will, no doubt writes about my progress. For now, however, I'm away for a lie down.

Teachmeet - What A Great Way to End the Year

It has been almost a week since my first Teachmeet - tmlothians11 - and I'm only now beginning to reflect on the experience. The night itself, while being a thrill from start to finish, seemed a blur at the time; it was only when I watched myself on the recording the next morning that I realised what I had said and how I had said it. (my spot comes about 2 hours 55 minutes in if you want to scroll forward on the playback ). The talk itself was not particularly ground-breaking; it won't change the world but the huge personal satisfaction it has given me is very important. And it comes at the end of the most important, exciting year of my teaching career.

A year ago I would never have been able to stand up and do that. I didn't have the confidence, was in awe of those who could, and really didn't think I had anything interesting to say. Two things changed all that.
Almost a year ago to the day I had a conversation with a non-teaching friend about Twitter, a conversation during which I smirked and dismissed this new fangled kid speak. Why would I want to tell people what I was up to? By the time I returned to school in August, however, I had signed up and it completely changed my career.

The contacts I have met through Twitter - too numerous to mention here; I'd hate to leave anyone out - have enhanced my teaching life, given me the confidence to share my ideas and to believe in the possibility of a truly bright future for education in Scotland and the wider world. It has been the greatest Professional Development tool, the best Inservice Day, the most fulfilling Departmental Meeting, the most helpful support system I could ever have imagined.

I 'met' educators who shared my beliefs and thought the same things about education as I did. These great people blogged and tweeted, tweeted and blogged and, on January 1st, as part of a vaguely negotiated resolution package (don't ask) I began blogging.

'How can I tell what I think until I see what I say?' said E.M Forster and never a truer word has been said, in terms of Writing.

Just Trying to be Better that Yesterday will never be a great blog but it is mine and I'm very proud of it. It has allowed me to get things off my chest, to articulate learning occurring in my classroom and to focus on ideas which I've been playing around with. It has made me a better teacher. It brought me to the Scottish Book Trust in Edinburgh on Tuesday night, presenting my thoughts to a room full of great people.


While I'm looking forward to a well-earned summer break, I'm already mentally planning for August. Teachmeet was a wonderful way to bring this year to an end. I cannot wait for the next one.

Teachmeet - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

I’m about to take part in my first Teachmeet and I’m terrified. Terrified of the unknown. My hands sweat when I think about it, my heart beats just that little bit faster. I think of excuses to get out of it. Possible family crises or work load issues which mean, well, so sorry to let you down but, as you will understand being a teacher as well and all that, that these things do happen. Sorry. Maybe next time. I won’t, of course; because Teachmeet is the way forward and I want to be a part of it.

I stand up and talk for a living; I do it every day of my life. I’ve spoken to huge groups of kids and other teachers many of which, I would almost guarantee, were not interested in what I was saying or, even, nodded politely and went about their day.  Somehow this feels different. Teachmeet seems to suggest groups of optimistic, creative human beings actively looking to meet up with likeminded others. These people might actually want to know what I have to say. Aye there’s the rub. No hiding place. There is a real risk that I might have to ‘walk the walk’ instead of just blogging the talk.

The DIY style of CPD which Teachmeet seems to promote is one of the most exciting ventures I’ve come across in Education for many a year. The near flash mob mentality of a group of educators meeting up to talk about great stuff is exciting and what many of us have needed for ages.  It seems to be the natural extension of Blogging and Tweeting, both of which have transformed my teaching career. But what use is an interesting piece of writing if no-one does anything about it? If it doesn’t change anything, what’s the point? Perhaps Teachmeet will force me to follow up my ideas, develop them, batter them into submission and do something to follow up on my ramblings.

I won’t be breaking any new ground on Tuesday; there will be no rallying cry or revolutionary ideas. I don’t think that is the point. I will stand up for two minutes and let loose a thought, see where it takes me. However, I will look around the room and consider it a real privilege to be there and a reminder that, when we get bogged down in the minutiae of school or departmental issues, teaching is an optimistic profession, filled with optimistic, creative, amazing people.

I’ll only be up there for two minutes; what could possibly go wrong? Wish me luck.

Why We Must Persist with Glow

If I turned the clock back a couple of years, my experience with ICT in the classroom had not really progressed beyond having my classes word –process essays for English Folio. I could muddle about with e-mail and the Internet but most of it was completely alien to me. Glow, Scotland’s national intranet, changed all that. Glow has turned me into a Blogger, ICT geek and a much, much better teacher. I know there will be those of you who will harrumph and dismiss, but I remain convinced that, despite the flaws, we must persist with Glow if we are to engage all teachers in Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland.

In case you are unaware or haven’t heard or don’t care, Glow is the world's first national intranet for education which hopes to transform the way the curriculum is delivered in Scotland.  The idea is, simply put, that all teachers, pupils, schools, can share ideas, lessons, everything in a safe environment. We can access all sorts of online tools, including Blogs, Wikis, Chatroom, as well as document stores for pupils, parents and other teachers.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m aware of the problems. It can be cumbersome and difficult to manage at first. Log in can be problematic. Finding your way around can be confusing. However, after a great deal of patience and persistence, logging on for a few minutes every day, the process becomes much easier.

Glow has transformed my classroom. Only last week I had my senior class on Revision Chatrooms for four nights before their final Higher English exam; my challenging S3 class beginning reflective Blogs and S2 class uploading Imaginative Writing. During the year I had an online poll, creative writing Blogs, and I could provide all sorts of important web links and movie clips. Two years ago I couldn’t do that. Without Glow I probably wouldn’t have done that.

‘So what?’ you may say and you may be right in that. Many a computing teacher has smirked at my claims. Of course there are better online tools out there. Of course we have more easily accessible online resources. But I’m sure you are very tech savvy. There are thousands of teachers out there who are not.

If we are truly to expect all teachers to engage with the Curriculum for Excellence then we must encourage them to use available online tools in order to engage their pupils in a manner which reflects their changing needs and to enhance their practice with the new guidelines in mind. I believe Glow can do that. I also believe it is not especially helpful to deride Glow at a time when so many teachers are resisting the temptation of ICT in the classroom. Glow is a safe environment for people to get used to online tools and begin sharing with pupils. Then, perhaps, teachers can develop the confidence to go further. Glow might not be perfect but it is something. It would be foolish to give up on it now.

What if we turned everything upside down?

One of my earliest memories is from about the age of four. I was at home with my family and everyone was eating bags of crisps - or potato chips if you want to get all American on me. The bag, I recall, had a little cartoon man on the front – perhaps made by Smiths or KP – and I had opened my bag from the bottom. The man was upside down. At four years old I clearly couldn’t accept that state of affairs so I turned it upside down to open from the other end. Disaster.

A clear learning opportunity, wouldn’t you say? I never lost another crisp in my life; so isn’t turning things upside down sometimes a clever way of making things better. Even different. Reading Guy Claxton’s ‘What’s the Point of School?’ recently I came across this passage;

‘Imagine a society...in which physical education, design technology and art are the three most highly esteemed subjects, and English, maths and science are obviously less important because they only merit one lesson each a week, and they became optional when you are fourteen.’

He goes on: ‘The outstanding successes of the school are those who are strong, fit and physically agile; who can solve practical problems by inventing and building useful gadgets;  and who can make elegant sculptures and great photographs.’

Now I know there will be readers of this who will be thinking, ‘That’s Rubbish’, ‘Maybe’ or ‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’ but it has rattled my cage somewhat over the last few days. We may indeed mock Claxton’s suggestion but on closer inspection it could have some merit.  What happens when we, the teachers and adults, become jaded, uninspired by work, and desperate for something new? Most of the teachers I know would fit into one of the following groups: we wish we could play a musical instrument in our spare time; we may start to enjoy sketching or ceramics as a creative outlet; we take a photography course and buy an expensive camera; we join a gym.

Quite simply, we desire all of the things which at the moment are, perhaps, the least respected subject areas in our school system, the things we value less. We actively discourage the skills we ourselves desire thirty years later.  Ironic? Perhaps. However, what I think it does is suggest a great conversation to be had. I’m not suggesting we should change everything just for the sake of change but if we are to truly encourage engagement with Curriculum for Excellence we at least need to have these ‘out of the box’ conversations. In fact, we not only need to think outside of the box but, as again I read somewhere recently (apologies for forgetting exactly where), we need to create a new box that doesn’t even look like a box.

Whatever happens, whatever the Curriculum turns out to look like, let’s get talking. And we can start by turning things upside down and seeing what they look like. We can do this, people. Let's do it together.

Why Do I Need a Teacher When I’ve Got Past Papers?

Taking a meandering stroll through my local branch of a significantly large book store last week, I couldn’t help noticing that there were several concerned parents with several panicky looking children headed for the Education section. Aha.  It’s exam time. The time when parents begin to take an interest in their children’s prospects of success and when students begin to come to the terrifying realisation that, gulp, perhaps they should have worked a little bit harder; the time when battle weary teachers begin to develop that glint in the eye at the upcoming farewell to that difficult fourth year class. The sun is out; Bank holidays aplenty; Royals are getting married; the hard work has been done. Let’s hit the past papers.

 

I don’t know if you are aware – although if you are a teacher I’m sure you will be – but sales of past papers have become a growth industry in Scotland. They’ve always been around, of course, but the mountains of these things you have to navigate your way around in the book store nowadays beg closer inspection. If Mrs. Middle Class is buying past papers for all the subjects her children are studying, does it not suggest that something has gone wrong at some point here? I always feel the urge to whisper to the frantic parent that if you have to spend fifty pounds at Easter then it’s already too late. It symbolises to me exactly what is wrong with our Education system.

A few years back as part of a Chartered Teacher project, I conducted a little research into the use of Past Papers as a Teaching Tool in English. I, as all of us do at some point, especially early in our careers, would turn to these papers at times in the year, believing it to be a genuine measure of progress. Bearing in mind that I am an English Teacher and can only speak from that point of view, I found that unless we can recreate the true experience of an exam situation there is very little benefit gained. Yes, they do become accustomed to layout and type of questions but would it not be better to construct these questions around current reading or even topical newspaper articles? In English, which I consider to be a skills based subject, having students complete past papers in class or, even worse, for homework, merely confirms what they do not know rather than what they do know. And it is this negative experience which makes them groan every time they see them being churned out at the beginning of lessons.

Getting back to the large book store, the bottom line is that someone is making a fortune from the exam anxiety our Education system has created. You will also find, along with past papers, at least six books to help your child with Higher English. More still to help you with Curriculum for Excellence. They are not cheap. Add that to the endless photocopying sometimes required in the lead up to exams you can begin to see what a massive waste it all is. I think the over-dependence on past papers is lazy and, ultimately, not particularly beneficial. Nothing replaces regular challenging reading as the optimum way to become a better reader in any subject. No text book will help you with that.

 

When we, as educators, buy into the belief that past papers are some form of panacea, or we recommend them as revision tools, we are being lazy and confirming the myth that the exam is everything.  It may well seem to be at that moment but there are better, more productive ways to revise. Otherwise, why do they need you when they’ve got past papers?

 Incidentally, the next time you’re in your local large book store and feel the temptation to purchase past papers, ask them if they are available on Kindle. When the colour has drained from their faces, tell them that was for John Smiths and all of the other small booksellers they drove off the High Street. Then they will know how it feels.

‘He’s Not the Messiah, He’s a Very Naughty Boy’

There is a scene in Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’, which reminds me, in a strange kind of way, of schools and their teachers. It’s the scene where Graham Chapman, as Brian, is being chased by a band of followers, who are convinced that he is the Messiah. As the group moves on, a character played by Spike Milligan shouts for attention, convinced he has the answer to their prayers. The group ignores him. They walk off in another direction. He shrugs his shoulders. He walks off in the opposite direction.

There are various ways to metamorphose this scene into schools, especially in the current CPD context. The group are completely ignoring the one man there claiming he has the answer. How many times has someone popped up in your department with a sure-fire way of improving Learning and Teaching, be it Writing/ Reading/ any other thing we do every day, badly, allegedly? And how many times has this person been ignored and dismissed as another ambitious wannabe manager looking for a foothold on the ‘golden’ ladder of promotion?

But what about Spike, himself? Giving up at the first sign of any obstacle to dispensing his vital, perhaps even crucial, view of the problem area. Give up. Nobody is listening anyway. Sound familiar?

However, you could see the real culprit as the so-called messiah figure who always seems to be disappearing round the corner at the least opportune moment. I’ve been teaching for almost twelve years now and in that time I’ve experienced several of these remote messiahs. Currently ‘Co-operative learning’. And very often I blindly follow, hoping for the answer, just around another corner, just out of reach.

In 2004, I undertook my first Chartered Teacher module and thus, became a potential Spike Milligan – without the good jokes, of course. Yes, I have found myself preaching to the ‘won’t-be-converted’ at times and a soul-destroying feeling it can be. But the point I am trying to make is that, unlike old Spike, it is crucial that those with a voice, be it Chartered Teachers or anyone who has something to say, keep on shouting until they are heard. The Chartered Teacher programme should have I think, in time, changed the perception that anyone shouting loudly has a hidden agenda. Perhaps we do have the…gulp…good of the profession at heart. The financial benefits are fairly transparent so why should we be looking for promotion?

There is a growing voice amongst teachers that effective and beneficial Staff Development will come more and more from inside our own departments. So why shouldn’t it be the Chartered Teachers who lead the way? All too often we bite our thumbs at outsiders who haven’t taught in years, coming into our schools on In-service days, claiming they know the answers. And very often the answers may be next door, in the classroom of a colleague who we’ve taught beside for years. The times they are a-changing and the days of searching for a hero are well gone, I’m afraid. Open up your doors, my friends! Walk six feet and listen. You never know. Spike might have something important to say after all.

P.S. I never got round to finishing the Chartered Teacher programme...maybe one day.

The X Factor and the Future of Assessment

This week my middle school S4 class and I looked closely at an article from The Observer, ‘Is Simon Cowell Essential to the X factor?’ where two prominent commentators debated the latest news that he may be leaving. Knowing nothing about the programme, I expected these kids to tell me all about the latest news and give me an Idiot Guide. They did so. I must say, very little surprised me and I tried not to look too appalled as they told me that the greatest glee they felt was from watching the really bad singers humiliate themselves.

What did they think of the winners? They would be successful because they would be millionaires in a year. Hmm. At my age it is very easy to get up on the middle class moral high horse and condemn this ‘low culture’ as a lot of nonsense but I am beginning to think that there is something far more damaging than I first thought. It seems that the X-Factor teaches three things:

1 – If you are a winner then you are placed on a pedestal not necessarily because you are the greatest talent but that you have the greatest money making potential.

2- If you are a loser then you are a loser. You will be mocked in public and treated like a loser. Why? Because you tried and failed in front of others.

3- You can be a judge. Even the viewers are judges remember. Standing on the sidelines mocking the losers. Not commiserating or offering help – at least Cowell and his smug cronies occasionally do that - but wallowing in the humiliation of others, gleefully celebrating their rightful comeuppance. Who Do they think they are?

So is there anything really wrong with a harmless bit of schadenfreude on a Saturday night? Well, yes, actually. As an educator I see the kids who watch this show every day. I see kids who have learned that taking part means win or lose, that having a go must mean that success is the only option because reputation is on the line. I see kids who would rather sit on the sidelines and say ‘I don’t know’ to every question because being wrong in front of an audience, and an audience of peers at that, is too horrible to even contemplate.

And, do you know what? I don’t blame them. I would do the same. Because school reiterates that X Factor feeling every day of their lives. Humiliated into a ‘bottom set’ from the age of eleven. Pressed into an assessment funnel from even earlier and spat out at the end either a winner or a loser. If it was me, and I was given that choice, I would stand on the sidelines too. 

If Curriculum for Excellence is to change things for kids in Scotland it needs to consider an assessment process which will help them get out of this X-Factor mindset. Success and achievement should not come in a certificate in August. It should come from us, the adults, every day of their lives.