What do you at half term? If your not in a school setting then they don't exist. At least that's what I thought. Recently though I have found that I don't chill anymore. I spend time doing stuff for school. Then I panic as I realise that I have 2 rooms to decorate, a birthday sleepover and major family visit on the cards!
The trouble is, that what I want to do is to read, relax and not work, which is what everyone thinks teachers do after 3;15, at weekends and during holidays.
The truth is that's not happening. More and more demands on our time are coming from Senior Leaders, local and central government. I spend on average 50hrs a week in school working, and about 12 to 14 hous a week working out of school. That's about 60+ hours a week working. How many of you would do 50% extra for no extra pay?
I wonder what that works out at? So for every school week I do half a week extra in hours. 39 school weeks thats an extra 18 1/2 weeks worth of hours. So I squeeze 57 1/2 weeks of work in a school year of 39 weeks!!! for £32K, five years at Uni and the student debt and everyone tells us to stop moaning.
No! It's time to listen. We want to teach not to do paperwork to justify some political ideal.
Since someone realised that teachers had these holidays and what was once a good income, it appeared to politicians that we needed to be held accountable, they have not stopped interfereing. Our lives revolve around targets and we are no longer teaching free thinking because if OFSTED come in a see that the children are not reaching what is seen as 'normal' levels of attainment, then we get hammered. Teachers and SLTs are in fear of the words 'Special Measures.'
So who is going to stick their neck out and say enough? Let us teach children according to their ability not what is projected that they will be like at 11 from what they did at 7 years old.
I've had enough. I'm frustrated by the shackles of the politicos. I've lost my teaching mojo. Lets raise standards by freeing the curriculum not tying it down. No more now. I'm really fed up now.
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Thursday 30 December 2010
Lessons from snow... for the government and educators.
It's been quite a while since I last updated my post but I've been busy and ill, well haven't we all. Plus I don't really think that I've needed to. What's out there is saying it all. How many times do we need to repeat things in different ways?
Anyway, what I am about to say has probably been said already but what the heck.
I look out of my window and I see winter murk. Quite different from the last 2 weeks which have been dominated by snow and ice, and in the last few days, fog. So what I hear you say. Well our country grinds to a halt every time nature throws her less than predicatable white blanket over us. Why? We are all constantly told that we cannot drive unless it's an emergency, cannot play football/rugby on a pitch with a few centimetres of snow and cannot work if the temperature drops below a certain point. Luckily for us some people didn't worry about the 20cms of snow on the road when our sofa was delivered. Probably down to the fact that the driver had learned, by driving in these conditions, how to cope.
This brings me to my main point. Surely if learning happens in the front part of our brain, the part also responsible for taking risks, then shouldn't we be taking the risk to drive, carefully, in the snow so we can learn. It's no wonder that there are many accidents when no one takes risks because they're told not to and no one has the experience. I am not saying that driving in the snow is not very dangerous at times because it bloody well is! But how can we recognise the dangers if we have no experience of them? Risk taking will teach us what's safe and what is risky or even suicidal.
It might inprove a persons understanding of physics. Imagine that. A whole raft of physics undergraduates who were inspired by wierd driving in snow and ice!!! Perhaps we need compulsory elements in the driving test using skid pans.
One more thing. Is it good for society to rely on authorities to tell us when we should do something? Had we in our street waited for authorities to tell us to clear our road with shovels so we could get onto level ground and learn about driving on snow, then we wouldn't have done so. We didn't wait to be told. God help us in war. The Bulldog spirit of WWII involving common sense learned by weighing up risks would be more or less absent or wrong. Apathy and mistakes would rule.
Maybe that's what's wrong with many parts of British society now. It's about time our politicians developed some common sense of their own and stopped listening to those who are looking for scapegoats to compensate for their own shortcomings.
Anyway, what I am about to say has probably been said already but what the heck.
I look out of my window and I see winter murk. Quite different from the last 2 weeks which have been dominated by snow and ice, and in the last few days, fog. So what I hear you say. Well our country grinds to a halt every time nature throws her less than predicatable white blanket over us. Why? We are all constantly told that we cannot drive unless it's an emergency, cannot play football/rugby on a pitch with a few centimetres of snow and cannot work if the temperature drops below a certain point. Luckily for us some people didn't worry about the 20cms of snow on the road when our sofa was delivered. Probably down to the fact that the driver had learned, by driving in these conditions, how to cope.
This brings me to my main point. Surely if learning happens in the front part of our brain, the part also responsible for taking risks, then shouldn't we be taking the risk to drive, carefully, in the snow so we can learn. It's no wonder that there are many accidents when no one takes risks because they're told not to and no one has the experience. I am not saying that driving in the snow is not very dangerous at times because it bloody well is! But how can we recognise the dangers if we have no experience of them? Risk taking will teach us what's safe and what is risky or even suicidal.
It might inprove a persons understanding of physics. Imagine that. A whole raft of physics undergraduates who were inspired by wierd driving in snow and ice!!! Perhaps we need compulsory elements in the driving test using skid pans.
One more thing. Is it good for society to rely on authorities to tell us when we should do something? Had we in our street waited for authorities to tell us to clear our road with shovels so we could get onto level ground and learn about driving on snow, then we wouldn't have done so. We didn't wait to be told. God help us in war. The Bulldog spirit of WWII involving common sense learned by weighing up risks would be more or less absent or wrong. Apathy and mistakes would rule.
Maybe that's what's wrong with many parts of British society now. It's about time our politicians developed some common sense of their own and stopped listening to those who are looking for scapegoats to compensate for their own shortcomings.
Friday 19 November 2010
A lot happens in a month
What can I say? So much has happened.
My PLN has become enormous and I'm beginning to catch up. I have decided that all teachers should have secondment to university to teach. I have learnt so much. It's only been 7 years since I was at Uni doing my PGCE but things have moved on at a pace. Good job I have been lucky enough to be in this position.
Part of my enlightenment is due to guidance that BEd 1s get. I have developed a PLN and that has involved the creation of a Delicious account and good use of Twitter.
Something else here, something newish to me.
Targets
My PLN has become enormous and I'm beginning to catch up. I have decided that all teachers should have secondment to university to teach. I have learnt so much. It's only been 7 years since I was at Uni doing my PGCE but things have moved on at a pace. Good job I have been lucky enough to be in this position.
Part of my enlightenment is due to guidance that BEd 1s get. I have developed a PLN and that has involved the creation of a Delicious account and good use of Twitter.
Something else here, something newish to me.
Targets
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Web3.0 already?
I dont have the transcript but I do have this: -
Web 3.0: The way forward?
View more presentations from Steve Wheeler.
Illuminated by Elluminate.
Wow. What an amazing few days. 2 days MLE training followed by time for thought and ending with a session using Elluminate!!! I saw this first on Fronter, our MLE, and I've been keen to try it. Tonight came my chance. Ian Addison, @ianaddison on Twitter, co-hosted a session talking ICT stuff (Use of netbooks and ICT suites and their potential direction) on Elluminate. I am impressed by it BUT my mic is on my webcam in the main room of the house. If you want to use this aplication, make sure you're in a quiet room and the technology works!
What did I find out? Well the text side and what I heard tells me that some schools are preparing to let families 'borrow' netbooks. Depends upon where you teach. Not around us!!! Maybe have drop-in sessions in the IT suite!
I suppose I have a cynical view of the area but quite often that is justified. Fragmatory families might mean siblings, cousins, step this and tat relavives and even parents with sustance reliance might mislay some of these. Budgets are tight or gone. All parents have TVs and alot have game systems so why not computers and internet? Maybe we have to hook parents into realising the potential for use of the internet. What do you think?
What did I find out? Well the text side and what I heard tells me that some schools are preparing to let families 'borrow' netbooks. Depends upon where you teach. Not around us!!! Maybe have drop-in sessions in the IT suite!
I suppose I have a cynical view of the area but quite often that is justified. Fragmatory families might mean siblings, cousins, step this and tat relavives and even parents with sustance reliance might mislay some of these. Budgets are tight or gone. All parents have TVs and alot have game systems so why not computers and internet? Maybe we have to hook parents into realising the potential for use of the internet. What do you think?
Sunday 17 October 2010
Are you bitter Andrew Marr?
In case you hadn't heard, Andrew Marr made a speech the other day where described bloggers as spotty socially inadequate youths who rant anonymously in their parents basements! I have a wife, children and have been in this relationship for nearly 25 years. I don't have a basement and my parents live in a different country.
What blogs is he reading? Not this one but then dear reader you may be the only one. I hope I don't rant. I hope I provoke people into thought and I hope I might give some inspiration even if second or more hand.
Relax Andrew, most bloggers are not like that. An awful lot of us have something to say. Maybe you need to mix with ordinary folk a bit more and then you'd get it!
What blogs is he reading? Not this one but then dear reader you may be the only one. I hope I don't rant. I hope I provoke people into thought and I hope I might give some inspiration even if second or more hand.
Relax Andrew, most bloggers are not like that. An awful lot of us have something to say. Maybe you need to mix with ordinary folk a bit more and then you'd get it!
Hope yet for my screaming soul
For the last few years I have been feeling a sense of frustration. No, not that! As first a parent, then a governor and now a teacher I have observed how schools have become increasingly shackled by government who have realised that people can tell it's not working. So what did they do? They decided we should all sing from the same hymnsheet and gave us the national curriculum. OK. Then they decided we should see how schools are managing childrens progress an gave us SATs. Has this improved learning though? I don't think so.
When I studied for my degree, which was late in life, lecturers complained that schools and colleges were churning out children that couldn't think for themselves, had little deep learning and couldn't accept failure. I wonder why?
Recently I have broadened my horizons by sitting in front of my computer. (Yes you can do this) By using Twitter, reading blogs and actually using the technologies I have such faith in, I have found that there are many people like myself out there. My one worry is that these people are on the fringe with such radical ideas that nothing will come of them. But are they? Or are they very well informed people with vision to see our education system holistically and temporally and understand what needs to happen? I think it is the latter.
One such person is Sir Ken Robinson. Yep him.
The following speech he made was first brought to my attention by Doug Dickinson. (http://www.dougdickinson.co.uk/blog/) Another one of those well informed types by the way. See what you think
When I studied for my degree, which was late in life, lecturers complained that schools and colleges were churning out children that couldn't think for themselves, had little deep learning and couldn't accept failure. I wonder why?
Recently I have broadened my horizons by sitting in front of my computer. (Yes you can do this) By using Twitter, reading blogs and actually using the technologies I have such faith in, I have found that there are many people like myself out there. My one worry is that these people are on the fringe with such radical ideas that nothing will come of them. But are they? Or are they very well informed people with vision to see our education system holistically and temporally and understand what needs to happen? I think it is the latter.
One such person is Sir Ken Robinson. Yep him.
The following speech he made was first brought to my attention by Doug Dickinson. (http://www.dougdickinson.co.uk/blog/) Another one of those well informed types by the way. See what you think
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