Interview and portfolio

Yes!
Having returned from teaching in Asia to living in Devon, I have an interview date.
Thoughts bubble rapidly to my consciousness...thoughts of portfolios, interview questions, my choice of 20 minute teaching activity, my knowledge of current issues in teaching.

Here is Edge Hill's very helpful guide to interview questions: http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/careers/DownloadZone/materials_pdfs/CC_11.pdf

This is a good discussion of the pros and cons of portfolios, hosted by TES: http://community.tes.co.uk/forums/t/1083.aspx?PageIndex=1 (N.B. I think you need to be a member of TES to see this discussion...easy to do and it allows you to access lots of great resources)

Total teaching, gives advice for teachers seeking positions, including a detailed breakdown of the ideal contents of a portfolio. http://www.total-teaching.co.uk/promotioninteaching.shtml

It is interesting that it is still not current practice to use a blog as a portfolio of work. Maybe there is too much to usefully sift through within the time constraints of an interview. Maybe there is still a place for paper in the context of interview portfolios.

Prospects.ac gives a number of sites which provide relevant and up to date educational issues. Again, it is not rocket science but it was good to find these sources all in the same place.
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/teacher_training_hot_topics.htm

Doing too much?

I was sent this article by a friend today and it made me think more about the pace of life we live, breakdown of the nuclear family and all of that kind of stuff.

Formal after school activities are partly the response of society to greater demands on the time of parents who are working hard for long hours, and don't live near the children's grandparents.  Someone needs to look  after the children before they get home from work.  Maybe this is a really middle class view.  Maybe most families don't have both parents working.  Many families are simgle parent families anyway.  I digress.

After school activities could also be seen as a reaction to the idea that we as parents are not doing enough if they leave our children to their own devices after their highly structured school day.  Even when parents are at home, some feel that their time would be better spend doing something which is educational and which involves the intervention of an adult.  Enter the idler.

The Idler suggests that:

We put far too much effort into parenting. If we leave our kids alone, they will become more self-reliant and we’ll be able to lie in bed for longer.

The word idler has many negative connotations today, where the work ethic is often strong and where it is politically correct to stay active, but I think the value of calm unstructured time is well undervalued.

How might it look in 5 years time?
Maybe there will be more play based learning in the classroom...Year 6 children might be working on projects which they have chosen...there might be a cap on the number of hours of after school activities which you are allowed to do...

Food for thought.

3 Steps to 21C learners.

C21 = Thinking + Global + tech?

As I cycled to school with my oldest 2 children today, an autumn chill spread from the handlebars, along my fingertips and up to my knuckles. I would have paid good money for that cool feeling three months ago when I was still in Bangkok, teaching at a large international school.

The new term is well upon us and with it a fresh chance to ponder on what it is all about. I started a group for teachers of children aged 5-11 on curriculum 21 and am emailed when new members join. I keep having to ask myself

"Does C21 just means adding a sprinkling of technology to the recipe of education?"
"Is it really about setting up videoconferencing?"
"Does it mean having a blog and a wiki?"

The easy answer, I suppose, is that any education which prepares children for the future could be said to follow the underlying principles of C21.

"Can the learning process be future proofed though?"

With the pace of change, mastering a particular technology is vital, but of secondary importance to the acquisition of the generic learning skills, using whichever current technologies which are available and are the best for the job. Thinking skills, or Habits of mind, might be a suitable framework.
Art Costa talks about sharing the vision as an essential part of developing Thinking skills, during his NGFL Cymru GCaD address. He is referring to the school wide discussion of shared language concepts and progression which must take place if Habits of Mind are to take firm root in a school. He compares the light from a laser which all travels in the same direction, with the diffused light from a ceiling light.

So, in order to start travelling in the same direction we need to have a shared understanding of terminology. Curriculum21 is a rich multifaceted concept which needs unpicking.

Here's a brief, bald and sketchy starting point.

C21 = Thinking skills + Global + tech

Please add your own C21 equations.

And one of the ways to be a better teacher...Be less helpful.

Another reason for relying less on textbooks and making learning real.
Get a compelling question which produces a compelling answer.  Develop the problems with students.

Develop patient problem solving.

Start with the visual



To watch the TED talk, click here.

Don't throw away the pencil sharpeners just yet.

Here's a great article on the history and cognitive role of handwriting.

I would hate to live in a world where we were unable to communicate without a keyboard, and keyboard free is also not  future I would enjoy.

We need to straddle both worlds and some of us will lean more on the handwriting side than others.  The question of which to use keyboard skills in school is more about resources, competency at typing and the level of integration of computers within school.

Don't throw away the pencil sharpeners just yet!

Drive with a M.A.P., by Dan Pink

My recent non fiction read has been Dan Pink's Drive.

Motivation is the theme.

He finds that money works when the task is repetitive.
It doesn't wotk when the job required creativity.

The key, says Pink, is:
M - mastery
A - autonomy
P - purpose.

I could write a summary in several pages, but the video is far more entertaining: