*I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
I’m a 2014 Teach First Ambassador and this year I will be stepping down from my role as Action Network chair in the East Midlands after two years. “What’s Action Network?” I hear you ask. Well, there is an Action Network within each of the regions in which TF works consisting of participants (still on the 2 year programme) and ambassadors (those who have completed it). The work of Action Network’s fall into 4 key areas:
Now, ‘community’ comes up a lot within Teach First and indeed it comes up a lot within education more widely. In this case, we consider ‘community’ in a wide sense, encompassing participants, ambassadors, mentors, tutors, staff, pupils, parents and schools (I’ve probably missed some out there!). During my two year tenure, we have focussed on two things: improving our means of gathering feedback and running events to improve wellbeing. In both of these cases we have centered our efforts on TF Participants but are increasingly working with Ambassadors too. We would love to work in even broader areas but as full time teachers who do this work on a voluntary basis, we are still growing our capacity to do this effectively so have focussed on the areas we can have the biggest impact in so far. In addition to this, representatives from ANs meet four times a year at the National Action Network to discuss and feedback on ideas within TF, plan projects and make suggestions for improvements. So what does the East Midlands Action Network (EMAN) do? Over the past two years we have been instrumental in setting up a zoning system to help with expenses for travelling to CPD, have held two teach meets, two weekends away to promote teacher well being, facilitated a buddying system for new teachers and fundraised to help address the NEET problem - one of the most prevalent in the East Mids. Coming out of EMAN, two of our reps have also set up The Broader View, which although I don’t have the space to discuss much here, I thoroughly recommend you check out. We’ve got lots more in the pipeline, including another weekend away and a policy event - exciting times. As Chair of EMAN, I have enjoyed taking a wider view of education policy. EMAN has enabled me to stay in touch and take part in discussions around how to improve TF and what can be done to tackle educational disadvantage, including the Challenge the Impossible campaign. Especially in the first couple of years of teaching, it can be easy to have tunnel vision. The classroom is all consuming and it can, frankly, become easy to be disillusioned with the state of education when the vigour and enthusiasm of Summer Institute seem distant on those dark December evenings. For me AN provides an outlet and allowed me to reconnect with why I joined TF, a reminder of what can be achieved.
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*I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
I’m a big fan of Twitter and have written as much before. Most of my friends are probably pretty tired of hearing me go on about it. I first joined Twitter in February ‘09 without having much of an idea about what it was about but soon got the bug. Shortly after joining the education community I decided to set up a second account to focus on education, teaching and learning. That was February ‘15. Two years later and Twitter has provided some of the most interesting CPD for me, exposing me to ideas beyond the confines of my school and immediate context. It’s also been one of the most effective means for me finding out conference that I want to attend and meeting people who inspire greater discussion. I follow many of the BNOTs (Big Names on Twitter, obviously) and try to chip into discussions whenever I can. It will come as no surprise to many of those reading this that many of those debates seem to revert to an overarching theme: traditional or progressive? Which are you? Which camp do your ideas fall into? Which one is most effective? Which one holds the moral high ground? Then there’s the third camp, those who argue that you can be both. Who seems to win these debates seems almost wholly dictated by who you follow, or rather how many of which camp you follow. It amazes me by the frequency that some of these debates get out of hand by the vitriolic manner that one camp responds to the other. Both sides have written about the dangers of this and why it is not just unnecessary, unprofessional and unbecoming of us as a profession. So, is it worth it? Are these Twitter arguments and discussion something that we should welcome or shy away from? We still don’t have a shared answer to the big question: what is education for? What is obvious to me is that Twitter (and the wider blogosphere) is a fantastic means of raising the level of discourse in education. I’ve certainly been exposed to wider thinking than when I first began teaching and changed my own mind, which is surely the mark of a society and profession within which we should want to live and work. The danger is that we do not expose ourselves to contrasting schools of thought, to opposing points of view or engage in considered debate. Twitter is valuable to the education community if we share ideas and discuss their merits; it is less so if we do not engage, if we allow it become an echochamber for what we already know and believe *I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
Confession: I’m a little bit of a Twitter-holic. I love following the national conversation on Twitter (more on this in another post) and I love taking part in that conversation too but reading from the shadows is often all I feel I have time for. My Pocket is overflowing with saved articles and Feedly is brimming with my next potential read. As for my bookshelf, I’m slowly making my way through the titles but have a long way to go. Don’t even get me started on my Amazon wish list of edu-books. Currently, I am studying for my Masters in Educational Leadership with the University of Warwick and am a Primary Fellow on the Teaching Leaders Programme working towards NPQML. I am also Chair of the Teach First East Midlands Action Network and try to stay as involved as a Teach First Ambassador as possible. Oh, and did I just hear someone say something about having a life outside teaching? I love my job. I love doing my best to make a difference in children’s lives. I love getting better at what I do. And, if it wasn’t already obvious, I also love throwing myself into the wider teaching community. But doing all of this doesn’t leave much time for much else right now including (micro)blogging. When it comes to tweeting, I tend to do it in fits and starts generally around events I attend or policy announcements. I always intend to get more involved in #SLTchat and #PrimaryRocks but life and all that often seems to get in the way and I forget! So here is my mid-year resolution: I will carve out the time to write a micro blog every so often and I’ll tweet a little more frequently. How am I going to find the time to do this? Time will tell but for now, this is a good enough start for me. *A few months later, Staffrm closed its doors for the final time and so my mini micro-blogging adventure went on hiatus. Different priorities took over until I decided to start this blog again now - in early 2019.* *I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
If an animal could represent your teaching style, what would it be? As my NQT year, my second in the classroom and my final year as a Teach First participant, draws to a close, I am proud to say that last weekend I organised my first TeachMeet which was attended by just over 100 teachers. I have been lucky enough to attend a range of professional development opportunities over the last couple of years including ResearchEd’s national conference, the Festival of Education and a few TeachMeets along the way (plus many other great opportunities). I am a voracious reader of blogs (helped out by Feedly and Pocket along the way) and have benefited from a number of books, especially during my NQT year. I have taken what I can and learnt more than I can put into words from the educational community - something I intend to continue doing for many years to come. I have been inspired by events I have attended and the things that I have read, which is why I began to put the wheels in motion which led to our TeachMeet. We can learn a great deal from our colleagues and, whilst opportunities to watch one another in the classroom seem increasingly difficult to organise amongst the pressures of the day to day job, the chance to discuss our pedagogy and andragogy, sharing the best parts of our practise, seem invaluable to me. The inaugural East Midlands Teach First Action Network Team Meet (#EMTM) was a great success led and delivered by teachers in the first few years of their careers. An event dominated by NQTs and those coming to the end of their PGCE year. An event where those who are still learning share that they know with others who are still learning. An event we can all learn from. Ok, so we didn’t trend on Twitter, there was no raffle or prizes to be won. But it was great to hear the conversations started as a result of the presentations and the appetite for future events. So here’s to many more to come. Many thanks to all the speakers and attendees who made it a special night:
*I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the second Debating Michaela event. Hosted in City Hall, with the breathtaking backdrop of Tower Bridge and the London skyline, a few hundred teachers gathered to debate some of education's most divisive issues (trending on Twitter in the process). Recently, I’ve found myself reading lots of blog posts from Michaela staff and the debates were a brilliant extension of this. It seems that Michaela divides opinion in the education world; unfortunately I haven’t the opportunity to visit myself yet. But one thing is obvious without having to see the school for myself - I can’t help but be impressed by the conviction of the staff. The whole team seem to sing from the same hymn sheet and are willing to engage in debate about the ideals which are most important to their school. I find myself agreeing with much of what Michaela espouse, but also appreciate that they welcomed having their views challenged in such a public forum. The team at Michaela are almost evangelical about about what their ideals (the term cult was mentioned on Twitter, and not just when Teach First was brought up), but are open to debate and discussion, even if this means more people disagree with them at the end of the day than did at the start - although I’m pretty certain this wasn’t the case! I for one enjoyed having my own preconceptions, views and values challenged. I’m certainly not evangelical about what I believe at the moment and am still shaping my own opinions. I think it is important that in an educated society we are able and willing to change our minds and admit when our views change - something I was pleased Jonathan Simons did in the last debate! Unfortunately, Staffrm's word limit doesn't allow me to go into any in further reflections in individual debates, but maybe they can be the inspiration behind future posts? For those who couldn't attend, the debates were:
I look forward to future Debating Michaela events and more opportunities to discuss these ideas, which are so important to shaping the future of the educational landscape. For those of you who want to read some more about the Debating Michaela event, here are a few links you might find interesting. Please feel free to post other links to blogs about the event in the comments.
*I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
In a world driven by and dominated by technology it seems that we all have a phone or tablet constantly glued to our hands. We are more interconnected than ever, for better or worse, almost every minute of every hour of every day. So how can we make the most of this digital world? I for one don’t have the time to keep up with all the blogs and tweets or articles and journals that I want to - let alone get through the books I want to read! Like many others, I’ve tried to develop a few ways to take back the time in my life - even if this is by embracing the phone in my hand a little more. Here is a short list of the apps and sites I use to maximise and manage my time:
I’m currently trying to convince my school to sign up for Google Apps for Education, so that I can try out Google Classroom. I’ve heard lots of good things and want to see for myself how I can utilise it. Are there any apps or sites that you would recommend? *I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
When I was first accepted onto the Teach First programme one of the first things I did was get onto Amazon. What books did I need to read? I was looking for a magic wand; a secret recipe that would make me a fantastic teacher from day one. Of course, no such magic exists, but I bought several which would give me a solid introduction into many of the theories and practices which would be discussed by tutors and mentors throughout my first year. As the year progressed, I began to discover more specific texts which would help develop my repertoire of teaching strategies, not least Pie Corbett’s numerous offerings. But, amongst the pressures of the day to day job, the challenges of my PGCE and attempting to balance my life outside of work, I didn’t read nearly as much as I wanted to do. This year, I have had the good fortune to have been recommended several fantastic books, many of which are listed below and all of which I would recommend. These books have challenged many of the practices and assumptions I developed in my first year of teaching not just within my own teaching but also my thinking about school culture on a wider scale. Alongside academic reading for my Masters study and many of the brilliant blogs out there, these books have have helped to shape and develop my views about education, teaching and learning. Here’s a short selection of just a few of my favourites, in no particular order.:
What do you recommend I read next? *Note: after I tweet about this, none other than Doug Lemov himself replied to recommend Beck et al's Bringing Words to Life. Most of the books I listed above are still ones I value and would recommend to others. If this post interests you, check out my Recommendations tab.* *I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
“If kids left school at 11, what would we teach them?” This was the final question that Stephen Lockyer posed during his speech at Research Ed’s National Conference in 2015. It’s a question that has stuck with me. Primary schools are based on the levels of their pupils who reach the ‘expected standard’ and whether they have ‘added value’ during their pupil’s time at the school. We often hear the phrase bandied around: ‘secondary ready’. We need to give pupils the best education we can so that they are ‘secondary ready’. Or so we’re told. But we don’t. The clue is in the name. It is Primary education not just because it comes first but because it is most important. Without the basics laid at primary school it would be difficult for many of us to function in society. The basic skills we need to check your change in the shops or write a letter to a friend. Yes, the education we give our pupils is important in ensuring they are ‘secondary ready’, but that is not enough. It is not enough to say that they need to do well so they are ‘secondary ready’, it is our duty to ensure they are ‘world ready’. Now, I’m not suggesting that our pupils are, or should, be ready go out into the big bad world aged 11; there is no doubt that secondary (and tertiary) education are extremely important to the development of our young people. We would certainly hope that our pupils are ‘secondary ready’ by the time they finish Year 6 - especially in areas such as their independence, curiosity and willingness to tackle new problems. I may be alone in this, but to suggest that the aim of primary education is to ensure children are ‘secondary ready’ is just wrong. Then again, maybe I'm misinterpreting the phrase myself. Either way, it brings me back to the question we began with: “If kids left school at 11, what would we teach them?” *I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
#corevalues Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by Professor Howard Stevenson (@hstevenson10) from the University of Nottingham. As I’m sure many of you do, I enjoy lectures that get me thinking. He began with the simplest of questions: What is education for? Now if you’re reading this then the chances are you know that despite the simplicity of the question, the answer is far from straightforward and can be answered in a myriad of ways depending on your perspective. Certainly, it’s not the first time I’ve heard this question posed, especially at a policy level but since then I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it. I have several questions buzzing around in my head at the moment, and in this short blog post I’m not even going to try and get into any discussion around how I might answer them (although please feel free to offer any thoughts in the comments). Here are a selection of the questions I’ve been asking myself since then: - What IS education for? - What are my core values? - How does this impact what I do day to day in the classroom? - What are the implications of my values on what I prioritise in the classroom? - Would my pupils know what is important to me? - What happens when policy challenges our values? And finally: - How does what, and how, I teach align with what I believe the purpose of education to be? *I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
#educationresearch Over the past few month, primarily through my experiences on Twitter (@educatingholmes), I have become increasingly interested in the role research has to play in education and the extent to which teachers can be active and engaged leaders of research rather than passive practitioners who have research ‘done to them’. Last Thursday I had the privilege of attending my first @researchED1 event (www.workingoutwhatworks.com), hosted by the London Connected Learning Centre. The event was aimed as a ‘starting point for schools and educators who want to find out what they can do, and how they can get involved’ with a short programme of speakers delivering a taste of how to get involved. Whilst much of the event was aimed at a school leadership level, centred on how your school as a whole can become more research engaged, there was much to whet the appetite of the classroom teacher. Time will continue to be perhaps the biggest constraint on teachers’ ability to engage in research but the first step on any path will be the most difficult. Whether it’s picking up a book (my Amazon wish list is filled to the brim with recommendations), taking part in more twitter discussions or attending conferences to start finding out what really does work; I know I want to become more research engaged. Oliver Quinlan (@oliverquinlan) has blogged some excellent summaries of the four main speakers for the day which you can read here: Carl Hendrick (@C_Hendrick): http://www.oliverquinlan.com/liveblogs/?p=1148 Jon Brunskill (@jon_brunskill): http://www.oliverquinlan.com/liveblogs/?p=1150 Kate Atkins (@kateatkins33): http://www.oliverquinlan.com/liveblogs/?p=1152 Matt Walker (@TheNFER): http://www.oliverquinlan.com/liveblogs/?p=1154 If you have the time, I’d thoroughly recommend watching the talks in full yourself: https://plus.google.com/events/cmsg2gghm4topvqsunpn6d3ichc. My thanks go to all the speakers above, plus organisers @tombennett71 and @s_horrox. In particular I must thank Jon Brunskill, who is proving you don’t have to have been a teacher for decades to become research engaged. Key questions that stick out in my mind from the event:
*I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
As part of the Teach First programme we are encouraged to take part in a Summer Project. It was here that I first heard about LRTT – Limited Resources Teacher Training (http://lrtt.org/) – an organisation dedicated to sustainable teacher training in disadvantaged countries across the world. I’ve always enjoyed travel and working abroad and liked LRTT’s message. Thankfully I was lucky enough to be accepted as one of their fellows so this summer I’ll be spending three and a half weeks with a group of likeminded teachers in Guyana. I’ve only been in the profession a year (actually a little less – but I’ll have completed my first year in the baptism of fire that is a training teacher by the time I jet off to Guyana) so am still pretty fresh – a status that has benefits (read the usual proclamations about youth and enthusiasm) and drawbacks (read relative inexperience). Throughout my first year teaching though I’ve learnt more than I could have imagined. Looking back at the start of the year I wonder what on earth I was doing, and am sure I’ll do the same again in another 12 months. With any luck I can share some of the nuggets I’ve learnt this year to make other teacher’s practise that little bit better whilst learning a few gems myself. Teacher training is normally the purview of older, more experienced staff in the education community so the opportunity to be involved at this early stage in my career is exciting! We’re privileged to have strong Initial Teacher Training programmes here in the UK, and yes I know they’re not perfect (an issue which is well addressed by Debra Kidd in her book Notes from the Front Line – a book I am yet to read but have read some fascinating extracts from), but it’s a better offer than a lot of other countries across the world. My own PGCE is (or more specifically, will come from) the University of Nottingham, some of my teaching education was delivered through Teach First, much of it through CPD at my own school and I continue to learn through twitter, blogs and the Staffrm. Next year I intend to embark on a Masters course to further my own practice. However, the overwhelming majority of teachers in countries such as Guyana are not nearly so lucky, hence the need for improved teacher training programmes. We’ll be giving up the large majority of our much vaunted and hallowed six weeks ‘off’ to try and do our bit to improve education globally. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as though it’s a completely selfless act – we get to visit a fascinating new country on an exotic continent, go on some incredible trips and, hopefully, have a great time doing it. We know we’re not going in with some kind of magic wand but if we can do something to help improve the educational opportunities that are provided then surely we’re doing something worthwhile. Joining me as part of the group will be another teacher from my school, Anna Daubney, who is in her RQT year. If you would like to contribute to the cost of the programme for us to travel to Guyana then Anna and I have set up a fundraising page at: [LINK REMOVED, NO LONGER ACTIVE]. Now, how does that old saying go? ‘Teach a man to fish…’ *I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
I've been a fan of twitter since starting my own personal count back in 2009 but only recently separated my professional tweeting (@educatingholmes) and haven’t looked back since. It was here that I first saw the countless pictures of mugs with a distinct red logo on it – I had stumbled across @Staffrm. I've been contemplating my first Staffrm post since joining a few months ago. I've enjoyed reading some fantastic posts from other Staffrm’ers and decided it was about time I contributed too. I'm generally a pretty confident guy but, just like a kid’s first day or walking into the staffroom at lunch in front of a group who've worked together for years, it can be a surprisingly nervy experience posting here for the first time so please bear with me. Currently I’m in my training year as part of the Teach First programme. Wait, I know some of you will want to stop reading now; Teach First definitely divides opinion just as any ‘new’ initiative can do (TF is just over a decade old). Some of you will have come into contact with TFers, others won’t and your opinion is likely to have been formed by the people you have come into contact with. I’m not naïve enough to assume two years into the job I’ll be the finished article. What does the ‘finished article’ even look like? I'm definitely not there yet, and I’m not sure any of my colleagues, TF or otherwise, regardless of experience would suggest they are either. What I do know is that I'm better than I was when I started back in September. I’m always willing to learn and ask questions – that’s one of the reason’s I joined the Staffrm – and hopefully I’ll be better next week than I am now. Lots of TFers I know are in a similar boat – we know we've a lot to learn and have a lot of responsibility for this stage in our career but with a bit of guidance we’re more than willing to work hard to improve and contribute as best we can to the profession we've decided to enter – however long individuals decide to stay actively teaching. Throughout the rest of the year I intend to make the most of the opportunities presented to me. I’ll be learning on the job, but then aren't we all? From the frustrations of the everyday job to the pressures of government and curriculum change, teaching can be a tough profession. Far more so than many of our friends who aren't involved in education will ever believe or understand (especially when you take those long holidays into account, right?). By expanding our community, sharing good practice and helping each other learn can go a long way to easing those pressures, which I why I joined the Staffrm. For now that’s all from me. Hopefully there are others out there who can relate to this post so please share, connect and get in touch. |
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