management

The Straight

 Inspiration, Personal Productivity  No Responses »
Oct 122012
 

This video was used to provoke debate in staff development sessions.  It asks a very simple question about learning, school, examinations and life.  Do you ever step off the straight?  The film always provokes some good discussion, and a lot of comment, particularly about the cyclists breathing!

Please feel free to use the film in your own staff development sessions, here are some questions and prompts to get things going.

1) In this school, what is the straight?  Just how much is set down and formally required?  Just how flexible is the curriculum?

2) The cyclist clearly has a sense of adventure as a lot of risks are taken and there is a lot of potential danger.  What are the risks in stepping off the straight in this school?  Is there really, truly, any danger?

3) Who would you need to speak to about stepping off the straight?  Is it right that you have autonomy in your classroom and the freedom to do what you want without clearing it with anyone?  Head of year?  Head of department?  Headteacher?  What would the headteacher say anyway?

4) Why do you think the film is called “The Straight” and not “The Straight and Narrow”?

5) How do you measure it?  Everything is measured in school so how do you measure a journey where you are not sure where you are going?  What would OFSTED say? How do you show the value of using your own initiative?

6) You may know of some alternative approaches to education that value ‘the journey’ more than ‘the destination’.  Why do we not value these approaches more in this country?

Brain Pickings, Procrastination…

 Personal Productivity  No Responses »
Sep 272012
 

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/21/the-science-of-procrastination/

I wouldn’t go as far as call it a plague, as others have, but I do think many of us suffer from procrastination issues and don’t have any solutions for it.  This excellent little video from ‘Brain Pickings’ is probably just what you need to start to put some measures in place to make your work time more productive.

One hour of focused work is better than 2 hours of fannying about.

‘Brain Pickings‘ are one of the inspirations for A* to G, do check out their excellent site and donate if you can.

Why the Apple event on Wednesday matters to teachers…

 Ideas, Information, Technology  1 Response »
Sep 102012
 

Not a fanboy.  Please try to keep that in the back of your mind.  Yes, I’m typing this on a Mac, yes I have an iPod.  BUT I have an android phone, several windows PCs and a healthy understanding of the real world.  So please, don’t think this is just a fanboy rant, it’s not.  What it is, is an attempt to point out that we’re at a tipping point in education technology and that the next step, probably made by Apple at their product launch in San Francisco on Wednesday, could change everything.

We’ve had the iPad since the Summer of 2010, an incredibly thin device which uses a touch screen and can fit in an A4 envelope. It can access the web, seamlessly handle your email, manage your media content and a host of other tasks through a wealth of apps. As Steve Jobs used to say it’s “insanely great”. The iPad launched an industry wide rethink of what IT is, what it’s for and who should have it.  Now just about every IT manufacturer has a tablet device, there are a variety of operating systems, and app development is a major growth industry. If you still think IT is sitting behind a massive grey box and a 15 inch CRT monitor or that Microsoft Word and spreadsheets is what the IT curriculum should teach you have missed this revolution completely.

Many schools have ridden the crest of this wave and already brought tablet computers into the classroom.  Schools which issue their learners with their own iPads do exist. Units are being written as we speak allowing you to use tablet computers and mobile devices in art, music and media exams. Companies are already writing apps for classroom teaching, classroom management, assessment and support. The education tablet revolution has started but it it is, at the moment, in the hands of the enthusiast.

It is widely expected that Apple will launch a smaller version of their iPad on Wednesday (I’m not an Apple pundit myself, but Engadget and Macrumors will back me up here) as well as a larger phone, refreshed iMacs and iPods. It could be quite a day. The smaller iPad is a very interesting idea as it comes hot on the heals of the Kindle Fire and a host of other Android based tablet devices.  A smaller screen would bring limitations but it would also bring a cheaper price and perhaps a price so compelling that buying a class set, or indeed one for every learner is financially wise. In the UK you can get an iPad for £329 from the apple store, it’s not the latest model but it’s cheaper than a typical PC laptop. The kindle Fire is £129, just how much would a smaller iPad cost?

The Apple argument will be that the iPad is the only real tablet proposition for schools as there are apps in place, robust app quality control and apps in every subject and for every use. Guaranteed learner engagement in a sleek, brushed aluminium case. Android and the new Windows operating system (which is just around the corner) might argue with that, but the condition is clear.  If Wednesday goes the way the pundits are telling us, we may well be seeing the argument crashing on our desks this week.

If you are not going in this direction, parents will want to know why.

New (academic) year resolutions

 Ideas, Personal Productivity  No Responses »
Sep 022012
 

Here we go.  If not tomorrow, certainly this week. If in Scotland, probably last week. More than likely though, it is time to get back to work and start the new term, and for some of you it is your first day at work, teaching a proper class of your own.  Good luck.

It has not been a particularly quiet Summer.  It’s not been a Summer which has recharged batteries and prepared us to deliver an inspiring and dynamic education experience.  It’s been full of stuff.  Stuff which we could have done without.  It’s been a political Summer (and a wet one) where I’ve had to stop myself from posting angry articles almost everyday (new term resolution No. 1 – no angry posts). Not only have we had GCSE issues, we’ve had free school problems, governor problems, University problems, employment figures problems, NEET problems, A4E problems, G4S problems, funding problems and my guttering gave out in all the rain.  Not a great Summer at all.

What we have to do in times like these is focus on the task in hand which is being great teachers and taking our enthusiasm into the classroom. In this spirit I want to talk about what you are going to change this year, your new term resolutions.

You probably realise that new year resolutions, traditionally made in the first week of January are doomed to fail.  We stop going to the gym, we do have a glass of wine, we do loose our resolve and revert to the old comfy ways.  It’s just human nature.  We still make resolutions because we know that we are not perfect and can identify some steps to make things better.  We just don’t keep them.

New term resolutions are the same.  We probably wont keep them, but it is great to analyse the work flow, identify the areas where we could improve and have a go at coming up with some solutions. Do the paperwork on time, have some more time for year 9, give better feedback, be a better mentor, be a better coach – that sort of thing. But you can make these thoughts more effective, even if you do fully realise that you are not going to keep them after half term.  Tell someone, and ask for their support and assistance, share.

Once you have someone with you on the journey you gain extra support and extra perspective and have a better chance of coming up with a work flow which is sustainable and might survive a term or two. It might be your colleague in the department, or just a friend in the staffroom.  In an ideal world it would be your line manager, but we all know that is not going to happen. Discuss your thoughts with your team and get them to do the same.

If only AQA had talked to OCR and Edexcel it might have been a different Summer for everybody.

Briefing – Episode 57, The first 5 minutes…

 Ideas, Inspiration  No Responses »
Jul 202012
 

Lessons are often won or lost in the first five minutes of the class, so having some winning ideas, great plans, strategies and resources at your fingertips is important for successful teaching.

Nothing turns learners off more other than doing yet another word-search.  They might be fine, but they should not be your only idea.  Relate it to the learning, keep it fresh and simple and see where you end up.

Let us know what you use and what you think doesn’t, through the comments box below…

Briefing – Episode 56, Deadlines

 Ideas, Inspection, Personal Productivity  No Responses »
Jul 202012
 

A word crops up in here which many people have problems with.  Assertive – Lots to say on assertiveness that we’ll save for later, but a crucial skill for all teachers is to be assertive.

Draw a line in your mind.  At one end write the word aggressive and at the other, passive.

Aggressive is not good.  If you are in any way aggressive education is not the industry for you, you should leave before you get sacked.  Passive is not good.  If you are in any way passive education is not the industry for you, you should leave before you get sacked.

Assertive is right in the middle.  It’s features are firm but fair. Honest, truthful and clear.

I think I’ve made my point.

Drive

 Information, Inspiration, Personal Productivity  No Responses »
Jul 032012
 

We’ve posted about the rather wonderful book exploring motivation “Drive” by Daniel Pink in Briefing 21.  Well, here’s an opportunity to hear Dan himself in the rather wonderful RSA animate series.  This explains such a lot.  It helps with class management.  It helps with why we teach at all.  It explains why Barclays Bank did what it did and it explains why it won’t get fixed all that quickly.

This could be the best 10 minutes of the day.

Incidentally, hope you don’t mind the break from videos.  Stu and I are just so busy at the moment we’re suffering from a lack of editing time…

Briefing – Episode 54, Managing files

 Ideas, Inspiration, Technology  No Responses »
Jun 092012
 

Oh, and by the way, always make a back-up.  Before you pass anything onto learners back up the disk to your laptop and keep it safe just in case something unfortunate happens… need I say more…

Another thing to consider is the syntax you might use when naming files.  For example you might have the name of the learners but also a code which points to the class, task or project.  One thing you don’t need in the title of course is the date, amazing how many times you see that.  File names can be quite long if you want, usually up to 255 characters so enough for several names but consider initials or short names just to keep titles to 1 line on the desktop.

How long do you keep them?  1 term, a year?  Do you burn them off onto a CD or DVD?  Do the school have a policy on it?  Photos are the property of the school so should be covered by procedures and processes somewhere.

Briefing – Episode 46, 5 Top tips for email

 Ideas, Personal Productivity, Technology  No Responses »
Apr 062012
 

Getting your inbox to zero is a problem we will all probably face at some point in our working lives and some schools really don’t help by creating a fog of notes, adverts, queries, edicts, agendas, minutes, reports, gossip and “stuff” which is almost designed to make your email time a waste of time.  Taking control of email is something which can have a great impact on your life and some of the starting points are really quite easy to implement.

What do you do if your inbox is already out of control?  Say over 500 unread emails or more?  Declaring email amnesty might be worth considering.  delete anything over 2 weeks old and start again.  Go on, order it by date, select all, unselect the last 2 weeks and press delete… have you done it?

Try to get control of your email, you won’t regret it…

Let us know your stories in the comments section below and please subscribe here or over on YouTube.

Briefing – Episode 42, From an HE open day

 Information, Policy  No Responses »
Mar 102012
 

We can get caught up in the educational arguments some times and clearly from today we can see that jobs and qualifications are the main thought in many peoples minds.  Learners at an HE open day will already have self selected, it’s true, but as a parent I was thinking about money rather than whether there is a job at the end of it.  I wanted to see industry standard equipment, links with industry, innovation, challenge and a great student union bar.  There were no curve-balls from parents in the session I attended, only questions on Jobs, percentages in employment and the old chestnut, contact time.

Anyone else going to an HE open day at the moment?  Please do let us know your experiences in the comments sections below and please subscribe here or over on YouTube.

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