Day 8- What is in my draw?

This question makes me laugh, and I hate what it might mean about me. But in my teachers desk draw right now is

- a packet of staples that don't fit the stapler

- a calculator

- a couple of notepads (gifts from children past)

- some split pins

- some old post it notes

- and a couple of other random bits and bobs.

Why my draw is so empty and disused is probably a better question. You see my desk is tucked away in the corner of a shared office. This small room is well used to store my own and my colleagues teaching resources. It is wall to floor with shelves and boxes of the stuff we use to share a love of learning with our students.  We are both firm believers in creating space in our classroom, so the children have room to move, play and interact comfortably. So our office has become a great storeroom. To access my desk draw, I need to climb over a box and a chair, move containers and I'm there. Hence a very disused draw and desk that is for holding boxes. Who needs a teachers desk anyway...

Day 7- who was your most inspirational colleague.

This one isn't so much a colleague of now, but an inspirational teacher of the past.

Ms B is what she was known as in those days.

She was relaxed, down to earth

She inspired us to follow our interests

She loved animals ( we had mice and pigs as class pets).

She was fair and kind.

She smiled a lot.

It was fun to be in her class and I was lucky to be there for 2 years.

I built a Marae, and rolled hundreds of papers into bones for a human skeleton, I cleaned pig wee off the floor. A few of my memories of this time in her class.

Day 6 - What is a good mentor?

This one can be answered in bullet points.

* lets the mentored try new  things 

* supports the mentored to find their own solutions and answers

* supports reflective practices

* is reflective of their own practise and can model ongoing learning

* someone who upholds a school ethos, and values

* someone who is open, honest and non-judgemental.

That would be a good start to a good mentor.

Day 5 - A picture of my classroom

This blog might have to wait a few days till I go into school to get its picture but...

It's an interesting concept this year as it is not just my classroom. I team teach this year and therefor the design of the classroom has been shared. My ownership isn't as strong as when I have my own room. This is probably also accentuated by me handing over main responsibility to class aesthetics to my co teacher who is very artistically minded.

I like that our room isn't cluttered. I like that we have tried to make space (32 five year olds need lots of space), I like that student work is up but not overdone. I like that the space is practical. I see tired rooms in need of a spruce up. I miss my old room with different learning areas (I had low benches, couches, beanbags, tables and desks). I wish I could be given a furniture budget and design a multifunctional space for myself and my class. I think schools should lease furniture on short term leases and each year a teacher can choose what to re lease and what to change based on their budget, classroom size and shape, year level etc.

Wouldn't that be great.

Day 4 - the thing I love about teaching.

The thing I love the most about teaching, and it's the thing that drew me to teaching, and that is the fun.

Hanging out with kids, seeing the joy in their eyes, playing, singing, dancing and acting the fool, getting involved. That is the fun of teaching. It's kicking off your shoes and racing your kids down the field, it's building sand castles on the beach together. That is the fun. It's enjoying a book in the library, juggling, trying to hula hoop. That is the fun. Saying tongue twisters, reading in funny voices, folding origami frogs. That is the fun.

It's those little moments when you take off your serious "let's learn about..." boots and just hang out with the children as people - and get to relive your youth at the same time.

That's what I enjoy the most about teaching - having fun with the little people we hold so dear.

Day 3 - one thing to improve on

One thing that I would really like to improve on in my teaching practice is my talking. I talk fast, I talk a lot, if I'm passionate about something it's worse. But this isn't the talking I'm talking about. I'm talking about the amount of talking a teacher does in a classroom and at their students. I feel that I can talk to much, explain to much, so I would love to keep working on managing the amount of talk that I do and instead listen to more talk from the children. Wait for them to ask questions before explaining every last step, wait for them to answer each other's queries and challenge each other. I think we are leading our learners down a path to self directed learning and to truely own that teachers need to hand over the talking roll too.

Day 2: A piece of Technology...

Today's topic discusses a piece of technology I would like to incorporate into my teaching and learning this term. This is a hard question as I am a firm believer in the curriculum driving the technology, not the technology driving the curriculum. Being a new entrant classroom our kiddies (I team teach) have been learning how to interact with technologies in the school environment this year. We have focused around using PCs to access learning through our class blog and school server, we have worked on apps on the iPads and learned to handle these carefully and share, and some of us have had the opportunity to use the camera and take photos for our class blog. 

In looking forward to term 4 we are learning about citizenship, practising for our SLCs (Student Led Conferences) and creating things that move in the wind. This is our curriculum. To support this I would like the kids to video their SLC practise for reflection, to take their own photos of the art we create, and in writing I would like to use video to promote multiple sentence stories and richer vocabulary. This could be shown in short snippets so the children view and retell in parts over a week.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Hawk- Flickr

Day 1: Write your goals for the school year

Considering that it is nearly term 4 here in NZ, it seems I will be writing goals for term 4. Here goes.

1. Keep going

Coming into term four all the talk at school starts to turn very quickly to the coming year. New teachers are being appointed, teachers are consulted around their preferred levels next year, end of year data needs loading by week 3, reports written, and planning days for 2015 are all on the term plan and that's just the first 6 weeks. So my number one goal is to stay focused on our little learners who still have so much more learning to gain in the next 10 weeks of school.

2. Get up

Around this time of year I find my bed the most comfortable place, and with that, find it extremely difficult to get out of in the morning. Daylight savings is helping too as now it isn't so light in the mornings. So my goal for this term is to get up and get to school at 8am ( not 8:30am).

3. Stay positive and support people

With the end of the year looming and change coming for staff and students I want to try and stay positive. Change makes people nervous and anxious. There may be some anxious teachers around who will need understanding, and as always, anxious kiddies, as the safety of your 4 classroom walls start to crumble as talk about their new teacher begins. Term 4 can mean tired people as a whole, so my goal is to be positive and helpful.

Reflective teacher- 30-day blog challenge

Connected education month started today. New Zealand is running it for the first time in conjunction with the US. I have always been a bit shy in 'getting connected' but have decided to try Teachthought's blogging challenge. This was held last month ( September) as it was the start of the school year in the States. I'm going to try this challenge as my contribution to Connected Educator month.

Here's the topics...

30-Day Blog Challenge for Teachers

September 1- Write your goals for the school year.
September 2- Write about 1 piece of technology that you would like to try to incorporate this year into your curriculum.
September 3- Mention 1 "observation" area that you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation.
September 4- The thing that you love the most about teaching.
September 5- Post a picture of your classroom. What do you see? What is one thing that you don't see but would like to?
September 6- What does a good mentor "do"?
September 7 –Who was or is your most inspirational colleague and why?
September 8- What’s in your desk drawer and what can you infer from those contents?
September 9- Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about.
September 10- Share 5 random facts about yourself, 4 things from your bucket list, 3 things you hope for this year as an educator, 2 things that made you laugh or cry as an educator, 1 think you wish more people knew about you.
September 11- What is your favorite part of the school day and why?
September 12-How do you envision your teaching changing in 5 years?
September 13- Name the top tech tools that you use on a consistent basis in the classroom and rank them in order of their effectiveness, in your opinion.
September 14- What is feedback for learning and how well do you give is as an educator?
September 15- Name 5 strengths you have as an educator.

You are halfway there. Keep it up!

September 16- If you had 1 superpower to use in the classroom, what would it be and how would it help?
September 17- What do you think is the most challenging issue in education today?
September 18- Create an analogy/simile/metaphor that describes your teaching.
September 19- Name 3 powerful ways that students can reflect on their learning. Discuss the one you use the most
September 20- How do you or your students curate student work?
September 21- Do you have other hobbies/nterests that you bring into your classroom teaching? Explain.
September 22- What does your PLN look like? What does it do for you teaching?
September 23- Write about 1 way that you "meaningfully" involve the community in your classroom. If not, write about 1 way you would like to bring that into your curriculum.
September 24- What learning trend captures your attention the most and why?
September 25- The ideal collaboration between students- what would it look like?
September 26- What are your 3 favorite go-to site for help/tips/resources in your teaching?
September 27- What role do holidays and weekends play in your teaching?
September 28- Your thoughts: Should Technology drive the curriculum or vice versa?
September 29- How have you changed as an educator?
September 30- What would you do as an educator if you weren't afraid?

You have finished the Teach Thought Reflective Teacher blogging challenge!

Look out for the next challenge to celebrate Connected Educator Month in October!