The decision to leave teaching....A year in review

My year in review this year, takes me a little away from the classroom but surprisingly has not taken me far from education.

After a rather emotional and rollercoaster start to 2016 in the classroom I made the difficult decision to leave the safety of teaching and jump out into the world boots first, to try something else.

I always was someone who liked to try new things, staying in teaching into my 12th year was something of a milestone for myself and it was time to move on, I knew it in my heart.

So I wrote to my board and was approved to stop teaching at the end of term 1. The feelings were very mixed. I had no job...no idea what work I would do...I had no idea of what was next for me....

It wasn't long after my teaching door began to close, that a new door opened for me. Before I had packed up and left the classroom I was fortunate to come into contact with a little company called Bridging the Gap. Bridging the Gap provide IT Pd to ...wouldn't you know it... Schools!

This seemed like a perfect fit for me, and as 2016 rolled on, I found myself really enjoying this new roll, and seeing schools from a different point of view.

My learning in education did not stop with me leaving the classroom but has continued to grow through the professional discussions held day in and day out, around the assessment and analysis of data schools are collecting, Around what to collect, when and why. I enjoy having the ability to help people negotiate the implementation of digital tools in their schools, and help design systems than work for different individuals.

My adventure outside the classroom has only just begun, I wonder what 2017 holds in store.

Being a parent is tough...

Celebrate world teachers day on the 5th oct

Most of us with children have 1 or 2, maybe 4 or 5 children to look after. Can you imagine having 30 children....

Take a minute and imagine your life if you had been blessed with 30 beautiful and individual children.

Imagine remembering when each of your 30 children had activities to get to, imagine ensuring each of your 30 children are eating right, and drinking enough.

Imagine the clothes and shoes 30 children leave everywhere, and having to get each to pick up after themselves.

Imagine how many times you may need to remind 30 children to wipe their feet, blow their nose, put away their things.

Imagine cleaning up 30 children's accidents when they are still learning to be independent toileters, and eaters.

Imagine being there for 30 children to talk about the problems they are having with their friends as they get older.

Imagine trying to give each of your 30 children some individual attention, being their cheerleader when they do well, their energiser when they just don't feel like it, and their support person when things go wrong.


Can you imagine wanting and hoping that all 30 of those children are feeling happy, feeling able to contribute with confidence. That they will learn what you are trying to teach and that they will grow up happy, healthy and wise.


Imagine worrying about your children who aren't socialising as you would expect, who are having difficulties learning, who seem to have the weight of the world on their shoulders.


If you can imagine all these things and more, then you can imagine the life of a teacher. Don't forget to show your appreciation for the time, love and caring teachers have for those 30 children, in their care, each year.

How time Flies...

A year came and went... and now I find myself suddenly in 2015. Last year was a great year. I was fortunate to be allowed to teach a new entrant class. It was a year of awesome learning.


- Team teaching taught me that two is better than one. Teaching together with an experienced new entrant teacher made my transition to this age group seemless. I was able to build on my teaching philosophy with a likeminded peer, who instilled in me her knowledge and belief in the value of play. We complimented each other with our teaching strengths, and had an amazing time.


- Five years olds taught be about the power of the human brain. Boy, do five year olds learn a lot in just 10 months of school. I feel all teachers should feel the success you feel as a teacher when these little sponges suck up all the information you can put out there. I can't wait to see how these children grow through out all their years at school.


- My inquiry in Maths taught me that five year olds can go beyond what is expected of them. By focusing on remembering an using basic facts, my five year olds we able to start thinking in patterns, and using information they knew to solve problems. Very exciting. I am hoping to test my ideas of skipping past counting on, by promoting use of facts straight from the start, again this year with my year 3 maths class.


- My colleagues taught me that teachers are resilient, risk takers, who are modelling these traits to their classes. I was very pleased to hear that all the year 5/6 teachers(my team I had just left) were willing to throw their hats in and have a go at using GAFE for the first time with their students, and manage individual student blogs. The learning curve was enormous for some... but they made it through with each others support, and said they would never go back.


- I taught myself that teaching can still take a backseat to life. Through having another teacher to share paperwork and teaching with I found I got my weekends back. With two of us working hard Monday to Friday I was finally able to use my weekends for rest. This year I have looked carefully at what helped us to achieve this last year, and am attempting to implement efficient was of meeting teacher paperwork, so I can continue having my weekends to myself this year.


So that's my wrap for 2014.


let the adventures of 2015 begin...

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 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.

Teachers are awesome!

Today I was lucky to be able to spend some time in school, but not my own school. Today I travelled and had the opportunity to visit with Tauriko and Tahatai coast schools in the lovely Bay of Plenty. What fantastic welcomes we had. The purpose of our trip today was to look into next steps for our own schools e-learning journey, and these schools didn't fail in providing us with inspiration and ideas to ponder moving forward.

We saw versions of BYOD working at various class levels from year 3 to year 8, we saw paid in digital 1-1 classes, and open BYOD classes, we heard children explain why BYOD helped their learning, and we experienced a variety of e-learning in action. Fabulous.

My takeaways...

- the problem of the haves and have nots is always lessened by more devises in the school, regardless of paid in, or BYOD systems, more devises just means more access for all.

- children take much more pride in their own devices

- children didn't seemed phased over whether they were writing in their books or doing a computer task, and interchanged between these two things easily.

- having a bank of similar creation tools meant children gained higher output rates due to familiarity with the tool.

- digital/ e-learning/ computer classes, they all still use books. Children often choose whether to write digitally or on paper, or this can be balanced by the teacher alternating.

- the focus is always on what we are learning, and will the tool support or extend this learning or not.

- the focus is on students choosing when to use digital tools, blended with some tasks created to increase particular skill sets needed.

- google apps for education has great potential.

- google sites an option for e-portfolios.

My wonderings...

- Am I becoming more convinced of the 1-1 model and its potential?

- Could charging our children be an option at our school? Would it increase the importance of e-learning in the school?

- How is our school insuring staff are all moving own their journeys? See Taurikos teacher e-competences.

- Am I now more convinced that BYOD could be an option for me next year?

Where is your school in its e-learning journey?

 Are you on a BYOD path?

How does you school do it?

Braving a PLN

Tonight I find myself pondering the catchphrase (of sorts) of "building a PLN (personal learning network)". While many bloggers I cyber stalk probably see this term as old news, it is something that is very much in my headlights at this moment in my teaching journey.

Image from Quadblogging Aotearoa

I have again danced around the Internet, bouncing from blog, to VLN, to blog and back. Inspired from a weekly blog post of Stephanie ( my first teacher blog subscription) I set off on a short jig. I found myself rejoining quad blogging ( the NZ version this time - thanks Barbara Reid for setting this up). I floated briefly through the VLN's quad blogging page, into links about teaching blogging, and then quality commenting... Round and around pages I twirled, until into my mind again jumped the thought- I need to be braver, I need to build my links, my PLN. I need to honour these great educators who can inspire me more in 30 minutes online, than can be achieved 6hrs of a teachers only day

Our current school theme is "Pay it forward", which makes this an opportune time to think about how am I paying it forward to the teaching community. How can I get my contributions out onto the dance floor, so perhaps one day my wee mutterings can be an inspiration to someone else like me who is out enjoying a dance.

So the next challenge for myself - get this blog out there... Be brave, comment more and attach my link....eek

Please excuse the dancing euphemisms, they somehow wrote themselves into the page. :)

Student Surprises

Term 1 is a big one for assessments - as teachers get to know where their new students are at and what their  learning needs are.
Each year this is an interesting and somewhat draining time, getting to know 25-30 people as fast and as indepth as you can, so that you can start to teach them with some direction in mind. Often the previous years teacher passes on some basic data to you to help you with a starting point too. This is all great until...

You come across the inevitable surprise children. And not a surprise in a good way so much. The children who just don't seem to match the picture that last years teacher left you. The data you are discovering seems to indicate much lower attainment. What do you do?

Here is where things can go horribly wrong... Do you start moaning about last years teacher over inflating the child? Do you tell the child they've gone backwards since last year? Do you ignore it and carry on? Should you highlight them and test them over and over to see if you get a different result? Are they now deemed to be failing or at risk because the results differ?

The truth is that data is often only a snapshot in time. Children perform differently on different tasks, at different times of the day, with different people, depending on their mood, focus and desire. Humans (yes, we teachers are only humans) make errors - in judgement, and in recording or transferring information. All of these things could be legitimate reasons why data doesn't match. So why make a big deal about it? It is done and is history.

When I gather data about my students learning needs at the beginning of the year, it is for one purpose, to help me know what I need to help them with now, from this moment forward. While I can't completely ignore last years data (as parents were informed with it), comparing this data and questioning it endlessly is not teaching my students. Formal assessment takes up much of a teachers teaching time these days as opposed to actual teaching. -but that's another blog... Any assessment should be wholly for me and my students and to plan our next steps.

So yes, there are student surprises, data doesn't seem right. I should be aware of this...but should I be focusing on this aspect of the child, or focusing on the skills they are showing me, and the needs I am discovering right now?

What a Great invention!

Image used under CC licence.

What a great invention, the internet. Not only a great teaching and learning resource for students but a fantastic way to bridge the gap between home and school. My weapon on choice is email (slightly antiquated these days I know). Email is my lifeline to families, and with 80% of my students families on email, I love the ability to send them a quick note.
I can tell them what we are up to, remind them of upcoming things, ask for resources or just chat about their child, all at the touch of a button. Unlike a phone call - e-mail does not require the family to be home and I don't need to ring 28 times to reach everyone. I send out notes to check the new updates in the children's e-portfolios and encourage participation. Of course the uptake by parents to email is varied depending on their daily use of the tool. But still I find this invaluable.
Other teachers though can see this resource through very different eyes. They question - you give out your email address? Won't the parents bug you all the time.... I don't want to be able to be contacted outside of school hours....
My answer to them is OF COURSE! I have been giving out my email information for 4 years now - I have never had a negative email from parents, nor been bombarded. In my experience parents very rarely contact teachers on purpose to bug them. They often don't have the time. Parents do bring up concerns they are having - and they are often very genuine for them - but wouldn't you rather the parent be able to email you about them first rather than just turning up in your classroom on Monday morning and wanting to make an appointment to see you.
I have found that by opening up the lines of communication through email in positive and supportive ways first, means that often small concerns can also be dealt with this way, which is time saving and timely - no waiting to meet with the teacher till next Thursday. I can think before responding, reword what I want to say, attach information and sometimes even respond instantly. I feel sorry for the 20% who aren't on email, as I really do talk with them less as I only have texting or official 'written notes' with them, which is used quite sparingly.
And as an added bonus parents are starting to participate in school more. They email in photos of family trips, videos about bullying to share, pictures to help with current topics...
The internet truely makes my connections with parents stronger...well worth spending 5 minutes at night checking, and well worth the risk of bombardment...

Online Planning

Planning is my self confessed weakness - along with organisation, but that's another story.

Image thanks to cybrarian77 

Planning takes up time, too much time in my week. For 9 years I have tried template after template, planned in lists, in grids, tried it after school, day by day, month by month. Anyway I have seen or can think of trying to create efficient and effective teaching plans. But still hours of my week disappear in planning that never quite feels right.

This term I am trying digital planning in a shared forum - Google sites. My decision around this is because I have stopped printing all my word processed planning - as it seemed a waste of time printing, and organising into folders, bits of paper, just for my senior teacher to view for attestation. Not good time management.
So on-line I go - into a place others can view in real time with me if necessary - senior teachers, student teachers and relievers... hopefully!
Thanks to the VLN, and TaraTJ's advice and sharing of her trials, it gave me confidence to try Google sites too.

Now my task is to organise this document and transfer last terms planning over in bulk to meet expectations for attestation so far, and to then create a working document for moving forward. Thanks to Tara I have a simple way to get started and will build this from there. Keeping the ultimate goal in mind, which is saving time...  I have some trepidations. But will bravely move forward...

I have high expectations that this form of planning will help me to make some changes in my planning - like moving the time focus to planning each lesson, rather then the scheduling of the lessons. I will be looking at the sequence of lessons over a term for groups rather than week to week or day to day. Then these lessons just fit in as time allows. secondly I want to add a reflective column, with a guiding question to think about. This question will be related to the lesson and the children's attainment/self reflection. This may mean adding to this in the moment...a real challenge for me. But something I know I need to work on, getting this reflection out of my head and onto paper (still don't quite understand why this is, but will try it).

Once this is up and running I may add a link here. Wish me luck.