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.

Confidence and Purpose

Today I met Andrew Patterson in an online video and enjoyed his inspiration.

His main discussion was around building confidence first and creating experiences for children which make their desires in life seem like real possibilities.

He is inspiring as he loves disruption and having a go, trying big ideas, things that arent easy but are possible.

How can I create confidence in my students, and how can I bring more experiences based in the real world - not just the world they are born into - but the possibilities that their are in the real world, in the future world, into my students lives?

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 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.

A year in Review

2013 came and went - in the blink of an eye - as can often happen when you are teaching. It was a big year of learning for me, and ended in a ton of new developments.

It was my 3rd year teaching year 5/6 class, my 2nd year trying daily 5 for my reading program, the second year having no desks, my 3rd year trying e-portfolios, my 1st year defining what an e-learning class meant to my school, my 1st year of planning online, and my 9th year of teaching, and was full of moments to remember...

Best moment - Camp
Having the opportunity to go on school camp for the second time was great. We had a neat bunch of kids, and seeing some of the children, I taught as 6 year olds who are now as 10 yr olds, in this context was great. It was almost like camping with family.

Saddest moment - Year 6 leavers
Watching one of my year 6 students - that I'd just given an award for class spirit - walking out of the achievement assembly, through the guard of honour, with tears streaming down her face.... says it all.

Happiest moments - Seeing kids succeed
When you can sit back in your class and look around at happy, hard working children. The ones with dyslexia who just keep striving, the poor spellers who love to write, the intelligent kid working at their passion, the figiter settling to a task, the shy kid reading a book to 180 people. Great moments.

Funniest moment - R and the pole
Kids do do and say the darnedest things. I have never laughed as much as when a poor lad in my class literally walked into a pole as we walked down the road to a show at the nearby high school. While I know it isn't polite to laugh at hurt children... he thought it was so funny that he recreated it for a special comedy episode on our school TV show.

Greatest success - The girls
I had a group of 5 Maori girls in my class. Each had come from a different class, each had no other friends in this class, but they found each other and became great friends. The success came around them maintaining this friendship and learning how to deal effectively with disputes, keeping everyone feeling a sense of belonging. We had many lunchtime meetings, initiated  by one of the girls, so they could talk problems through. By the end of the year, they could do this almost independently, and learned to let things go, to forgive and to smile.

Greatest challenge - Leading e-learning classes
Leading this great group of teachers that offered to try e-portfolios with their classes, was a great challenge. I wasn't sure where I stood for this. I was their equal, I didn't have all the answers, I wasn't convinced of how e-portfolios fit, how even I was going to make the best use of the e-learning tools we had been given. But I tried my best to guide them with what I did know, to challenge their thinking occasionally, and to help us all understand the power in e-learning.

Greatest failure - ABTV
Our school TV show. While I know its not great to talk about things as failure, this was definitely a flop this year. With no assemblies to air it, then no core group to run it...it became a nit of a shambles and just didn't happen. Something to work on next year.

Scariest moment - Meeting my class for 2014
This was the day I actually had to face the 5 yr olds (or near 5 year olds) that I would be teaching in New entrants next year... ARGH... nothing like a bit of fear to make you feel alive...

But that's another post.

Teaching Independence

As I read around all that is being discussed in the cybersphere of education – personalised learning, passion projects, e-learning, e-portfolio, and Daily 5 – the prominent thing they all seem to foster is independence and I think that is great.

It is great in theory and with a lot of hard work, I am beginning to think that it can be great in practise too. I have taught year 5/6 for 3 years now and each year I expect (and if I’m being honest, allow) a little more independence from the children. And I don’t mean independence in tying their shoes, or remembering their meetings, or picking up after themselves, but independence in their learning. 

Being able to equip the students with; the belief that they can lead their own learning, the strategies and systems to help them to lead their own learning, and the time in which to practise has not been easy. Balancing control with trust, accountability with flexibility. But slowly, slowly I am starting to see how powerful this can be, and it makes me want to do more.

photo courtesy of tonyduckles on Flickr

From developing an independent reading programme linked closely to Daily 5, I am now developing a writing equivalent, which is starting off much more positively than I expected. It hasn’t been easy trusting the children to achieve, independent of the teacher, but my class are surprising me in small steps. The key seems to be the planning before each session – either written or oral – of what they hope to accomplish in the session, and then at the end a quick reflection as to how they feel it went. We question anyone who has had problems and discuss solutions together. I was even surprised today when one child asked if he should hand his book in (and note I must confess that I don’t often collect writing books in, unless there is something specific I want to mark in depth). My reply “If you would like my feedback, sure”. And at that, 20 books plopped down into a pile at my feet.

Ultimately what I am seeing happen in my classroom, is children taking control. I can step back and really start to guide them. I don’t have to make all their decisions for them anymore, so I have time to talk to them more about what they are choosing to do, what learning they hope to get out of it, and how they feel they are going. I am enjoying their growing independence.

Term 3 Blues

Its the beginning of term 3 - winter is with us (although the weather has been pretty fab) and I've got the Term 3 blues.
The beginning of terms are usually an exciting time. You are refreshed after a break, you have ruminated new ideas over the holidays and are all ready to roll them out. Nothing has changed there - lots of ideas, things I wanted to do, try.... BUT

The enthusiasm is missing. I feel disorganised, overwhelmed, and still tired.
I have a feeling it is of my own making...too many new ideas, complicated groupings and organisational ideas that are making me feel nauseous. I have forgotten the number one rule KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid.

So what do I do.... Run with the new ideas, start them and see how it goes, or forget about them and simplify? What goes and what stays?
I feel this is the decision that will keep me awake tonight...fingerscrossed the decision comes to me and the light at the end of the blues is just around the corner.

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...

Great Idea #1

Great ideas often come at unexpected times - and often in teaching it is these last minute ideas that show real success with students.

Image thanks to  epSos.de  

In my class this year is an interesting lad (lets refer to as Bob). Bob is 9, and has been at our school just under a year. I am noticing that he seems to have a lot of A
spergers type tendencies - he avoids groups, only likes working alone, doesn't really affiliate with "friends", avoids touch, avoids eye contact, and stresses over small things that don't bother the rest of us. He also has a great sense of humour, is smarter than his academics show and has intense interests. At the moment those intense interests involve drawing and dragons!
He is a neat kid although challenging to get 'school work' done. So the last few weeks of term I had the brainwave (I'm exaggerating a little, it was obvious really, but sometimes we are too tired to think clearly). Anyway I downloaded a few dragon apps onto the class ipad thinking I could use these as a motivator for him to get work done, and casually talked to him about them on a field trip. Over a 20minute walk to a nearby school, he and I had negotiated his written language programme for the next week. He was going to use one of the apps to make an image, and then create a story to go with it (simple stuff really). And he was going to do this even when I was on release....

Yeah right! I thought. I was sure he would be sidetracked by playing with the dragons and never decide on a picture, and never come up with a story unaided...

Boy did he prove me wrong. He reminded me everyday, asking when he could start. He chose a friend to help him take the picture (to promote him working with others), he went outside and was back within 10mins with 4 pictures. He asked me my advice on which suited his story idea the best, we cropped it together. Done! The next day I was on release. The day after he came to me with his finished story about a dragon attacking the school. he went on to publishing this - via computer as he decided that was tidier.

He showed me that with a good idea, some trust, some negotiation and time, children can achieve. Where do I take this next? Now I know he can work like this, now I need to negotiate in the learning focus for his writing, and give him skills to check himself against this.

The spin off - Bob became a role model for another low achieving boy in the class who has high absenteeism. The next day this boy wrote a 3 page dragon story inspired by Bob. He usually only wrote a sentence. I let Bob know this, and now Bob's status in the room has been increased - and he talked about being an inspiration for days.

A great idea - a great outcome!

Anticipation and Belonging

A new school year, new goals, new ideas. 2013 has officially begun for myself and the other thousands of teachers across N.Z. Teachers almost need a different calendar to the rest of the world, our seasons replaced with terms and our months by numbered weeks of the term. Written across the top of my week to a page diary are the weeks of the school term, as without them I wouldn't be able to be organised at all.

Today marks the end of term 1, week 1, and tomorrow is week 2 in my year. I know that in 11 weeks time this term will be over and I will be off on holiday.

The beginning of the year is always a strange time of anticipation. Wondering what your class will be like, will they get along, will they become a unit, or will they be one of those classes that never quite had the right mix. As a teacher you plan in activities to make everyone feel welcome, activities that make everyone feel a part of the class. Negotiating the class rules, and rewards, creating something to put on the walls together so everyone has made their mark on desolate walls, and the endless conversations around expectations in class, and out.

It's not actually a time of year I feel overly excited about, it's a little more like trepidation, I much prefer the term 2-4 time of comfortable understanding that a class comes to. But whether I like it or not, new classes come. So 2 days in term 1 and my class have begun the process of getting to know each other and making our personal mark on the classroom. Everything is ticking along with how I wanted to start the year...

But I have one problem- the class group is beginning to form bonds, the routines are being learnt, the children have taken the lead in designing the classroom climate for the rest of the year - yet 3 children haven't started school yet. These children haven't been a part of setting up our room, they didn't take part in creating the class ethos, they are already behind in building bonds with their classmates...

What do we do, after that fact, to help these children feel as much a part of the class as everyone else now feels?