What Do I Need to Work on in my Teaching and Learning? What actions am I going to take to improve?

Day 3 of the Reflect and Renew Blog Challenge from Reflective Teacher @TeachThought 

Learning is my passion and I am completely and unapolegetically geeky about it.  I know that it sometimes drives people crazy and yes, I do have trouble switching of but that's just me.  I try to tame it a little but it always escapes!  Even today, as I'm writing this, most of my friends are out at the beach as it's such a glorious summer's day.  Where am I?  Here, on my laptop, working and learning.  Do I resent this, no.
It's Day 3 of our blog challenge @TeachThought and I'm extremely excited that this time the prompts have not come just from Beth and me, but also from our community.  My final Masters research is around building a living online Community of Practice and I think we're getting somewhere with this.

The prompt today threw me into a bit of a spin really, which is my own fault as this is one of mine!!  What was I thinking??  There are literally hundreds of things I want to work on in my teaching and learning.  Where do I start?  What's the most important?  How do I prioritise?  Woah!! Slow down and focus.  I have such a bad habit of wanting to improve on everything or learn new things...yesterday.  This is not good for one's health.  At all.  It can also mean that deep learning doesn't happen and this is what I'm arguing about in my research on teacher professional learning.  We do too much in bits and pieces and move rapidly from one professional learning project to the next without really implementing concrete changes that can be sustained.  Too often the learners can get lost in this process and by the 'learners', I mean the students AND the teachers.

This year I want to continue to explore more of Carol Dweck's and James Nottingham's work around Growth Mindset which will underpin my teaching and learning.  Curriculum-wise, I want to really focus on developing the science curriculum in our school.  Primary schools tend to not be very strong on Science and it's long been a concern that needs to be addressed urgently.  I will work with the school, the community and, most importantly, the students, to develop a strong science learning focus that has all the cross-curricular links to make it relevant and linked to the world outside the classroom.  

Carol Dweck discusses her research...

James Nottingham on the dangers of labelling our students...

My other focus area will be in leadership as I'm returning to school as a Deputy Principal, a role I've held before but so much has changed in what makes an effective and valuable leader and I want to push myself as far as I can go with this.  I will learn from my previous role and the mistakes made and improve on the leader I was then to be the best I can be now.  This is not only important for me but it's incredibly important for the school - the staff, students and community.  I continue to have so much to learn.  That's the fantastic part.  I always return to Simon Sinek as one of my guides in this area.  He speaks about the 'Why' of what we do and how important it is for everyone to be clear about this, particularly our leaders.

What Is Unique About My Teaching and Learning?

Day 2 of the Reflect and Renew Blog Challenge from Reflective Teacher @TeachThought 

A few years ago I had a wonderful student teacher who gave our class a picture for our wall that had this quote on it.  It really struck a chord with all of us, me included.  She said that she had loved being in our room as we were all so unique, crazy and slightly weird.  We saw possibilities and questions in everything!  For us, this was an enormous compliment as it meant we were relaxed enough to show our true selves and have fun with the serious business of learning.  

This had been a group of students who, generally, were not engaged, did not enjoy school and would not really engage in conversation let alone relax and have fun with what they were learning.  In some ways, I think they saw me as the 'enemy' - the person who would tell them what to do, what to learn and how to learn it.  It was a class I inherited during the year and their first teacher had done a fantastic job to get them to where they were but there was something missing.  I spent many hours reflecting on what it was.  Was I missing something?  Was it a cultural aspect I was missing as these were diverse learners from many different backgrounds; some of them were experiencing very difficult circumstances.  

The first thing I needed to do was to get to know them as individual human beings.  Not as 'the students', not as 'the class'.  I told them I did not expect them to respect me - I had to earn that right to be respected - but I did expect that they would be well-mannered and not just get up and walk out of class when they felt like it, etc.  The key for me was that they needed to know I had their backs - always and without question.  That can make you unpopular when you are backing a student whom you know is telling the truth against a teacher who is not.  They also needed to know that I respected and cared for them over and above all else, and no matter how challenging they were to me.  It didn't change anything.  I am and always will be their champion - just like Rita Pierson says we need to be.  She is my inspiration because she helped me understand that what I do and how I think is on the right track.  In many ways she validated what I do.  Is it unique?  I don't think so.  I think we all want to be our students' champions.

So what happened with this amazing group of young people?  I changed their programme, in consultation with them, to incorporate their passions and we became a largely digital class. Their achievement levels shot up dramatically, they came to school more often, (often incredibly early!!), they were passionate about learning and best of all...they were not afraid to be themselves, including being crazy, weird and showing all those great creative beahviours.  They had high expectations for themselves as learners.  They were so successful and such a tight-knit group that we kept them together for two years, something that had only been done once before and hadn't been altogether successful.  I was so proud and priviledged to teach and learn alongside them.

Is that what makes me unique?  I don't know.  I think it's a collection of 'things' but they are no more than what most teachers will do or want for their students.  I've started another list to organise my thinking on this.  (Creating a few lists lately - an age thing???).

1.  I expect to share the teaching and learning with my students.  No 'control freak' here.  I learn from and with them.  This is my foundation belief and has been with me since I started at University in 1996.

2.  Knowing my students as individual human beings - what their passions are, what their needs are - is crucial for me and comes before the academic side in the beginning.  I don't believe you can have truly outstandingly successful learners unless they know you know them, believe in them and expect them to achieve with your support.

3.  I am often wrong and will happily admit it.  It's how we learn, afterall.  It's the most powerful learning but we need to be risk-takers to be able to do this.

4.  I will always be there for my students, no matter what, no matter how busy I am.  I'm their chief cheerleader!

5.  I'm passionate about what I do and I'm constantly learning and striving to be better.  I have high expectations for my own learning too.  It's that growth mindset that Carol Dweck talks about.  I expect that for my students too.

A Book That Inspired Me To Be A Better Teacher...

Day 21 of the Attitude of Gratitude Reflective Teacher @TeachThought Blog Challenge...

Today we have to choose one book that we're grateful for having read that has changed our practice.  Only one??!!  Who created these prompts...oh, that's right, we did.  (Note to us - make it easier next time).  Having said that, focusing on just one book has made me be more analytical and reflective about which book, among the many, I've read that has actually made a sustained impact and changed my practice.

A few years ago I moved to one of the best schools I've ever experienced.  Professional learning was the expectation as was sharing practice through the Critical Friends programme.  I learned so much while I was there and I think I've held onto almost all that new knowledge and developed it further to make a better impact on my students learning - and my own.

One of the key books that was being explored by the staff when I arrived was:

Clarity in the Classroom by Michael Absolum  (I reviewed this for the Reflective Teacher at TeachThought community a few weeks ago).  I love the subtitle - 'Using formative assessment, building learning-focused relationships.'  It puts the focus firmly on learning.

What we explored as a staff was implemented in our learning and teaching as part of the Critical Friends programme which included a strong focus on Action Research.  We shared our findings each week and reflected on the changes implemented.  It was obvious to hear a change in our shared language and shared focus and it was also clear to see a shift in student learning and achievement.

My favourite chapters are "Being clear about what is to be learnt"  and "Active reflection about learning."  Both chapters have helped me to be a more reflective practitioner and to be clear about what we're learning and why.  "Why" is a question I ask myself about everything I do and every tool I use.  

The whole book ask questions that help you reflect on your practice to ensure that you are providing the best learning environment for both you and your students.  It provides examples of effective and not so effective practice and has "Try This" prompts for you to explore as a staff and also in the classroom - fantastic for professional learning discussions.

There are so many books which have impacted my practice but this has continued to be one of the most powerful if not THE most powerful.

Classroom Environments

Day 5 of the +TeachThought 30-Day logging challenge already!  I'm loving sharing ideas with everyone and reading thoughts on a range of topics.

This was at the beginning of the year and we were just creating our learning environment together

As I'm not in the classroom at the moment, I've included photos from over the past few years.  My favourite classroom environment was an MLE - Modern Learning Environment - created a few years ago at a primary / elementary school where I was the Deputy Principal.  We got rid of the desks and used flexible learning spaces, cushions, tables, ergonomic chairs, ottomans, etc. Students were able to store their personal property in tote trays and there were still a couple of desks for students who work better sitting at one, but it was completely free choice.  I've always had the philosophy that students, no matter what age, are able to choose where they want to sit - that they have the right to do this but that freedom of choice / right comes with responsibilities.  We created these responsibilities together - focusing on work, allowing others to work without being distracted etc.  If I was allowing / expecting this to happen, then I also had the right to move them if they were not respecting the guidelines we'd created as a team.

Start of year without all their learning on the walls yet

I've always had flexible learning spaces but they were somewhat limited by the use of desks.  I noticed when learning and teaching in this different environment that the students were far more focused on their learning. Initially I believed they would gravitate to their friends to work and, yes, they did in the beginning.  That soon changed and they were working with a far wider range of classmates than they would have if they had been sitting in desks.

Awesome learning on camp

Outside the classroom is just an extension of our learning environment and we often work and learn outdoors - and go on camps!  For some students this not only connects what they are learning but it also helps them to increase their concentration and focus.


One of the best things I ever did was to get rid of my teacher's desk.  I was hardly ever sitting at it anyway as I was always working with students so we turned that into a writer's corner.  We also had science areas, maths areas, art, etc.  I'm still looking for more of these photos and will edit the post when they come to light.

Solving maths and logic problems

#reflectiveteacher