What is your back story?

Teaching is an important profession and as cheesy as that sounds teachers really do have a huge impact upon the future of those that they teach. For a huge amount of teachers teaching is also a vocation, a calling, something they know they were meant to do. For those teachers who do not consider themselves vocational teachers teaching is still more than just a Monday to Friday, 8 hours a day job. The evidence for this can be seen all over social media and, if you look closely, in the pound shops and discount stores, in charity shops and in the stationary aisle of all well known supermarkets. 

But teachers are also real life people, people with lives outside of teaching, people with a back story. This is so often forgotten by politicians, by school leaders and even by themselves. Teaching is a profession that lends itself to an almost Jekyl and Hyde existence with teachers really living in that stock cupboard where their pupils think they live.

But in times when the importance of mental health and wellbeing are finally in the spotlight teachers need to feel free to share their backstory, reveal themselves as human beings, the people they really are warts and all. It is a scary thought I know. I can hear a lot of the teachers reading this inhaling deeply and saying 'What?' 'Are you mad?' 'No way!' But it is important for many reasons:

• Teachers mental health - talking and sharing is one of the most powerful ways to maintain good mental health and wellbeing. That means talking about themselves, their feelings, thoughts being honest 'I'm having a bad day today' not talking about resources, books etc. 
• Sharing a back story with others helps remind them that teachers are complex human beings like everybody else, with many vast and varied experiences outside of teaching and that these experiences can enhance what they do, not diminish it. 
• It enables others to feel free to share their story opening up a really valuable dialogue which can lead an open, understanding culture. One that values, understands and recognises teachers on good days and bad.
• Back stories do not just relate to mental health but also physical health and can be all manner of things from climbing mountains to deep sea diving. They are varied, complex, happy, sad, individual and often inspiring.

It is important to remember that having a back story does not make for a weaker person or a bad teacher. It actually shows that they have got where they are, as a result of or even despite of, their experiences. This is a powerful message, an example of the values set out in schools all around the country: Determination, hard work, resilience, compassion, kindness, teamwork ... and to their pupils they are rock stars. 

So what's your back story? Check out my other twitter handle to get part of mine @pituitarydi

Finally Got My Mojo Back

This blog has, in part, been inspired by #teacher5aday. 

I have been tweeting and blogging professionally for a few years. I see Twitter as professional development. It has provided me with hundreds of ideas and no end of inspiration. I have connected with fellow teachers from around the world and have been privileged to get an insight into their classrooms. My blog was a way of sharing my thoughts and ideas. It was intended to share the things that mattered to me about teaching, the things I was doing in my class that I hoped would help my fellow tweachers. It was a hopeful, upbeat forum brimming with ideas. 

But then everything changed. I stopped blogging. It is only now, looking back, from what was a very dark time, that now thanks to @martynreah,  #teacher5aday and @mr_patel100 and @thebodycoach that I can finally blog again. 

So what went wrong? Firstly the huge changes that have happened in education that meant I felt cynical about the future. It all started with a man called Gove! I am sure you get the gist. Then an event in my school which resulted in a very, very difficult 18 months for our whole school community. Next Twitter itself, Twitter  can be such a positive place but can also at times be judgemental, isolating and very negative. Finally, my own physical and mental health. I have lived and struggled with hypopituitarism for the past 12 years. It is a challenging condition which has many side effects including weight gain, fatigue and depression. 

So what changed? Well Gove changed a lot and then left and we just have to get on. I still love teaching, I love having my own class and I have to keep going for those in my care, making the best of things for them. The problem in school was resolved eventually and an  exciting new head joined our amazing team. Twitter has improved hugely due to the #teacher5aday initiative which supports and encourages teachers positivity and well being,  @mr_patel100 provided a months worth of memories which connected teachers in a positive way via #memorymarch and @martynreah is now following this up with #stressawarenessmonth. As for my health, I have always had a 'this isn't going to beat me attitude' I have rarely taken a day off work believing that if I did I might never get back. It has been tough. But I have for the past year been seeing an amazing psychotherapist @seanorford, he has transformed my thought processes and put me on the road to rediscovering myself. Finally I came across @thebodycoach and his lean in 15. I have lost over a stone, I exercise daily, eat healthily and whilst I still have hypopituitarism, which will always be a battle, I feel better more positive and happy about myself . 

 I have a wonderful family, I work in a great school with a close team, so the future looks brighter, I can and will blog again!

Maths - A Whole School Approach

As educators we are constantly striving to improve not just the performance of our pupils but their engagement in their learning. This results in research,  CPD, discussion with other professionals both in person locally and via social media. Keeping in touch not just with changes to the curriculum but also with good practice is essential. 

As part of this process myself and our Deputy Head were lucky enough to be invited to observe 'maths' in an outstanding school. The format of the morning was a quick presentation followed by observation. It was interesting and in parts inspiring, so much so that we were keen to return to school to implement some of what we had witnessed in our own school, which we felt would have an immediate impact. 

Daily Calculations

The format - Every morning from 8.55 until 9.15 all pupils from years 1 to year 6 open up their calculation books which are on tables ready to go as soon as they enter the room. They begin by completing a 'strip' of 10 - 20 questions depending on their year group which consists of a mixed diet of questions ranging from time, to shape and number. These questions are assertive mentoring in style and take about 5 minutes to complete. They then move onto a selection of calculation questions using the four operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

Marking takes place immediately with pupils marking their own books using purple pen. If a question is wrong they mark it with a cross and put in the correct answer next to it. Whilst this is going on the register is taken, lunches counted. No time is wasted. Feedback from pupils has been very positive, they enjoy the fast pace, self marking, high success and no fear of failure culture. 

The result - end of year Arithmetic scores across the school improved massively. 

However, after analysis of  both KS1 and KS2 papers it was clear that problem solving was to be our next focus. 

Problem Solving - There has been much discussion in the press and on Social media about the merits of Singapore maths. So, intrigued, I researched, attended conferences, spoke to fellow professionals and finally both myself and the deputy again set off to observe the teaching of Singapore maths in several local schools. 

On return many discussions ensued and in brief we concluded that we loved the main principles of Singapore maths,  C.P.A, real life 'scenario' at the beginning, whole class together and the problem solving. What neither of us liked was the 'scheme', the textbooks but perhaps more importantly for us the scripted approach. We are as a school committed to both collaborative learning and active learning so from this and our research we developed a new maths lesson format. 

Daily Maths Lesson Format 

The lesson begins with a real life problem/ scenario, these can be linked to topics, Christmas, things going on around school such as the pond, our chickens the new library etc. 

Next some whole class discussion/teaching working towards solving the whole class problem. 

Then short group or paired exploration/discussion based on the teaching. 

Mini plenary check/sharing  of what has been discovered so far. 

Then it's time for the main group/paired problem solving with a link to the scenario. This may be conducted in differentiated or mixed ability groups and should include both collaborative learning and an Active Maths element which is taken from Maths of the Day which is a series of lessons linking maths and P.E. 

Mini plenary check - common misconceptions, discoveries, sharing. 

Finally whole class back together to discuss/solve whole class scenario problem using what they have learned. 

CPA runs throughout the lesson as well as keeping the whole class together, something I am particularly passionate about. 

The result - it is too early in the process to see any results in tests, though we should see some at the end of Autumn 2. However, the results in lesson observations is clear. The pupils are all engaged and enthusiastic about their learning. There is a mathematical vocabulary rich environment with pupils discussing ideas and solutions as well as pupils not afraid to make mistakes but learning from them. 

Maths has been reinvigorated and there truly is a buzz about the teaching and learning of maths. Result!

The KS1 Standardised Scores are in so What Next?

If you are a year 2 teacher you will have recently administered the new KS1 SATS. They were very different in format this year but the biggest change was the administration of the tests which was a lot more rigorous and not far removed from administering KS2 Sats which is odd as at the moment KS1 Sats tests are part ot teacher assessment and not, like KS2 based on test alone. 

But whatever  your opinion of them one good thing we can say is that they are, for this year at least, behind us and our wonderful children. 

So tests administered, papers marked and the standardised scores finally in so what next? We know which pupils in our classes have achieved the 'expected standard' we know which pupils who are 'below the expected standard' but what we don't know is which pupils are at 'working at greater depth.' Yet we have to report to our LAs what percentage of our class are at each of those standards. 

As there is no real guidance I have come up with my own plan which is based upon discussion with SLT but more importantly based upon lots of moderation with fellow professionals within our local cluster. If you think it's helpful please feel free to use it, adapt it to inform your own TAs.

Step 1: look at the top scores available for reading and math. Make a list of those who achieved the full marks available  and those up to two marks off a full marks score. I think if you go lower than that the pupils will not be working as securely within 'greater depth.'

Step 2: Using the interim framework statements for each of these pupils look for evidence that the pupil has met each of the expected standards, then move on to greater depth. As there are probably only about 10-15% of your class this shouldn't be too onerous. 

For Reading evidence - use reading journals, running records and book bands, guided reading records, comprehension answers in English books, termly test results, PIRA tests, etc. Often termly tests come with detailed coverage analysis which should help. 

For Maths evidence - mental math test scores, times tables secured, calculations books, maths books, mathletics and RM Easimaths results as well as termly assessments tests.

The guidance suggests 'secure fit' not 'best fit' so you will need to be thorough when looking for evidence. My personal time of thumb is is to err on the side of caution. 

I hope this helps and wish you all good luck in ensuring our pupils are given the most accurate assessment that truly reflects there hard work throughout the year. 

 

A Tale of the Two Childhoods

The 1970-1990 childhood 

Once upon a time there were two children called Janet and John. Janet and John were brother and sister and lived at home with their Mum and Dad and baby brother Michael. Mum worked some shifts as a nurse, with the help of Grannie and Grandad, who helped out with Michael. Their Dad worked in an office and went to work everyday on the bus. Gran and Grandad, their Uncle Simon and Auntie Susan all lived locally. 

Their friends all lived on the same housing estate and they all played out in the street after school, at weekends and during the summer holidays. During the long summer holidays they would go out with their friends all day returning only when they were hungry. On wet days they would play board games, draw, make up plays and watch a little t.v. If they had fall outs with their friends they were told to sort it for themselves, parents didn't get involved. 

Their primary school was within walking distance and all of the local children went to the same school. When they left primary school they would all go to the same local comprehensive. Janet was in the infants and John was in the Kat year of juniors.  Their were lots of children in their classes, Janet's class had 38 children and John's 40. The teachers were strict but nice and generally the children behaved well. Their headmaster was a bit scary and they had to stand up when he came into their class, one thing you didn't want was to be sent to his office for misbehaving because he would make them feel like they had let him, the school, their parents and themselves down, he was really good at that. If they got told of in school they knew they would also get a good telling off at home. They were responsible for their own actions. 

Janet and John both loved school, Jon loved maths, reading and p.e. and Janet loved story time and playing in the outdoor area. Playtime was great, Jon loved having races with his friends and playing football on the field and Janet loved doing cartwheels and making daisy chains. When it rained they still played out on the playground with their coats on and everyone would jump over the puddles or huddle around telling stories and laughing. There were always two staff on the playground drinking their tea or coffee and chatting. But the children didn't bother them they all just played and sorted out their own squabbles. If they fell over they would get up and carry on playing unless they were really hurt and the teacher would take them into the school medical room to sort them out. 

Assembly was held everyday and the whole school would get together and sing hymns from a big flip chart while the headteacher pointed at the words with a big stick and sang in a deep voice really loudly, which was really funny.  One of the teachers played the piano and all of the teachers joined in the singing too. Harvest Assembly was their favourite because they took in baskets that mum had made up at home full of tinned peaches and corned beef and sometimes some fresh fruit, then they would all walk down the aisle and place their own basket on the display in front of the whole school. Once John,s friends mum didn't send a basket in and he felt bad but the teacher gave him one she had made and he took that to place onto the display. 

Sports day was always great fun, the whole school would line up with their class on the side of the field and each class then took turns to do the sack race, the two legged race and Janet's favourite the egg and spoon race. The juniors also did a relay race and Jon even won one year! The winners got a medal and a big clap and then the headteacher treated all of the children to an ice lolly. 

P.E. lessons were held in the school hall when they did dance or gymnastics and out on the school field for games lessons. John loved it when they got the gymnastics equipment out because he could hang upside down off the big metal bars and jump over the pummel horse. They never, ever forgot their p,e. kit because they knew if they did their teacher would make them wear the smelly spare kit that they kept in their stockroom, boy it stunk! The infants would be made to do p.e. in vest and knickers if they didn't have kit! 

Every class did English, maths, topic, art, music and cookery. John was learning the recorder in music and the whole class used recorders which were dipped in disinfectant, it smelled and tasted really weird but nobody minded. Art was great, they got to mix their own paint and take pictures home at the end of the day. They all wore aprons because the paint never washed off and Mums were not happy if they got it on their uniform because that would mean trying to wash and dry it in time for the next day. One day Janet forgot to put her apron on and got covered in paint, Mum washed it but because it was wet she couldn't get it dry and Janet had to go to school the next day in a wet uniform. 

Some children were good at everything but everybody was good at something, reading, writing, maths, art, running, singing, acting in the play, recorder ... One year the school held a reading aloud day and the best readers in the class read out a poem that they had to learn off by heart. The winner got a prize which was a book signed by the headmaster. They also had a yearly spelling competition and every day, when they fit into juniors they had to stand up and say their tables off by heart. 

Class photograph day was organised by the caretaker who would march them into the hall class by class making sure brothers and sisters were photographed together. The teachers would straighten their ties and comb their hair with a comb which was kept in a jar of the same white smelly solution they used for the recorders. 

Once a year they all had a visit from Nitty Nora the nit nurse who would go through everybody's hair with a nit comb. If you had nits they were given a note for their Mum and would have to have this really stinky stuff on your hair for a couple of days. 

Janet and John got a school report at the end of the year and parents were invited in once a year for parents evening. The report showed their attendance for the year and have them a grading a-d for every subject for effort and they also showed the position of each child in the class, in Janet's case out of 38 and John's class out of 40. There was a section from the teacher about friendship groups, general behaviour and what they had a flair for. 

School was were they went to learn, play, grow, develop.

The 2000-2016 childhood 

Once upon a time there were two children called Emily and Jacob. Emily and Jacob were brother and sister and lived at home with their Mum and Dad and baby brother Liam. Mum worked full time as a nurse and Liam went to nursery. Their Dad worked away and Gran and Grandad, their Uncle Paul and Auntie Linda lived about an hours drive away and they went to see them during school holidays. 

Some of their friends from school lived in their street but a lot of them lived about a 20 minute walk away. They were driven to school by Mum on her way to work and went to the school breakfast club. They didn't see their friends out of school unless there was a party or they went to the same after school clubs, Beavers or swimming lessons. They weren't allowed to play out in the street. After school they would go to after school club and then go home to do homework and have tea, they both had lots of homework but Jacob had the most because he had to do Sats practice and he also had a tutor who gave him even more. If he finished his homework he could watch t.v in bed or play on his tablet. During the long summer holidays they would go away for two weeks holiday with Mum and Dad often abroad and then maybe go to see their Grannie and Grandad for a couple of days. They didn't get to see their friends much at all unless there was a party or they bumped into them in the supermarket when they were out shopping with Mum. On wet days they would watch dvds, play on their Xbox or do some homework. 

Their primary school was within walking distance, though they went in the car. The children in their street didn't all go to the same school, some went to the one on the next estate. When they left primary school they would have lots to choose from but Jacob would have to sit an entrance exam this year to get into the grammar school. Mum said he had to work hard because the local high school didn't have a good reputation. The day the schools were announced was always upsetting because everybody was split up and some people didn't pass. 

Emily was in year 2 and Jacob had just gone into year 6.  Their were 30 children in Emily's class and Jacobs class had 32 children. Emily's class had a teacher and a teaching assistant all day because they had a child who needed extra support. He misbehaved a lot but their teaching assistant looked after him. Jacob's class had a teacher and a teaching assistant in the morning when they were set for maths and English. The lowest set were taught by the TA. He was happy because he was in top sets but he did miss being with his friends all morning. The homework in top set was really hard too. Their headteacher was nice and they saw him once a week in assembly or sometimes he came in to check on the progress in their books. Behaviour was O.K but there was lots of talking in class, particularly in Jacob's class as well as tapping of pencils and throwing rubbers. In Emily's class the boys were silly on the carpet. If they got told off in school they knew their parents would get informed and often they would then come into school to have a chat with the headteacher to find out what had gone on. Mum would then tell them not to worry because it was all sorted out. 

Emily and Jacob both enjoyed school, Jacob loved maths and p.e, when they got to do it, and Emily loved story time and topic. Playtime was great, Jon loved playing football with his friends on their football cage days and Janet loved playing with the outdoor play equipment. When it rained it was 'wet play' Emily's class went into the hall with the rest of KS1 and sang songs while Jacob stayed in his class and played wet play games. There was always two staff on the playground supervising them at all times and they would sort out the fights and squabbles that happened. If they fell over the staff would take them into the school to clean them up and give them a note to take home to their parents. Sometimes Mum would ring up to ask what happened. 

Assembly was held once a week with the whole school when the vicar came in to do an assembly, they would sing songs with a backing track on a Cd and the words were displayed on the whiteboard, some of the teachers came in but some stayed class. Sometimes year 6 didn't come in because they had to do more work and some children in Emily's class were kept out for 'interventions.' Usually the deputy came into this assembly and the headteacher did an assembly on a Friday for KS1 in the morning and KS2 in the afternoon. For Harvest Assembly they were asked to bring in an item for the Harvest display or their parents could make a donation on Parent Pay. 

Sports day was good but would often get called off because of bad weather and the headteacher would say it was too dangerous to do it even if it wasn't raining, they might slip and hurt themselves he would explain.  When it was on it was always KS1 in the morning and KS2 in the afternoon so Emily and Jacob didn't get to see each other in school much. Sports day for KS1 and KS2 was non competitive team games, like throwing hoops and swapping places on a bench. They didn't do any races. The teachers made it as much fun as they could by squirting them with water if it was hot. The team with the most points got a a big clap but everyone who took part got a medal because that was fair. When it was finished the PTA sold drinks and crisps.

P.E. lessons were held in the school hall when they did dance or gymnastics and out on the school field for games lessons. You did P.E in the hall if it was cold or had been raining. The gymnastics equipment was mainly benches and mats and everyone was taught how to carry benches safetly. If you forgot your kit you didn't have to do P.E. You just sat at the side and watched. Some children didn't get to do P.E at all because they had 'interventions' in year 2 and year 6 didn't really do P.E. much until after the Sats because they were too busy. Jacob hated it but Mum said Sats were very important. 

Every class did English and maths in the morning, due to setting, with topic and ICT in the afternoon. Jacob loved ICT and was learning to code. Emily loved ICT too because they got to use the apps on the iPads. Jacobs class had an Art and DT day once a term because that was the only way his teacher could fit it in because of Sats. 

Ofsted had been into their school three times while Jacob was there and he noticed how cross the teachers and head were just before they arrived, all smiley  while they were there and tired and grumpy when they left. His Mum said they were a good school but if it didn't get outstanding next time Liam would be going somewhere else. 

Some children were good at everything in Emily and Jacobs school but Jacob knew he could do better at writing because that was always his target and Emily found SPAG hard, her class did SPAG everyday except the children who still did phonics. Once a year after Sats KS2 had a talent show and although you had to audition everybody got to take part because the teachers knew the parents would complain otherwise because it wasn't fair. Jacob was good at his tables but his teacher said he didn't really know them fast enough. Emily was now learning her tables in year 2. 

Class photograph day was organised by the photographer and Emily and Jacob had their photograph taken together. Their teachers were a bit stressed though because they both missed some of their maths lesson.

Emily and Jacob got a school report at the end of the year and parents were invited in twice a year for parents evening. They were also kept up to date with regular updates on their child's individual targets. They used to have assessments at the end of each term but recently this had become every half term and Jacob said all they did was tests. Emily said they were lucky because they got to do quizzes but some of them were really hard, particularly the SPAG quizzes. The end of year report showed their attendance for the year as well as a detailed summary of their progress and attainment which was compared to other schools locally and nationally. The reports were based upon English and Maths and Science. They also showed Emily and Jacobs next steps. They reports didn't really mention Art, Music, Topic or social skills because the information about progress and attainment was more important. 

School was were they went to learn, learn, learn in Maths and English. 

40 Things I Love about Teaching

There is lots of negativity surrounding education at the moment so in order to counteract that I started to think about all of the things I love about my job. I got to 40 and here they are in no particular order:

1. Meeting my new class for the first time on induction day.
2. Seeing my new class on the first day of term, all smart in their new uniform, shiny shoes and excited faces.
3. The look on a child's face when they have had that penny dropping moment.
4. Listening to children read.
5. Reading stories to my class.
6. Getting dressed up on World Book Day.
7. Choosing parts for the Christmas play and making sure everyone has a part. 
8. Christmas play rehearsals.

9. The look on the parents faces as they watch the Christmas performance. 
10. Making cards and decorations on Christmas Crafts Day.
11. Meeting the parents on Parents Evening and spotting which parent the child looks the most like.
12. Teaching Maths.
13. Passing on my love of maths.
14. Helping pupils who thought they were 'rubbish' at maths grow in confidence and change their view of themselves as mathematicians to 'good'
15. Listening to the children talk and reason during problem solving lessons.
16. Making Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Easter cards.
17. Observing friendship groups and the group dynamics at playtime.
18. Watching the children play at playtime.
19. Chatting to the children in my class at playtime listening to their funny stories, jokes and stories about their families.
20. D.T. lessons and observing the roles the children take within a group.
21. Teaching English, Geography, History, Art and D.T. through Topics.
22. Introducing a new topic via an 'excite' lesson.
23. The end of topic celebration which for my class includes setting fire to London, having a teddy bears picnic and Katie Morag Day.
24. Listening to the pupils class talks about their favourite animal, their pet, an after school activity or hobby. These are very cute and often hilarious.
25. Themed Days such as Maths All Around us, Creative Arts week, Anti Bullying Day, Safer Internet Day.
26. Class Assemblies where the children show their families what they have been learning.
27. Reading the children's writing especially stories which give away family secrets.
28. Spotting the children's spelling mistakes which are often hilarious.
29. Seeing children developing their own writing style.
30. Watching my class dance during brain breaks, the class Christmas party or in the school disco, boy do they cut some shapes!
31. Teaching P.E., especially things like catching and throwing with year 2s who couldn't catch a cold and teaching the games I loved in school such as benchball and dodgeball.
32. Art lessons, the mess, the relaxed atmosphere and the opportunity to chat.
33. Singing together.
34. Listening to music together.
35. The queue of children on the first day back after a holiday to tell me what they have been up to.
36. Past pupils coming back to school to say hello.
37. Watching the children in my class grow in height, confidence and ability from the beginning of the year to the end.
38. Writing the personal statement on the end of year reports.
39. Meeting with my class's new teacher and telling them how wonderful they are, their strengths and and weaknesses and how much I will miss them.
40. Making a difference!

I really am lucky to be doing a job I love so much.

Education has gone mad!

Teaching is my job, it is what I do, it is what I have done for nearly 20 years. I love my job and to a certain extent it defines me, it is a big part of who I am and I would say it is my passion. 

Over half term like lots of teachers I still live teaching. If I'm in a book shop I find myself searching for books about teaching, books for my class library and books linked to my topic. When browsing on eBay my thoughts turn to world book day and I bid for an outfit to wear. At the end of a busy day out with my other passion, my grandchildren, I settle down to Twitter to keep up to date with education. I think you can spot the pattern ... 

At the end of every very half term I break up feeling absolutely exhausted having chased my tail just to keep up. Then during my break I reflect. 

I have recently been filling my mind with all manner of projects including studying Budhism, completing courses on Coursera and Udemy and making tentative steps to write a book.  All of this is in an effort to keep my mind busy, to stop myself getting dragged down and depressed, you see I was depressed and whilst it was not all down to my job, it was a big part of it. 

Teaching is ingrained in me, it brings me lots of joy but also lots of sadness and stress. I cannot imagine doing another job. However, education is, in my opinion and from my experience, broken and what saddens me the most is my genuine belief that we have got it that wrong that our pupils, our precious next generation are being let down, damaged even. They are to the government merely a number, a statistic, a political football and my main problems with this is the obsession with measuring, testing, data, narrowing of the curriculum and the obsession with evidence and progress, two of my most hated words in education which I think sum up the root cause of the rot. 

I have for a longtime felt helpless, complicit even, going along with this madness. That was until the worm turned! I made the decision to have my own one woman revolution! Have I gone mad? What forms the basis of this revolution? 

I have decided to get on with my job, doing what I know is right for the pupils in my class. You see like all good teachers I know my class inside out, I know their family circumstances, I know their friendship groups, I know their hobbies, what subjects they excel at and the ones they need to work more on. I know their strengths and weaknesses, I know when to push them out of their comfort zone and when not to. I know which question to ask them, where they are and what they need to do next.

So armed with this knowledge I teach a broad and balanced curriculum, ensure all of the objectives I am meant to teach are taught. I engage, enthuse, encourage, nurture, push and extend. I get on with what I need to do remembering that they are, in my case, 6 and 7 years of age. 

This means I protect them from the nonsense, I make sure they enjoy learning, playing, making friends, working together, being independent. I try to encourage them to become more organised and to be all I know they can be. We laugh together, we  dance, play games, we read books and above all we learn together. Learning is at the centre of    everything we do, it is fun and child centred. 

Since this one woman revolution I find myself less manic, I enjoy my job and my pupils enjoy learning. This was very evident in parents evening before half term with parents reporting how happy their children are in school and most importantly how well they are doing and how much they enjoy learning. 

We owe it to ourselves as professionals to do what we know is important, to do what is best for the pupils in our care and protect them as best we can from the current madness that is education. 

The Brain - The Final Frontier

The brain, it's functions, structure and how it works is a source of fascination for me. This is due mainly to two things.

Firstly as a teacher I am fascinated about how we learn and remember things because I want to help my pupils to become effective learners. 

I have read many articles and books written about learning styles which have caused me to consider my own 'learning style.'Am I a visual learner? I sometimes like to see things written down before I can understand them or remember them, spellings for example, but not all of the time. I also like to write things down as an aid to remembering them. I used index cards with key words as a revision tool. I also like diagrams and illustrations alongside text to help me figure things out and used Tony Buzan's Mind Mapping and colour methods during exam revision. However I certainly don't fit the spatial understanding part of this style as maps remain a mystery to me. Am I an auditory learner? I would have initially answered emphatically no to this but on reflection I do have songs in my head most of the time, often on a loop, which is infuriating and music plays a big part in my dreams and I do like putting things that I need to remember either to music or at least to rhyme or does this make me a verbal learner?  I could go on and on but my own conclusion to this is that I, like many learners, have a selection of learning styles and that as a teacher I need to .understand learning styles, be aware of them and try to use a variety of learning style approaches in my teaching. What It doesn't provide me with though is a definitive answer to how people learn. 

Ok so what about left brain right brain? You see my problem is I am a pragmatic so whatever comes along I 'give it a go' and yes that meant I stood there in front of my class during 'brain gym' doing figure of eight exercises, the cross crawl or swapping from left to right hand holding my nose with one hand and ear with the other. The principles behind brain gym came from Jean Piaget, Maria Montessori and Anna Jean Ayres to name a few and were born out of lots of research and experience. Did it help my pupils to learn I can't say I noticed any huge improvement but the exercises were fun and did provide brain breaks but that is another story... Am I left or right brained I pondered? I tried this simple test http://braintest.sommer-sommer.com/en/ and learned I am 78% right brained,  I would describe myself as creative but also as I have got older have developed a love of maths which whilst it does have its creative side is actually very logical. I'm also not really sure how it helps me understand myself as a learner or how I can use this knowledge to improve my pupils as learners. In fact it provides more questions than answers? I am hoping, or was hoping, to write a book about teaching and I really do wonder if I am logical enough? I find the creative side of my brain means academic research bores the pants off me and I tend to go more from personal experience and rhetoric than academic research after all the research is only as good as the person doing it and is often countered by others anyway.  Or does this just mean I'm a cynic? Who knows but I can see how over reliance on one type of brain research can hinder rather than help providing self limitation.

Next comes memory, a huge topic which is so important to teachers because learning and memory go hand in hand. I would, like most people, describe myself as having an appalling memory and have again used, pragmatic style, many of the memory techniques. I have found these useful but not life changing. This in fairness is due more to the lack of consistency to which I apply said methods than the effectiveness of the methods themselves. I do use some 'memory techniques' in my teaching including again mind maps, story journeys and mnemonics. 

Secondly as someone who has lived with 'hypopituitarism' for over 10 years I am now fascinated about the many other functions of the brain that affect memory, learning and emotion. The pituitary gland which is located at the base of the brain produces a number of hormones or chemicals which are released into the blood to control other glands in the body. If the pituitary is not producing one or more of these hormones, or not producing enough, then this condition is known as hypopituitarism.

To say it was a shock when I discovered I suffered from this condition is an understatement. I was very poorly and glad to finally know what was wrong or at least put a name to it but after 10 years I still don't fully understand it so complex is it. This makes it difficult to manage but I am proud to say I have never let it define me. In fact this is the first time I have discussed it outside of friends and family. I have defied the odds and worked through all of the difficult times determined to not let it defeat me. Pituitary disorders are considered rare. It is estimated that there are between 50,000 and 70,000 pituitary patients in the United Kingdom, which equates to 0.08% - 0.11% of the population. 

I never realised that hormones played such a huge part in the functions of the brain or in fact that the brain played a role in releasing hormones around the body which affect so many parts of our daily lives. 

So what role do hormones play in memory? Because hormones are often more concentrated in the brain, any hormone imbalance can affect brain function dramatically. In The Hormone Solution, Dr. Thierry Hertoghe notes that deficiencies in cortisol, DHEA, estrogen hormones, melatonin, pregnenolone, testosterone, thyroid, and vasopressin exhibit the most common brain-related symptoms, including memory loss, poor concentration, and confusion.

My conclusions? Without even considering trauma, psychology, experiences ... I think (get the pun) that the brain is truly the last great frontier of discovery. We know some things but by no means all. I will I am sure remain as pragmatic as ever and give anything a go when it comes to new 'brain and learning' research and true to form will also retain and use the ones that I find most effective in my day to day teaching as aids and tools to facilitate and enrich the learning experience. 

A tough term so what next?

Boy it's been a tough term! New curriculum, new methods of assessment, new Ofsted framework....

Yet still I love teaching. These are some of my own tips on how to survive the madness that is the education system under the tories.

Love teaching but don't let it define you - remember ultimately it is a job, a job you do to live not a job you live for.

Trust your own instincts - teaching is a job everyone has an opinion about. Just remain true to yourself, your pupils, your setting and your teaching style. Any other way leads to confusion and possible madness. 

Surround yourself with people who share your philosophy on education and avoid the sappers and moaners. Yes it's tough this teaching malarkey but boy it's worth it. Have a moan, a rant and a vent when the going gets tough but then dust yourself off and get back on the metophorical bike and lose yourself in teaching. Our pupils remain the perfect forget all. Who can remain down when faced with your pupils, your school family?

Collaborate with professionals in your school and cluster schools. Sharing knowledge and good practice can only improve things for everyone. 

Take your CPD seriously you deserve the best so seek it out. One great source of CPD is Twiter so set up a professional Twitter account it is full of fellow professionals, articles, blogs, resources and pearls of wisdom but do take care it can drag you down. Read my 'Plea to professional tweeters' blog for some further advice.

Have a go at blogging it is such a good way of reflecting on your teaching, advising others and sharing your views. It can be as detailed or simple as you choose. Remain professional but dont let the blogger snobs tell you how to do it just blog!

Throw open your door and like the old saying 'dance like no one is watching' but this time 'teach like no one is watching.' Teach from your gut and not from a three page lesson plan. Be honest, open and true. Don't be afraid to be observed, be confident in your craft. Let others observe you and you go and observe others you never know you may learn something new. Fear of observation has been brought about by bad management and obviously by Ofsteds continual moving of the goal posts. Take back control of your teaching and throw caution to the wind. You do a good job day after day so when observed do what you do, be confident in your abilities. I can guarantee being observed by your peers and observing your peers will help you realise that actually you are 'good' at this teaching thing. Remember it's the learning that counts not you on a unicycle juggling whilst wearing a red nose. 

Good luck and keep fighting the good fight! Only two terms to go ...

Are you with me?

In April 2014, whilst in the grips of the reign of the now infamous Education Minister Mr Gove I wrote a blogpost 'Do We Need a Teaching Revolution.' The original post can be found here

So nearly two years on where are we? What's new in the hood that is Education? Are things better? 

Well things have changed - 

• Gove is gone! Replaced, but sadly not history, his legacy survives in the much talked about 2014 National Curriculum. 

• Ofsted have changed the way schools and in particular teaching is judged. The focus is not just on the lesson, it is now about the learning, pupils behaviour, books, displays and professional dialogue. 

• Sats levels have gone replaced by a new system which is, it is said so much easier for parents to understand and relate to.

So it could seem that all is well, teachers are happy? Sadly this is not the case:

• It has been a chaotic year with lots of ups and downs. Schools trying to manage  a completely new curriculum with no extra budget to support the changes. 

• Devising a whole new method of reporting progress without levels has been both confusing and time consuming. 

• Education remains under constant scrutiny and high on the political agenda.

• Ofsted still exist and despite reassurances on their new procedures those in education know the judgment has on the whole been made via Raiseonline before the inspectors even set foot in the school. 

• Teachers are still leaving the profession in droves for a variety of reasons ranging from being overworked and under increasing pressure. 

• Those teachers who remain in the profession due to their passion for their job and dedication are exhausted and often demoralised. 

However, remain they do, but why? Teaching truly is a brilliant profession, a privilege. After all what could be more rewarding than a job that allows you to directly influence and have an impact upon the minds of children? 

So what happens now? How can we re energise our profession? What can we do to retain teachers? A lot of unanswered questions, non of which are easy to solve but we have to. We not only have a duty of care to our pupils but also a duty to our truly noble profession. As cheesy as it sounds we need to stand shoulder to shoulder and unite! Hands up if your with me!

It's Not Rocket Science

Teaching is a profession that is always in the spotlight. Everyone has an opinion about teaching and how it should be done. There are endless studies into teaching and learning and it is a constant political football kicked from party to party. 

This, I believe, has resulted in the belief that teaching is hard. Well I will let you into a secret, it isn't!

As the title of the blog says it isn't rocket science in fact to thousands and thousands of teachers teaching is simple and as natural as breathing. 

This isn't I grant you the same for all teachers but like all professions there are those that quite simply shouldn't have gone into it at all. 

Teaching is instinctive it flows and gets easier when teacher and pupil have a relationship based on trust. 

It is a wonderful job . What could be better than facilitating learning, passing on knowledge and igniting an excitement for learning! 

It's not the teaching that's the problem it's the baggage that goes with it, the incessant interference, the row after row of those that think they know better than the teacher how to teach their pupils. 

So here is my plea to teachers all around the world. Teach! Keep it simple, let it flow, be you!

And to the 'experts' and the politicians I say leave teachers to do what they do best, trust them and turn your attention to the things that need attention such as social deprivation, human rights ... 

Mastery - My top tips

As a long serving, some may say long suffering teacher, I have seen many educational theories, innovations, new practices and buzz words come and go. One of the latest ideas and 'Ofsted' buzzwords is 'Mastery.' As a Maths coordinator I was introduced to Mastery teaching via the Singapore Method.

The Mathematics Mastery programme is a whole-school approach to teaching mathematics that aims to raise attainment for all pupils and close the attainment gap between pupils from low income families and their peers. The programme aims to deepen pupils’ conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts. Compared to traditional curricula, fewer topics are covered in more depth and greater emphasis is placed on problem solving and on encouraging mathematical thinking. Education Endowment Foundation

I was, and am intrigued by Mastery. Lots of the ideas and theories make sense to me so I embarked upon some research of my own. This consisted of lots of reading, attending training, some observations of mastery in practice and discussions with fellow professionals both locally and further afield. 

My next step was to adapt the Mastery approach to suit both my teaching style and the needs of my class and pupils in our school.  Below are some of the tips and techniques I am using to teach using a mastery approach in my own class and those shared with the teachers in our school. 

Pre teaching

As differentiation doesn't take a high profile in Mastery it is essential to ensure that the pupils who may struggle with the initial input of a lesson are pre taught to enable them to keep up with the pace of the lesson itself. I have found this an invaluable method as the pupils then go into the lesson itself bristling with confidence knowing they can join in from the outset. They are on an even footing with the rest of the class. Pre teaching generally takes place either the day before or ideally 'just before' the lesson. This may be during registration or assembly. It should only take about 20 minutes. 

Immediate feedback 

An absolute essential element of any teaching should be immediate feedback. If a pupil has got it wrong, made a mistake or totally misunderstood, to find out the next day is too late. The moment has passed. With immediate feedback the errors, mistakes, misconceptions are ironed out immediately allowing learning to take place. In my class immediate feedback takes place during the lesson. How??

Challenge Activities 

When a piece of work has been completed pupils in my class collect their challenge activity cards and choose, independently, a challenge to complete. They have 8 challenges in maths and 10 in English. The challenges are carefully chosen to allow them to 'master' key skills. In maths this includes number bonds, times tables and the four operations. In English they are SPAG related. Whilst they complete challenges I am free to give immediate feedback to groups or individuals. It takes some time to set up and to put the rules and routines into place but it works like a dream. 

Purple Perfectors

These are essential to the success of immediate feedback. When a pupil makes a mistake they immediately correct it using a purple pen. This is then brought back to me to show they have understood my feedback. The children love it because they get to write in purple pen, they see it as a positive not a negative. 

I also facilitate 'conceptual understanding' by the use of concrete resources to allow pupils to explore and play around with what they and learning. This takes place during most lessons as part of maths challenges but essentially when introducing a new concept. 

As you can see I have adapted the mastery approach to suit me and passionately believe that this is an essential part of being a professional. We cannot take every new initiative on board verbatim but what we can do is apply our professional judgement , make our own decisions based upon the knowledge we have of the pupils we teach every day. 

I hope you find some of my ideas helpful maybe even inspiring! Let me know what you think. 

Head of Teaching and Learning

Reading teaching job bulletins, my Twitter feed, the press, I have noticed a new TLR post has emerged ... Head of Teaching and Learning. 

It's become one of those job titles that you just accept without thinking about. Maybe it's #easterbresk madness that has allowed me the time to reflect but I wonder aren't all teachers Head of Teaching and Learning in their own class rooms, in their own departments, in their own schools? 

So what are the responsibilities of a Head of Teaching and Learning? From some job specifications I have read the following points seem pretty much to cover the main responsibilities:

Leading Teaching and Learning in the School to:

a. ensure a continuous and consistent School-wide focus on pupils’ achievement, using data and benchmarks to monitor progress

b. establish creative, responsive and effective approaches to learning and teaching

c. set high expectations and set stretching targets for the whole school community

d. monitor, evaluate and review school practice and promote improvement strategies

e. tackle under-performance at all levels

Again arent these generally what teachers across the country do anyway? 

I can't help but feel that this 'new role' seems to have emerged out of the new 'meddling in education' culture. 

Teachers, SLTs, Governors and Local Authorities are constantly bring scrutinised. This scrutiny leads to the need for action or at least to be seen to be taking action. Hence the birth of constant new initiatives amongst which is the role of Head of Teaching and Learning.

Let me be clear it is not my intention to offend any teachers either in or applying for this role. On the contrary I am a teacher and will always be on the side of teachers it is the constant meddling, being under the spotlight that I object to!

Let teachers teach and be in charge of their own teaching and learning. #election2015 Stop the meddling!!! 

My 21st Century Teaching Slippers

(Not my slippers)

As a teacher I spend lots of my time thinking about, researching and planning for ways to improve both the teaching and learning experience for my pupils. Increasingly I rely on technology to inspire me and my teaching. However, it has become much more than just using Google search. Like all of the resources I use I have the tried and trusted, the resources I automatically default to, the warm slippers of technology in my classroom. 

Word Clouds used for:

Building pupils self esteem - I ask all of the pupils in my class to add words to a list to describe each pupil in their class. The words for some year groups come from them, for the younger children we would generate a list of words together, then they choose the word or words that they would use to best describe their classmate.  These words are then typed into the word cloud generator which produces a personalised image for each pupil which shows them what their class mates like about them the most. They can be shared with the pupils as a reward, an end of year gift (signed by the whole class, as a leaving present or when a pupil is having a rough time and needs a reminder of how many friends they have and how valued they are in the class. They also make a great gift for parent helpers at the end of the year or trainee teacher moving on to pastures new.

Character Descriptions - when trying to get children away from describing characters looks rather than personality the word cloud really helps them to look through a part of the text in a story to look for the adjectives which describe their character. These are then again added to a word cloud as a visual reminder of character words to use in their own character descriptions. Again for younger children this can be done as a group or class activity or even typed up by the teacher before a guided reading session and then handed to pupils as a 'spot the character words in the story' activity.

Topic  -  Word clouds are also great for collating topic words on the Stone Age, the Vikings, Continents and Oceans, Castles, Materials, Life Processes etc ... in a fun and interesting way either at the beginning of a topic, as research, or at the end of a topic as a review of things learned.

QR Codes - The uses for QR codes is huge! I have used them for:

Easter egg hunts, follow the clues to solve a mystery, during a Market Place activity to keep pupils on task,  a 3D shape hunt, steps for completing instructions, for encouraging children to write paragraphs. The list and possibilities are again endless .......

Picture Collage Makers - This has again been really useful for:

Descriptive writing of,  trees, plants, buildings, characters from books, each other.... The real difference from this as oppose to word clouds is the image as a stimulus, which has proven very useful for reluctant writers or those that struggle coming up with ideas. If they have taken the picture themselves the words just seem to flow!   

Writing Instructions using a picture collage creator is so easy and yet it makes it much more engaging and exciting for the children, who thought writing instructions for making a sandwich could be so interesting!

Classifying in Science -  The children took lots of pictures of different types of leaves and berries they had found around the school grounds, in the woods on our trip and in their own back gardens. They then used a Picture Collage as a way of creating their own visual classification tool to determine the tree they came from. Great fun!

Stop Frame Animation - This is a relatively new tool for me but I am hooked already.

Retelling Events - We have used this in our class as an end of topic review of The Great Fire Of London, using Lego characters, the buildings on Baker Street that they made in D.T. (Just before we set fire to them!), and lots and lots of fire coloured paper tissue and of course team work and trial and error.

Dance - As part of our class assembly the children were dancing to Under The Sea from The Little Mermaid. Clearly some of the boys particularly were a bit reluctant to 'let go.' But with the use of a stop frame animation, which was to be added to the end of the video we were creating, they all became totally engaged.

Video - 

Dance -  As mentioned above we have used videoing and video editing as part of our class assembly this year. In fact it has become a bit of a class tradition. It all began last year with the 'Happy by Pharell Williams' craze last year. We got all of the children to create their own version like the ones we had watched together on YouTube. They worked in small groups, pairs and whole class coming up with their choreography. They took turns filming indoors and out and then they watched and assisted in a bit of the video editing (year 2 pupils.) The final piece was used in the assembly and then burnt onto DVD as an end of year gift. This year our topic of Continents and Oceans was crying out for a bit of dance and the new video was born!

Interviewing - Using video to interview each other on their favourite book, what they would like to know about a topic, what they have learned etc. has and is a regularly used tool in our classroom. 

Comic Strip and Story Book Creators 

These do  exactly what they say on the tin, they enable and engage children as writers and creators. These have been used in Literacy, topic and Science. My next task use them in maths. Mmm that has got me thinking!

Reading Eggs and Mathletics -

Up until now I have stayed away from naming my most used technology apps via branded names as their are a variety of each of them out there and each is as useful as the next. However, the following tools are so deeply embedded in the teaching and learning in our school and in my classroom that these are probably my most warn technology slippers and could not really be described without their 'brand name.'

Mathletics - as maths co-ordinator I am and have been constantly on the look out for ways of improving maths skills across the school, as a learning tool I believe Mathletics has had the biggest impact so far. I use it in a variety of ways. In class we use it at least once a week as part of our allotted time in computer suite. This has been possible as most I.C.T skills are taught in the classroom via I Pads, cameras etc. The pupils also access it at home for about half an hour a week. It is mostly self directed but they may occasionally require a bit of explanation or support. Mathletics can be accessed via IPad, Android, Kindle, Hudl etc. It also does not require internet access which means most of the pupils have access at home. The children collect points, for every hour spent on Mathletics across a seven day period they earn a bronze certificate, five bronzes become a silver and then four silvers mean a gold (much coveted) Silvers and Golds are then awarded in Headteacher award assemblies. Even in year 2 competition drives the children to use it.

Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress - Introduced by our Literacy co-ordinator to improve reading and comprehension skills. Used in my class exactly as shown above. In place of points comes eggs, eggs then allow the children to update their avatar or buy items for their on-line playroom. This again I believe has had an impact on improving reading and comprehension skills. 

My other most used tools:

YouTube, Quiet Tube, Google, Google Earth, Literacy Shed, Numeracy Shed ..... 

Plus a whole host of teacher resource sites including Primary Resources, Hamilton Trust, UR Brainy .... 

Not forgetting Social Media of course - Twitter, Slideshare, Blogger, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest .....

Technology really is entrenched in our lives and the lives of our children. If used properly it enhances the teaching and learning experience. Exciting times!!!

What are your most worn technology slippers? Share those via the comments on this blog and please retweet if you've enjoyed reading. 

Teaching Gimmicks

There is a lot of Twitter talk at the moment about the pop culture of motivational posters. Society in general but perhaps teaching more specifically is littered with them, they even feature in lots of school mottos.

This debate promoted me to reflect upon the many 'gimmicks' which teaching has been subjected to over the last 10 years. Below are some of the ones that stick in my mind the most and due to my pragmatic approach the ones I subjected my various classes to at the time. 

Brain Gym - This initiative led to classes full of children all around the country staring at the point of their finger whilst they drew a figure of eight on its side or pointing and stretching across their bodies in a move reminiscent of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever! Teachers were advised to put brain breaks into the middle of most lessons or at least during mid morning and mid afternoon when it was muted that the pupils attention was at its worse. 

Brain Breaks - mid lesson when pupils were beginning to become distracted the teacher would ask them to stand up, put on a piece of music and jiggle, shake, jump about. The memory of this makes me laugh out loud, it must have been a hilarious sight!

Peer Massage - this craze came with a series of massage techniques that pupils performed on their partners back. Permission had to be given by parents and pupils. The permission from pupils had to be given to their massage partner at the beginning of each session. Massage took place after lunch as this was seen as the part of the day that had the worst behaviour triggers and peer massage was suggested as a way of calming children down. 

SEAL Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning)- a PSHE program based around themes. Each theme very structured in its delivery and beginning with a whole school launch via a whole school assembly. 

When I reflect upon using each of these 'new initiatives' it reminds me how much teachers were and still are subject to constant pressures upon the teaching day. How much we are subjected to political agendas. The curriculum is jam packed yet not a day passes without a suggestion in the media of what teachers needs to teach. 

All of these initiatives were suggested after,  I am sure, there was lots of research and evidence at the time on their effectiveness but were all of them failed was the lack of consideration for the packed curriculum. 

What are the present day teaching gimmicks?