The value of Pinterest

I think teachers are like magpies, squirrels and hoarders all in one. We love nothing better than searching for shiny bright things that we collect and keep because 'you never know when they might come in useful.' We trawl the local pound shops #poundstorepedagogy, junk shops, book stores and car boot sales for things we can use in class.

Due to the power of the internet the ocean we trawl has become much larger. Twitter connects a huge community of educators and like minded people together from all over the world., sharing thoughts, experiences and resources. Google and other search engines allow us to find a wide range of resources at the touch of a button. My personal favourites, the ones I always look to first are Tes, Primary resources, Teaching ideas, Teachers pet, Literacy shed to name but a few.

However, my new found little gem is Pinterest. It sparkles and shines like a little teaching jewel. If you don't know what Pinterest is or how it works boy are you in for a treat. Pinterest is an online pin board which allows the user to search for pins and then to repin them onto their own boards. It allows the user to collect and organise pins from a wide range of places and on too many subjects to mention. It is said that 1.36m people use Pinterest every day!

I have been using Pinterest for well over a year and I can honestly say it has provided me with lesson ideas and resources which I actually use weekly at least and often daily in my class. I have 1.7 thousand pins organised onto 22 boards! My boards range from education videos to a board for my next topic topic Katie Morag. What I like about Pinterest is that it provides access to resources from teachers in America, a resource I didn't have access to before. Lots of the American pinners are home educators and as such have quite creative teaching ideas which I love. I also like the fact that it is a safe resource. I can open my boards in school on the whiteboard quite safely, I have not come across anything inappropriate at all. I do know though like everything on the internet that nothing is 100% safe but I am impressed that in over a year I have never had any problems at all.

So if you've not checked Pinterest out yet give it a go!

Building relationships

My husband is a driving instructor. He is relatively new to the business and became an instructor after over 20 years as a financial advisor. The decision to change direction was not an easy one as he is now self employed and trying to build a business but so far so good.

Yesterday during a walk we began chatting about teaching. What was interesting was how he naturally builds relationships with his pupils in order to put them that at ease. As a long standing salesman this comes easy to him. In fact I would say he is the king of 'common ground' you know one of those people who can find something in common with anybody. He is also really good at remembering people's names.

It really struck a cord with me that no matter what age our pupils they are a huge majority of them learn better when they trust the teacher. When the teacher puts them at ease they feel comfortable and relaxed and I think therefore more receptive to learning. Fortunately this is not an essay and therefore I do not have to provide evidence to back it up. It is merely my observation of my own and now husbands teaching.

What do you think?

Day 3 - musings, musings, musings

Today has been one of relaxation and lots of reflection. I always thought I wasn't good at reflecting but after reflecting on it ha ha I think I actually am. Or as scousers would say Im good at contemplating my navel!

My reflecting began with me deciding whether to get my laptop out or not, thankfully that decision was taken away from me because I'd forgotten I had been using my laptop charger as the broadband lead. I'm sorry if I'm losing you but stay with me and I hope it will all become clear. Anyway, just before Chrismas Eve my Sky on demand and broadband were not working, tragedy!  On further investigation it was revealed that it was in fact the router broadband lead which had failed and after much routing the only one that would fit was my laptop charger. I had totally forgotten about this which meant I now couldn't get my laptop out after all. What a shame, not!!

So all that was left to be done was pampering: nails, hair etc.... Thoroughly enjoyable. My husband, a driving instructor was out at work so I had the house and tv remote to myself! Now although I was pampering and not working I was still doing lots of musing, reflecting, pondering etc

What was the point of blogging? Well I'm not sure I concluded, but I did think of a few reasons:

• To continue reflecting on teaching, learning and life
• To document my day to help me become a better teacher, person
• To improve my writing skills - who knows where it will lead?

Now I have to say the hardest thing at the moment is narrowing it all down, deciding what to blog. My head is swimming with it all. So at first I think this will be a bit of a ramble but what I hope is that it will over the 365 days improve. It's all a bit if an adventure really. 

Anyway back to today. My husband and I decided we would go for a walk followed by a pint. This initially took us through a rather rough, deprived area. You could feel the tension in the air, the deprivation. All very depressing. I mean as an educator and as a socialist I worry where it will all end. Young people with no future, university too expensive, not enough apprentiships, no jobs and definitely little hope of owning a home. All very worrying. As we got to our destination we walked along the river Mersey, the Wirral side, we met some inspirational people. The people who, about two  years ago decided to build a pirate ship on the beach from reclaimed, washed up material. Children and their families come from miles to play on this ship. In fact I took my whole class to visit it last summer. 

Now since building it, it has been burnt down by a couple of local teenagers, then rebuilt, washed away by high tide, then rebuilt and then today dismantled to prevent it being washed away again. But here they were working to save it and vowing to build it again. It really made me feel more hopeful for the world. They don't do it for any money, praise, thanks. They do it because they enjoy building, creating and knowing that others get pleasure from it too. There are lots of good people out there, lots of people struggling too though so maybe the answer is to combine the two. Come together, help each other, use the skills we have. 

Oh I definitely think it's time to stop I'm becoming all ideological. 

365 day challenge day 2

So blog day two sees me looking after my grandson and his dog. We have had a lovely, busy day. The type of busy you get with a 6 year old and a puppy! We played games on the iPad, tidied up then went for a walk to Parkgate,  an old Victotian coastal town, that due to changes in the river has now become marsh land.  It has a famous ice cream shop and a lovely long front along which people walk and sit. It is also a haven for bird watchers due to the marsh. It was particularly full of twitchers today due to some rare bird sightings.

Today was also the first time the puppy Daisy had been out on a lead. Now those that know me will laugh out loud at the thought of me walking a dog. My standard comment about dogs is 'I like them but couldn't eat a full one!' Yet here I am walking Daisy and I have to admit enjoying it, even if she got that exhausted I had to carry her.

My grandson enjoyed the fresh air, watching the twitchers and chatting away to me non stop. It  was the type of day of which memories are made. The type of day I will look back on when I an back at school and smile. It is also the type of day I hope my pupils are experiencing  too. Family time is invaluable. I know my grandson chatted incessantly, asking questions, thinking out loud and I know as a result he was enjoying himself and learning lots even though neither he or I realised it at the time.  Talk for learning in action.!

I do admit though that my thoughts are beginning to turn towards going back to school. I am debating whether to get my laptop out tomorrow or be brave and just enjoy these last precious days. We do have inset first day back and in fairness lots of my planning is done, just not the fine tuning. However I also know that after teaching for 16 years I can fine tune in about two hours on Monday. I also think that after the stress of ast term I really need to take care of my mental and physical health and that won't  be acheuved by working in the holidays.. In about my third year of teaching I actually made a vow to myself not to take work home. During term time I go into work at about 7.45 and stay until about 5.30 and so far that has worked well for me.

I will let you know tomorrow if I manage to resist the lure of the laptop!

My 365 Blog Challenge

I've been doing lots of thinking about New Years Resolutions over the last few days. Are they useful?  What's the point in them? If I was going to make any what would they be? Etc .... Now I don't think I particularly know the answers to any of these things. But what I do know is that I do like a challenge, I also think it's about time I took myself out of my comfort zone. So here goes .... My challenge is to write a blog post every day for 365 days starting today!

I challenge myself to have a go and already I know that due to my personality, the Leo in me, I will not want me to fail, so I will do this if it kills me and believe me it might. Because sat here all relaxed during the holidays it seems possible, easy even. However, by this time next week after a long day at school it will not seem such an easy task!

I will blog mainly about teaching and my day to day experiences in the classroom. I will try to keep it lighthearted and also hopefully along the way share some ideas, resources etc.

My first thoughts on teaching on day one of my challenge are that I enjoy teaching, it is my vocation. However what I don't like is the stress, the politics that go with it. It is only when I am away from it that I realise how stressed I am at the end of term. Something I know is experienced by all teachers, in fact by 90% of the working population. But the stress I have experienced has impacted upon every part of my life. My relationships, my physical health, my mental health, everything!

Every time I read The Guardian Secret Teacher, go on Twitter, talk to colleagues I see how endemic this teacher stress is. It makes me sad for the adults but what about the pupils?  I know that if all of the other teachers out there are anything like me, they, we, do our best. We give 100% all of the time, our pupils do make progress, they are learning, but what stress are they under too? A lot more than they should be I believe.

So I will use this blog to keep a check on myself, to ensure that I stick to my blogging challenge but also to ensure that I stick to the vow I made way back in September to bring back the joy into my class, into my home, my relationships, my life!

So come on if your hard enough, join me, it's going to be a roller coaster!

Don't let the Grinch Steal Christmas

I haven't blogged for quite a while and when I reflected upon why it was for two main reasons.

The first reason is due to assessments. The end of a term brings with it the inevitable search for proof of progress, so Christmas or not the last couple of weeks have been peppered with a range of reading, writing and maths assessments. What strikes me the most every time I do assessments is actually how accurate my 'teacher assessment' is. However, I have to have some evidence upon which to base my teacher assessment besides my knowledge of the children and finely honed gut instinct.

The second reason for my long absence from blogging is a much more joyful and rewarding reason and that is the Christmas Nativity. This years Nativity was called 'Little Angel Gets Her Wings' and it has been an absolute pleasure to be part of. The pleasure I have got far outweighs the hard work that went into it. The preparations began with identifying the play, this was then tweaked by the head of  KS1 who ensured that every child in KS1 had a part, from F2 through to year 2. This for our school represents 92 children! After the play had been altered all of the staff got together with the children, we explained the story and parts and then asked them what they would like to do. Now obviously year 2 are expected to take the main speaking roles. year 1 do the non speaking acting  parts and F2 take the dancing parts. All of the children sing all of the songs.

The fact that the children get to choose the parts under some guidance really warms my heart as that means that the 'good readers' are not necessarily the ones that got the most lines. In fact our school ethos is that if the child is willing to have a go no matter what ability they will be supported to achieve that goal. Once  the parts had been chosen we then informed the parents of the costume requirements for their child. Again we are very lucky because on the whole our parents provide wonderful costumes and the staff always step in to sort out costumes which for a variety of reasons do not appear. Next followed two weeks of almost daily rehearsals in the school hall alongside lots of singing practice in classrooms. Having previously taught in KS2 I have been truly amazed at the behaviour of some of the youngest pupils, which was on the whole excellent. They rehearsed, sang, waited, acted, danced, waited ..... with very little complaint.

By the time the performances came along the whole play was like a well oiled machine, well as much as it can be with 92 four to seven year olds! We had four performances in all. A full dress rehearsal for KS2, one afternoon and one evening performance for parents and a final morning performance for grandparents. The best audience response came from the Grandparents who oohed and aahed in all of the right places and clapped and cheered at the end. I have throughly enjoyed the whole experience and gained no end of pleasure watching previously shy and quiet pupils blossom into confident little performers. I laughed until my sides ached at some of the antics of the children both on and off stage and cried many a quiet tear. I mean who could fail to be touched by the sight of a host of both male and female angels with wings of every shape and size, shepherds with tea towels on their heads, dancing pigs, cows and chickens,  talking doves and donkeys, Mary and Joseph arm in arm and finally Little Angel getting her wings. Truly magical!

My thoughts on all of this are that it is possible to not let the Grinch  (Ofsted) Steal Christmas and in fact not only is it possible it is I think essential that we do not let Christmas be taken away by this ever increasing madness of striving for levels. Yes I am aware only to well that 1 pupil not doing as expected can lead to at the very least a 'light touch' Ofsted. However, I would argue that that one pupil may in fact gain more confidence and self esteem from the joy of being part of a Christmas play which could result in better test results but you know what maybe that one pupil may not get better Sats results from taking part in a play but will gain so much more. My own very personal view is that Primary School is about laying the foundations stones for learning, instilling a thirst for knowledge, building character, teaching team work, building memories, but perhaps most of all making learning and school fun. After all when they look back on their time in primary school what do you think they will remember? Sats? or trips out, the school disco, visiting theatre groups, singing, performing in plays etc. I know what I think. What about you?

The importance of music in the classroom

Benefits of playing a musical instrument

Recent Research from St Andrews University  into the 'Improved effectiveness of performance monitoring in amateur instrumental musicians' has shown some very interesting results. The study was led by St Andrews psychologist Dr Ines Jentzsch, who compared the cognitive ability of amateur musicians versus non-musicians in performing simple mental tasks.

 The researchers say that the latest findings demonstrate the potential for ‘far reaching benefits’ of musical activity on mental and physical well-being. The most striking difference she found lay in the musicians’ ability to recognise and correct mistakes.  'Not only that, but they responded faster than those with little or no musical training, with no loss in accuracy. This is perhaps not surprising since musicians learn to be constantly aware of their performance, but to not be overly affected by mistakes.'

'The results showed that playing a musical instrument, even at moderate levels, improves the ability to monitor our behavior for errors and adjust subsequent responses more effectively when needed.'

Read more:  http://bit.ly/1btZrU4

My own humble findings:

I was very fortunate to be involved in one of the pilot phases of the Wider Opportunities programme which is a 1-year whole class programme for year 4 pupils who receive whole class teaching from a fully qualified music teacher and the free use of an instrument for a year. Instruments included in the scheme range from, Bb mixed brass and single brass instruments, mixed strings, violin and  recorders. As a complete novice I was given the opportunity to learn the 'clarinet' alongside my class at the time. I have since gone on to receive further tuition from one of the excellent teachers who came in to school to deliver the programme and have thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. What I enjoyed the most though was witnessing the effect that learning an instrument had on the children in my then class. By the end of year 4 all of them could play at least three different notes, they could read music and were able to perform for their parents and the rest of the school. The most interesting aspect also came from witnessing pupils who did not excel at anything at all some of them with special educational needs suddenly excelling. It was pure magic. The resulting raising of their self esteem directly fed into the whole classes attitude towards learning as well as their overall behavior. They learned so many skills aside from the musical ones including that practice does indeed make perfect, and the importance of  working as part of a team especially when preparing for a performance.

So what about the benefits of listening to music? 

 

In recent research funded by Spotify Clinical psychologist Dr Emma Gray found that songs with 50 to 80 beats per minute allowed brain to learn and remember new facts more easily. Emotive pop songs, including Katy Perry's 'Firework' song, can produce 'heightened excitement that is likely to enhance creative performance'.Dr Gray said it is important to choose the right music for the topic a person is studying as it stimulates learning and can enhance concentration. Read more: dailym.ai/1hYQvtN 

Throughout my teaching career I have used music in class for a variety of purposes ranging from learning songs for assemblies and school plays and listening to music as part of the Big Write.

My own humble findings:

This comes from my present year 2 class. Those of you familiar with my blog will know that year 2 is somewhat of a new experience to me and I have found that listening to music for different purposes has had a big influence upon my teaching style and my classes learning. Since September we have adopted a Friday song which is played every Friday morning before register, the idea came from listening to Chris Evans on Radio 2. Our song of choice is The Candy Man by Sammy Davis Jr. It was at the beginning of the year greeted by year 2 with a bit of trepidation, they really didn't know how to react at all. They would come into class and sit listening to the song quietly. Now, 7-8 weeks later? Complete transformation, they rush into class, with me trying to prevent them from tearing along the corridor and flinging their coats into the cloakroom. They then sit on the carpet in rows with arms around each others shoulders, swaying as they sing every single lyric of the song off by heart. The morning greeting in the register after that is 'Happy Friday' instead of the simple 'Good morning' of the rest of the week.It is now very rare for any of them to be ofF on a Friday! The day is a positive one right from the beginning. My next challenge is to find a Monday song which will have a similar impact! 

My next example of the power of listening to music comes courtesy of http://www.charangamusic.co.uk/site/ it is a maths song called Odd Bod and Even Steven and is used to help children remember the rule of odd and even. We had as a class been learning odds and evens with very mixed results, that is until I stumbled across the song. After listening to it and singing it over the course of a week the whole class were then able to identify a range of odd and even numbers. A simple example I know but it happened to coincide with visiting my Mum (who unfortunately has quite advanced Alzheimer's) in her residential home. She is unable to recognise me anymore, if she reads she just reads the same passage over and over again as she doesn't remember that she has read it, she doesn't watch the television anymore ....... However, play her a song on her radio or CD player, sing her, a few bars of a song and the response is amazing! She remembers every single words and sings along with gusto.

In conclusion I believe that music is an essential part of education, be it playing an instrument, performing  in a school play, singing a song to learn facts or listening to a song a the end of a school week. Music improves memory, attention, well being, self esteem. The list of benefits is endless. I know it will remain an essential part of my teaching and class routines, will it be in yours?