#learnerham

As with most of us, I use New Year as a time for reflection on the past and making resolutions for the coming year. I never stick to my resolutions so this year I am going to call them ambitions and I am going to post progress here. There is nothing like a public hanging!

Ambitions:

• At least one blog post a fortnight where I reflect on my classroom practice
• To constantly try new things in the classroom (games based learning, pupil led lessons, mobile phones to enhance learning) to improve the learning experience for all of my pupils
• To not forget the basics of classroom practice (thanks @krysia for bringing this point home so well in last weeks TeachMeet-Mobile)
• To participate in the Microsoft Peer Coaching programme
• To fully engage in conversations surrounding education, in particular how to bring to life the principles of curriculum design to improve learning and best embed CfE
• Weekly WiiFit weigh-in – I am going to try and lose or maintain weight every week (and beat the Consolarium team!)

2009 has been very mixed for me – quite a difficult one personally (one that I am happy to have behind me) but professionally it has been very positive.  There are a few people to thank for that.

• I was privileged to be part of the team invited by Microsoft to Brazil as part of their Innovative School program (one of only 31 countries to be included).  I am going to work hard to take advantages of the opportunities this partnership offers me and my school
• I was a Glow Mentor for Stirling Council during 2008 and 2009.  This gave me the opportunity to explore Glow, start to use it productively with classes and meet lots of great people, such as @katiebarrowman, @don_iain and @robthill.  I believe that Glow can make a difference to many learners and teachers in Scottish schools and will continue to promote it in 2010
• An invite from Sally Fulton asking me to talk about online CPD opportunities has made me think a lot about CPD and the changes that are coming.  I am presenting to the Stirling Council ASN outreach team on this subject later this month

For me 2010 is going to be the year I decide on my future.  I started in Stirling High exactly 10 years ago on Monday as a fresh faced student teacher.  For the past few years I have been thinking about what I would like to do with my future.  I cannot imagine not being in the classroom.  It is where I am happiest and what I enjoy the most.  I have toyed with the idea of looking at secondments, to gain some experience and meet other people.  I have looked into the Chartered Teacher programme.  I have applied for one Principal Teacher job but was not successful in getting an interview.  I put this down mainly to my lack of experience as most promoted posts now include being responsible for 2 or 3 departments.

For me teaching is about relationships.  The relationship I have with my pupils is the most important one for me.  I am also fortunate to teach in a fantastic school that is always looking to do things better.  I have great relationships with my colleagues and am really lucky to have gotten to know so many great educators online through twitter and the teachmeets/eats I have been able to attend.

Too much is said of the future.  I want to work hard to develop relationships, interesting lessons, cross-curricular themes and enterprising attitudes for the now.  CfE is not coming – it is here.  Assessment is wrought with the sound of teachers’ fears – let’s not stress about what it may look like and start having conversations about what teachers can make it; we are the ones who will be using the tools and resources; we are the one who are being given the opportunity to shape it, adding our ideas and expectations through NAR.  Lets make 2010 the year where we stop planning and start doing.

I favoured a tweet from @johndavitt on hogmanay.  It sums up perfectly what we all need to do:

That’s enough forward thinking for now…

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