Monday, 31st of October, 2005
12:44 pm on the 1st of November, 2005I spent most of yesterday really thinking I should be doing something. I did manage to get a few things done but very little of it was of any significance. For the most part I was reading Ollie Bray’s blog, Ollie is the new PT of Geography at Dunbar, my old school, and now writes a daily journal of what he’s up to. Most of it is about the potential uses of ICT in the classroom, he’s a member of Masterclass who work a lot to unite apporaches and generate new ideas, another thing I can;t wait toget my teeth into when I finally get let loose on classes for more than a few weeks at a time.
The remainder of third year consists of: 7 weeks till Christmas; 5 weeks holiday; 6 weeks at uni; 4 weeks at school (at last!); 3 weeks for Easter holiday (can I find a way to get into some classes at home, revision sessions maybe…); then 4 weeks more of uni and a whole load of assignments; 2 weeks where the exams slot in then an abyss. And in the abyss… hopefully about 5weeks earning cash then 4 weeks in New Zealand, 1 week somewhere like Malaysia followed quickly by 2 more pennypinching weeks before I go out to school for a huge 10 week block. And that’s what I’ve been thinking about.
How can I make the most of my time when I probably won’t find out my school until the week before, how can I make up lesson plans when I have no idea what resources there will be. Hell, I don’t even know what subjects I’ll be teaching! I want to encourage each pupil in my classes to write a blog for the period I’m there, to have some sort of collaborative project that covers all the main subject areas somehow - a design project probably, followed by the manufacture. Each stage of the way can be documented, dicussed, monitored and steered by myself and the pupils. It reaches out of school yet doesn’t fail to reach the targets of what they should be able to achieve. It would fit in perfectly with a Curriculum for Excellence (successful learners, effective contributers, confident indiviuals, responsible citizens). But how can I do this if I have no idea what resources I can use to make it happen, how much flexibility will I have to do my own thing, will I have a PT who wants me to teach through his plans of work. Is there really any scope for experiementation, other than within isolated lessons, when you are a student teacher? I don’t think there is, not with the current system anyway.
What a purge of thoughts that was! Maybe I’ll streamline them over time into something more coherant
November 2nd, 2005 at 11:57 am on the 2nd of November, 2005
“I want to encourage each pupil in my classes to write a blog for the period I?m there, to have some sort of collaborative project that covers all the main subject areas somehow - a design project probably, followed by the manufacture.”
Brilliant idea! I hope you get a chance to do this (and that you share the blog with us if you do). I suspect you are right to be concerned about your placement school . A PT like Ollie Bray (http://www.exc-el.org.uk/content/index.php/main/exc_el_community/exc_el_weblogs/ollie_bray_s_weblog) would bend over backwards to encourage and support this kind of thing. I suspect however that other teachers would work hard to discourage you.
Although I’ve asked you to share any blog you manage to set up, I suspect that it is the open, public, nature of blogs that are most likely to make teachers/schools/authorities say no to pupil blogs. Authorities and schools are (understandably?) nervous about putting their pupils on the web, but properly managed, something like the project you describe could be brilliant. If you think it would be helpful, I’ll could tryto come up with some good examples of pupil/class blogs that you could use to help convince reluctant schools/teachers of the value of your idea.
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