foolfillment: the blog

Last week I wrote about my visit to Prestonpans Primary School, well tomorrow is the return leg.

At the start of this year, way back in August/September time, I still had the chance to do some observations around the school. I remember seeing a number of 1st year classes and being struck (again) by the huge range of subjects and teachers that they encounter. Our pupils live an incredibly experience-rich life, and the way most of them adapt to all the different personalities - teachers and classmates - they encounter is nothing short of a marvel.

It’s easy to forget about what happens around the rest of the school and become stuck inside your own departmental bubble, and sometimes I think it’s important to take that step back and just marvel at how the majority cope with such a dynamic life. In most walks of life outside of schools you are in a comparatively slow changing environment where the people with whom you have to engage and the subject areas you have to recall do not change every 50 minutes, so when a class arrives at my classroom/workshop and are a little hyper then it is pretty important that there are stable expectations (and the support to meet those expectations) to help them settle down and become grounded again. Without taking that step back occasionally it is easy to fall into the trap of wanting a class to ‘just’ behave, rather than working to see how I fit in with the rest of the school.

The question is, what can be done when those expectations and supports are not clear to the pupils as they move around the school? It must be easier if you have your own classroom (is it?) but when you are in a CDT department and flit between any of 6 different rooms, all being left in different states by different teachers it becomes pretty difficult to keep things settled. I suppose it takes a consistent approach and attitude from all staff in the department, but does that diminish your opportunity to make your own mark on a class atmosphere?

A rather rambling post but, my main point is it will be interesting to see what my primary visitor makes of life in a busy secondary school. I’ve tried to plan a wide range of classes for her to visit tomorrow and I wonder what her expectations of the visit and the pupils are. I think she’ll be astounded :-).