Here I am on the outskirts of London (you know the place with all the big buildings and fancy billboards on either side of the road), having had a bit of a nap and more mini-cheddars.
So where was I? Oh yes, let's bring you up to date with what's happened this past year:
DCF
Progress on implementing the DCF has not been as good as I'd have liked. Pressures on me, pressures on my colleagues, lack of time.
New Curriculum for Wales
In May of last year I joined the group of fellow teachers and experts working on communicating the Donaldson Report into a curriculum for Wales. In retrospect, I wish I'd blooded about this from this very beginning, as it's proven to be a challenge for so many reasons.
To be continued, as I'm not far from Victoria Station...
Has it really been that long since I blogged last? So much for my target of doing this regularly.
As I write, it's 5.50am Sunday morning, and I'm London-bound for the first leg of my journey to Poix-Saint-Hubert, where I am going to attend a series of robotics workshops provided by ESA.
This is an exciting opportunity for me on several levels. I'm riding the Megabus for the first time (hark at me, living large on the Megabus, how lah-di-dah!), I'll be travelling via Eurostar for the first time (Standard Premier - now you're talking), and going to Belgium for the first time. So armed with my essential technology, all the Mini-cheddars I can carry, and a smattering of 20 year old GCSE French, je vais au Belgique!
I will use this journey to bring you up to speed on the many things that have happened since last I spoke, seeing that I'll be travelling for the next 14 hours. But for now, I'm feeling a bit sick from staring at my phone whilst the bus is moving, so adieu, mes amis.
Bit of a cheat, this one. Here is an article I wrote that was recently published in the IWA's Click magazine. I promise my next blog will be freshly written...
This is a time of great change for ICT and Computer Science teaching, in terms of both provision and framework changes. However, this transition period presents an opportunity to redefine the role ICT and Computer Science plays in the curriculum and learning culture of students. The Digital Competency Framework (DCF) paves the way for digital literacy skills to be developed and integrated across the curriculum in a seamless and natural manner. Well, that’s the official line, anyway.
ICT is a demanding subject to teach; it’s constantly evolving, and covers a wide range of disciplines. Unlike other subjects, teachers can often find their skills lacking and behind the curve on what’s being used by pupils; sentenced to being terminally un-hip. Pupils’ skills often outstrip our own; they are the keepers of the flame, which is exactly how they like it. By the time we, as teachers or parents, get wind of what the new thing is, it’s usually far too late and the horde will have moved onto the next new thing. Our window of opportunity to appear ‘with it’ has closed. ICT teachers often feel like we are chasing our own tails, and whilst that might make for a fun Vine video (some new video sharing app I just found out about, I predict a bright future for it), it is a thankless and frustrating task. Who’d be an ICT teacher, eh? But then, every teacher would make a strong and impassioned case that their subject has it even harder. Nobody knows how tough it is to teach X.
What we all have in common though is that we all must work incredibly hard to keep afloat. Hitting our targets (ours, not the pupils’ of course - education is something that pupils are passively subjected to), the massive workload, the paperwork, the marking, the planning and strategising all lead to a screwed-up work/life imbalance, high stress levels and with the profession being at an all-time low. So, what better time for the DCF to come along?
I’ve recently been appointed as the Head of ICT, Computer Science and DCF at Crickhowell High School, one of the Welsh Government’s 120 Pioneer Schools charged with overhauling the country’s curriculum and professional development provision in the wake of the Donaldson Report. To implement the DCF is a daunting task; even more so at new school. Ensuring the success of an initiative of this magnitude means leaning on, and taking advantage of, a huge amount of patience, indulgence and support from colleagues. This is a big ask of mature professional and personal relationships, but to expect it from fledgling relationships is positively rude of me. ‘You know how you put blood, sweat and tears into what you do? Well, I'm here to ask for more from you.’
The DCF is going to have a huge impact on teachers’ workload, and make them change how they practice. For some, it will mean them having to abandon their rut. We all like our ruts; they’re comfy, safe, hard-earned and we don’t give them up without a fight. We’ve all been at INSET sessions where the poor trainer is treated like a supply teacher on a rainy day. But surely, the one thing worse than having to actualise change is to be the one that’s telling you (however nicely) to change. Don’t hate the player, hate the game, son. Change is seldom easy, and even more rarely welcome. My grandmother always used to say to me, ‘If you want to make enemies, try to change something’. And whilst I never understood the relevance of it as a child, it seems apt now.
What is giving me cause for optimism is that I left a job where I had professionally stagnated, to take up a post that allows me to express myself, get my mojo back and make a difference. You know how when you’re on an interview, and you just know you want this job more than anything else? As soon as I set foot in the school, I had that feeling. The feeling only grew stronger during the interview, as it was so clear that the Headteacher and her leadership team completely get the role ICT plays in the development of pupils’ learning skills. On the first whole-school ICT policy I wrote, my vision statement included the sentence: ‘Competence in ICT is... as important as numeracy and literacy’. Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure I believed it and I took it off later drafts. When, during my interview, with utter conviction the Headteacher said to me that she saw ICT as being every bit as important as literacy and numeracy, I knew I was home.
So, how will I deliver on the promise I once wrote, which even I didn’t believe at the time? Firstly, I need to get other people to share that vision. The battle for hearts and minds begins. In every department there will be people who get it. I need like-minded people to evangelise, take risks, enthuse and inspire. Then, as a team, we’ll need to start creating moments and hooks; to manufacture those holy crap, that is so cool instances where the technology comes to life and people see ICT like I do. That’s my in. Once they’ve experienced that eureka moment, the rest will take care of itself. Then, like ripples across a pond, more and more people will be drawn in… staff, pupils and the community, and living in an educational DCF-fuelled utopia.
Well, that’s how I want to see this playing out, but Mrs Lewis didn’t raise any fools. I know not everyone will get onboard; some people, perhaps wilfully, won’t get it; not everyone will be open to the plethora of ways in which ICT is revolutionising teaching and learning. And if they don’t, well that says more about them than it does me. But, if we only do what we’ve always done, we’ll only get what we’ve always had. If you’re content with your lot in such a way, why are you still teaching?
One of my objectives in the new job was to blog regularly (✔) and actually have something to say. Well, I'm blogging regularly, at least. I made the mistake of reading a blog from a few years back, and it could have been written by someone else. Clearly, my personal turmoil made for an improved standard of blogging.
So, with this in mind, let's see if I have something to say. Oh, and all opinions are my own, and won't necessarily correspond with my employers, naturally.
Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm obsessed with Rick and Morty. Easily the funniest, cleverest, most quotable and wildly imaginative TV show ever. Fact. Seriously, if you have Netflix*, stop reading this, go watch every episode and come back when you're done. I can wait. Seriously.
.
.
.
Done? Was I right or was I right?
Take the above clip. Rick dissects the education system with laser-guided precision. The pointlessness of rote learning, the treatment of pupils like cattle, the patriarchal and ritualistic absurdity of it all.
I've written about this kind of thing before, the nature of placing schools' needs above pupils' needs, and how schools are nothing more than exam factories (exam abbatoirs?), so I won't recycle that line of thought. But really, is school a place for smart people? An issue that divides many teachers is the use of mobile phones in classrooms, for example. Some embrace it, some would no sooner let a mobile phone in their lesson than they would let a dinosaur teach RE. Is it because they fear that their lesson would spontaneously devolve into a carnival of sackable-offence-worthy happy-slapping, or is it a deep-rooted psychological fear of something that could (should) replace us?
Anyone with an internet connection, an appropriate device, a basic understanding of using a search engine and a reasonably sound level of discernment (or CRAP Detection as Rheingold charmingly puts it) could learn anything that takes their fancy. Where do we teachers fit into this? Do we fit into this?
During a recent INSET day on Emotional Coaching (a low-wattage affair, but at least the role-playing was optional) the basic idea really resonated with me. Pupils are these things with emotional needs. Who'd have thought it?
I've always considered myself a decent and caring teacher; my teaching philosophy (*shudder* I hate teachers that have a teaching philosophy. Do bus drivers have a bus-driving philosophy?) is to treat children as you want to be treated. Or failing that, treat these children as you'd want your child to be treated.
Picture a typical day, of 5 or 6 lessons spent with good, caring teachers. The children are told to:
stand up whenever an adult enters the room
sit there. no, not there, exactly *there*. Yes I put you there because you dislike that person and won't want to interact with them
talk only when I tell you to
tuck your shirt in. No, not just at the front. Did I say you could remove your blazer? Put it back on this instant. Now you can take it off
no, no toilet for you. You should have gone break-time (😌)
stop drinking. No water for you
revel in working with others
not even think of chewing or eating.
do exactly what I say, the nanosecond I say it
be enthusiastic and active. At. All. Times.
Imagine your next INSET day being like that, from 8.40 to 3.30, with an hour off for good behaviour, assuming your behaviour has been good, of course. You would kick the hell off, and why wouldn't you? Imagine that 5 days a week, for a minimum of 5 years in secondary school. By October of the first term, the training room would resemble something from Lord of the Flies.
Are we as teachers so different to pupils? In my experience (not in my current school, I hasten to add) I've encountered teachers who are as loathe to plan lessons and mark work as pupils are to engage. During INSET sessions, teachers gravitate towards the back of the room and grumble if we have to sit towards the front, as that way we can't secretly check Facebook on our mobiles. How many awkward moments in INSET sessions have we sat through where the trainer is trying in vain to move on and settle the room, but teachers absolutely HAVE to finish their conversation about how their weekend was ("Fine thanks, went too quickly, though"). Are we so different from our pupils? So, do we really treat them as we'd want to be treated?
So what's the answer, do we let them run wild, free and feral? By October of the first term, the school would resemble something from Lord of the Flies.
So, again I ask. Is school actually a place for smart people?
I guess, perhaps, the answer to this problem does relate back to a point I've made in a previous blog, the idea of "one for you, one for me". Dividing our schemes of work between the box ticking, joyless curriculum orders, and the things that address pupils' wants and needs; the things we enjoy, and hope our pupils might enjoy. Mutual sharing of passions. As humans, we love sharing our passions.
One of these days, I'm going to trial a task I've often wondered about. "Ok class, there's the computers, tablets, printers, PIs, go do whatever you want with them, but in a month, I want to see an outcome. Keep it clean, play nice, and have fun". Or maybe just tell them the vague outcome I want, there are your range of tools, crack on, children, crack on.
Of course, I'm being absurdly glib. Schools are all about pathways, facilitation of learning and building global citizens. The very idea of teachers being replaced by an iPhone is patently absurd, you fool.
*A crying shame the Netflix episodes are the censored version, but you can't have it all.
This week has brought some challenges, but plenty of progress too. The honeymoon period of the first few weeks has given way to a more concerted effort at sizing me up, by some pupils, which I expected, of course.
However, some of the strategies I implemented are already starting to pay dividends, particularly in the use of data as a tool to motivate and monitor KS4 pupils. Pupils are much more focused and independent when managing their progress, and seem so much more engaged.
Tentative discussions have taken place with local feeder schools regarding implementing a local PLN that will work towards implementing the DCF. There has been a promising uptake on ClassDojo with my year 7 and 8 classes, which is pleasing, as I find this an excellent tool in involving parents in the learning experience. I am really interested in removing the distance between the classroom and parents, and am deliberating the possibility of live-streaming one of my lessons. What better way of giving them a true sense of what we are offering than to let them actually watch a lesson? This might as foolhardy as it is brave, but I've always believed that we are only as good as we dare to be bad.
Next week, I'll be making my first visit to BETT, with a focus on investigating the potential of 1:1 devices for the school, which is a very exciting opportunity for the school.
Well, what a fun week what was! Right from the outset, I was made to feel very welcome by all the wonderful staff and pupils. Before joining, I was told that pupils would actually thank you on the way out of lessons, and of course I took that with a pinch of salt, as nothing in my career up to this point suggested that pupils could express gratitude, regularly and of their own free will. But, lo and behold, that's exactly what happened.
So this week was all about meeting the classes, learning my way around the school, and tentatively identifying areas I'd like to develop within my department.
This coming week, I'll be leading my first INSET session (Hwb), having a little refresher on my mentoring skills in readiness for the trainee teacher joining us next month, and starting the rollout process of my schemes of work.
This past week couldn't have gone much better, I'm 100% convinced I've made the right decision, and can't wait to make a positive impact on the school.
Seeing as I'm on the cusp of leaving one job and about to start a new challenge, it seems apt to dust off and regularly contribute to the blog.
This past year has been spent treading water, professionally, through a variety of disappointments and setbacks, but this new role gives me the opportunity to get my mojo back and make a difference in an excellent school.
I've set myself many goals, both short- and long-term that I am to achieve. Chief amongst these is to blog regularly. So here I am, blogging. But what I really want to start doing in my blog is actually have something to say. ICT is such a vital and dynamic career, with so much about it to engage and excite teachers and learners; it is important that I contribute more to the sharing culture, rather than just consume it.
Here are the challenges and opportunities for the coming year...
implementing DCF
aintaining high standards.
upskilling staff
360degree safety
building learning communities
school digital leaders
social media presence
All pretty achievable and in-line with the kinds of things you'd expect to face when taking on a new role, I think you'd agree.
