I Know I Can...

We know what we can be. Let's be it. A nice touch of GLOBAL history in this track too; we need to show them links, show how everything is related. It's our class, they're our kids. It's their world. They need to understand it.

Whilst we develop those literacy skills and prep them for ever more competitive exams, the greatest service we can do our pupils is showing them that they matter, have a voice and are someone.

Word.

Finally - if you're pondering Twitter, read this. Sums the journey up nicely.

Equinox

On Saturday, we passed the autumnal equinox at 3.49pm. We are now well on the way to those short days and long nights we love so much. There's always a different feel to life as those nights draw in, the fireworks start ludicrously early, and shops are filled with Christmas tat.

This first week of autumn will be an interesting one. We have the sponsored walk on Wednesday, during which we will have a range of year 11 pupils completing and catching up on various things. If you volunteered to be there for that, please remind me. If you're walking, watch out for the cows and their kind offerings around by the reservoir.

There is also an interesting range of training this week, much of which focuses on digital media. AL is offering iPad and iPod touch training on Wednesday. I can't go due to a meeting, but would love it if one of you could. The training will be opened up to everyone later but we need to use this - relevance and engagement could be improved if we take this opportunity.

On Friday, we have a training day. Wahey. There will be a range of activities available. I'll be proselytising about Twitter as usual. To prove how great it is and why you should all be on it, here is  a blog from a head of English in York which is brilliant. Look at the tabs on the top for some details on iPads in English too - I'll be using this as a starting point as we get going.

Oh. Tuesday. Smash it.

Be inspired.

Today I was inspired by the following:

Parents running for ill children.
Children running for their parents.
A man carrying a fridge 13 miles.
Nicola Adams, Leeds' gold medal winning boxer.
Mo Farah.
Thousands of people lining the streets with support and generosity shown to complete strangers.

This week, I ask that you inspire others in the same way.

Strike!

Strike while the iron is hot, 'they' say. Quite what 'they're' hitting, I've never been sure, but we need to make sure that we do exactly that!

Last week felt long and hard, but good. The computers may have been frustrating at times, but when they're fixed they'll clearly be ridiculously superior to what went before. We have the enticing prospect of iPad suites, and other, modern, functional digital devices. I'll link to some blogs I've been collecting over the last year whig relate to using such technology effectively below.

We also have our new, and old, groups. So far, so good.

But if we want to make the most of this start, we need to look carefully at the notes from Wednesday's meeting, and reflect honestly on our lessons, and assess accurately, so that when these tantalising new toys are online, we still have our learners firmly in our collective grasp. We need to ensure that we strike, every lesson, getting to know their needs and providing them with the diet that they don't even know that they need yet.

Let's work hard together, to build on this good start.

Links:

Using Skype in the classroom http://po.st/fsWhEg

Gaming in English https://wordpress.wildern.hants.sch.uk/blog/2010/03/31/turning-gaming-into-writing/

https://wordpress.wildern.hants.sch.uk/blog/2010/02/08/using-nintendo-wii-as-a-stimulus-for-writing/

Let's go round again...

Firstly, welcome back, and welcome to Barbara and, in a way, Dermot and Lara, who'll also be teaching more / some English this year.

The main news: our priorities haven't changed at all. Our schemes are going to become deeper, thematic and as relevant to our pupils as possible, building on what we already have. Meaningful S & L opportunities will be a key part of these schemes. We'll assess regularly, purposefully and interactively, ensuring there is an outcome from all of our work. We won't do anything for the sake of it. Pupil voice will be taken often and acted upon. We'll swap classes, pupils, rooms and whatever we need to swap to make sure that the learning experience is as good as possible. We will enjoy teaching, because that's why we will do it.

By now, I'm sure you are aware of this summer's politically motivated attack on pupils who studied English. I'm sure you've read Ofqual's weasel like statement. I'm sure you've cursed AQA viciously, for their craven behaviour. Unfortunately for us, and even more unfortunately for the pupils we teach, it's an attack on students from poorer backgrounds. An unjustified attack, as we know they're actually benefiting from getting a fair crack of the whip at long last - or they were.

That's all I'm saying about that.

Good news: we're going to come back harder and show them that we are doing the right thing. We're going to play our cards right, and make sure we hit back. We'll use IGCSE and any strategy we can think of to make sure that we show the government and the right wing press why they're wrong.

Year ten are in a decent position - the top two sets are largely banked, despite the boundary shift. IGCSE was a success, and taught in more depth and detail, it will be even better. We will build on the excellent work at KS3, using the new banding and setting system to our advantage, and make sure that the improvements we're making are secured.

Read this, because this is, I believe, why we do this and who we are.

Let's absolutely smash this year.