I've had "One person can make a difference" written on my door for the last nine months. It's a reminder that much that is done in a school starts with one person. It's a statement supported by Hattie in his indication that teacher impact has the largest effect on student learning. My latest project shows the power of one person running with an idea.
With my current period as Deputy, returning to my role as 11/12 coordinator and with the start of a new Principal, it's important to find the next thing that keeps you motivated. Schools aren't a place where you can rely on your line manager to identify what that might be, so it's important to be on the lookout for it.
For me, the main thing that will change is the return to the classroom for four periods a week, as I haven't taught whilst being Deputy, other than the odd bit of tutoring students that come to my office. I've been given a dysfunctional Maths class, the most challenging class in the school and one that needed further assistance. I've had some practicum students who have been observing them for me and we have a great team generated and some defined outcomes that we seek to achieve.
It's something that I would suggest to any educator that has more than three years of experience. Find a project, if one comes to an end, find another project - something that will drive your motivation and keep you engaged. It's a great way to be noticed in the school and can create some great collaborative activities that keeps the mind working and prevents you becoming stale in your role.
Better still, if you can make something that has a lasting effect beyond your involvement. I've been lucky to have had a few of these, maths summer school, mathematics academy, ICT committee, this blog, after school music classes, the boys group, the interact club - but I've also had my set of failures to go with them, projects that have died a slow death. Don't become disheartened if your project does not have the take-up that you thought it would. Be supportive of others if they are trying to get their project up and running.
This current project is a doozy though. To think I could go in as a teacher and just fix things based on my teaching experience would be fairly egotistical and prone to failure - after all they have had an experienced teacher all year. To succeed we need to try something different. I've had a bee in my bonnet about "imputed disabilities" and reporting to "year level achievement standards all year". Ann eMarie Benson at SCSA made the comment to me that if 2/3 of the students at your school cannot meet year level achievement standards, then your school is doing something wrong, and it is something that has stuck with me. We have some intervention work to do.
I was lucky enough to do the SEN reporting at the start of the year and discovered a tool that might be able to provide the glue for the project. Coupled with the SCSA K-10 scope and sequence document, it provided the broad brush to create IEPs for the 25 students in the class. By using PAT tests and NAPLAN results I was able to identify where the class was and with help from the Semester 1 teacher I laid out a programme of work for term three that complemented work done in Semester 1. My practicum students observed the class over the past three weeks and collated their predominant behaviours and attention spans across different learning areas and noted in which classes they were most dysfunctional. The school Psychologist is working closely with me for the first week to identify desired classroom behaviours. We created seating plans and a list of desired behaviours.
Now, as I said - it is not about just going into the class and doing good teaching, they have had that. It's about intervention, which by definition is something different. The next step was to identify resources that were available to assist driving learning. The school has no new resources available at this time of year (thus I'm being deployed to the class as the best available resource), I have the semester 1 teacher remaining with me, but have identified a couple of ex-students studying teaching that have agreed to come in and work. The local university has also pledged teaching students to pop in and assist as my skills in k-7 teaching are limited and I will need to do some heavy lifting to get up to speed and assist them assist the kids.
In any success driven class we need strong feedback loops indicating the level of success achieved. For this I have gone old school and printed A1 posters for the wall indicating each student has 14 tasks to overcome this term and bought gold circles to paste up. Some would see this as public shaming, but the 14 tasks are individualised and noted in the IEPs - if we have set the outcomes correctly, then this could drive a little competition and could be a strong success indicator to kids. We also used the observations done to drive classroom behaviours through a four point behaviour poster which controversially uses some negative language (the PBIS language is missing, but has been ineffectual in semester 1 anyway), it's something I will need to monitor to see if it works. If the posters don't work - it's ok! We just rip them down. I've put the IEP in student portfolios so that they know what we are trying to achieve - and each assessment goes in there so that it can be looked back at as a path from what they knew to what they know now. NCCD quality teaching ideas can easily be embedded in the interventions for each student attempted by myself or associated teaching staff. Staff from outside the class that have seen that these kids are at risk have pledged their support. We have pens, books and other resources to limit avoidant behaviours. They have watched me suspend students all semester - so I come in with authority, now I need to develop a caring rapport to match.
I have worked with the English HOLA and Principal to indicate that this is a model that does not have an overhead, uses resources that are available, lives with the student (SEN reports can be used and progress from 8-10) - it is a low risk project that can be supported. I'm not sure if this is destined to be a failed project or a success - but I'm keen to attempt something that has not been successful in the past and create a new string for the school that parents and the school can crow about. It's important that communication to parents from the beginning is strong and continuous - especially as much of the contact to date has been behaviour related and class reports were for the most part indicating limited progress and students that are behind. Here is the potential for the school response to be vigorous and effective (and maybe even recognised as a good solution for others to model).
.. and if you have a chance to work with practicum students, do it. Yes you will get the occasional plonker, but on the whole they can fire you up and help you achieve work you cannot do on your own. The current pair have certainly done that and can run with an idea (and generate some great ones through observation) once it is seeded and hopefully get a good appreciation of what is possible. Without them, we wouldn't be this far down the track without teaching a lesson. Yay!
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Vocational vs career teachers
With teacher pay improving over the years, teaching is a competitive career with other professions. A teacher can rapidly be on a six figure salary and be trained on an ongoing basis with career options going ahead.
The profession is changing from one which was fundamentally filled with vocational teachers, who entered teaching because they had a love of teaching and a desire to teach, to a profession with a mix of vocational teachers and those who enter it as a long term career, one of the few that are predicted to last for the next 20 years through technological change.
This is a not necessarily a bad thing, but it does raise a challenge for vocational teachers as they are vulnerable in the system. By vocational teachers not targeting advancement, school run the risk of dissatisfied vocational teachers who are unaware of the gauntlet required for advancement - they will advance slower than career teachers.
For instance, a teacher focuses on their student cohorts and their craft. Over many years they become a passionate and great classroom teacher. They see a career teacher that is not as good a teacher, does not understand the craft required to become truly great at what they do but that has targeted the KPIs that are required for advancement. The career teacher can talk eduspeak, self promote actively, are involved in projects that meet STAR objectives, actively seek promotional positions, understand how to write a CV and answer interview questions, have been at multiple schools over a short period - burn bright but over short periods. Once the balance tips towards career teachers (are we there now? Panel training indicates we are!), this becomes the model for advancement.
The question I ask myself is does this help kids get better in classes? Does this promote better mentoring of young teachers?
There's a little voice in the back of my head that says - "yep, but vocational teachers, the passionate ones can also be the flaky, argumentative, the most painful teachers to manage as they are needy and require constant guidance compared to the focused teachers on career progression." And I hear you little voice, but when I look at exceptional student outcomes, being 50% in doesn't cut it compared to what some of these teachers can achieve. An evidence base shows this over and over again.
Are we, by encouraging a career based approach, turning our vocational teachers away from their passionate, "this is my life", approach towards a more career based (I do this for the wage and the six hour day) sustainable and minimal intervention approach because it is easier to manage and less likely to cause management pain, even if the evidence shows that it has lower student outcomes?
If this is the case, and to a lesser or greater degree I believe it is, we need to re-evaluate how we remunerate teachers and the merit system that in its current form is encouraging a change to a career workforce rather than a vocational one and that where career satisfaction is through advancement, not through student achievement. A teacher for life, cared for by the system, developing their skills, recognised by the community for what they can do, moving passionately with changes in pedagogy required and realising that they are blessed for being involved with a system that guides our youth not for the career progression that they are not getting.
How to get teaching to that point is an interesting intellectual question.
The profession is changing from one which was fundamentally filled with vocational teachers, who entered teaching because they had a love of teaching and a desire to teach, to a profession with a mix of vocational teachers and those who enter it as a long term career, one of the few that are predicted to last for the next 20 years through technological change.
This is a not necessarily a bad thing, but it does raise a challenge for vocational teachers as they are vulnerable in the system. By vocational teachers not targeting advancement, school run the risk of dissatisfied vocational teachers who are unaware of the gauntlet required for advancement - they will advance slower than career teachers.
For instance, a teacher focuses on their student cohorts and their craft. Over many years they become a passionate and great classroom teacher. They see a career teacher that is not as good a teacher, does not understand the craft required to become truly great at what they do but that has targeted the KPIs that are required for advancement. The career teacher can talk eduspeak, self promote actively, are involved in projects that meet STAR objectives, actively seek promotional positions, understand how to write a CV and answer interview questions, have been at multiple schools over a short period - burn bright but over short periods. Once the balance tips towards career teachers (are we there now? Panel training indicates we are!), this becomes the model for advancement.
The question I ask myself is does this help kids get better in classes? Does this promote better mentoring of young teachers?
There's a little voice in the back of my head that says - "yep, but vocational teachers, the passionate ones can also be the flaky, argumentative, the most painful teachers to manage as they are needy and require constant guidance compared to the focused teachers on career progression." And I hear you little voice, but when I look at exceptional student outcomes, being 50% in doesn't cut it compared to what some of these teachers can achieve. An evidence base shows this over and over again.
Are we, by encouraging a career based approach, turning our vocational teachers away from their passionate, "this is my life", approach towards a more career based (I do this for the wage and the six hour day) sustainable and minimal intervention approach because it is easier to manage and less likely to cause management pain, even if the evidence shows that it has lower student outcomes?
If this is the case, and to a lesser or greater degree I believe it is, we need to re-evaluate how we remunerate teachers and the merit system that in its current form is encouraging a change to a career workforce rather than a vocational one and that where career satisfaction is through advancement, not through student achievement. A teacher for life, cared for by the system, developing their skills, recognised by the community for what they can do, moving passionately with changes in pedagogy required and realising that they are blessed for being involved with a system that guides our youth not for the career progression that they are not getting.
How to get teaching to that point is an interesting intellectual question.
Labels:
career progression
Friday, July 6, 2018
Resourcing in a small school
Many organisations have worthwhile programmes that are offered to the school. They want to work hand in hand to deliver a project that they have developed. They have value and for larger schools are easy to roll out and have a target audience. The temptation is to take them all on for the good of the kids.
In a smaller school like ours, that is offered many projects during the year, the need to manage them becomes a resourcing issue. Excursions require a file of documentation, staff willing to participate, students willing to give it a go, a spot on the planner that won't cause disruption to learning and ensuring it's not the same six kids going on each excursion. We need to liaise with partner organisations, work with them and ensure that there is a win-win situation available.
What I have found is that we have had more success with organisations that ask our needs and then seek to help us reduce the issues caused by them. UWA Aspire and Rotary are two good examples of where this can work.
UWA Aspire had a clear goal to raise low socioeconomic student engagement with university and to raise their aspiration levels. We needed support for our Math/Science students and assistance with career activities. They listened and assisted us establish our Mathematics Academy by providing university students that worked with our kids and supported us with resourcing and food to keep them coming. They take our kids on a Leadership camp. They support our summer school with a venue and ambassadors at UWA. They come to the school for each year group and work with developing a career focus from year 7 onwards. We assisted them with developing activities that would fit our students. They assisted raising awareness of modern teaching pedagogy through their education faculty.
Rotary offered to help as a community minded group. They had leadership programmes and science programmes but waited to establish a connection and asked what our requirements were. We needed assistance in developing a strategic plan for the school. They worked with our board and now help lead it through our chairman with our Principal. Our kids wanted to be more involved in the community and formed a Rotary Interact Club. Rotary programmes could be run independently of the school, reducing administrative overhead, increased student involvment - resulting in community events and even trips to Singapore and London for our students.
Both of these are relationships that I have had involvement with. There are others, such as with the Smith Family, ABCN, with organisations within DOE such as SEND:BE and the engagement team which have similar impact.
I'm currently starting a music club after school (as we have no offering for music at the school), running some maths extension classes and building our Achievers club (students that have 4As and no Ds). A good model for external agencies is to pilot a project, have it running for a year or so and then have a model for a partner agency to develop. I hope these develop into something that the school can use for some time, like the Summer school, Interact club and Mathematics academy - each that involve 20-50 students (10-20% of the school).
A well meaning project can take up resources that may be better utilised elsewhere. These usually involve 3-4 students (such as the solar car challenge or a number of local leadership programmes), over an extended period, are expensive, are during school time, require transport (a bus is $300 per day), want access to upper school students and require teacher involvement for duty of care (at $600 per day, a "free" project becomes expensive). If a project can't be accessible to 20-30 students (which is a difficult brief), I think often kids are better off in school, somewhere geared to teaching large groups of students.
Where this is untrue is in the VET space, where small (1-4 students) projects have lasting impact on students but that is for another day.
In a smaller school like ours, that is offered many projects during the year, the need to manage them becomes a resourcing issue. Excursions require a file of documentation, staff willing to participate, students willing to give it a go, a spot on the planner that won't cause disruption to learning and ensuring it's not the same six kids going on each excursion. We need to liaise with partner organisations, work with them and ensure that there is a win-win situation available.
What I have found is that we have had more success with organisations that ask our needs and then seek to help us reduce the issues caused by them. UWA Aspire and Rotary are two good examples of where this can work.
UWA Aspire had a clear goal to raise low socioeconomic student engagement with university and to raise their aspiration levels. We needed support for our Math/Science students and assistance with career activities. They listened and assisted us establish our Mathematics Academy by providing university students that worked with our kids and supported us with resourcing and food to keep them coming. They take our kids on a Leadership camp. They support our summer school with a venue and ambassadors at UWA. They come to the school for each year group and work with developing a career focus from year 7 onwards. We assisted them with developing activities that would fit our students. They assisted raising awareness of modern teaching pedagogy through their education faculty.
Rotary offered to help as a community minded group. They had leadership programmes and science programmes but waited to establish a connection and asked what our requirements were. We needed assistance in developing a strategic plan for the school. They worked with our board and now help lead it through our chairman with our Principal. Our kids wanted to be more involved in the community and formed a Rotary Interact Club. Rotary programmes could be run independently of the school, reducing administrative overhead, increased student involvment - resulting in community events and even trips to Singapore and London for our students.
Both of these are relationships that I have had involvement with. There are others, such as with the Smith Family, ABCN, with organisations within DOE such as SEND:BE and the engagement team which have similar impact.
I'm currently starting a music club after school (as we have no offering for music at the school), running some maths extension classes and building our Achievers club (students that have 4As and no Ds). A good model for external agencies is to pilot a project, have it running for a year or so and then have a model for a partner agency to develop. I hope these develop into something that the school can use for some time, like the Summer school, Interact club and Mathematics academy - each that involve 20-50 students (10-20% of the school).
A well meaning project can take up resources that may be better utilised elsewhere. These usually involve 3-4 students (such as the solar car challenge or a number of local leadership programmes), over an extended period, are expensive, are during school time, require transport (a bus is $300 per day), want access to upper school students and require teacher involvement for duty of care (at $600 per day, a "free" project becomes expensive). If a project can't be accessible to 20-30 students (which is a difficult brief), I think often kids are better off in school, somewhere geared to teaching large groups of students.
Where this is untrue is in the VET space, where small (1-4 students) projects have lasting impact on students but that is for another day.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Role models and dreams of the future
It was posed to me who I looked up to as a role model. The example given to me was the queen of England and I was asked to think of one better.
Scary to think that I couldn't come up with one.
Scary to think that we, as a generation can offer no-one up that is both as well known as the queen and as publicly selfless.
We've given this generation narcissism and fame hunger. Sarah Hanson Young and the Leyonhold guy. "Me too", sexual harassment, anxiety, loss of hope, an emptiness hard to fill.
I think about the cold, emotionless education system we've created where a few people doing horrific things to children have destroyed what could be a loving and nurturing environment and turned it into something sterile and with the sole purpose of providing skills and knowledge to survive post schooling. ... and not even doing that particularly well.
As a male teacher, being hugged by a student, places you at risk of a standards and integrity investigation and criminal charges. Being a female teacher now is changing to do the same thing. To protect ourselves we cannot be a role model to students - the barrier of societal trust is not there. Where we once at least had gender appropriate roles that protected the emotional self of a student, strong male and female role models that fulfilled different roles that were ok, now neither can help fill the void created by a society where two parents work and the relationships that help build a whole person are not being supplemented by a society that forgets that nurturing its young is its prime imperitive.
When children need emotional support, there is nowhere for them to turn. There are times when I see distressed students that are seeking emotional support and the best we can offer them is counselling, when they really just want a hug and to believe it will be ok. Those two things are powerful are missing from our education system. It wasn't always this way.
Ten years in teaching and I have not seen this issue addressed in other than band aid modes. Will we look back and think how the hell did we miss this.
I watch year groups robotic in their approch to schooling, lacking a love of learning, of each other or the school system. Seeking to get by to their next step as citizens.
It's wrong.
I don't know how to fix it. It will take brighter minds than mine. Maybe its a call to our generation beyond the teaching fraternity to stand up and be good role models - do great things and become examples for our youth that teachers can point to. Something to aspire to and give belief and love back to a generation feeling lost.
Scary to think that I couldn't come up with one.
Scary to think that we, as a generation can offer no-one up that is both as well known as the queen and as publicly selfless.
We've given this generation narcissism and fame hunger. Sarah Hanson Young and the Leyonhold guy. "Me too", sexual harassment, anxiety, loss of hope, an emptiness hard to fill.
I think about the cold, emotionless education system we've created where a few people doing horrific things to children have destroyed what could be a loving and nurturing environment and turned it into something sterile and with the sole purpose of providing skills and knowledge to survive post schooling. ... and not even doing that particularly well.
As a male teacher, being hugged by a student, places you at risk of a standards and integrity investigation and criminal charges. Being a female teacher now is changing to do the same thing. To protect ourselves we cannot be a role model to students - the barrier of societal trust is not there. Where we once at least had gender appropriate roles that protected the emotional self of a student, strong male and female role models that fulfilled different roles that were ok, now neither can help fill the void created by a society where two parents work and the relationships that help build a whole person are not being supplemented by a society that forgets that nurturing its young is its prime imperitive.
When children need emotional support, there is nowhere for them to turn. There are times when I see distressed students that are seeking emotional support and the best we can offer them is counselling, when they really just want a hug and to believe it will be ok. Those two things are powerful are missing from our education system. It wasn't always this way.
Ten years in teaching and I have not seen this issue addressed in other than band aid modes. Will we look back and think how the hell did we miss this.
I watch year groups robotic in their approch to schooling, lacking a love of learning, of each other or the school system. Seeking to get by to their next step as citizens.
It's wrong.
I don't know how to fix it. It will take brighter minds than mine. Maybe its a call to our generation beyond the teaching fraternity to stand up and be good role models - do great things and become examples for our youth that teachers can point to. Something to aspire to and give belief and love back to a generation feeling lost.
Labels:
love,
self esteem
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