I started to write this post in the summer holidays ...
Being between jobs has been a little odd, though my summer holiday has taken the same pattern. I have had quality time with my family, time to enjoy reading, baking, travelling and catching up with friends. My reading for pleasure has included Mr Stink, The God of Small Things and the Painted Man trilogy (second reading of them) but as always I have flicked through Hywell Robert's 'Oops' as he captures beautifully my stance on how children should learn.
Another book recommended to me was Will Ryan's 'Inspirational Teachers, Inspirational Learners.' Many parts of this book are familiar and I'm guessing that I have read snippets on other people's blogs or on courses. It is well worth a read. For me though, the most inspirational person is Sir Ken Robinson. In my opinion his talk 'Do schools kill creativity?' should be watched by all teachers. His claim that creativity is as important as literacy may hook you, whatever your beliefs.
In the holidays, these questions troubled me ...
If OfSTED like innovation, why are so many schools following the same curriculum?
If a personalised curriculum is best, how are we to do that whilst fulfilling the demands placed on us?
I have read how OfSTED have commended developing a relevant curriculum through enterprise, such as 'Equipping children for their lives at St Mary's Catholic Primary school' and 'Good Shepherd Catholic primary school - combining enterprise and sustainability'and this reassures me that creating a unique curriculum that caters for the needs of our school and community is important. The first INSET days at my new school gave us a chance to do just this. Together we created our educational tree, which I will add to this post very soon. It shows how we view our creative curriculum at East Harling. I feel satisfied that my teaching style and ethos will be allowed to flourish in my new school - and that is a good feeling.
So that is as far as I got with this post in the summer holidays. It's not a great post, but will serve as a reminder about things I find important, so will be very useful to me.
Being between jobs has been a little odd, though my summer holiday has taken the same pattern. I have had quality time with my family, time to enjoy reading, baking, travelling and catching up with friends. My reading for pleasure has included Mr Stink, The God of Small Things and the Painted Man trilogy (second reading of them) but as always I have flicked through Hywell Robert's 'Oops' as he captures beautifully my stance on how children should learn.
Another book recommended to me was Will Ryan's 'Inspirational Teachers, Inspirational Learners.' Many parts of this book are familiar and I'm guessing that I have read snippets on other people's blogs or on courses. It is well worth a read. For me though, the most inspirational person is Sir Ken Robinson. In my opinion his talk 'Do schools kill creativity?' should be watched by all teachers. His claim that creativity is as important as literacy may hook you, whatever your beliefs.
I also challenge you not to be blown away by his animated talk. It's not new (2010), but it may be new to you.
As always in the holidays I have reminded myself of Bill Rogers 'Establishment Phase', which you can read about here and here. It is useful for newly qualified and established teachers alike.
In the holidays, these questions troubled me ...
If OfSTED like innovation, why are so many schools following the same curriculum?
If a personalised curriculum is best, how are we to do that whilst fulfilling the demands placed on us?
I have read how OfSTED have commended developing a relevant curriculum through enterprise, such as 'Equipping children for their lives at St Mary's Catholic Primary school' and 'Good Shepherd Catholic primary school - combining enterprise and sustainability'and this reassures me that creating a unique curriculum that caters for the needs of our school and community is important. The first INSET days at my new school gave us a chance to do just this. Together we created our educational tree, which I will add to this post very soon. It shows how we view our creative curriculum at East Harling. I feel satisfied that my teaching style and ethos will be allowed to flourish in my new school - and that is a good feeling.
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So that is as far as I got with this post in the summer holidays. It's not a great post, but will serve as a reminder about things I find important, so will be very useful to me.
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