I am MisterJim

Today, a group of Year 9 students from Hodgson Academy, came in to run a 90 minute session with my Year 5 class. They were self-penned "Leaders of Learning". I like that. A lot of schools, mine included, have digital leaders or similar, but in a way, it restricts the good work they can do to one educational avenue - digital/technological based stuff. I think I'm going to steal the Leaders of Learning thing. I like the multi faceted nature of the title, implying that their role is to be a broad and informed tier of leaders - much like schools are trying to implement with management structures. Why not make use of children's abilities in a much more efficient way? I think digital leaders just expanded for me.

After a conversation on Twitter with a few people (specifically Nicki Allman & Dawn Hallybone ) I had some help in brainstorming things I could teach over the next few weeks. I should mention at this point, that I've not taught so far this academic year, due to breaking my leg just before the end of the summer holidays, so I still need to get to know the class. Nicki very generously sent me some fabulous plans for work based around Dr Who (the BBC Schools links are here ). I'm definitely going to do a few weeks based on that, but I felt I needed a buffer, or a 'getting to know each other' week - but one that would allow a good deal of learning to take place. I've created a topic plan for a week's worth of lessons (not including Maths, which I keep as stand-alone lessons) based around the book The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers Please bear in mind that there are gaps & not a lot of detail, but if you can pinch an idea or two, then please feel free...

Both images courtesy of Julia Skinner's blog  http://jfb57.wordpress.com This week's 100WCGU has to use the following picture prompt from the view of vegetarians. I couldn't decide what to do, so if you'll forgive me, I've attempted it twice. Good luck to me... Attempt Number 1: Vegetarian:(waving leaflet) "Do you know that McDonalds bid against Pedigree Chum for their meat consignments?" Me: "Actually yes, I did." Vegetarian: "And that there's more chicken in the packaging than in the nuggets." Me: "I wouldn't be surprised." Vegetarian: "You should try mung bean burgers. They're scrummy." Me: "Why? I like the other sort - with meat." Vegetarian: "That's disgusting. Do you know how many cows died to provide meat for your burgers last year?" Me: "No, but..." Vegetarian: "..7 million- and that's just the UK! Do you want to sign my petit...

This evening on #ukedchat, the discussion was about 'independent learning' or 'IL' and it's importance in the curriculum. In my opinion IL is an umbrella title, one so multi-faceted that we probably need to invest a lot of time determining the rationale behind it. One point that came across was from Miles Berry that Independent Learning is something innate, present from birth as a survival mechanism so teaching it is contradictory. This is something that I agree with and yet we are in a system that has institutionalised our lives to the point where children are taught out of this. They become so reliant on being told what, when and how to do things, that they forget what they are genetically programmed to do. And there's my mistake. I'm talking about these children in the third person. The point is that we have all fallen into the habit of providing knowledge as teachers. There is no blame associated with this, we are as caught up in the status quo as...

I was on twitter a few weeks ago and I saw a tweet, I can't remember who by, highlighting someone else's blog. @chrisguillebeau 's to be exact.  You can find it  here . The article itself was ok and had some salient points, but there was a quote on it from Hafiz, a 14th century Persian poet, that mesmerised me, in fact it made me think very deeply about my teachers and me as a teacher. It described, in far less words than I could possibly manage, the type of person I am and, more importantly, the type of person I strive to be. I guess that everyone has a moment that makes them evaluate what they're doing with their lives. Are things turning out the way they planned? Are they serving themselves, or others? What is the purpose that drives them to succeed? Big questions. All of which were prompted by this poem. I looked first at the opening line, ' The small man ' and thought, is this me? Have I, as a teacher, ever done this? Have I limited children's exp...

Educo (v)–  to draw out, to lead, to raise up, to praise, to rear Online Dictionary (University of Notre Dame) While writing this, the main thought buzzing around my head was: it is my job to create tomorrow’s teacher? If this was so, the focus then became what impact we have on the creation of the next generation of teachers. Tomorrow’s Teacher will be the same as the teacher of today. It will require the same empathic nature that makes us able to communicate with others. It will require determination to push those who need pushing; the composure to restrict those who must be restricted; the compassion to comfort those who hope for comfort; the passion to inspire those who dream of greater things; the skills to influence those without direction; the knowledge to develop those who must be developed. In short, these things will always need doing; it is the nature of the job. What we must ask ourselves is what setting will these actions take place in? How will these skill...