Taking a Leap of Faith - Teaching Abroad

 "Why is any of your experience relevant?"

This was the first, somewhat sobering, question I was asked in my first ever job interview for a teaching post in Australia. It was a scary question and immediately in your head you try to justify your entire existence as a teacher up until that point. With a bit more thought though, you realise that it is actually an excellent question. Immediately, it made me think about the key milestones in my career so far and what the big learning curves were and why they happened.

Now, 6 months after being asked that question, I'm happy to say that I got that job, and took a leap of faith to move and set-up life in Australia. I say it was a "leap of faith" or a "massive step", but really when I decided to accept the job and stop applying for any at home in Scotland, I didn't understand the gravity of the move.

The day I realised the gravity of it all was Thursday 27th June 2013. It was a big day - one I won't forget. It was my last day with my very first class; a class of 25 amazing and hilarious primary 3's (year 2's); I had to say goodbye to them and the wonderful staff and friends I had made at my fantastic school and then say goodbye to my family and friends because at 9pm that night, I flew to Australia to start a new chapter in my life and a new chapter in my career in Melbourne.

The last day was one of the hardest experiences I've had. Saying goodbye for the foreseeable future to crying 7 and 8 year olds is not pleasant. There is also no preparation you can have for when the week before, during circle time, everyone talking about what they were looking forward to in Primary 4 next year, having a boy burst into tears and continue crying inconsolably and repeatedly shouting, "please don't go, don't go, don't leave me here!" It's an experience that will never leave me and a class that were so special it'll be impossible to forget a single child. The emotional attachment to your class is a hard aspect of the job, especially if you move school at the end of the year, never mind move country and continent.

I'm not ashamed to say that I cried a lot after saying goodbye to my lovely class and hand them on to their new teachers for next year. I contemplated just before I took off from Glasgow for Dubai then Sydney, "What sort of a scene could I cause that would get me off this plane, without getting me arrested?" However, I didn't cause a scene. After a few hours of sleep and time to reflect on what a great year I had had, as well as the fantastic opportunities that lay ahead, I knew there was reason to treasure those memories and experiences but look forward to with excitement and anticipation the opportunities to come.

I have a book of memories that I will be able to treasure forever and left my class with a few words of wisdom that I hope will stay with them.

However, the experience with my class and individuals in my class have made me really think about poverty and inequality; particularly the impact it has on experience, achievements, prospects and outcomes for the children in our care. It's a big topic and warrants a blog post on it's own.

I've had two main goals in life. I don't remember when I decided, but my first has always as long as I can remember, to be a primary school teacher; the second was to move to Australia.

This year, it was clear from the children and their families that my class had a great year, I loved every minute of it, I'd successfully completed my probationary year and received full registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) as well as the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). Also, I'd felt like I really made a contribution to the school and wider education system in Scotland while learning so much from it. I'd achieved my first goal, and I was ready for a new challenge. The job in Australia came up, and exciting, dynamic and research intensive school were looking for a new teacher. After a lot of research on the school and good discussions at interview with the principle and vice-principle of the school, I really, really wanted to join the team there. It was a bonus they offered me the job! It did mean making a decision after Easter to not apply for any jobs in Scotland (if at all) and to turn down another exciting job offer I had for a school in Barcelona. This school is definitely the right choice. And Australia has been a lifelong dream - achieved!

It's nerve wracking leaving a system and country that I know, I'm comfortable with an been pretty successful in; having to start afresh in a new system and place.

But, quickly it's becoming clear that no matter where in the world we are, we have common objectives for education and common challenges. A few I've picked out and plan to explore in even more depth are:

• The growing gap in educational experiences, achievement, attainment and outcomes due to poverty and inequalities within and between groups in our societies.
• The increasingly complex and multifaceted role technology has to play in our lives and in learning and school education.
• The changing concept and process of continuing professional learning for teachers in response to changing roles, demands and challenges we face.

Those are the big picture objectives that will always remain my focus. But, coming back to the whole idea of moving and teaching abroad, either for a short period, or longer term, I would say is a vital experience. The opportunities to experience new cultures, countries, languages and simply just to travel while working abroad is something so important. The amount you learn from working in a new system with children from different cultural contexts is amazing as well as the teachers and school leaders you are able to work with and learn from.

It's a difficult experience emotionally, and that is something that cannot be underestimated, even if you know you are not leaving permanently, the monthly "down-days" when you're homesick and missing the familiarity of friends and family are hard, but you push through those, keep focused on the experiences you are having and the amazing experiences to come.

A good friend put a quote on the front of my leaving card which I think sums up my focus just now in life and particularly my professional life, but is also something I come back to re-read regularly;

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do that by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the harbour shore. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover"

So, do you think teaching abroad is something you'd be keen to try? Go for it. Get away from that "safe harbour" and go and explore what the world has to offer!

Written by, Policy Police

Keep Calm and Carry On It's Only Ofsted!

I was one of those "fortunate" NQTs that worked in a school that, in the autumn term, with a diverse and incredibly challenging class, received THE phone call. I can quite honestly say that was one of the most stressful and pressured two days of my life. You can only understand the pressure of an inspection if you have worked in a school that have had Ofsted in. But, despite my inexperience, I made it through in one piece... just!

Our school received the label of "satisfactory" on that inspection. The dictionary definition is "satisfying demands, expectations, requirements and being acceptable." Any school labelled, "Satisfactory" will know that it carries with it an entirely different dictionary definition. The inspectors deemed our prospect for improvement "good" and they vowed to return to our school in a years time to repeat the process. Two years later, I've moved year groups, sat through countless staff meetings where the big O was mentioned "in passing", been on courses and undergone many changes in routines and policy within school. Less than two weeks into the year and walking through the corridor with a group of children, the deputy passes me with a big, slightly manic grin on his face, saying, "there's a meeting at 3:30 in the staff room, all staff need to attend." to which, my reply was, "is that what I think it is?" and he nodded affirmative.

Ofsted were coming.

We went for a whole school staff briefing with the head explaining that Ofsted will be coming into school the next morning, a team, 3-strong, and that the school will be ordering in some pizzas for anyone that wants to stay a little later to prepare for the next day.

To say I was slightly nervous was an understatement. But I am incredibly proud to say that I am part of a team that immediately banded together and the TAs stayed later in school, despite not being paid any extra, to ensure that we were ready to show the inspectors the amazing work we do every day in our school.

My husband couldn't quite understand why I was having to stay a bit later at school, because in his words, "aren't you doing what you would usually be doing every day anyway?" My reply was, yes, of course, but this is different. This is the crux moment of two years hard work. This is the two-day window to show off all of the incredible things that happen everyday but usually "behind closed doors". It had to be the best it could possibly be. While, I admit, this is my aim every day I step in front of a class of children, it is not every day that every tiny minute of every day has the potential to be scrutinised and judged. In that respect, although the teaching and learning is business as usual, underneath the surface for every teacher it most definitely is not!

I have to say, our year group team, and the entire school, banded together amazingly. There is nothing like the prospect of an HMI inspection to rally the troops and provide a bit of team building at the start of the year - particularly with an entirely new group of teachers and TAs in our year group.

As I mentioned, I was one of the "fortunate" NQTs thrust into the Ofsted inspection process early on in my career. But the three NQTs starting out at my school this time round hardly had time to stop their heads spinning before the phone call came through. This time around was an entirely different experience from start to finish. I think this stems from the greater level of expertise on my part - what a difference two years of teaching makes - along with the wider changes we have implemented as a team since the previous inspection, including:

•  New marking and feedback routines
• A brand new school library
• Introduction of school radio equipment
• High level of CPD for staff
• New members of the leadership team
• A fabulous pastoral support team with a wide range of skills

The moment that the lead inspector introduced himself and the team, I was immediately put at ease, as mad as it may sound. They seemed genuine in their desire to observe, share good practise and offer support as well as provide an overall judgement of the school. I was (fortunately in my opinion) observed in my very first lesson of the day: literacy. The children were totally immersed in their writing when she entered my classroom, each one of them highly engaged and buzzing about writing lost posters to find Percy the Park Keeper. She spoke to me briefly about the input that she had missed and observed unobtrusively. The inspector stayed in the room for over 45mins, 20 minutes after my lesson had finished. The learning intention was to use describing words, so I gave the children further opportunities to demonstrate and apply the knowledge they acquired through the lesson, by singing songs with actions, freezing every so often to generate describing words for the animal/object they were singing about. I even caught the inspector smiling a few times.

After receiving feedback from the lesson, she claimed she stayed for such a long time, purely as she was enjoying the lesson so much. Whatever it may mean, the lesson was deemed good with outstanding features. The inspector seemed to genuinely want to offer ideas for improvements and at no point did I feel like I was being "caught out". I think it is very easy for those in education to demonise Ofsted, myself included at times, but at the heart of it - MOST OF THE INSPECTORS, NOT ALL - are in the job to share good and outstanding practice amongst schools and ensure a certain level of quality assurance that I cannot dispute the need for. Every teacher should be held to account and responsible for the quality of education they provide for children entrusted to them every day. It wasn't until the observer walked into my classroom that I realised how much it meant to me that an outsider was impressed with the teaching and learning and the fantastic children that I work with every day are. When you invest so much of yourself into every moment of your working day (and, let's face it, every moment of your waking day) to your job, of course you want to impress the person watching.

I am yet to hear the official judgement. And although the stamp, whatever it may be, takes nothing away from the hard work and amazing things that happens at my school every day, I would be lying if I said it meant nothing. While the labels that are thrown about to rank schools still exist, the immense pressure remains on school and those that work within them to conform to the check-list they are measured by. But there remains some things that cannot ever hope to be measured by the Ofsted inspections that are, in my opinion the most important aspects of school life. For example, the relationship, understanding and trust between teacher and pupil, the shared laughter of a class, that magical moment when a child achieves something great, however small it may seem to an outside observer, my list could go on. It is those aspects of school life that continues my love of my job.

I am so incredibly proud to be part of a school that has such a supportive, dynamic, exciting and inspiring staff. Regardless of the official judgement, I know that we are great. We take children from some challenging backgrounds, offer them new experiences, raise expectations, broaden their horizons and send them out into the big wide world richer for the experience and with their potential unlocked and beginning to shine through in preparation for secondary school and beyond. Whatever challenges we may face in the future, we will face them together. Ofsted I'd like to thank you for showing and proving to me that my colleagues really are the most wonderful people I could hope to work with.

Has your school faced THE phone call so far this year? How was your experience?

Reading for Pleasure - A Secondary Perspective

I was book-napped this weekend. As an English teacher this is an occupational hazard. I often open a book, crawl into the pages and find that I cannot leave until I have reached the end of the story.

This time feels different.

The book in question - More Than This was written by Patrick Ness. He is a writer who asks important questions and then waits... leaving space for you to fill in some answers. Or ask more questions.

Book-napped as I was, caught under the duvet with a monster cup of builder's tea, I went with him for the ride. Arrogantly, I assumed that this young novel was not for me or about me. This was getting down with the kids, researching the world through a younger imagination, cutting and gleaning material for lessons on the way. Always, always a teacher.

More Than This starts at an end. The teenage protagonist is dying and by the end of page two he is dead. When he awakens on page three, he does not know where he is. Neither do we - and the rest of the novel is an enquiry. Patrick Ness invites us in and through his characters to work it out for ourselves and he does not give you all the answers. You realise after a while that you are asking yourself the same kinds of questions that you are reading about. Suddenly, this is not just entertainment. You are no longer a passenger but an active part of the metaphor. You are the story.

Putting the book down, you have a hangover of questions working through your system. The process of reading the book has changed things slightly, like an ink wash running across a blank sheet of paper. It is subtle but things will never quite be the same.

We no longer teach English through story. Our teenagers are being marshalled through a sanitised and edited tour of of the highlights without ever heading off the path to discover their own imaginative landscapes. I recently asked an A level English Literature class to audit their own reading for pleasure in preparation for a comparative literature project. Most of the books they read for their GCSE exam. A A level group! They had not worked out for themselves the rules of the story they were discovering for themselves. They had only followed the path I had given them. Not a bad thing in itself, but they are missing out.

Schools increasingly are the only place that our children are encountering books. I work in a city that is planning to close all of its libraries and in a school that does not have a library. The many books in my classroom come from charity shops and my own shelves and I give them away. The opportunities to find something you may never have come across before are limited. A book recommended by a teacher will never be as good as the same book you have found for yourself. As Anthony Horowitz, writer of the Alex Rider series, points out "The last thing we need is people banging on to children about how they should read. We just need to make sure that all schools have a library."

My students are not reading for fun. Maybe it is a teenage thing, but I worry...

Emphasis on results and a data driven delivery means reading for pleasure is disappearing from school. Secondary schools no longer have space for the questions that we train younger children to ask. The endless "why" that children ask when they come into the school system becomes "whatever" by the time they hit the high schools. Schools create this. The pressure to get that ever elusive C at GCSE means we only give the students the answers we want them to write. We pressure them in endless intervention sessions to write more, to write better, to write, to write, to write... without giving them time to think, to grow and to imagine. It's like setting off on an expedition without a map. We want them to be resilient and powerful thinkiers, but we are training them to just comply.

We are letting our teenagers down.

One of the pleasures of working with teenagers for me is the constant realisation that my point of view has ossified. I have to keep myself in check as I respond to my students because the world that my values form in my imagination is always and necessarily out of date. Their questions encourage me to reassess and re-evaluate the way in which I see things even as I challenge them to form their own internal landscapes. It's a valuable and productive exchange that we both seem to get a lot out of.

Reading Patrick Ness this morning crystallised something in my own mind. Without giving much away (because this is a book you should read and discover for yourself) I emerged from my duvet cocoon determined to show my students that there are other worlds out there. The English curriculum is limited and limiting. We get our students to jump through hoops to show the world how good our hoops are - not how amazing their jumping is. Our students need more than literacy and PEE paragrapghs, more than just Lennie and George.

Stories are amazing things, they tell you who you are. We need to hand them over to the next generation and we need to trust that they know how to use them. Who knows what we might learn?

Teaching and Social Media - To Tweet or Not To Tweet? That is the Question...

Using Twitter in the Classroom

Having a class Twitter account can be great way of celebrating the success of your students. My school is fortunately one that is forward thinking when it comes to ICT and social media. We have a whole-school Twitter account and separate class twitter accounts. There are a multitude of ways that I use mine, but I started out by using it as a way of recording and celebrating those lovely little moments that happen every day in class - a photo, a quote, a quick summary of learning here and there. As more parents followed and interacted with the feed, it evolved to include PE kit, trip and event reminders, setting mini homework challenges and as a method of general communication with parents and carers.

The next stage involved our class talking to other classes with Twitter accounts. Many of these classes were from around the world, but mainly America and Canada, where class Twitter accounts are widespread. The quality of learning opportunities and discussion was great. The children were excited about and motivated by the prospect of talking to children the same age but on the other side of the world. One of the most successful lessons I have delivered involved asking my sister, who was studying anthropology at the time, to tweet challenges to my class, live. She tweeted images of different primate skulls and challenged my class to identify the creatures they belonged to by examining the types of teeth they had (linking to our teeth and healthy eating science topic). The buzz in the classroom was amazing. Every child was engaged and focused and learning without realising it! It was one of those lessons where the children took charge and I was able to be the observer, recording the amazing discussions and assessing their knowledge and understanding by listening into their conversations - not a passive learner in sight! This buzz was created by using Twitter as a tool to enhance learning.

Parental Engagement

Admittedly, not every parent has access to or uses Twitter, but then, how many parents have parent mail? Or reads the hard copy of the school newsletter that their child brings home? For some parents Twitter is the perfect communication - it won't get lost in the bottom of a book bag!

As the year progressed it was apparent how much the parents actually used the twitter feed. A colleague said to me, "you're very brave to open up the window into your classroom like that" and my response was - what is the point of what we do as educators if it all happens behind closed doors? Success is there to be celebrated and shared. Parents would also tweet in their children's homework, or pictures of places/people/objects that linked to the topics: a sure fire way of continuing the conversations and learning at home.

Social Media and Safeguarding

One of the main barriers that I encounter about using Twitter in school is that is puts children at unnecessary potential risk. As educators we do children a disservice to deny them access to methods of communication that exist out there in the "real world" outside of the classroom. We can introduce social media in a controlled and safe way with children, showing them the positive outcomes of using Twitter. While we should allow children to use social media we also have an obligation to keep them safe. For example, one of the rules our school has is that absolutely no children's names are used anywhere on the Twitter feed. Alongside the use of social media should always be a strong E-Safety policy within school. We use the SMART crew rules in school (find them at KidSmart). As long as your school has a very clear social media and safeguarding policy and all parental consent is sought beforehand, there is no reason why a class Twitter account should strike fear in the hearts of teachers.

What are your thoughts on using social media in the classroom? 

- Is it a safeguarding nightmare or something you just could not teach without?

- Do you use Twitter or other social media in your lessons?

- What would help you overcome the barriers?

- Do you think that schools have an obligation to teach children about social media?

Written by Little Dot

Opening Doors - Why First Impressions Count

I have always had a bit of a "thing" for doors - I am often found stopping to photograph an ivy-clad, iron-bolted, doorway. They always hold a certain sense of magic for me: the mystery of what lies behind them...

Like most teachers, I find myself constantly inspired by teachers around me: my colleagues, friends, the Twittersphere and fellow Pinterest users. After perusing Pinterest and finding the images featured in this post, I starting thinking about the significance of the door to our classrooms. I want the children in my class to walk through the door and feel a little bit of that magic and mystery.

First impressions really do count. With the start of term just around the corner, what do you want the children in your class to think and feel as they enter the room for the first time? Imagine the child reluctant to leave their parent in the cloakroom, the excitable children that come bounding in, children anxious about what their new teacher will be like... Think about the first thing that they see of their new classroom. What messages will you be sending them before they even step through the doorway?

I found, via Pinterest, a door sign (similar to the chalk board example below) that i use to inspire my children when they walk through the door. It also helps communicate the ethos and classroom culture I  want to promote. I've got a castles topic coming up, so I'm going to coincide the castle door decor with a "wow" day where the whole of the year group is in-role as historical characters. How much more powerful will it be to greet the children in the morning at the doorway telling them to hurry to avoid the flames from the fire-breathing dragon?

Yes these things take time and resources to achieve, but think of the moment the children see it for the very first time? And how excited they will be about entering your classroom. A door can be just a door, but is has the potential to be something far more magical. If we can start off with excitement and enthusiasm, who knows where it will take us!

Written by Little Dot

Results Day - A Teacher's Perspective

There has been a knot in my stomach that has been growing since the end of the exams.

This is not my first results day, but it is the first where the students have been mine from day one. Whatever the student see when they break into their envelope, it will have had everything to do with what I have done and that is big.

This cohort of students has worked against the odds from day one. Theirs is a generation who was educated in building sites as Schools for the Future and the Academies programme ripped down the schools around them. Each time, the shiny new buildings opened as they left. When the school became an Academy they stepped up to the plate and grabbed the new opportunities coming their way and were tolerant of the disruptions that came along with the change. They were encouraged to believe that Higher Education was their right then slapped in the face with the rise in tuition fees. They have weathered quite an educational storm to get this far and now they are on the brink of stepping out into the world as adults.

These students know that success in school means earning a place at university, but not one of them knows anyone in their families who went there. Some of their families think that uni is something that girls should not aspire to. Their academic dreams are something they share with me in guilty asides and my job has been to listen, affirm and tell them that yes, it is possible, yes, it is worth it and yes, you can do it. Gently and persuasively I have been saying yes to this group for two years.

So, the knot is tight and I am having sleepless nights. I do not worry that they did not work hard enough, or that I have not taught them how to succeed. Our classes have been filled with questions and laughter all of the while. These resilient and powerful teenagers have set their sights on a dream and have sought out the materials to achieve it. We have met before and after school, and in my PPA and in their study sessions. We have worked and wrestled with past papers, we have plotted and planned and revised, revised, revised. They are ready, they should succeed. They have taught me so much.

My worry is that this is not going to be enough, that the goal posts will move. A levels are the gold standard. These are the exams that we use to select the best students to move onto the next phase. These are the exams that the government hangs the educational system on to and these are the exams it will use to make a point.

I have been gently saying yes to my students for years. It has taken time, but they have begun to believe that their dreams are achievable in spite of some overwhelming odds. On Thursday we will find out what will happen next.

Wish us luck!

Written by Bookworm

BBC News - Heads call Michael Gove's A-Level changes "high risk"

Guardian News - Poorer students risk losing out to "middle-class bias"

Setting up for September - Tales from a Year 1 Teacher

Cupcake Reward Chart - Children earn a cupcake if they succeed being the "mystery student" for the day

I am about to embark upon my 3rd year of teaching and my 3rd year of setting up my classroom ready for September. I love this time of year when I can go into school, put my music on loud and start making the classroom space my own. I always start with thinking about the routines I want in place ready to start straight away in September and how I can visually communicate my expectations with the children. The whole process of setting up a new classroom took me just over a week and I thought I would share with you my journey and the end result...

Homeworkopoly

I used Homeworkopoly last year to engage student in completing homework tasks. It was so successful I wanted to repeat it again this year. It is always a good idea to re-use something that has worked in the past - but always keep in mind that it may not be as successful with your new bunch, every cohort is different!

Reading Area - Information Station

The class I am inheriting in September has a large percentage of boys and to promote reading I have ensured that there is a high profile non-fiction book section that will appeal to their interests. Always carefully consider the children in front of you and exploit their interests and hobbies to engage them with learning.

Literacy Displays

Literacy tree

My aim is to add more branches to the tree and adapt the leaves as the year progresses. The owl will have speech bubbles including "wow" words that the children generate and use in their writing.

Monster Maths Display

This display is unfinished. In the transition mornings with my new class, they absolutely loved using Class Dojo and having their own Dojo "monster" (if you haven't heard of it... look it up! It's a great behaviour management strategy). They also collect Moshi Monsters, so I've given my maths board a monster theme!

Numbered chairs

One of the topics this year will be space so I have numbered my chairs with a space theme from 1-30. I have used these numbered chairs to bring children gradually back to carpet - it's a great way of embedding number recognition and maths into regular routines.

Superhero Phonics Display - engaging the boys!

Reading Area

Reminders on the Whiteboard

It is so important when setting up a class for September to give the children lots of visual clues to show them your expectations and remind them of positive behaviour. These little reminders are great to use during whole-class inputs to ensure that learning is not disrupted, a quick eye-contact-and-point works well!

"Spicy" Challenge Trays

I introduced "spicy" challenges with my year 3 class last year and they absolutely loved it, so it's definitely something that I will continue in my move down to year 1. It was a brilliant method of self-differentiation and I found that children rarely decided to choose an activity from a "less spicy" tray than they are capable of tackling. It created real motivation to aim higher!

Target Squares - visual reminders of targets

Another strategy I introduced halfway through last year and found it to be incredibly effective. The children use whiteboard pens to quickly draw a symbol to represent a target they are working on. It is then always in their minds and a visual clue throughout lessons. If children move tables for different lessons, they can be wiped clean in seconds and re-drawn. I have always found target-setting a challenge to keep manageable for me and high-profile for the children and because the children are in charge of drawing the symbol, changing targets is as simple as a quick conversation with the teacher.

Tell a Good Tale

This contraption came about after I started "Tell a Good Tale" last year. The children told good tales immediately after coming in from break and lunch times. It allowed them to come away with something good to say about a peer - avoiding the "backlash" of break times and turning it into something positive. Each good tale equated to one marble in a jar, the marble run was the next logical step from there... the children walk in from break time immaculately in a bid to be the person that puts the marbles into the jar!

Things to think about when setting up your classroom for the first time
- Use resources or strategies that have worked in the past - but be prepared to adapt or change them!
- Show some of your personality
- Appeal to the children's interests and hobbies
- Show your expectations through the displays whether it is for behaviour or attainment
- Use routines that you will embed from day one so children come into your class and settle quickly
- Allow more time than you expect - jobs always take twice as long as you think they will!

What are your top tips for setting up a classroom for September?

Written by Little Dot