#ngconf : And you go dancing through doorways just to see what you may find, leaving nothing to interfere with the crazy balance of your mind

I know that it’s a random title for a blog post, but I urge you to stick with me! I grew up with Mint Sauce, the mountain biking sheep. The cartoon strip was published each month in Mountain Biking UK. Most months, the strip was thought provoking.

The strip above sums up some frustrations that many have with education: many stand around and talk but very little actually gets done. In other words:

It’s about behaviour, not devices.
It’s about learning, not tools.

There’s also quite a depressing message developing at many events: Teachers are rubbish at their jobs and are failing our pupils. There seems to be some mileage in saying how out of touch teachers are. Now, we all know that in some cases this is true. But, we need to start recognising that change is happening….

With this context, I’m pleased to say that the conference organised by Northern Grid was full of educators sharing what they are doing to support learning. In addition, both keynote addresses were thought provoking and orientated toward the future.

The format of the day was something slightly new – with short 30 minute sessions with two speakers sharing the topic.

The talk I delivered is below:

Comments

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment i...

Banned Word Board

Today I want to share some simple ideas that I have found to be very effective in the classroom. I can't say that they are my own original ideas, although I have played around with them. The first is the Banned word Board. This is a simple display in the classroom that lists a number of words that are not allowed to be used by pupils in their written or oral answers. The effect has been an increase in the quality of written work, and I have almost made comments such as 'Sir it's simple, the stuff just affects the thing and causes people problems'. Pupils are now more able to use specific language, something that is vital especially at GCSE. I have had to make a few modifications, such as the introduction of 'Heavenly Words' This is an additional display placed on the ceiling. I found this necessary as pupils needed some stimulus in finding replacement words. After advice received after posting the idea on the SLN forum , I have also introduced semi-banned words...

Year 10 need your help! Can we get Twitter and Facebook in to a GCSE project?

I’ve been told that social media has no place in the classroom. Now, this post is not to battle that argument head on. Let’s smash it. This week, Year 10 are visiting Hengistbury Head . They are investigating whether this piece of coastline should be protected. They are wondering what you think? You may know the location well, you may not know it at all. But we’d like to hear from you all the same. This will either result in some usable data and comments, or not. Either way, we'll know and I’m sure that your comments will help spark discussion in class! What would Year 10 like me to do? Just simply comment on this post or tweet me, with an answer to this question: ‘Should Hengistubury Head be protected from the Sea? Just answer Yes or No and give a brief reason. It would also be useful if you could tell us whether you know the area or not. Many thanks in anticipation…… Image – my own.

David Rogers

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