Skip to main content

The leadership adventure–an update

2014-10-19 12.18.54

One of the reasons that I started blogging, apart from attempting to organise teaching resources, is for my own self reflection.  I’ve never been too bothered about what people think of me.  I revisited this post about teachers being a little like priests and thought it time to update the leadership adventure.  Last year, I came close to leaving the profession.  It’s the second time that’s happened.  I gave in my notice by October in my NQT year and had a job lined up back in Outdoor Education.  If it wasn’t for a very supportive, and understanding, NQT mentor, teaching would have ended there.  You see, I have no problem in accepting the consequences of my decisions.

I’ve gotten through that now because now I understand my mission.  I now know without a doubt that I want to be a Headteacher.  I also know that leadership is very much like training for a marathon:  it’s supposed to ache all over because it’s a difficult job.  It’s easy to ignore the pain and the tiredness.  But, I’ve learned that it’s important to sort out the localised pain.  That’s is telling me that there is an issue.  It needs to be addressed.

Now I remember why I’m in this job in the first place: to make a difference.   To make learning better and to make teachers lives better so that they can focus on the main thing.  Now I remember that I love this job and the crazy world of schools.

In an attempt to provide some usefulness out of this post (and for me to return to when I forget), here’s what helped:

  • Running. That guaranteed time alone allows me space to think, and also makes it impossible for me to make a quick decision.
  • Talking to people within the school and outside, especially in local schools and through events and conferences.
  • Set up daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly tasks lists. For example, trying to visit every classroom within a cycle.
  • Having comfortable shoes.
  • Remembering why I’m there in the first place. It’s really tough trying to stick to principles, especially with increased accountability.
  • Having coaching from an external person.
  • Making decisions – it’s easy to worry about actions so much that you do nothing.  The quickest way to find out if it was the right thing to do is to do it.

The main thing is, I look forward to every day in school again, no matter what it’s going to bring.

There’s probably a load of other stuff too, but it’s time for Wonders of the Monsoon. 

Comments

  1. This is great to hear, David. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Doug. Hope you're well. You at gta next week?

      Delete
  2. Being a HT is the best job in the world - you will get there and when you do you will be Fab!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 is not always conducive to profound

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options.  Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet.  Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco.  I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option.  The result? No egg on my face.  As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life.  It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon.  They may die or be seriously injured.  If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way.  There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious.  Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin.  However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal.  The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

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