Assemblies - one of the best parts of my job

The photo about was taken at Þingvellir in Iceland. It's where the Mid Atlantic ridge cuts straight through the country. Those are my feet as I'm trying to show that you can climb between the continental plates of Eurasia and North America. Of course, the actual rift valley is around 7km wide, and the students I take are far more sensible with their own images:

Anyway, getting to the point. Þingvellir is also the sight of the 'first' parliament of sorts (although it wasn't democratic) as the Viking descendants met each year to share laws, settle disputes and get the women pregnant. There may have been some horse trading too. The place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The place is epic special and not far from this place, Regan and Gorbachev signed some Perestroika agreements. (see you've learned something, right?)

People coming together to celebrate and reinforce the ethos of a school is one of the most important events in a school. At ours, we have live music, singing or dancing by the students and a short video news also produced by the students. Each week, I stand there with goose bumps. Each week I am reminded of the importance of what we do.

And then it comes around to my assembly. It's a powerful moment, up to 300 students and 10 or so tutors plus other staff. Four times. It's great. They are the moments when I feel like I share myself. I thought I'd share my ramblings this week with you. The theme given is Lifelong Learning.

First, as we promote reading, I read this extract (I know that this assembly lacks female role models, but my last assembly covered that)

Next, I shared the fact that Chris Hadfield once has a dream:

Before showing this clip featuring Leo Holding and the team. Watch it and say you're not impressed! I was lucky to meet Leo last week.

Then comes the important bit. To me, these two fine gentlemen are legends, but what they have in common is that they started young and made positive choices everyday. So how do students do this? Well, the New Economic Foundation helps out - I know it's in fashion and that.

When I turned my back on my son, he had roped up to a tree and started climbing. I decided to connect with him during this activity - although climbing to the top of a holy tree isn't the best idea ever!

If you haven't come across and used the awesome Step Up Challenge in your school yet, get on it!

I was guiding in Iceland last week. It was totally scary at the front of the coach whilst being totally sweet at the same time. I noticed that the Icelandic driver was quiet, so we got chatting. Best stories ever.

What can you learn every day? Take part in a Micro Adventure. I dare you.

In Iceland last week I stayed at one of the best places ever run by the most amazing couple ever. The bloke is Iceland's Got Talent legend and I knew about the talking Raven. So when I arrived, I asked after her. She had died that morning. Seeing that this was upsetting, we allowed him to talk to our group and reminisce about the good times. Sometimes listening and an open mind is all that's needed.

The thing is, I believe that anything is possible by making the right choices. I ended with a slide and a story. You haven't done it YET.

And then I read this out. Makes my spine tingle each and every time.

What is your best memory of an assemblies?

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

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).

David Rogers

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