Reflection and Resolutions

In 4 days the new academic year will begin.

I survived my first year of teaching. It was the most hectic, busy and stressful year of my life thus far. It was also highly enjoyable (though sometimes I did wonder if I was going to make it to the next day with my sanity intact).

I think I did a lot of things well, and I believe that I grew as a teacher throughout the year. I certainly started to develop a (slightly) better work-life balance - my friends were very excited by the prospect of seeing me more than once a month.

However, there are many areas that I know I can improve in. Here are my 'teacher resolutions' for 2013:

1. Stop procrastinating

This is a fairly obvious one. I need to be more organised and to get things done immediately - it'll make my life easier. I procrastinated an awful lot this year, and this is a habit I plan on breaking.

     2. Slightly less 'Miss Nice'

I know this is one of the first things that they tell in when you embark on your teaching qualification - you're to start out strictly. Did I? Not so much...and I know that occasionally students took advantage of this. I need to be stricter and maintain tighter control of student behaviour and expectations. I plan to emulate a colleague of mine, who maintains excellent relationships with her students while still being firm re: deadlines, etc. I still plan on being mostly me...just slightly meaner when it's needed!

    3. Mark more frequently

I want to keep better tabs on my marking, to maintain a more accurate record of student progress. Don't get me wrong, I knew where my students were at all times, but I know that I could've given even more feedback, and built in more opportunities for them to improve. This is one of my main goals for 2013. I really like Hayley Thompson's excellent document on marking, and plan to implement this. 

4. Maintain my commitment to technology - and to tech-literacy

I want to maintain my commitment to technology in class, and to push this even further. I hear a lot of talk about how our students are tech-literate, and this frustrates me. Our students can use technology very easily - a byproduct of growing up in such a digital age - but they are not literate in it. My task is to teach them to be more critical of what they see, how they search for and consider information, and how to use specific programs e.g. Excel, Google Earth, etc.

5. To not just be local, but global

Down here in Australia, I've found that it's easy for a lot of people (especially students) to forget that there is a wider world out there. I want to remind them of this - there are so many opportunities for them beyond the shores of Australia (though it is a rather good place to be most of the time). The curriculum has a very Australian and Asia-Pacific focus, and I want to look beyond the mandated content/ideas. To this end, I plan on having a 'What in the World?!' wall in my classroom(s). This will have a world map on, a country of the week, and contain a space for current world events. While I will start this off, the aim is to transfer responsibility to my students. I am also going to try to set aside some time each week where we can discuss a current event. Dream large!

Further from this, I would really like to develop links with schools overseas - I'd be happy for this to take the form of emails, Skyping, a joint Wikispace (or similar), etc. Learning about the lives of others and gaining an understanding of different viewpoints, letting yourself be challenged - these are all skills and knowledge that our students should have. If you're interested in linking up with some classes in Australia, please email me. 

What are yours? 

Who needs learning styles when you have learning activities?

I first learned about learning styles when I embarked upon my Masters in Teaching. I'll admit it, I was 'super excited' when I first heard about it, primarily because it involved educational theory (#geekalert). It also seemed to make some sense to me. 

Fast forward a couple of years, and I no longer ascribe to the idea. In fact, I now find it lazy and too narrow. We are meant to do quizzes to find out how our students learn, and I don't think that's a bad thing. However, they are invariably based on learning styles. Students nominate 1-3 top learning styles. This is what I don't like (sounds a bit contradictory, I know). You get students claiming they can only learn in specific 'styles'. Not true (in my experience). They might find some 'styles' more comfortable or accessible, but ultimately can access them all - I feel that it all depends on clarity and explanation. 

I much prefer the idea of offering a variety of learning activities/assessment opportunities and multiple options for demonstrating learning during major assessments. Instead of asking students what their preferred styles are, I have them nominate 3-5 preferred learning activities. I feel this is more practical (no faffing around trying to make up activities for each style). I put these up in class as a graph (so they can see why there is a focus on certain activity types) and use them to plan learning activities for my class. 

A learning activities graph for my Year 10 History subject

The activities listed definitely need more refining and variety, but it was useful as a document to quickly understand what my students enjoyed in class, as well as providing me with activities for them. Students also appreciated the opportunity to complete activities that they enjoyed. We utilised about 90% of these activities across the 2 terms that I had them for. Students made posters, brochures, websites, videos, wrote essays, took part in class discussions, presented information in groups, worked in groups and individually and regularly utilised ICT. We used organisers to clarify concepts and sort ideas, and used Human Continuums and others of that ilk to explore political concepts and ideologies. 

I now also provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in different ways:

Year 7 Assignment on Ancient Egypt

I'm open to most forms of demonstrating knowledge and skills - after all, it's the acquisition and ability to use them that counts, not the method in which they show it. Giving them this choice engages them more, which is always a good thing. 

Long story short: Vary your learning activities, give students opportunities to have some ownership over assessment, don't allow them to pigeonhole themselves. 

I still have more work to do in this area - I want students to generate more of their own questions, to take more ownership and responsibility, and to become a teacher who is better capable of introducing these ideas skilfully.