Am quite pleased with this so far – just put it together.
Purpose:
• Programme to further support colleagues through 2011-12 (2010-11).
Why support required:
• Very dramatic going from weekly support in NQT year to potentially nothing personalised in year 2.
• Year 2 sees an increase in teaching load, therefore staff have ‘less time’ to source own support so important to have an established network.
What research indicates:
• Report: ‘Becoming a Teacher’ (2008) emphasized the importance of continuing individually tailored CPD for new teachers so that no beginner teachers are left unsupported during their first few years. It also highlights that new teachers need to have autonomy over their choice of, and access to, formal CPD.
• NCSL – support will help retain the best teachers and eventually provide quality leaders. Institute of Education also supports early development for above reasons.
Potential structure for programme:
Term 1 Learning 3′s – Cross departmental groups (2-3 per group) – plan; observe and provide feedback to a lesson taught.
Term 2 Coaching 3′s – In cross departmental groups – meet for coaching sessions (one coach, one be coached, one observe and feedback). Rotate through term.
Term 3 Action Research – In learning 3s conduct small scale structured action research and present findings in report / presentation at end of term.
Half termly meetings with EDP mentor.
CPD blog & library
Am very excited about new CPD blog that I have launched at school! Its going to be a great way for staff to share learning with all. From now on it will be compulsory for staff to contribute an entry after they have recieved CPD. Its going to be really powerful in the sense that all will be able to read, but (more long term) it will allow colleagues to track career pathways….and be inspired by practices in areas they may not have considered in the past. I’m so grateful that so many colleagues have volunteered to contribute for the launch so that its already a really powerful tool! The challenge now will be for colleagues to log on regularly and for it to be high profile (at least in this early stage).
Along side this, we have also launched a CPD library. What a fantastic opportunity for a more personalised approach to CPD as staff may also request purchases into the library. Can I visualise a book club on its way????? I’ve just been looking at quotes from ‘Good to Great’ – could be a nice starting point???
Aspiring Leaders
After a very busy year, I am planning the final stages of my Aspiring Leaders programme. The programme is designed for teachers who might be considering taking on a leadership role in the next year or two. The really good thing about the programme is that it is not a typical ‘try it out’ sort of programme – it is more about the qualities, characteristics that are required of good leaders. If you find yourself approaching a leadership role in the next year or two – what would your philosophy of leadership be? How would you deal with difficult people? What would you do to build a cohesive team? How would you recognise and utilise emotional intelligence to build capacity within your team? How well do you know yourself? Your team?
All quite deep and thought provoking – if you are parepared to allow yourself to go there!
Safety (ECM agenda)
After reading brilliant reviews about the DJ & MC Academy, it was absolutely fantastic to actually have them present in school! They spoke about the culture of rapping and MC’ing….and the importance of turning negative lyrics into positive ones…and they (in a very thought proving and engaging manner!) talked about positive images especially in the public domain eg: Facebook and YouTube. Words can’t being to describe how fantastically inspiring this presentation was! Check them out: http://djandmcacademy.com/
We also had a representative from The Robert Levy Foundation in to speak about safety – turning away from knife (or any other form of crime) and chasing your dreams. The inspirational and motivating speaker, Mark One (http://www.markone.tv/) talked about staying away from negative influences. In this he shared his own story and is living proof to young people that if you work hard – you can make it!
All in all, a great session. I would highly recommend both groups and I feel that they work very well together, an excellent balance!
Twitter tastic!
One amazing thing I did last year – was join Twitter. It really is fantastic! Since joining, I have learnt so much about a range of issues ranging from safeguarding to learning and teaching…. There is no limit to what gets discussed and people are always so willing to share good practice. This is by far the best on going CPD that there is. Now I have come across http://ukedchat.wikispaces.com/ so will enjoy a more focussed session on a weekly basis! If you are pressed for time – do join Twitter! You can even access from your smart phone – so can learn on the move – do it!
www.twitter.com
Free half-day CPD workshops for teachers in London
Whole school | Published 8 June, 2010
View profile Date:25 – 27 August, 2010
Location:National Maritime Museum
Street:Greenwich
City:London
Phone:020 7070 6805
Email:lmaguire@cabe.org.uk
Website:http://www.engagingplaces.org.uk/news/art79251
..This August Engaging Places is running two special half-day CPD workshops for teachers in London. Through best practice examples and practical activities, attendees will learn how to get the most out
National Maritime Museum
Workshops details
Dates and times: Wednesday 25 August, 13.30 – 16.30
Friday 27 August 2010, 9.30 – 12.30
The world around us is a free teaching tool, which can engage young people in school lessons, by showing how learning in the classroom relates to real life. Using buildings and places to teach the curriculum can inspire and motivate students across a variety of subjects and curriculum areas. This approach to learning also allows engagement of young people in cultural activity through subject lessons.
The workshops will illustrate through best practice examples and practical activity how your local area can be used to teach any subject and every age; and how schools and cultural learning providers, such as local museums, working together can best enhance teaching and learning. You will also be guided through the many free built environment education resources and lesson plans available.
Specialist Status reflections…
The Specialist Schools Programme (SSP) helps schools to establish distinctive identities through their chosen specialisms. This in turn helps them achieve their targets to raise standards. Specialist schools aim to develop centres of curriculum excellence which are catalysts for accelerated whole school improvement by making a step change in the way they develop educational provision and raise standards for all.
My most recent experience is working in a Specialist Sports College. On a day-to-day basis yes you really do ‘feel’ that you are in a sports college as it is mentioned regularly and many students are involved in sporting activities, especially of a high profile nature. As a large department with many facilities, it is certainly what attracts many students to the school. Therefore, the impact of a Sports Specialism is high – especially as many flock to the various in house and external events in this area.
How can impact in terms of whole school improvement be created successfully through the specialism? Sport has been used successfully to improve punctuality, attendance and motivation. For example, as a Religious Studies teacher I have led on a series of workshops titled ‘Religion in Dance’ which did prove highly sucessful in motivating a group of semi-disaffected students towards engagement with the curriculum. A sports specialism can also be used effectively to drive forward core standards such as literacy across the curriculum… eg: Religious Studies examining Sectarianism in Sport and Black History Month further supporting the development of key skills such as persuasive writing…
It certainly is ‘nice’ to work in a school that has a distinctive identity – particularly when it comes to showcasing and celebrating achievement. The harder task is to ensure that a specialist status is used as an effective tool to accelerate whole school improvement. To achieve this, a very careful and dedicated planning, monitoring, review and evaluation process needs to be in place at a high profile level. This does need to tie in very neatly with the whole school development plan – which is not always an easy task, but a possible one that a dedicated team can achieve well!
Emotional Intelligence in School
In preparing for my new role, I have been thinking and researching into Emotional Intelligence as I truly believe it is the key to a successful and productive team creating impact. This is the essential premise: to be successful requires the effective awareness, control and management of one’s own emotions, and those of other people. EI embraces two aspects of intelligence:
* Understanding yourself, your goals, intentions, responses, behaviour…
* Understanding others, and their feelings.
Clearly this will be difficult to achieve straight away, but I do feel raising more awareness at an early stage will enhance the capacity of the team further.
In order to do this effectively, Goleman identified five key ‘domains’ as:
1. Knowing your emotions;
2. Managing your own emotions;
3. Motivating yourself;
4. Recognising and understanding other people’s emotions;
5. Managing relationships, ie., managing the emotions of others.
Emotional Intelligence embraces and draws from numerous other branches of behavioural, emotional and communications theories. By developing our Emotional Intelligence we can become more productive and successful at what we do, and help others to be more productive and successful too. This will be especially relevant in my new whole school role in achieving the best for everyone through effective use of CPD and strategic organisation. A truly excellent result for all is that the process and outcomes of Emotional Intelligence development also contain many elements known to reduce stress for colleagues by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and increasing stability, continuity and general happiness. All round fabulous results for students and staff!
CPD
Teaching and Learning Community
I have been working on a very exciting and effective programme of further developing the capacity of teachers utilising their peers. The project (learning 3′s) has been running for just over a term now. This effective in house provision compromises of 3 teachers (an outstanding; struggling and one from the schools specialism) joint planning lessons, peer observing, feeding back….in a cycle. There has also been some formal in put and lots of LEA support in various guises.
What has been so good about this programme?
* Teachers who may not necessarily ‘mix’ are now learning from each other and an excellent support network has formed.
* Teachers are talking ‘shop’ a bit more and this can only be good for the students!
* There is an element of general and personalised CPD woven through the programme eg: a newly appointed Head of Department has been trained in giving constructive feedback under the new framework.
* Teachers have gained in confidence as they develop further.
What could be improved?
* The programme (unfortunately) relies on good will to attend meetings….. It would be better if meetings for the Learning 3′s were fixed in the school calendar. This would avoid ‘guilt syndrome’!
* It would be even better if all teachers were part of a learning community so that the ‘buzz’ would ripple throughout the whole school!
This is a fantastic programme which should be embedded into everyday practice – we should open our doors and invite each other to share in the evaluative process of each of our lessons.