Google Slides was really a game changer in regards to simplifying what had been overcomplicated way of incorporating Gamification into my lessons. I still love the idea of using a website like wix.com for creating a Flipped Learning Environment. However, Google Slides provided an opportunity I hadn’t initially foreseen. Particularly, with all my students enrolled into the Department of Education's Cloud Based Google service. Problem number one I couldn't figure out how to fix was keeping track of students XP points. There was nothing stopping them from saying "Yeah Mr.Crowe, I'm on Level X or Z". Keeping track of points was difficult, particularly when in theory it shouldn't be. Probably trying to do it with 150 students was part of the problem. Nevertheless, even with the advantages that Slides presented, removing the oppurtunity to cheat still lingered. But it wasn't until I discovered AutoCrat did I feel like I had found the answer. Hopefully this post can explain how to set up your own Gamified Digital Passport using Slides & Autocrat! ThemeLike any Gamification Universe, you need to start with a theme. For this example, I’ll use the example of the Avengers which we are trialing with our Grade 5's at the moment. (I've got to thank my colleague Mr.Morrison for "up-levelling" the theme. His ideas have helped supercharge it! If you want to find out further information, make sure you pick up a copy of Michael Matera’s Gamification bible, Explore Like a Pirate. In this theme, our students are becoming members of the Avengers Initiative, where they can earn Avenger (AVR) Points. 100 AVR points uncovers a secret pass code that convinces SuperHeroes to join their team. We've sent them a copy of a Digital Passport through Google Classroom. Students can then collect SuperHero's by clicking on the name of the Character they want. The link takes them to a Google Form. They must enter their email and a secret passcode. Then, they will be emailed a Badge with the character on it. Only then can they copy and paste the character into their Passport. It sounds a bit complicated, but trust me it is AWESOME! Google Slides - Edit Master
Badges - Google FormsBadges - Google Docs/Slides
Badges - AutocratWhere the magic begins! On every Form made for a character, you'll need to activate a linked Google Sheet that has the Autocrat Add-On enabled. I’ve got Andy Hair to thank for this one! It’s seriously amazing. But I'll be honest, it initially can take some time to get going. Like I already said above, using AutoCrat has "kind of" solved a problem I've found whereby keeping check of students points became a huge challenge. Using Autocrat's features means that students can't collect an Avenger into their team unless they have a secret passcode. This passcode can only be handed out when students have earned enough points. For example, for completing a task designated by the teacher. I say "kind of" because there's nothing stopping students sharing a code with their friend. On the 2nd step you'll be asked to choose a template. This is the Slide or Doc you've made (Like the example of the Black Panther) above. In this section, this is where you map the data to the template. <<NAME>> maps to the data on the form that asks the student to put in their name. Change the document type to a PDF that will be sent to students. This is probably the most important part. It means the Mail Merge where the students are automatically sent an email won't work unless they have the correct text in the box next to the "equals". In this case, students trying to recruit the Black Widow with their 100 AVR points must input Natasha into the passcode section of the Form. Ideally you want to share it from a non-generic email address. It kind of defeats the myth that we are really Avengers if the email from Director Fury is sent from my own email address. Make sure you use the tag <<email>> or whatever you've called the section that collects students email. You can even add a generic response underneath. The trigger runs whenever a new submission has been made. This is a cool feature as it almost responds instantly with an email back to the student. Give it a goI'll admit, I have invested significant time into trying this out. But I think it's working pretty well now with our Grade 5s.
And if it sounds too hard but you want to play our Theme you can make a copy of the link in the post! Good luck Gamifying your classroom!
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Last holidays, I completely switched off from anything work related. I got sucked into binging on the show the 100 (which is awesome!) & didn’t go anywhere near Twitter. I had entered full SLOTH MODE. Steve the teacher was someone who existed in another reality and was the furthest thing from my mind. Then an unknown number called my phone on the last Thursday night of holidays. Holidays were suddenly over. It was a big shock to hear a message from Cameron Hocking from DLTV. The guts of it was something like this: “We have you down to do a SPARK Talk but realised we forgot to tell you.” Intrigued but suddenly anxious, I called back wondering - What did I write down I’d like to do again? Cameron’s reply was “It’s titled, Why More Time Won’t Fix anything”, which is kind of ironic seeing as though Digicon is two weeks away.” I remember laughing with him about it. But in my head, my first instinct was to feel terribly sick. Not a chance I’m doing a Spark Talk. There’s no time to prepare. Hopefully I’m at a PD or have a meeting I can’t get out of. During her keynote at Digicon, Holly Ransom discussed how every person has a comfort zone. And that everything within the comfort zone is not what we should be doing if we wish to better ourselves. The decision to either do it or not do it fell heavily one way or the other within these categories. Upon reflection, it’s interesting how whenever I feel a sense of getting out of my comfort zone, my first instinct is to react with feelings of scurrying in the opposite direction. .So, despite my feelings of apprehension, my second thought was, What a hypocrite! You wanted to do a Spark Talk about Time! You actually can’t say no. You have to do it! Before Presenting with Andrell Education, I would have definitely taken the easy way out. But saying no would be staying in that bubble of the comfort zone and a huge opportunity missed. Not just for sharing my ideas but my own professional and personal development. However, the simple acknowledgement and mindset of giving this a crack left me with a serious problem. I was actually really afraid and unsure if I could work my thoughts into a 12 minute talk in time. Or, more likely, that it would form into something meaningful or worthy of others investing 12 minutes of their time into. As I was already presenting at Digicon, I was prepared for my session on the Thursday. Luckily. Because for those next two weeks I smashed out a presentation. (After buying TED TALK book) I pieced together the bones of a narrative about something I am REALLY passionate about. Then I practised and practised and practised. Before my son woke up, while he was eating breakfast & after work every single night for two weeks. I practised in front of a camera. Recorded the talk on my phone, timed it, and started listening to it on the way to work or while I was out for a run. One thing I remember clearly before my time as a Presenter for Andrell, is that you can’t practise enough. I can’t profess to subscribe to old mantra of practise makes perfect. Because it doesn’t make it perfect, but it makes a bloody huge difference. I reckon I practised to the point of being over the whole thing. When Friday arrived I felt really positive, if not mentally drained from thinking about it so much. I rolled into the first session of SPARK talks. Having never done one before, I was intrigued by the whole concept. 12 minute talks that could be about anything related to teaching. Would people be reading from notes? Or would it be more Ted style? Was I mixing with experienced campaigners or first timers? To my relief, it was a mixture of everything. There weren’t as many people there as I’d expected either. And it comforted me. See, you can do this. My confidence sunk like a sinking ship around midday when DLTV started handing out awards after the last keynote. When I heard Narissa Leung receive her award my stomach twisted. My hands shook as I took out the Digicon timetable, confirming the sudden anxiety climbing up my throat. Holy s#%^! The teacher who just won teacher of the year is doing a SPARK talk after me. What if like 50 people come in to listen to her & have to listen to me first? OMG! I hurried out, seriously considering fleeing. What if I just keep walking passed the lecture theatre and jump on the train? No one will miss me right? Reaching the lecture theatre, I held firm and entered, feeling suddenly as nervous as my first interview as a graduate teacher. John Pearce was up first. I liked the tone and enjoyed the content of his talk. But honestly, I can’t remember much of it. Despite how engaged I would have normally been, I was feeling so sick. There were some people I recognised from Twitter in the room, including Bec Spink. Again, the voice in my head. Man, she just smashed a whole room with a keynote yesterday and now she’s got to put up with you? When John finished, I got up, fumbling around with the microphone, hoping my ancient computer would work. In my head, I replayed the positive mindset mantra I’d often say in the early days of Presenting for Andrell. You’re going to smash this! You’re going to smash this! The only difference was this time I had no colleague up there with me. The lecture theatre suddenly felt massive as I placed my drink bottle on the table. Despite there being maybe 10-20 people in the room, it felt jam packed. I made sure my iPad with my dot pointed script was on hand just in case, grabbed my clicker, looked up, tried to smile and realised there were no more reasons to delay the inevitable. And began. It literally was over before I knew it. Everything flowed as I knew it would. Partly on the back of practising it so much. I made a conscious effort to fill the presentation with as little text as possible, using Gifs and images as checkpoints to navigate and clarify my thinking throughout the talk. The script kind of warped and adjusted as I went. As it always seems to when presenting. And I think it went okay. I felt like it resonated with some people and got some kind comments from some of the people nearby. I enjoyed being able to sit back, relax and be enthralled by Narissa Leung's talk, which particularly resonated with me. But the funny thing was, especially looking back at it now, I didn’t really mind if my Spark talk was totally crap and wasted everyone’s time. The sense of achievement, of actually completing something, particularly something I’d invested so much time into, was enormous. I was just pumped to have given it a go. And I strongly encourage you should give it a go too. Why you should apply to do a SPARK TALK. 1. Getting out of your comfort zone.
Write down everything you are comfortable with & start doing things outside it. I loved Holly Ransoms idea of her and her friend doing things out of their comfort zone. It was a huge takeaway for me. Doing a Spark Talk is a fantastic vehicle for getting out of your comfort zone. 2. The vibe of Spark Talks. I felt as if there was a very supportive atmosphere in the room. It was nice to chat with some people afterwards. I felt this sense of unity between us all. Like we are all in this together. That there was a mutual support of presenter and attendee. I wanted to hear something good from the presenters & wanted them to succeed. As a Presenter, I wanted to ensure it wasn’t a waste of someone's time. We were all there seeking something in a way I think that differs from other sessions throughout the two days. It was unique. 3. Because your ideas matter. I remember a teacher at a VCOP & Big Write PD saying, “This is probably a crap idea…” and after explaining it, everyone in the room thought it was the complete opposite. It was such a good idea we pinched it and published it on facebook that week. It perfectly illustrates that teachers have incredible ideas. That includes you. When people don’t speak up in staff meetings it is to the detriment of everyone in that room. Your ideas matter. Let them out! Here's a blog post version of my Spark Talk from Digicon. Why More Time Won't Fix AnythingHow many times have you heard someone say “I;m so busy” or “There's never enough time!”. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve heard it. And I’d comfortably put money on it that you’ve heard it too. It’s become so normal that it is NORMAL. Teachers never have enough time. I am convinced technology can help us save time in the classroom. The only problem, with this idea, is that to learn how to use technology that can benefit us requires time. And this is an issue, because we don’t have enough time do we?
Scott Pape, the Barefoot investor has some interesting ideas about time in relation to investment. He suggests people should take performance management more seriously. We should invest time into it because the work we do now will eventually lead to leadership or further opportunities to rise up the ranks,. Which in turn leads to earning more money.I think we should be applying this same principle of investing time in regards to the issue of teacher workload. It might take a little more time initially to learn about a new technology . Whether it be a new app, website, or program. But if that app/website has the potential to save us time, then surely it’s worth the investment? The question is, how do we invest time we don’t have? An Investment in Time4 years ago, I made an investment with my time. Turns out it was the best I've made in my teaching career. I walked into my Principal's Office towards the end of Term 3 2013 and asked him if I could go on Sabbatical Leave? He looked at me, narrowing his brows and asked. “You really want to work for 80% pay for 4 years?”. I shook my head, grinning and replied. “Nope, just for one year?”. To this, he frowned. “You can do that?” Long story short, he supported me and said yes to it. The idea was simple. I would work for 4 terms at 80% pay & get the 5th off (Term 4 of 2014). It equated to something like 18 weeks paid leave! If you’ve never considered it, I strongly recommend it. Before finishing up in Term 3 of 2014, I remember noticing that a distinctive negative vibe was beginning to cling to the fabric of my school. (Which was then, and still is, an amazing school). It was probably the first time I really took notice of the workload becoming a big issue. People were stressed, they were tired and complaining about their workload. I sympathized with them but didn’t get caught up in it. How could I? After all, my mini retirement was looming. I couldn’t get out the door quick enough. I spent part my 4 month Sabbatical travelling through ASIA. Despite the amazing experiences I saw, what struck me the most was not just the poverty, but the sheer number of people and how they lived. The enormity of the challenges these people faced every day was confronting. I remember walking through a street in Varanasi. In the middle of the road was a median strip. On either side of the strip was a line of beggars that stretched for seemingly ages. The little squares they occupied were like their homes. I remember quite clearly having this profound moment of thinking... Man, I am never going to complain again about working late after school again, or writing reports. … Any feelings of ill will I had towards my life, and my job as a teacher, just suddenly seemed insignificant into what these people lived with every day. The point of discussing my Sabbatical Leave was not to talk about Gratitude. But because it illustrated the power of investing time. 4 MONTHS PAID. LEAVE. Although that years investment rewarded me with an amazing overseas experience, the greatest reward was the reminder that despite it’s challenges, teaching can be an incredibly rewarding job. And is something we seem to forget in the day to day struggles of our teacher workload. When I came back to school in 2015 really refreshed and rejuvenated about my love of teaching. I was teaching Pe and Grade 5 2 days a week. It was an awesome role and one I was looking forward to after teaching PE full time for three years. But not surprisingly, those negative vibes and stresses I’d left behind in the previous year before I left were still there. And almost instantly, I noticed how prevalent it was. How people would engage in conversation about being busy, overworked and undervalued and complaining about it, quickly surrounded me. The only thing was this time around, I was engaging in the conversations and feeling the stresses. The profound revelations discovered by Sabbatical Leave Steve meant stuff all to overworked, tired & stressed Steve. I realised after a few months I didn’t want to live every day feeling overworked and stressed. Except, other than applying for Sabbatical leave again, I didn’t really know what to do about it. Other than complain of course. At the time, our school had adopted the use of Google Drive for our staff. Early that year, I attended a session at an ACHPER conference run by a teacher named Andy Hair. He demonstrated how awesome Drive could be in relation to PE.I was so pumped afterwards because of all of our Phys Ed admin hours that would be wiped out. I was seriously blown away. And I remember, going home and for the first time in my life watching videos on youtube and teaching myself more about what I’d seen. I knew if I started investing more time into learning about these little tools and tricks, I could save time for myself and my colleagues and ultimately decrease my workload. The challenge was and still is making others see the value in this type of educational technology. Particularly when lack of time such an issue. And in the two years since then, I’ve come to believe that there are three specific challenges that are increasing teacher workload, which in turn stand in the of people being able to invest more time into this type of technological PD. MultitaskingDaniel Levitsen in The Organised Mind (2014) claims the following about multitasking:
I don’t know about you but Leviton's research contradicts a lot of what I’d heard about multi tasking. We boast about it all the time right. How good they are at multi tasking. I remember reading and just thinking. Isn’t being able to multitask a good thing? BusinessLevitson research to highlights another obvious reason why teacher "workload" is such an issue. Because we are overloaded with so much multi tasking, it creates a feeling of constant busyness. And when we’re busy guess what, there’s never any time to do anything. If you live in America in the 21st Century, you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulations: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.” I suppose it’s comforting to know it’s not just teachers who are busy. According to Tim Krieder, who goes on to explore this idea more in Tim Ferriss' (2016) Tools of the Titans, it’s a cultural thing. I couldn’t help but laugh. 1: Because I would say this all the time… And 2: Because every teacher I know or have met says the same thing. Not only do we say we are busy… we always say “I never have time for anything!” The stats highlight that it's an issue, but I'd argue that it's developed into a culturally grained idea to the point of becoming normal. TEACHERS ARE BUSY! |
1. The next time someone TELLS YOU they’re busy… Or you think about saying you're busy. Restrain yourself from getting sucked in. 2. Next time you’re multi tasking - stop and focus on one thing and doing it well. 3. The next time a colleague posts a meme or video… ask yourself before you like and share it, are you contributing to the normalisation of this business “epidemic”. |
This video kind of sums up everything...
No time. There’s never any time. Again, it’s real but are we making it more real? Are we doing something about it?
Managing our workload can be assisted by learning investing more time into technology. I can guarantee that down the track… you will find yourself spending less time feeling stressed and overworked.
And more days of not only making a difference with our students, but having FUN!
Towards the end of Term 4 2016, after two unsuccessful attempts to sign up to Google Classroom, I was almost ready to give up. But after chatting to an old uni friend Jo Crowther I learnt some important information about how to get started. Information EVERYONE should know about.
But so far, it’s been 100% worth it!
Background
Our Grade 5s are fully 1:1 with iPads with only about 8 students out of 100 not having their own device from home. Nevertheless, all are able to access an iPad. This makes it really easy to run lessons using any space within the school. Each Class can be accessed by me (ICT teacher) & students Classroom Teacher. And although we are still really only in the trial phase of introducing Google Apps across the Grade 4s-6s, there’s been a lot of success already. We have 3 teachers teaching specialist ICT, which in a way has worked out well as one of us is teaching one of the year levels of 4,5 &6. It’s been great to try it together, and now our enthusiasm is catching as some of the classroom teachers are beginning to use it also.
Here’s 5 reasons why you should consider doing it.
- The Department has enabled Google Apps & Microsoft 360 for Department Schools
- The process is long & challenging
- It’s almost like they don’t want you to sign up
- Setting up the students is also terribly time consuming
But so far, it’s been 100% worth it!
Background
Our Grade 5s are fully 1:1 with iPads with only about 8 students out of 100 not having their own device from home. Nevertheless, all are able to access an iPad. This makes it really easy to run lessons using any space within the school. Each Class can be accessed by me (ICT teacher) & students Classroom Teacher. And although we are still really only in the trial phase of introducing Google Apps across the Grade 4s-6s, there’s been a lot of success already. We have 3 teachers teaching specialist ICT, which in a way has worked out well as one of us is teaching one of the year levels of 4,5 &6. It’s been great to try it together, and now our enthusiasm is catching as some of the classroom teachers are beginning to use it also.
Here’s 5 reasons why you should consider doing it.
- Flipped Learning
Here's an example.
2. Student Engagement
Enabling students to have a direct line of communication to a teacher presented heaps of possibilities. I could also hear some of my colleagues voicing their concerns about being able to be contacted. But when my iPad goes off with a notification on classroom of a student asking a question, I think it is the best thing ever. Imagine a student, keen to continue learning at home but hits a roadblock and can’t find the answer. Before, that student would need to wait all night and hope to catch me during the day to find the answer. Their interest levels might even disappear in that time. Now, all they need to do is ask a question on the task & I will be notified. If I see it, I can answer it right away.
3. Students not missing out!
Yesterday, team teaching with a Grade 5 teacher, he showed me his laptop and said ‘check this out.’ A student from his grade who was away had sent him evidence of completing the Maths task set during the day. She even emailed it to him! It was such a powerful moment for me & some reassurance that the point of setting up Google Apps (enabling flipped learning) is slowly starting to work!
4. More time
Furthermore, I have set a goal to be able to create every lesson for Term 3 ahead of time. The ability to schedule assignments in Google Classroom will mean that I can push out each new lessons the night before the lesson. Although it will take time to create the lessons, in the long run I’m investing in my work life balance for Term 3. I will have no planning as such as the lessons will already be ready to go out ahead of time.
For the Grade 5 & 6 team, one teacher could also push out learning materials for everyone else in the team, thus saving time for others.
5. Collaboration
We have a Grade 6 Tech Team at school, who are helping develop some initiatives at school. One of which is to create a QR Code “Hunt” for our Special Friends Day. Watching them create the Slide Deck together is really cool. How they’re problem solving, discussing and questioning each other on a task they are all engaged in is really interesting. Having students work on a shared slide deck, where they can comment on each others work is encouraging positive Digital Citizenship and reinforcing positive online interactions.
6. Powering up Gamification
Coinciding with all my Classes, I’ve trialed running a Fictional Game behind the learning via the idea of Gamification. Long story short, if students choose to play they enter the Academy of Creativity & Imagination. Here, they are striving to become Agents who will fight against a group of Creatures hell bent on hijacking students creativity skills. Students can move through the ranks of the Academy to become Agents by finishing class work. When they do, they earn XP. The more XP they earn, the higher they move in rank.
To try and encourage more students to participate, this term I decided to post a series of Puzzles online. If students can crack the code, they earn extra XP but also unlock a part of my Gamified Website called a Side Mission. Students can then carry out a Creative task that gives them more XP.
For the first Puzzle, I asked students to Crack a Secret Code. The first 13 students who did are now Secret Agents. They’ve been told to keep their identities hidden from the other students, which has created this really cool interest in the other students to try and find out who they are. At the moment, students are trying to figure out who they are to unlock the next Side Mission.
Classroom has really enhanced this because students can ask me questions online or submit the answer they think is right. I’ve been able to give them instant feedback and clues that continues to hook them into the Game, and therefore the learning that takes place in lessons.
Since 2015, I have been convinced that technology is the answer to making teachers lives easier. There is so much talk of not enough time & being overworked! I'm not arguing that it's not true. My gripe with this talk of no time and workload is that not enough of us actually do anything about it other than complain about it. Last year, my argument within my ACHPER presentation about the challenge of creating a culture within a school that has an embedded whole school approach to health PE is that it is near on impossible to create one because of the workload of a classroom teacher. And whilst we can champion it and recruit others to the cause will help create this culture, the real answer is using technological tools to better manage our time more effectively.
"Great idea Crowy!" some will see. "But when will I get the time to do be able to learn how to use these tools?"
#SIGH
We have to make time. We have to invest it out of hours. Just like we invest money into a savings account. The pay off won't be instantaneous. But in the future, that small time investment of our time will open up hours and hours of time in the future.
Yesterday, a friend of mine showed how powerful investing time to explore technology can be. And it is an absolute game changer. It is why I'm writing this at 6am on a Saturday morning. Our whole staff is going to benefit from this enormously.
Before I explain how, let me give you some back story. I am probably lucky that in my first year of teaching, our Leadership Team decided to become a pilot school in this new thing called a PLC (Professional Learning Community). It was huge in America, but new in Australia. That was nearly 7 years ago we started doing it. And 5 years down the track we were the 2nd school in Australia to be recognised as a PLC. Pretty cool, considering how many schools in Victoria are becoming PLC's now.
A big part of PLC is collaboration. And one thing we have been doing for three years is use Google Docs for planning. Every Year Level Team has time set aside within the timetable to plan for next weeks lessons together. Each teacher is able to write into the same document at the same time. This is fantastic, as all the resources are in the one spot with any links and information we will need.
However, for all its benefits, we have noticed that it has inadvertently caused a few productivity issues.
There is just TOO many documents!
Over the course of 18 months, I can remember 3 clear instances where I have shown staff examples of how powerful docs, slides, forms and sheets can be. In hindsight, they probably weren't presented clearly. And I should have known from my writing about a whole school approach to PE, people have so many other things happening that it's hard to get excited about something you don't know about, or don't initially see the benefit of. And again, many peoples answer to these suggestions of the best way to learn how to use them is to play around themselves is:
“I don’t have the time to figure that out or do it because I’m so busy”.
Until yesterday, when someone did it! A friend of mine had been playing around with putting the planner into a Google Sheet. Having looked over it yesterday, a number of things struck me that were better than what we are doing currently.
I hope from this now other staff members will see how beneficial investing time into technology will reap rewards for them in the future. Those few nights my colleague put into developing this new document will save her hours every week. Add that up over the year and that’s huge. All it took was a bit of work in the beginning.
And it clearly illustrates that complaining about our workload gets us nowhere. Being proactive about finding ways to save us time on administrative tasks through technology is going to help solve the problem of teacher workload.
"Great idea Crowy!" some will see. "But when will I get the time to do be able to learn how to use these tools?"
#SIGH
We have to make time. We have to invest it out of hours. Just like we invest money into a savings account. The pay off won't be instantaneous. But in the future, that small time investment of our time will open up hours and hours of time in the future.
Yesterday, a friend of mine showed how powerful investing time to explore technology can be. And it is an absolute game changer. It is why I'm writing this at 6am on a Saturday morning. Our whole staff is going to benefit from this enormously.
Before I explain how, let me give you some back story. I am probably lucky that in my first year of teaching, our Leadership Team decided to become a pilot school in this new thing called a PLC (Professional Learning Community). It was huge in America, but new in Australia. That was nearly 7 years ago we started doing it. And 5 years down the track we were the 2nd school in Australia to be recognised as a PLC. Pretty cool, considering how many schools in Victoria are becoming PLC's now.
A big part of PLC is collaboration. And one thing we have been doing for three years is use Google Docs for planning. Every Year Level Team has time set aside within the timetable to plan for next weeks lessons together. Each teacher is able to write into the same document at the same time. This is fantastic, as all the resources are in the one spot with any links and information we will need.
However, for all its benefits, we have noticed that it has inadvertently caused a few productivity issues.
- People don’t use the planning document as their own planner. In fact, they go away and rewrite it again because they prefer it in their own way. Which I think is crazy. Why spend another 2 hours redoing something? Except, when I reflected about trying to understand why, the answer became obvious. The Team planners, aren’t that clear when you look at them. Visually, they are challenging. And I think to a certain degree everyone at our school has discussed this at some point in time and agreed to try and find a better way. It's been edited, changed, rearranged and yet some improvements have been made the problem still exists.
- Secondly, is the amount of Docs floating around in the Google Universe that we need. We have scope and sequences, detailed explanations, guides, documents created by our leaders (Which are awesome by the way) that help us guide our planning. However, there are SO many. We end up with dozens of tabs open each meeting on our computers. Not to mention the sheer number of literacy and numeracy docs we accumulate after having a new one per week. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes for everyone to make sure they are working on the right document.
- Finally, we are caught between the old world (our schools internal server) where lots of important stuff is stored) and the new world (Our Google Drives with dozens of shared docs, resources and important information) PLUS, our school Emails which also have important stuff.
There is just TOO many documents!
Over the course of 18 months, I can remember 3 clear instances where I have shown staff examples of how powerful docs, slides, forms and sheets can be. In hindsight, they probably weren't presented clearly. And I should have known from my writing about a whole school approach to PE, people have so many other things happening that it's hard to get excited about something you don't know about, or don't initially see the benefit of. And again, many peoples answer to these suggestions of the best way to learn how to use them is to play around themselves is:
“I don’t have the time to figure that out or do it because I’m so busy”.
Until yesterday, when someone did it! A friend of mine had been playing around with putting the planner into a Google Sheet. Having looked over it yesterday, a number of things struck me that were better than what we are doing currently.
- The whole document can be on one page. On Docs, everything is so big, long and hard to view. This gives clarity. Chunky, space consuming links can be hidden by inserting a comment into the cells.
- Eliminating multiple documents per term. The Tab function at the bottom enables us to have Week 1, Week 2 etc a simple click away. Being able to navigate this way will save so much time searching for last weeks document to double check what we did.
- Clear overview of the term. At the moment, we have pacing guides which give a clear indication of what we are doing each week. The issue has been it takes time for our Facilitators (who lead the Teams) to cut and paste everything from the Pacing Guide into the new weeks planner. Now it will be clearly laid out from the beginning of term.
I hope from this now other staff members will see how beneficial investing time into technology will reap rewards for them in the future. Those few nights my colleague put into developing this new document will save her hours every week. Add that up over the year and that’s huge. All it took was a bit of work in the beginning.
And it clearly illustrates that complaining about our workload gets us nowhere. Being proactive about finding ways to save us time on administrative tasks through technology is going to help solve the problem of teacher workload.
Today I finally used a google form for an exit slip during Intervention/Extension sessions. It worked an absolute treat! It was super easy for the students to read the questions on their own iPads. Students scanned a QR code to get the questions and used their work books to do their workings out and then submitted their answers.
What I like about this was that I could quickly check their answers and see what they did wrong and assist. But even cooler, was that THEY saw it instantly as well. I was able to challenge them to go back and see if they could fix it. I could feel how empowered students felt being able to receive feedback from their answers. For me, it took the stress out of trying to check in with every student in a short time frame. I felt I could really help those that needed it and students who had an okay understanding of the topic already knew how to achieve the success criteria.
Now we probably need to do whole class lessons in ICT teaching students how to use Google Forms. Here's an example of the exit slip below. There's also the blog post by Alice Keeler on how to insert a Bitmoji into the form.
https://docs.google.com/a/pearcedaleps.vic.edu.au/forms/d/1QqGwLSulkHO_0UjnsabM3RnbfF66bpNey8P--j8dOcI/edit
http://alicekeeler.com/2016/12/29/insert-bitmoji-google-form/
What I like about this was that I could quickly check their answers and see what they did wrong and assist. But even cooler, was that THEY saw it instantly as well. I was able to challenge them to go back and see if they could fix it. I could feel how empowered students felt being able to receive feedback from their answers. For me, it took the stress out of trying to check in with every student in a short time frame. I felt I could really help those that needed it and students who had an okay understanding of the topic already knew how to achieve the success criteria.
Now we probably need to do whole class lessons in ICT teaching students how to use Google Forms. Here's an example of the exit slip below. There's also the blog post by Alice Keeler on how to insert a Bitmoji into the form.
https://docs.google.com/a/pearcedaleps.vic.edu.au/forms/d/1QqGwLSulkHO_0UjnsabM3RnbfF66bpNey8P--j8dOcI/edit
http://alicekeeler.com/2016/12/29/insert-bitmoji-google-form/
About to embark on my 8th year as a teacher at the age of 31, I’ve been thinking about the person and teacher I was like as a 23 year old Grad. What would I tell myself? So, I’m writing to myself and hoping any new grads out there might be able to use some of this advice. When I was a Grad, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Four years of uni prepared me, sort of. Like anyone, I was ‘fully stoked’ to get the job and there were lots of people willing to lend me ideas and offer support. I thought I knew a lot back then, when in fact, I knew nothing. And in fact, still don’t. But if I could speak to myself before I started teaching, this is what I would say. Note: I actually don’t think the 23 year old me would listen to me about some of this… |
1. It’s okay not to have an “Amazing” looking classroom.
Sometimes I would be somewhat anxious about what my room looked like. It wasn’t full of colour, snazy posters, nor was every inch covered in ‘stuff’. I actually didn’t know what I was supposed to put up. Plus, I didn't really want to put fancy, vibrant and colourful displays up in my room because of the time I’d have to spend doing it. Some of my counterparts had these amazing looking rooms, that I had no way of emulating. Decorating was not (and is still not) one of my strengths.
I see people online asking for advice on their display boards. What do you think of this? Where do I start? What do I put up? How does this look? Check out my room! I’m so proud that I spent ALL holidays setting it up! I think this type of conversation can create a culture that builds this pressure in Grads. By seeing so many colourful and vibrant rooms (with lots of teachers spending their own money to make it look “awesome”), I fear Grads see an Amazing looking room is the norm and not the exception.
The point I’m trying to make is this: Sure we can take pride in our rooms, but we shouldn’t be stressing about how look & spending our holidays decorating them. What matters is what happens inside that room when the kids are there. A good leader or mentor teacher isn’t going to care if your room looks awesome if you can’t facilitate a quality learning environment where all your students feel safe, supported and experience success. Instead, focus on writing anchor charts & displays that are co-created or fully developed by your students. Be patient, and the room will look after itself.
Tips
· Avoid feeling stressed about what your room looks like
· Ask your Leadership Team what the expectation is for guidance
· Check what your schools non-negotiables are in relations to displays and start there.
· Focus your energy on developing your teaching.
· Be patient and display anchor charts students can refer to during lessons
· DON’T SPEND MONEY
2. Don’t spend your money on stuff!!
I’m serious. Teachers spend WAY too much money on classroom resources to make their classroom look great. I remember feeling guilty about this. Colleagues had the most amazing looking rooms, but were purchasing things to sparkle it up. Or purchasing resource books or classroom materials. In my head, I was like. Man I’ve had no money for four years trying to get a job. And now I’m meant to be buying things for my job? It didn’t make sense.
Why we spend so much money is another topic of conversation in itself. I think to a degree teachers convince themselves it’s for their students. I guess you can argue it is. But is it necessary. Is all that money spent REALLY necessary?
Tips.
· Find out how well resourced your school is. Is an alternative of what you need already there?
· Ask yourself will my kids learn regardless if I buy this?
· Don’t be pressured into purchasing things because other staff are (most likely ones earning more money than you) There are alternatives.
· Contact staff at your school and see if they have something second hand you can use to save yourself set up time
3. Sign up to Twitter NOW
Twitter is the answer to our prayers. There is most certainly experienced, knowledgeable and dynamic teachers in your school. But think about this. Your school is only one of hundreds in Victoria. Thousands in Australia. And there must be thousands of other teachers on planet Earth when you think about it. And crazy enough, you can find the most innovative and dynamic ones on Twitter. I have learnt more in 18 months through Twitter than I have of regular Professional Development in 6 years.
I couldn’t tell myself this 8 years ago. Did Twitter even exist then? So you’ll already be up on my 23 year old self.
Tips: Follow me and go through all the people I follow and follow them. There are some amazing Australian teachers online. Probably lots I don’t follow.
4. Parents are not the enemy.
I am SURE I was never taught about (at least taught enough) how to speak, act around or deal with parents. In my head, I’d built up this us against them mentality. I was so anxious about them judging me. So afraid of giving out my email address. So cautious about what I said, acted, moved or positioned myself around the students. (Maybe the scare tactics of the AEU worked in my last year at Uni. Especially as a male teacher and some of the horror stories I heard)
I just about locked myself away in the room and did everything I could not to speak to parents. My motto was AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Especially the time consuming parents.
That was a BIG MISTAKE on my behalf. Parents are not the enemy, but your greatest ally. Get outside and meet them. 10 minutes after school at the minimum. Make the effort to engage them. Especially the stand offish ones. Build a relationship with them & get them into the room and help with Reading, marking spelling tests, laminating or helping with other mundane tasks. You will be surprised how many will be keen to help doing this if you make them feel welcome. They will appreciate being involved with their child’s learning.
Tips:
· Be honest if they ask you if it’s your first year. Otherwise, you’re not obliged to tell them.
· Set some clear ground rules and check your school’s policy about parent helpers.
· Seek the advice of other colleagues if you ever feel threatened or uncomfortable.
· Stand outside your room every morning & evening in the first few weeks. Invest the time with parents early is like starting to save your money at an early age. You will reap the benefits down the track.
· Consider using ClassDojo, SeaSaw or something that promotes parent/teacher communication online. It will save you countless phone calls.
5. Ensure you are supported by a mentor teacher
I hit the jackpot with my mentor teacher out of pure luck. Other teachers, I know haven’t been so lucky. I’m gobsmacked by what I’ve read online of the lack of support some teachers have. Your mentor teacher should be making time every week to have some kind of informal or formal chat with you. It should be a mandatory in their job description if they’ve undertaken that role. And if they aren’t organising it, you need to be proactive and organise it with them. Acknowledge them in a positive way & don’t let them get out of locking in a time. “Hey, I know you’re busy. But can we grab a coffee sometime and check in with how I’m going. I’d like to hear your advice on a few things to ensure I continue to develop as a teacher. Does Recess on Monday work for you?”
It’s imperative you have a strong, supportive and positive role model. Whoever this person is will shape you as a teacher in some way. It needs to be positive! And you might find your designated mentor teacher isn’t the person who mentors you as such. That doesn’t matter. You just need someone to talk to. A simple suggestion from an experienced teacher that has been there and done that will be invaluable when the time comes.
· Seek their advice
· Ask to observe their teaching. AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. For that matter, watch as many teachers as possible.
· If you’re not feeling supported, talk to them about it. You should not go through the year unsupported and your school is doing you a disservice if they aren’t.
· If all else fails contact the AEU for advice
6. See your P&D as an investment in your career.
According to Scott Pape, the Barefoot Investor (Highly recommend his book) investing time into your performance review will be invaluable in a few years’ time. He sees performance reviews like money. By investing in your own personal development, we are in a sense investing in our financial future. Because personal and professional development in teaching means two things:
1. Our pay goes up every year
2. We give ourselves more of a chance at leadership opportunities in the future (If that’s what you want)
· I would have also skipped past this advice at 23.
There is a perception among many teachers that our P&D is an inconvenience. Is it the fear of being watched and judged? The fear we might fail it? Our train of thinking in this has been around the wrong way. Not to mention we were one of the few professions that didn’t even have performance reviews until recently. Regardless, I believe on a whole it is viewed negatively.
We should see our P&D as an opportunity to set a goal that we can achieve in one year. Furthermore, one or two of these goals can often involve incorporating something we are passionate about into the classroom. Or we could implement an idea or program we’ve seen work elsewhere. And even better, is the accountability factor. Another aspect that is seen as a negative. Being accountable means we will see this goal through.
Even if we fail, we don’t actually fail. if we put in effort and demonstrate evidence of taking consistent steps in achieving our P&D goal there is absolutely ZERO chance we can fail. Failing means the opportunity to learning more and gather vital experience that will better us in the following years to come.
Tips:
· It will take some time to wrap your head around
· Work with a colleague or your team and work together on some goals
· Plot out a timeline of when you will need to do something towards it. Otherwise, you will be like most people & get to the end of the year and have a mad scramble to finish your P&D.
7. Be aware of Negative Influences
This is a big one for me. And is a common trait not just among teachers but people in general. We are so quick to see the negatives in everything. “We don’t get paid enough.” “I never have enough time to do anything” “I don’t agree with that decision”. “Oh so you want to be a teacher? Get use to long hours for the love of the job!”
Well actually, as a grad in Victoria you are within the top 1% (Based off the $63, 356 starting wage listed by the department) of the richest people in whole entire population of the world. That means every Teacher in Victoria falls into this category. Conversations about lack of time often stem towards a lack of strategies, structures or systems to manage time effectively. And engaging in negative conversations about the decisions made by our superiors without speaking to them about it is the number one most toxic and harmful thing one can to do the culture of an organisation.
There will be people around you who engage in these discussions. (I have even found myself doing this at times) I’m a really positive person in general, but it’s so easy to fall into the trap of developing a negative mindset. Particularly if you’re having a tough run with kids in your Grade. When people talk negatively all the time, you see things negatively. It becomes the norm. And this is toxic and will kill off any enthusiasm you have of being a positive influence on everyone around you.
My advice to myself here is that it gets better. And the people who continually complain, mutter under their breath things that are undermining, negative, or whinging or are to be avoided. Your greatest asset as a Grad is your enthusiasm, don’t let it disappear like it has with so many other people because of things that are out of your control.
Tips:
· Stay positive
· Learn from your mistakes (Take on a Growth Mindset)
· Seek advice from positive influences – There will always be someone in your organisation who is like this, especially at a big school.
· Try not to engage in toxic behaviour
8. Don’t feel guilty about taking a day off
You will get sick. You will need an extra day to write reports. Don’t feel bad about taking a sickie if you’re sick. Your kids will survive. You won’t if you don’t stay at home! You get 5 a year without a certificate.
I don’t need to give myself advice as a grad here. I knew exactly how many of these days I had and made sure they were used.
9. Focus on your strengths
The first thing I noticed about teaching in comparison to my other previous jobs was this:
When you look at the clock, it’s not to countdown how many minutes you have until you finish, but how fast time is running out for you to finish something! In the blink of an eye, the day will be over & then it will be holidays. Then the end of the year. You will hear this constantly from colleagues.
“God, is it week 9 already?”
“Not long now until holidays!”
“Hasn’t this year flown.”
Guess what, every year goes fast. And how quickly time slips by will impact the way you work because you will begin to find you “never have time for everything.”
And this is a good thing.
Especially early. Concentrate on nailing an area of your expertise in the classroom first. Something that you are strong in already. Writing, Reading, Spelling, Maths, whatever… Use that as something you can always be positive about and seek advice from other members of staff to help you improve in other areas.
As you gain experience, improvement will naturally come.
Tips:
If you say you’re not good at something, (As I always did in Maths) Guess what? You will suck at Maths! Learn on the job and be honest with your students about how you’re learning with them. They will be super excited about being a classroom expert that can help other students.
10. Get into the staffroom
I am grateful to one of my mentors and now good friend for role modelling to me the importance of making the time to be social with staff members at work. When I began, it was almost a race who could get into the staffroom the quickest. That invaluable 30 minutes break needed to be spent relaxing, debriefing or simply just having a conversation with someone. #instantcoffee
Seeing others do this embedded it to me as the norm. But now, I often see people staying away from the staffroom to do work.
And this, in my opinion is not a good thing.
Certainly, I can understand people forming an argument that those 30 minutes could be better spent working on some administration or preparation task. Of course they could be spent doing that. But I don’t know if it’s “better spent”. I would argue in the long run you are doing yourself a disservice. There will come a time when you need someone or might have to have a challenging conversation with a staff member. Those discussions will go better for you if develop those relationships now. A 2 minute conversation about the weather or the footy on the weekend as you make a cup of tea is all it takes.
Building relationships with colleagues is imperative to ensuring your mental health and wellbeing stays a priority when things get stressful.
And another huge plus is you will enjoy social gatherings a million times more.
Tips:
· Be a regular in the staffroom
· Speak to different people
· Say hi to EVERYONE and Smile as much as possible!
· Work is a lot easier when your colleagues turn into your friends.
Sure, teaching is challenging at times and you will experience a range of emotions. But the pay off at the end of the year is well worth it in the end. Stay positive & everything will work out in the end.
Using Digital Technology in the classroom can be super overwhelming when you see the abundance of 'stuff' out there. How do you find out what is good and what is junk? I'll admit that it is difficult and often time consuming. The thing is, you have to start somewhere. And more importantly, you have to actually START. This is almost the hardest part. Spend 5-10 minutes a week on playing around with an app to familiarise yourself with it just enough to have a basic understanding. Then let the kids go crazy for it. Some might argue it's a cop out doing it this way. But as teachers, I believe we need to be smarter with our time. Plus, I like the idea of learning things with students and even better,from them. There is nothing more empowering for a student than to know they've taught the teacher something. It gives them a massive boost of confidence. These 8 apps are all my recommendations of where to start this term. They are all fantastic ways to give students a voice in the classroom. And the best thing is they are all FREE! |
You’ve heard the saying, “You need a bag of tricks to be a CRT.” It's true. But it doesn’t have to be a suitcase full of worksheets or resources you lug around everywhere. Here are 5 things I believe are essentials for any CRT looking to survive & thrive within a foreign classroom. They might be of use to you this year.
1. A Mobile Phone with a Hotspot Connection
I took for granted high speed Wi-Fi internet working at a school. Thrust into the unknown, equipped with my laptop full of good back up plans is a sensational idea, IF you have an internet connection. You cannot count on being able to connect to the internet at school. Come armed with your mobile phone & a hotspot connection. It will save your sanity!
The greatest of planned lessons that go horribly wrong can be saved with the following:
www. GoNoodle.com (An awesome brain break activity)
www.smilingminds.com.au (A great way to calm kids down after lunch)
www. ed.ted.com/ (Awesome educational videos on a range of topics.
www. getkahoot.com/ (Great if you are in a 1:1 Ipad environment)
Not that any qualified teacher would ever want to kill time, but on days where things were headed south for whatever reason, these were great to kill 20 minutes. If you’re starting to struggle with their attention or behaviour, it's great to have some kind of fall back alternative.
I took for granted high speed Wi-Fi internet working at a school. Thrust into the unknown, equipped with my laptop full of good back up plans is a sensational idea, IF you have an internet connection. You cannot count on being able to connect to the internet at school. Come armed with your mobile phone & a hotspot connection. It will save your sanity!
The greatest of planned lessons that go horribly wrong can be saved with the following:
www. GoNoodle.com (An awesome brain break activity)
www.smilingminds.com.au (A great way to calm kids down after lunch)
www. ed.ted.com/ (Awesome educational videos on a range of topics.
www. getkahoot.com/ (Great if you are in a 1:1 Ipad environment)
Not that any qualified teacher would ever want to kill time, but on days where things were headed south for whatever reason, these were great to kill 20 minutes. If you’re starting to struggle with their attention or behaviour, it's great to have some kind of fall back alternative.
- Cons: Chew through your data quickly (Maybe download from youtube some things to watch in case at home or on a wifi connection somewhere
- Pros: Claim at tax time $$$
2.The Fundamental Motor Skills Bible I can credit this book with teaching me a lot about how to teach Physical Education. No doubt, it’s done the same for hundreds more. Considering it’s so old, maybe thousands! Students love a CRT that will have fun with them. And getting the kids to buy into behaving and getting all their work done that’s been left by the teacher is awesome if you can reward them with a game at the end of the day. ANYTHING but Dodgeball, Skittles, Bombadier or anything similar. If you’re reading this and going “Man, those are my go to games all the time and the kids love it!” Don’t worry, because so many teachers (myself included) feel the same. Yes, lots of kids love it. But the ones who don’t that just stand back and ‘hide”, you are killing off their confidence and confidence of physical activity. The worst thing a teacher can do is instill negative views on physical activity on children. There are so many of us teachers who hold a negative view towards sport and PE. And you know what, it is most likely from playing games like this when we were primary school students too. That’s why I’m recommending this book. It gives you dozens of games that teach Fundamental Motor Skills. And if kids don’t have mastery of FMS they will struggle when they begin playing major games that require these skills. Download it by following the link below the image of the front cover.
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3. A SideKick (Class Mascot) Never in my wildest dreams would I have said as a Graduate Teacher that one of my most engaging resources was a stuffed, frayed Teddy Bear named Scruffy. I kid you not, Scruffy is the absolute man when it comes to engaging kids you don’t know. Even when you feel like an unqualified fraud, when he comes out, it’s like I’ve just become a Magician. You’ve probably heard of teachers using Mascots that students can take home on the weekends and recount their adventures in a class journal? It’s essentially the same, but the kids obviously don’t take him home. I use to do this in my Grade 3 classroom, but wanted to engage my kids on another level that stimulated their creativity and imaginations. It won’t work for all kids, but if you can get out of your comfort zone & believe your SideKick is REAL, the kids will love it & play along. Some general tips for using a SideKick are
Click the button below to watch a video on how to use a SideKick as a CRT & if it doesn’t make sense, email me and I’ll happily share some more tips and tricks. You can even follow the script I often use.
| Scruffy & I |
4. Wellbeing, Teamwork & Literacy Games
If you’ve never heard of Robert Marzarno, he is a guru in education in America and written a heap of books filled with research (and teacher jargon!) . The first one my Leadership Team bought never got opened) In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the smartest move. What is relevant is that Marzano talks about the keys for Engagement within the classroom.
The 4 points that are relevant all can be incorporated into two of my favourite teaching programs of all time. Wilson McKaskills Play is the Way program, which teaches social interaction, communication, Wellbeing, resilience etc in the form of Games WHICH ARE ALL AWESOME! And secondly, literacy Games based on the VCOP & Big Write program.
You do not need to know about VCOP to play quality and engaging Literacy Games but it’s awesome nonetheless.
Final Thought: THE MORE GAMES YOU KNOW THAT AREN’T JUST SILENT BALL OR DODGEBALL THE BETTER
If you’ve never heard of Robert Marzarno, he is a guru in education in America and written a heap of books filled with research (and teacher jargon!) . The first one my Leadership Team bought never got opened) In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the smartest move. What is relevant is that Marzano talks about the keys for Engagement within the classroom.
- High Energy
- Missing Information
- The Self System (Not so relevant for this post)
- Mild Pressure
- Mild Controversy & Competition
The 4 points that are relevant all can be incorporated into two of my favourite teaching programs of all time. Wilson McKaskills Play is the Way program, which teaches social interaction, communication, Wellbeing, resilience etc in the form of Games WHICH ARE ALL AWESOME! And secondly, literacy Games based on the VCOP & Big Write program.
You do not need to know about VCOP to play quality and engaging Literacy Games but it’s awesome nonetheless.
- Cons: Again, these take time to practise and a bit of trial and error.
- Pros: Some days, you won’t be left a planner & will have the whole day for trail and error.
Final Thought: THE MORE GAMES YOU KNOW THAT AREN’T JUST SILENT BALL OR DODGEBALL THE BETTER
5. CONFIDENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The best piece of advice I’ve ever heard is about how easy it is to make a good impression by portraying and even faking confidence. Imagine you saw some flash new car pull up on the side of a road at a school. The guy who climbs out is wearing an expensive looking suit, designer sunnies and a cool haircut. You might think ‘who is that guy?’ But in truth, this guy is a primary school teacher that has rented the suit and car for a wedding. Neverthless, without that information, you might feel impressed.
What’s the point of this story? Appearances matter!
And I’m not talking about what you wear. I’m talking about your demenour. If you walk into a school with confidence, smile and look everyone in the eye, you will make a good impression. Just the same as you would a job interview. Even more beneficial, is the chances are the person greeting you will react with a smile and a warm and welcoming demeanour, which will alleviate some of your fears and make you confident. And in a way, each day you turn up to a new school is a potential job interview down the track. How many CRT’s have gotten full time positions at schools after firstly CRT’ing for some time? LOTS.
Cons: Walking into a staffroom can be the most intimidating thing on planet earth.
Pros: You will be remembered and asked back.
The thing to remember is if you’re walking into a school as a CRT, you ARE qualified and capable. If you worry about not knowing enough or are somewhat unprepared, well guess what? I’ve taught for 7 years and most days of working as a CRT had no idea what I was doing!
And you know what? I loved every second of it because I had a kit full of these 5 things that could fill an entire day if I needed to.
If you want to know more about my thoughts about Casual Relief Teachers, check out this:
The best piece of advice I’ve ever heard is about how easy it is to make a good impression by portraying and even faking confidence. Imagine you saw some flash new car pull up on the side of a road at a school. The guy who climbs out is wearing an expensive looking suit, designer sunnies and a cool haircut. You might think ‘who is that guy?’ But in truth, this guy is a primary school teacher that has rented the suit and car for a wedding. Neverthless, without that information, you might feel impressed.
What’s the point of this story? Appearances matter!
And I’m not talking about what you wear. I’m talking about your demenour. If you walk into a school with confidence, smile and look everyone in the eye, you will make a good impression. Just the same as you would a job interview. Even more beneficial, is the chances are the person greeting you will react with a smile and a warm and welcoming demeanour, which will alleviate some of your fears and make you confident. And in a way, each day you turn up to a new school is a potential job interview down the track. How many CRT’s have gotten full time positions at schools after firstly CRT’ing for some time? LOTS.
Cons: Walking into a staffroom can be the most intimidating thing on planet earth.
Pros: You will be remembered and asked back.
The thing to remember is if you’re walking into a school as a CRT, you ARE qualified and capable. If you worry about not knowing enough or are somewhat unprepared, well guess what? I’ve taught for 7 years and most days of working as a CRT had no idea what I was doing!
And you know what? I loved every second of it because I had a kit full of these 5 things that could fill an entire day if I needed to.
If you want to know more about my thoughts about Casual Relief Teachers, check out this:
A friend of mine from school, Bill Kerr has been running a podcast called Adventure Fit Travel Radio for some time now. I’ve never actually listened to it. (still haven’t) But I am endeavouring too. Especially after catching up with him over Xmas at a yearly High School mini reunion that has become an annual event in Mornington. We ended up having a quality philosophical conversation about a whole range of different stuff.
And so now I’m actually listening to Podcasts. I’ve always been a big fan of Audiobooks & could listen to the voices of the guys who did the Dark Tower series as well as Hyperion over and over. The problem has always been that I’m also a HUGE fan of music. So big, that it’s on all the time. It’s my obsession. Nothing beats listening to an album from start to finish (with beers) it’s even better. I’m constantly cruising on Spotify searching for new albums or remembering old ones. My daily 5-10-minute drive to work consists of something seriously HEAVY up full blast and me singing along and inadvertently pumping myself up for the day. It’s also a huge form of therapy, enabling my mind to settle to study or work.
So to be able to listen to Podcasts, I think I’ve always know I would need to give some of that up. So I’ve decided that whenever I’m running, riding or doing some free weighted work out in my shed, it’s time to turn on a podcast! And so far, (5 days in) I’ve been blown away with what I’ve heard.
Bill recommended listening to a guy named Sam Harris and a chat he had with a Philosopher named William MacAskill. He’s belief is that all people can do good in the world by giving away all the money that don’t need to survive and live a comfortable life. They discuss the idea that if you were walking past a dam and saw a kid drowning, you would immediately jump in to save that kids life. They linked that to the idea, that the drowning kid scenario is what not giving some of your money away to people who need it is. Essentially, by not giving the money that could be used for food or medicine in a faraway country, you are basically walking away from that kid in the lake.
It goes a lot more into a lot more depth than that! But it got me thinking about how I can do some real good. Or whether I’m actually doing any good right now?
Especially as a teacher in my school community.
I’ve also been listening to the Tim Ferris Show. I’ve read some of his books and taken some of his ideas and applied them to teaching. His podcast with Jaimie Foxx is seriously AWeSOME! Not to mention some Ted talks, which are great as they only go for 10-20 minutes.
I will endeavour to listen to ADFT now Bill!
#TeacherThoughts: Podcasting would be great in a school. How do I get it up and running with my kids? What would they talk about? Issues in the school? Would they get special guests in like teachers or former students?
And so now I’m actually listening to Podcasts. I’ve always been a big fan of Audiobooks & could listen to the voices of the guys who did the Dark Tower series as well as Hyperion over and over. The problem has always been that I’m also a HUGE fan of music. So big, that it’s on all the time. It’s my obsession. Nothing beats listening to an album from start to finish (with beers) it’s even better. I’m constantly cruising on Spotify searching for new albums or remembering old ones. My daily 5-10-minute drive to work consists of something seriously HEAVY up full blast and me singing along and inadvertently pumping myself up for the day. It’s also a huge form of therapy, enabling my mind to settle to study or work.
So to be able to listen to Podcasts, I think I’ve always know I would need to give some of that up. So I’ve decided that whenever I’m running, riding or doing some free weighted work out in my shed, it’s time to turn on a podcast! And so far, (5 days in) I’ve been blown away with what I’ve heard.
Bill recommended listening to a guy named Sam Harris and a chat he had with a Philosopher named William MacAskill. He’s belief is that all people can do good in the world by giving away all the money that don’t need to survive and live a comfortable life. They discuss the idea that if you were walking past a dam and saw a kid drowning, you would immediately jump in to save that kids life. They linked that to the idea, that the drowning kid scenario is what not giving some of your money away to people who need it is. Essentially, by not giving the money that could be used for food or medicine in a faraway country, you are basically walking away from that kid in the lake.
It goes a lot more into a lot more depth than that! But it got me thinking about how I can do some real good. Or whether I’m actually doing any good right now?
Especially as a teacher in my school community.
I’ve also been listening to the Tim Ferris Show. I’ve read some of his books and taken some of his ideas and applied them to teaching. His podcast with Jaimie Foxx is seriously AWeSOME! Not to mention some Ted talks, which are great as they only go for 10-20 minutes.
I will endeavour to listen to ADFT now Bill!
#TeacherThoughts: Podcasting would be great in a school. How do I get it up and running with my kids? What would they talk about? Issues in the school? Would they get special guests in like teachers or former students?
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This blog has been created to share my thoughts on Teaching. It uses my experiences, thoughts and ideas about a whole range of things related to education.
Hopefully you will find somethig here to help develop your teaching.
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