Killing Me Softly OR An Open Letter to Peter Garrett AM, MP (Federal Minister for School Education), Adrian Piccoli (NSW Education Minister) and Maurie Mulheron (President NSW Teachers Federation)

Dear Sirs,

Let's begin and end with honesty. I doubt you'll read this. Any of you. Perhaps it'll trickle to a staffer (I've been one - the standard reply email/letter will do fine, thanks) but I'm not foolish enough to think that I'll be sitting in an office with any of you soon. You don't listen to people like me. We make the wrong noises.

Anyway, I wasn't sure if I should do this. It's a statement that often prefaces my worst work or my best. Let's see what we get...

I like what I do for a living. I'm told, by a wide enough variety of people, that I'm good at it - enough people to negate me feeling 'un-Oztraylian' for allowing myself to believe it as well. I also know that I'm not really supposed to say anything negative about the department for which I work, an expectation that strikes me as quite cowardly, self-defeating and ultimately unnecessary.

But we're so close.

The short version (for the tl;dr crowd) is that we aren't employing the best people, just the ones that are left over after the war of attrition takes its considerable toll. And it hurts this profession. It hurts our reputations as individuals and a community. It hurts the future we appear to believe in. It hurts people. Real ones.

It's unnecessary.

By the way, at this point you already know where you sit on this argument; you either agree or you're who I'm talking about. Normally, that would be a rather pretentious way to start but I've been buried in the polite incompetence of systemic stupidity lately so my words will struggle to remain subtle. So here it is, our system supports the promotion of those who can spend more time leaping through the well-placed hoops over those who are directing all of their energies into meeting the goals the hoops represent. tl:dr again? A good resume beats a great teacher every time.

Let's fix it.

I think I should be allowed to apply for jobs anywhere. Even if they don't exist there yet. I think I should be allowed to send my resume to principals at schools I'd like to work for. Like minds, if you will. I think a principal should be able to see the full extent of my skills too, not just the few criteria that are requested. I'm bigger than a few pages of single spaced, 9.5 font masquerading as 12, paragraphs of barely correlating data (seriously, using NAPLAN to prove that you can teach is like using a single lap of a Westfield carpark in a Datsun 180 to prepare for the Bathurst 1000). Before I taught, I worked in television, raised over $100,000 for charity, worked for one of the world's largest internet search engines, blah. Blah. BLAH!

It shouldn't mean so little.

Right now, it seems that it doesn't matter at all. It seems that the limited range of our selection system keeps finding the same sort of people, the ones that built the system. It requires people to hide innovation, real innovation, beneath poorly executed winks and nudges. It accepts 'almost' for 'actual'. Think about that, a better organised half attempt with obligatory "no really, it's connected" data will look better than a truly innovative approach that is difficult to measure on the Naplaonic Scale. 

Which means, mediocrity is winning. 

Stretching the truth is winning. 

Good resume writers are winning.

Great teachers are not.

Here's how I know this. In the Hunter, where people joke about how hard it is to find teaching work, the region consistently performs below state averages. With so many people applying for positions, surely we're choosing the best, right? Surely they're having an impact, right? Surely we have the reputation for being front runners... industry leaders... innovative trailblazers, right. Right? Right.

Mediocrity is winning. Did I mention that?

I've worked in other professions, I don't see why this one feels the right to such self-protection but I know how it happened. People have been bending this one for so long, desperately trying to get it to work for them, that they didn't even notice when it snapped. Want to hand pick your next staff member? Just change the application to include some obscure skill or requirement that suits that person. If the number of positions requiring 'band' or 'debate skills' in the Hunter's limited primary positions are anything to go by, this city will have a rocking future with some great orators. Spoken word musicals here we come!

Let's just hope this 'technology' thing is a fad, though. No one seems to need that around here!

In my case, I work in a position that makes senior teaching (HSC) experience very difficult to come by. And that's it. I can't even apply for positions. It doesn't matter what else I can do. My partner, recently my fiance, is an exceptional and highly skilled teacher, well regarded in her current workplace with a range of technology skills that don't include the all important 'band'. The official DEC response to a request for information on 'compassionate' transfer? "Getting married is your choice." Very compassionate, Mr Piccoli*. The opportunities for her transfer here using the well defended transfer system? Miniscule and certainly not worth defending, Mr President. The chance of getting an interview? Apparently none, until you can play the recorder or lead the band, Mr Garrett**.

And so, we'll eventually be left with a choice. Two good teachers - arguably great (I can speak for her but my 'Oztraylian' side won't really let me talk myself up that much!) and the two largest cities in the state. And Buckley's chance.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for anything special but, teachers of NSW, please stop telling me that it's fine just the way it is.

It really isn't.

We'd both be working in great teams making great things happen if anyone inside the public system was allowed to see what we can do but we're buried by mediocrity and if you can't see that, it's already buried you too!

Make it better.

You are the privileged few. The ones who can change things. The ones who should, no, must defend this occupation. Take it back from the boring and tedious, give it to the passionate and skilled.

Let me build a team of great teachers and I'll show you a great faculty... a great school... great results. Don't want me to do the job? I don't blame you... you've never even heard of me! Then find someone else - but give them the freedom to choose their staff, the ability to design a method to reach real goals, give them real resources to do so, HOLD THEM RESPONSIBLE if they don't.

Stop protecting people who can't do this job well. I include me too - but only IF I can't do it well***. And to the teachers who think you deserve some special protection, if education as an ideal, as a concept, truly means that much to you, you'd be able to walk away from it if you weren't right for the job. Could you?

Anyway, opponents will pick this to pieces to protect whatever agenda they have - clearly I have one too - and I'm nothing if not accomodating - see, I even made a spelling mistake so you can challenge my intellect. But my rant is not without thought or good intention - I just want to know why good teachers leave and bad teachers don't.

But let's begin and end with honesty.

I'll probably have to quit.

C.MacDonald

* Please note that this quote is from a DEC staffer not Mt Piccoli.

** Irony aside. Love your old stuff!

*** And don't use averages to define such things, that's just dumb and demonstrates a poor understanding of the system you defend.

Are We There Yet? OR Building the Jet While it Flies

There aren't many education related conferences out there that don't involve somebody playing a video of an apparently metaphorical nature. 

Whether it be cat herding:

or understanding our differences:

or the classic "We're building this plane as it flies"...

It has always seemed a little cheap to see presenters filling in a few minutes of their time with a message that could be said in two lines but at least they are trying to using an attention grabbing method that they would recommend for the classroom. Some presenters don't even go that far!

The last one is the one I'm interested in right now. Building the plane as it flies. As someone who has taken a bit of a career risk to try something that only other teacher's experiences can verify as successful, I'm constantly confused as to why the education system's current patchwork of ideas is considered the norm. Programs are proposed, fingers are crossed, and away we go. It has me wondering, does anyone get actual preparation time? Does anyone get six months to develop the resources they will need or is everyone throwing it together as they go?

Like me.

Don't get me wrong, I've put in the hours. Like you, my imaginary over-worked educator who is reading this in his/her 'spare time', I've researched, I've created, I've developed, I've destroyed, I've rebuilt, I've...

I've wished I had a six month head start!

Because what I have done while building the plane while it flies is, if I do say so myself, good. Sometimes really good. But, and maybe I just expect too much, it is ALWAYS INCOMPLETE!!!

So, as quick as this post is, did anyone out there get a head start on their ideas, or are we all expecting results from incomplete ideas?

I know we're busy, it's the main reason I throw my hard earned resources out into the ether, hoping that it repays that which I have taken and makes someone's job easier, somewhere (Hello Texas and India) but it is crazy to have such high expectations for silver bullets. I'm going to work on that. As this Educ8 experience develops, I'm going to aim for a six month head start. As we expand the program (I hope, the data is very positive but you can't really see much in 6 months!) I'm going to try and give the next team the head start I would have liked.

In the mean time, here are some more cool resources (for English teachers primarily) that will give you some spare time so that maybe you can get six months ahead!

Creative writing technique flashcards

Visual literacy technique flashcards

And here's an example of what they are:

Enjoy. The links go to the print quality stuff.

The Curse of Negativity OR This isn't good enough!

It's been reasonably well noted that I have a problem with conformity. Not a 'Cool Hand Luke' or 'dye my mohawk purple' kind of problem, but one I'd like to define as a 'this isn't good enough' type of mentality. The truth is probably somewhere in between. Admittedly, when someone is presenting an idea to me, I'm usually thinking, "How can I make this better?" or "Here's what I'd do" - but I do my best not to blurt such things out loud in a room full of peers. I'm told I have a low success rate with such efforts.

What bothers me though, are those who blindly pretend everything is going just fine and act like, "There's nothing to see here, move along". I've never seen a more powerful Jedi mind trick than the one being conducted by teachers, both the Luddites and those on the so called and generally self-defined cutting edge, and imposed upon the rest of us.

"These are not the results you're looking for."

Nerdy Star Wars references aside (and I'm the sort of nerd who is genuinely pleased that spellcheck changed my 'jedi' to 'Jedi'), I simply cannot understand the mentality of those who defend this grey and dreary education system so vehemently that they attack throw away statements, half thoughts and even jokes as though someone has just challenged their fundamental religious belief system.

Oh wait. Maybe I do get it.

Recently, I watched a thoughtful educator decide to take a break from a regular method of communication. I thought it slightly strange at the time but not being privy to the whole story, I assumed it was the right thing for that person to do. I also assumed, with no evidence at all (of course) it had something to do with being sick of some of the individuals and their 'defensive styles' within that world. I have a limited following in the digital world, but I'd decided that most of them were probably 'like-minds' and understood that sometimes ideas are just that. I also assumed that there was no one reading my work who belonged to the old world of, "I didn't think it so it must be wrong" way of thinking.

I was wrong.

I can safely assume that none of the people reading this now probably think they belong to that mentality but here's how you can tell: if someone has had an idea, just an idea, and you've tried in any way to divert attention from the idea, quash the idea or block the idea... you're a jerk.

Ideas must be challenged, of course. I'm certainly not advocating the support of anything just because it's different or new, - New Coke was the worst idea ever! - but please think more carefully about your response, lest you appear unreasonable. Knee jerk, 'that sounds hard' or 'I'm not doing that' reactions are your baggage - don't use them to stop someone else from achieving something you haven't. 'It doesn't work, we tried that' also belongs to you - you tried that, you failed, not them. Without question, you should give them your knowledge, tell them what problem you couldn't overcome - let them see whether that problem is still too big for their concept too.

Add, don't subtract.

I recently proposed, in a completely throw-away manner, changing the way we think about staffing. I pretty sure this was the point at which people got upset. I hadn't given an idea, I hadn't alluded to anything real, I certainly didn't have a written proposal - but the response to my not-yet-an-idea was swift.

I was wrong.

I was firmly put in my place too. "You're the sort of person who'd like to see people lose their jobs" was the grossest exaggeration but the negativity was solid. Frankly, I would be happy to see bad teachers sacked - but it certainly wasn't my point.

Here was the idea: Maybe we could create virtual or online faculties, where people worked with other people they've probably never even met, so that we could build bigger and better programs with greater diversity and multiple options for the students to follow.

I thought (EDIT - and still think) it was a great idea - but I certainly didn't think it was just my idea or that it was a fully developed idea. Perhaps foolishly, I put my idea out there. I just wanted to work with a bigger team of like minded people.

Didn't the non-like-minded people have a problem with that!

For some, it was genuine misunderstanding - I had no intention of closing down schools and just having an online one, for example. Nope, I just wanted to work with more people, on the same sort of creations, so that we could all work smarter, work less and get back something huge and awesome instead of the usual 'Blood, sweat and tears' style ream of paper that people somehow call a program.

What bothers me the most though, is that this simple idea, one actually used by multiple corporations around the world who seem more than capable of having their staff work on different continents, was mocked by some for the most obscure reasons. Again, the idea may not be well thought through, yet, but the unreasonable amongst my limited reach responded as though I threatened the very foundation of their existence.

I was buoyed by the wise council of others too, people with less 'Ed-cred', people who aren't constantly patted on the back by the same circle of back-patters - those people didn't love or hate the idea - they just wanted to discuss it. Thank you, that was all my little idea wanted! I've made no claims that I've done anything brilliant - I just want to do better.

So here's my final vent. I don't care whether you invented the wheel, or if you've hand built a ship to fly to Mars, you haven't solved the problem that our education system is currently overwhelmed by, you've solved your problems (perhaps) and for that you should be proud - but unless you plan to be the only teacher out there - you need something you don't already have. It shouldn't be wrong to throw around ideas, good or bad. It shouldn't be wrong to question them either, but consider your reasons first, consider your tone second. If you can't do those things, how do you think you can reach the minds of children? Is telling them what to think enough for you?

I hope not.



And yes, oh yes - I'd love to hear your opinion. You've certainly earned it after reading my rant!  EDIT - I seem to be having some difficulties getting comments back online. Honestly, I don't actually remember turning them off...

Ambience and atmosphere OR "Life wasn't meant to be easy" is a load of bull!

I've always had a problem with the old saying, "Life wasn't meant to be easy." I've always liked the response, "Compared to what?"

Some teachers and external commentators (usually the ones who think the 'cane' is a teaching tool and say things like, "...never did me any harm.") insist that we should make things difficult for students. They're convinced suspensions and expulsions are thoughtful and useful ways to deal with 'tough' kids - as though sending them home to the environment and people who created them will make a difference. They're convinced, in some sort of 'George W' kind of way, that good and evil are assigned to people and therefore need to be bombed or belted into us - or out of us. They're convinced that nice is something you save up for people who've earned it - and everyone else should just put up with the arrogance and ignorance and incompetence that generally follows those who like to send their problems to someone else.

I think if you push someone down long enough they either learn how to stay down or fight to get away. They certainly don't become better versions of humanity. Funny though, that when they don't become better versions of humanity, the naysayers have a problem with that too.

So, how do we make life unnecessarily hard?

How about judging them constantly by measurements that have little real world value and even less personal value? How about giving them just one chance with said assessment because it'd be 'unfair' if some kids wanted to try again? How about placing them in rooms most of us wouldn't work in unless we were changing oil in old cars? How about pretending to understand that it gets hot in those classrooms from your comfy air-conditioned government offices? How about making them work to 'time' not 'quality'? How about treating them like they don't matter because they don't vote? How about making them do stuff just because we had to? How about...

Yeah, it goes on, doesn't it?

We already change everything because of the 'worst common denominators' of society. Sue someone else because you messed up? Higher insurance rates for everyone. Solved! Clearly it was just that we all had too much money that made us decide to sue for more. Small number of people behave like jerks on the drink? Close the pubs early and ban shot glasses (I'm looking at you, Newcastle). Solved! Clearly it was just when and how people drank that was the problem. Bomb something? Increase security for everyone else. Solved. Clearly it was just having poor security that made people want to go to such horrendous extremes.

Kids hate school? Make school tougher. Solved! Suspend everyone. Let the paint peel off the walls. Keep your textbooks from the 60s. Don't let them try anything they weren't supposed to. Assess stuff that doesn't mean anything. Teach them to be boring too.

I've always thought schools should be stunning. They should be how we judge our society. We should look at schools and say, "That's what we think of humanity. That's how we want to treat the next generation. That's how we become even greater.


"Why am I ranting about this? Because I want it to end. Let's make schools places where statements like these aren't fancy hallmark quotes:

Huge, printable version

Big, printable version

Big, printable version

Big, printable version

These are the gigantic posters that adorn the Educ8 classroom. They are bold statements, perhaps even over-statements, but who cares? Aim for the sun.

These posters are slowly being surrounded by the work of students that best befits the nature of the words and the kids are striving to get their work high up there on the wall, next to the words that embody their spirits and hopes and dreams... not their mistakes and flaws and shortcomings. They want their words to resonate too:

Year Seven student work - a 15 minute 'flash' writing challenge.

Are they are just posters and words? No. Not even a little bit. 

They create (with the help of many other facets within a room, including you, the often maligned educator) the ambience and atmosphere that will let the kids feel safe enough to challenge themselves. Safe enough to fail. Safe enough to risk. Safe enough to achieve.

And therein lies my challenge to all teachers. Make your room a place where both you and the kids can escape, be challenged, find safety, dream and, most of all, think.

Making management fun OR "You can't do that, we're teachers not entertainers!"

I have reasonable content skills. I teach four subjects and I can safely say I'm not an expert in all of them (which doesn't surprise people and yet we expect our kids to get there - before they turn 14, if they wouldn't mind! Slackers!). I'd like to think I know a lot of stuff but I'm pretty sure a whole bunch of it is mindless irrelevance that I keep stored for trivia contests. Hey, I once won a t-shirt (size small - which I am not) and a voucher for a manicure. Oh yeah.

Anyway, what I think saves me in the classroom is my management structure. Many teachers have commented that the environments I have chosen to teach in (1) (2) appear unstructured. I couldn't disagree more. Structure is about consistency not uniformity, and although the two words are very closely related, they have enough differences for a student to notice subconsciously. By that I mean, some students will struggle under uniformity but flourish under consistency.

Structure comes from knowing your goals, having the means to reach them and valuing them. It can also come from fear or drilling or tradition. What would you prefer?

I believe our students want goals - just not my goals and certainly not some government official's literacy and numeracy based (and little else) goals. Kids want to be better, we all do, but they don't want to be 'us'. And why would they want to be? It's not like we've managed to save the world.

Most of all though, they want direction. Clear, valuable, personal direction.

So here's what I did: (There are two ways to write this next bit, the academic and the realistic. You know, I chose the latter.)

Some pretty clever people directed me to the work of some other pretty clever people. I then borrowed it and made stuff with it. I used a web based tool to give kids a way to connect with it. I gave them a reason to want it. I let them take ownership of it. I patted myself on the back and smiled smugly. Me, me, me!

Actually, the key here seems to be, my classroom's management structure isn't really related to me much. It came from everywhere else. And it looks like this...

Part One: 
Need: Visual, embedded rewards based system***.
Got: Class Dojo. 

It's a little bigger in real life! Click to embiggen.

Others have explained how Dojo works so I will not go into it too deeply. Put simply; you load your class lists, assign behaviours and click on the student's avatar to give them points for demonstrating that behaviour.

I differ only slightly from the site's intended use in that I didn't want to measure 'negative' behaviours and I wanted something for the students to be able to use their points for. To do this, I simply replaced the negative points with a 'points spent' behaviour so that I could see how many points they have spent on the, hopefully fun, rewards. Students can clearly see how many points they've earned and how many they've spent as long as you change the settings to display both 'positive' and 'negative' points. See, it's got a little bit of maths thrown in for good measure! ;) Yay, numeracy.

It's projected on the big screen whenever classes start. Try keeping the kids away from it!

Part Two:
Need: Personalisable (I do not care if that isn't a word) values to improve*.
Got: Habits of Mind pdf here

"What's the point of points?", said Mr Smarter-Than-He-Thinks-He-Is (I think it's a Spanish name) almost as soon as I started explaining things. A whole bunch of games-based learning theory, that I haven't linked to, implies that people love to keep score, even when it doesn't give us a direct reward (the 'throwing paper in the bin' game that we all play in the office is a decent example - especially when we miss and return back to where we took the shot so we can try again) but some kids aren't buying it. We'll get to them in a minute...

I want to help build successful humans. Art Costa's Habits of Mind is a collection of traits that successful people tend to demonstrate. 1 + 1 = 2! 

I've rewritten the habits to suit my student audience, added strategies from around the globe that represent each habit and included a whole bunch of tools students can use to develop their traits - and made it look pretty in poster form. The tools are, not surprisingly, easily available to students throughout the classroom. They are my long term goals - and, quite frankly, they form part of the vast list of things we should assess in schools but that don't, won't and possibly can't exist in standardised tests.

EDIT: You can now find the full set here

Some students have already 'self-diagnosed' and have begun using strategies to help address their concerns. Hearing them discuss their behaviours in a reflective manner while ALSO putting strategies in place to improve (rather than just mimicking the words they know will get them out of trouble) has been fantastic and quite rewarding for me too.

Smaller cards are also available for the student so they can focus on a single strategy. Oh, and they get double points for demonstrating the habit they've decided to focus on!

Part Three: 
Need: Something fun to aim for** - or for which to aim (English skillz!).
Got: A bunch of kids full of great ideas who, in the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper, 'just wanna have fun".

Mr Smarter-Than-He-Thinks-He-Is (I checked, it's not Spanish) was right. Points need to be useful. No student wants to reach for long term goals without a clearly defined path of sub-goals and micro-rewards to aim for along the way. I graciously and humbly let the kids do this bit because I was tired from making all of those posters! Here's what they did...

My personal favourite.

Some of them are quite obvious. Making me teach a class in a dress was... unexpected - their enthusiasm for it was not! Zombie escape is pure awesome (half the kids get made up as zombies and the other half... um, run!) Phone Home is clever (students can spend the points to make us call home and explain how good they've been). I've heard a few kids planning to do this just before birthdays! Movie Madness is kind of sweet, with some students aiming to earn enough points to 'shout' the rest of the class a full film! And let's be honest teachers, there probably would have been a point in the year when there would have been so much going on that the kids would have got a 'free' movie anyway. Not any more! And yes, I plan to have a food fight but the term 'food' might be loose! I'm thinking pie plates and shaving cream?

So that's it. It's been running for a few weeks now and it's really coming together but I'd love to know what others think unless you're from the hopefully shrinking, 'You can't do that, we're teachers not entertainers!' team!

Oh, and please go and buy the 'Zombie' T-shirt so I don't get sued. And yes, I already have one!


FAQ (frequently anticipated question): Can I have your HOM posters?
RGA (rarely given answer): Yes, always happy to share, just don't claim my work later at a conference that I'm at - I will find you (please read the last bit in Liam Neeson's voice, thank you) - you should find that each poster from this set links to a public dropbox folder. Those files are larger and better for printing on your school's trusty admin colour printer.

* Long term goals.
** Short term rewards.
*** A visual, measurement system.

tldr; We use short term rewards to reach long term goals in a visual way. Ta daaa!

Work in progress - The Educ8 Environment

I promised photos of the classroom and here they are. I've gone with the old fashioned 'Jenny Craig' style of before and after images and not surprisingly I've made sure the second photo looked much better! Actually, that was a mistake but I wanted to acknowledge it before setting you off... oh, and don't forget to click on the images for embiggenment. It's a word!

The room is around two classrooms in length with a wide array of metal posts for that added element of excitement.

The room has been used as a sort of detention centre / restraining room (pleasantly called the 'reflection room') which has now been moved to a less overqualified locale.

The xBox and various other consolely fun machines - and a big open space for kinect fun. I suppose we could also do drama and role plays here...

One of the key aspects of this room was ensuring that nobody could bring a class in here and teach 'traditionally'. In order to force the teacher's hand, none of the spaces can seat an entire class. This, hopefully, encourages teachers to create work that allows for different approaches and/or create lessons that allow students to find multiple ways to respond. At least, that's the plan.

Awesome, huge and bright shield tables to encourage group work and allow easy movement and management - with bonus Langford Tool sheets for extra thinking goodness.

Finally, this is the slowly coming together Problem Base Learning space we call 'The Boardroom'. Students will use this area to solve the many problems we tend to have on this big, bad planet of trouble! I'm hoping to put an Interactive White Board in here when the education fairy waves some sort of magic financial wand. My reasoning is that I don't think an IWB is meant for teacher use, and a multi-touch board would enable many problem solving opportunities.

The Boardroom - where children's lives are shattered by Donald Trump.

Anyway, it's early days - there's much to do - and the iPads are arriving soon too. The walls are still awfully bare compared to my old room but hopefully student work and the Habits of Mind posters I'm working on will start removing the beige soon enough. If you're reading this and wondering if I'd like your opinion, the answer is yes - we're making this up as we go (that's a half truth - substantial amounts of reading have been applied to the decision making process) and every helping hand will be appreciated. Unnecessary compliments will not go astray either! 

You're kidding, right? OR How I learned to stop worrying and love the DEC

"Welcome to the real world", says John Mayer. Week one of this grand project allowed me to believe that excitement and innovation would always prevail, so successful had we been in somehow getting everything up and running while apparently upsetting every human within the detonation radius of a small nuclear weapon. Petty (and sometimes valid) arguments were put aside or overcome, powerful opponents were placated without significant damage to our philosophy and yet... something still lingered.


We have huge obstacles to overcome, mostly formulated by the weaknesses we each bring to the table. We acknowledge that; in fact, we focus upon it. Teaching in a manner such as this; rotating groups, individual student accountability, games based learning, etc - it clearly marks one's shortcomings when the rails and the train no longer line up! And it should. In fact, this should be one of the key ongoing concerns of any decent group of educators. Traditional classroom teachers tend to hide their failures behind common 'it's the students' fault" gripes and "but I have to teach that" moans. It's been pretty clear to us this week that most learning disruptions have had much closer roots than we're comfortable with.


Here's what we shouldn't have to deal with though: pathetic and obtuse purchasing systems that everyone worth their salt tries to circumvent anyway, traditionally styled consultants desperately trying to keep their cushy non-teaching position afloat through constant self-justification and, my personal favourite, the hidden unemployed - or teachers who, in their current form, would be utterly unemployable in any other industry.


I've been learning how to adjust myself to suit the needs of others; I tend to bulldoze when my ideals seem within reach but I'm still thoroughly uncomfortable with the apparent acceptance of mediocrity and heartbreaking apathy within this field.


And so, in week two of this project, I've decided that fitting in with the expectations of a mediocre system and it's supporting cast is much like trying to keep an annoying relative happy at Xmas - you won't see them again for another year, so smile, nod and bring your ideals to life despite, and in spite, of their actions. Especially if they try to stop you!


I'm going to give this project the best chance to succeed - and late/expensive equipment, negative "I've been here fifteen minutes but here's what you're doing wrong" consultants and the background political whispering of 'the veterans' won't be enough to stop me.


So, how do you beat the system you're bound by?


Next week: Making management fun OR "You can't do that, we're teachers not entertainers!"

I Was Wrong OR Proof that he doesn't know what he's doing (Volume One)

My class room is an experiment. Personally, I don't think it's a particularly innovative one but I suppose, in today's educational climate, it is a little bit out there. All I've tried to do is compress as many modern ideas as possible into a single philosophy.


Not sure that's what everyone wanted me to do with their ideas!


So here's what we've got: it's one huge room, at least twice as big as the average, divided into five 'zones'. Each zone represents a different style of learning/teaching but there are no 'written in stone' sections. There's a traditional style* section with group tables and a projector that can swivel between a screen and a whiteboard (no, we couldn't afford the IWB so we went old school). There's an open area with ottomen (nobody could tell me if that was the plural for an ottoman - I'd prefer ottomani because Latin rules), no tables, a huge TV and a kinect ready xBox. There's a group learning area with three huge, shield shaped, adaptable tables - and not much else - certainly no whiteboard or desk for a teacher to hide behind or near. There's a staging area where kids come in and learn their roles for the day, pick up equipment and stow away bags. And finally, there's an individual learning area with bean bags and lounge chairs and lap tables and iPads and... well, it's pretty cool the kids tell me. And each section is colour coded in some sort of deBono's hats kinda way for when we get really clever later on.


Did I say finally? There's also the Project Based Learning room attached to the side of the main class space -  it's currently a gigantic storeroom but I'm working on it! Did I mention I have no official training in this area? Time to hit the books! Can't wait to get this bit running.


Anyway, the whole space fits 50 middle school kids (51 already - yay, late enrolments) and two teachers team teaching their little socks off. I'm teaching them (the kids) four subjects** while experts come in and out to back me up. We'll be doing the cross curriculum thing as soon as humanly possible too.


We teach in waves; 15-20 minutes in each zone before rotating to the next section and resetting. So far, the kids love it but the time might be a little restrictive. Still it forces teachers to shut up and teach - and it really makes you think about your plan. I think we've cut back on teacher talk and wastage.  The problem now seems to be that the kids are getting through far more work than we can keep up with!


We use edmodo to help track some of it and to give the kids their own voice, class dojo to help with motivation and management and I'm working feverishly on a fun online test thingy that should assess where the kids are constantly - none of this two year malarkey manifested by the test that must not be named. I'll be writing about how that goes soon.


So, why was I wrong? Simple really, I got the order of the areas wrong and had the team teachers way too close to each other. Teachers love to project their oh so important voices, so we needed a bit more space to stop them from getting in front of each other. And because this room is all able making mistakes and learning from them, we've already solved the first problem. We've started talking softer and we moved the zones around to create even more space.


Now, about the other 37 problems we've created... muwahahaha (insert evil, "take that traditional teaching" laugh in your mind now, please)


Next week: The wheels fall off OR How to work with the DEC- now with pictures!***


* Kind of traditional but I cheated and made the maximum group size just 16.
** English, Maths, PDHPE and HSIE.
*** I will post room photos ASAP!