New post grad programme where trainee teachers teach in school for a year and do their theory remotely. Hallelujah! The best way to learn how to teach is on the job. Cannot back this enough.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-scheme-sees-trainee-teachers-immersed-in-classroom-and-fees-covered/4HGH3H4SZZS5LHUGS3EHAOD2NY/Article from NZ Herald
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”
(Toffler, 1970).
I found this brief article a good reflection of our intentions for the 2020 integration. I teach a lot about the impact of the industrial revolution on literature and more recently, the technological revolution. I wonder what we will be saying in the future about the technological revolution’s impact on literature and society?
Stealing Jo Haywood’s great week by week planning poster for our year 10 topic. Want to do for individual units/terms for classes.
My inquiry for this year has been an ongoing focus of my practice- “How can I build an intrinsic desire for learning rather than one that is based on results?”.
In our credit counting NCEA system, this can be tricky. Students are picking and choosing what they want to learn based on the credits they need. However, I have noticed student engagement in lessons even when I know those students aren’t intending on doing the assessment attached to that learning. Frankenstein has been a good example of this.
My L3ENIN has really struggled with reading the text on their own. However, in this late stage of the year they are much more comfortable with the content and messages of the text. Even though many of them haven’t read the book, and a good chunk have told me they don’t even intend on doing the exam, they are still engaged in lessons on the text. They are interested in the bigger ideas the text represents in terms of progress, science and ‘playing God’. They have enjoyed the history of the text and how the time influenced (s) the content as well as how it is still so relevant today with the creation of AI and medical marvels as well as the darker side of science.
So, these students who struggled to read a classic text, and have out rightly said they won’t be doing the assessment, are still learning in the actual lessons. Isn’t that what we really want? These students (in my opinion) simply aren’t ready to read a complex text like this on their own. But I believe they are likely to come back to it as adults, or even try other texts they might not normally approach. Although I can’t quantify this result now, if I have sparked a passion in them that will grow over time, I feel I have met my goal of encouraging an intrinsic desire to learn. It’s just that it’s a long game that I might never see!
Reflection on L1 Connections standard- discussing similarities and differences between texts helps move students up. This wasn’t something I directly taught, rather I focused on moving up through author’s purpose and students’ engagement with text. Feedback from marking shows markers are wanting similarities/differences and some connections between texts as well. Although the Excellence exemplar doesn’t show much of this, teaching students to include this won’t hurt and it in combination with creator’s purpose/their own engagement, will make for a more well-rounded report. I will be teaching students to compare and contrast texts explicitly in their report from now on.
This is crazy
No teacher should earn more than a principal. What would this look like in a business situation? Would you have a CEO earning less than an employee?
Negotiations
Also, where is the focus on reducing workload? Some moves in the right direction but IMO the major issue of teacher workload and a broken education system has still not been addressed. I’m worried about how we are coming across to the public as well, lots of discussion around $$$ but where’s the focus on the classroom?
No surprises here! I am so glad I didn’t grow up with the demands of social media and not being able to ‘switch off’. Remember when you were young if there was a photo of you that was a bit dubious? You tore it up, gone. This generation doesn’t have that choice. One click and it’s out there for all to see- no going back.
Liz Henshall Teaching 