Wider Reading1

Do you remember visiting the library or a bookshop as a child? The excitement as you browsed the shelves picking your favourites based on the look of the cover, the thickness of the pages? I love to read. I find reading enjoyable, informative and relaxing. That said I have very little time to read, maybe it is because of this rather than in spite of it that I enjoy reading so much, because my reading time is precious. I carve out an hour a week during my working day to read blogs, Twitter, websites, re-watch webinars etc. I am not talking about that here, what I am talking about here is sitting down and reading essentially a book. I like a paper book, ironic as most of my work is online. I am a HUGE fan of book snaps, I probably did book snaps before they were a thing at university. Back in the day I would photocopy pages of books with my finger pointing at the bit I wanted to remember or relate to. I am a really annoyingly fast reader, one of those fast readers that is really annoying when they finish before everyone else. I am quite sad in that if I am going to devote time to reading I want it to be something of interest. Something relevant, something new, something inspiring. At the start of lock down, we knew it was coming for a period of time so I cleared the book shelves at work. Rapidly, panic picking teaching and learning books.

Whilst working from home I have enjoyed carving out time to sit and read these books. Books on feedback, assessment, leadership, technology tools and everything in between. The time I have saved in commuting to work I have chosen to spend half of it reading and half of it relaxing. Many a time I have sat down excited to read a book, phone ready for booksnaps and things haven't gone to plan. There have been books that were quick reads because they had nothing new in. I mean literally nothing new. One was on leading sessions and the ground breaking information the 300 pages had to impart was that you need to be organised and plan your sessions including rest breaks. Another book was one that I couldn't read quickly, every time I tried to read it I struggled to connect. The flow wasn't right. The words didn't make sense. The content switched about all over the place, it was a hard read. Another problem arose when a book was too academic for what it was trying to be. It was written like a dissertation but was meant to be a classroom hand book. It was like when you took your library books home as a child and you realised they weren't as fun as the cover promised!

Is there a problem because there is nothing new to say? Have we seen it all in classrooms before? Education goes through cycles. Back in the day when I started it was all about learning intentions, then it moved to objectives and everyone asked students to 'understand'. Those of us who were older cringed as we were told that you couldn't evidence 'understanding' in the classroom but we all ploughed on as someone said it was a good idea. Then the sphere's shifted to differentiation and HATS, MATS and LATS. Then it became stretch and challenge. Then it went back to differentiation and individulisation. There may have been other variations in between but my point is there has always been a 'new' thing. Each 'new' thing has always had an author, a leader of the movement. Every leadership team, in every school, in every college, bought all the books and booked the external speakers and all staff left with beautiful handouts or signed copies of the books.

So why is there nothing new now? What has changed? I can see gamification is the next new thing. I can see esports coming but what is 'new'? We have long gamified lessons and gamification has been around for a while. We have been waiting for technology and appetite for it to increase in education, finally it is here. But again, it isn't new. The gamified elements of my paper based lessons back in the day were motivating for the learners and brought great results. Perhaps I should stop looking for new and look for something inspiring? Something exciting? The books I chose were disappointing. Kindly my boss offered to buy me some more during lock down, and he sent some he wanted me to read too. I sat excitedly down to read the first of these books today and instantly finished it. It had nothing new to offer nor anything inspiring, there were no classroom examples. The greatest takeaway from this book was that videos are difficult for students to follow so think about what you put in our video content. Sorry, but yawn!

I think in reflecting I have realised that I am not after new, I am after real. I am more experienced now and what I want to read now are real classroom stories. I want to read how what has been written played out in the classroom. I want to hear from new people, not new ideas. What I want to hear about are the who, the where and the why from varied institutions. I don't want any more academia amplified because it has a shiny cover, I want amplified voices from the classroom. SJ

The Importance of Staying Connected

First off queue a link to my previous post on being personal...Being personal

I wanted to dive back in as it has become more important. 

We are week 8 of lockdown. It is important to establish that remote working has been the 'norm' for 8 weeks. I got a panicked text from a friend of my parents asking for help getting into a team meeting of theirs. After an hour of multiple emails and texts we finally connected on a Google Meet. She could see me and at this point she told me that I was the first person apart from her family that she had seen for 8 weeks. I asked what was the problem in getting into her team meetings and she said that it was this part the Google Meet. So for 8 weeks her team hadn't heard from her. For 8 weeks no one at work had seen her face. Yes emails and texts had come from her but no one from work had seen her.

When sharing the Staying Connected ebook on Twitter Ebook linkwe came across a parent who asked if they could send it to their child's school. For 8 weeks their child had been dutifully submitting work but they hadn't heard from any of their teachers other than a Google Classroom post. I have a problem with both these examples on a very basic human level. How can it be that for 8 weeks no one has checked in? How can an under 16 be uncontacted for 8 weeks? If we were in an traditional school environment if we hadn't heard from a child in 8 days possibly even 8 hours we would be beginning safeguarding procedures. Why is it ok to forget these now? Is it harder to check in on students virtually? 

My parents friend was fortunate to have family that had checked in on her. This situation could have been a whole lot worse. I think there is a legitimate concern about an impending mental health crisis as we emerge from lockdown as people will have been totally isolated for so long. We know loneliness is an awful thing, yet we don't seem to be taking it seriously. Yes there are other priorities but we need to be pushing this further. Imagine had my parents friend not had any family and I was literally the first person she saw in 8 weeks? Imagine what could have happened in those 8 weeks and no one would have known, it doesn't bear thinking about.

The student who hasn't seen or heard from a teacher in 8 weeks probably isn't alone in their experience. Staff are probably trying their best pushing out work as is required and are busy ranking year 11s and year 13s. Yet I cannot forgive a lack of contact for 8 weeks. I cannot think about what could have happened in those 8 weeks. But on a different level what effort has their been from the teacher to increase motivation and engagement for 8 weeks. I am amazed this child is still handing in work. I'm not sure after 8 weeks I would be. I may have lost interest.

There are 2 parts to staying connected at this time. One is the importance of safeguarding and checking in. The other is staying connected to motivate and engage. The safeguarding part is obviously important and as we connect with learners virtually we need to still be observing surroundings. If we are now present in the learners home we need to be aware that people we weren't concerned for previously might display issues now we are in their homes. The students that leave everything at their front door and put a brave face on for college don't have that separation now and we need to be mindful more than ever of observing surroundings and cues.

Aside from all of this we need to stay connected as human beings. If a virtual classroom is a no go with your group why not do a virtual check in? Create a flipgrid asking everyone how they are? Flipgrid is great at making it easy for everyone to contribute short videos. If you're not in education or don't have flipgrid a Slides presentation can do something similar. Create a slides presentation with a slide for everyone to add their own video. A black slide with each team member or students name at the top. Ask them a question and ask them to video their reply. Each person inserts their video on their slide and then everyone is staying connected.

Staying connected to motivate and engage is important too. For 8 weeks sitting at the kitchen table doing work independently means that enthusiasm may have waned. Firstly are the tasks that are being sent engaging in their own right? Are they paper based? Could they be done via video? Do we need a written reflection on the text they have read or could they narrate their thoughts? Paper is not the virtual learners friend. Printers are no longer in every home. Shops are not easily accessible, paper may be hard to find for some. Yet video, voice and colourful Slides presentations are more enjoyable to create anyway, so who would choose paper over these activities? Lack of technology may still be a barrier but the government has vowed to step in. Likewise video and audio files can be made on a mobile phone so huge kit isn't needed. 

Once the work has been submitted giving feedback is crucial but it is also crucial that it is understood. How often have you read a text and thought there was a tone or an agenda? Giving feedback digitally can have the same effect. We need to make sure our comments are taken on board. So why are we typing them and running the risk of them being misinterpreted? Why are we not videoing our feedback to give it a more personal touch? Ok I don't like videoing myself either but it is an option! Why don't we leave a voice not on a file rather than a track changes comment? Surely that makes it more personal and means it is more likely to be understood? You are you, the way you communicate is your way. Whoever you are trying to connect with is seeking out that part of you. In using your own words and making it personal you will be staying connected. SJ