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

Home Schooling Part 2

Home schooling wasn't something I ever planned on. I think my kids benefit from being around other kids, they benefit from their teachers rich experiences, I like them being away and at school 9am-3pm! I don't think this has changed as I don't believe I am home schooling now. I am educating them at home as I do normally on a weekend through our experiences as a family and we are topping up with a bit of structured reading, writing and numeracy tasks on top. I didn't consciously choose to home school, I didn't agree to deliver a full curriculum at home. I am merely helping out whilst school is closed. My kids are missing their friends and luckily we all live locally so often we socially distantly accidentally bump into kids on our daily walk. We have a group whatsapp and can share with his classmates and their parents there. His and my close mum pals can video call. It isn't the same but it is the best I can do and they are staying connected.

The bit I cannot fulfill is that relationship with their teachers. That connection, that understanding that belief that they can do anything their teacher asks them to do. I am mum, I am boring, I am a nagger who feeds them. I do not have that yellow aura glowy halo that they see when they look at their teachers. I am someone who is stopping them from playing in asking them to do boring work. I know I am not alone, it is a common source of discussion with my pals. As the one who is an educator though, everyone looks to me to help, I have little to give!

One thing that has helped me is a structure, something simple like maths one day, English the next, enrichment or science project followed by a maths day and an English day. We do school work straight after breakfast. That way they haven't wandered far by this point and I can sometimes even keep them in their seats after breakfast to get them to do their work straight away! Luckily our school is a faith school so we have daily prayers and updates from the school to share, this also helps them stay connected. It also helps me in the pretense that any misbehaviour will be reported back as I clearly have a direct line to school! 

Another thing that has helped is to hold the belief that I am not home schooling. I don't have to cover the entire curriculum. I had a call from a pal in tears as war had broken out with her son who refused to do any work for her and she was terrified that he was going to fall behind when they return to school as he was already at risk. I explained my view to her that we are not home schooling and everyone will be in the same position when we return. She hadn't seen my point of view before, she was putting herself under too much pressure, instantly causing friction before she began.

Parents are teachers, we know what is best for our child, but we teach through rich family experiences that a teacher cannot generate. Teachers are not parents and they teach through their own expertise of the curriculum and knowing what is best for your child. Lockdown hasn't changed this. Parents trying to become teachers isn't the answer. We are helping and supporting our children in their education but we are adding in some more structured work to help this support as we are away from our kid's teachers longer than the usual 2 day weekend. Parents need to give themselves a break, it is a tough enough job without taking on a new teaching career too. SJ