Another week has flown by. Comparatively to Week 1, Week 2 has been far more relaxed; I actually felt like I had a little breathing room. Instead of three intense days combined with online learning. We were met with two, three hour seminars and two self directed online learning modules. Wonderful!
Summer Institute is very well designed. It enables you to build all the skills you will need come September, in five short weeks. It’s intense, it’s challenging, it asks you to keep a thousand things in your mind all at one time. But, so far it’s been a thoroughly engaging process that is starting to shape me into a quality teacher come September. Well… I hope.
My Time & Exciting News
My time this week was split three ways, generally in the morning I was taking part in online lessons for my school as a TA. In the afternoons I was head down completing online learning modules or attending the seminars, and in the evening I was ensuring I went on a walk; there is nothing worse than being stuck at a laptop all day.
I also found out some exciting news. I spoke to my Head of Department at my new school, and, I’m going to be teaching years 9,10 and 11. Initially I was a bit taken aback. That’s a lot of responsibility handling the futures of so many young learners. Yet, on the other hand it was a great opportunity to get stuck right in the thick of it. I better get brushing up on my Macbeth.
Seminar 1
The first seminar looked to consolidate the learning of module one. Module one focussed on planning. It explained that when you plan a lesson you start with the learning objective, what do you want the students to know/ explain/ identify by the end of the lesson? The next step is, how are the students going to show you they’ve achieved that objective? Finally, you plan out the activities that meet your objective and build up to producing the piece of work that evidences their learning. This is a great philosophy to keep in my mind for any learning.
*Side Note* I’ve felt a lot of the material covered this week have mainly led me to question our education system, our society and ask what we can do to fix these issues.
We then covered assessment, and how it can be split between formative and summative. If you’re like me, you don’t like assessment. However, there is purpose to them, especially with formative assessment as it’s a brilliant way to gauge where your students are, and what needs to be done next to further their understanding or success.
I began to ask the question though, is our educational system too focussed on assessment? Does it provide the space for students to grow as people, emotionally and socially? Do we limit and stunt people by ignoring all their talents, trying to fit them into our definition of success and not being malleable enough to recognise their potential?
We ended Seminar 1 by looking at the Teach Like A Champion techniques. If you’re interested in the book there’s a link here. We looked at concepts like Threshold, What to Do and Compliance – these were excellent tips on how to build a positive learning environment and encourage positive behaviour in the class room. The book is a fantastic resource to improve your teaching practice.
Seminar 2
Seminar 2 focussed on cognitive development and effective learning strategies. I am fascinated by these topics, why do children behave the way they do? What can we do with our understanding of how children learn to develop our practice in the classroom? These are fantastic questions to ask, and it makes you realise how intentional you can be once you understand how things happen and how to get what you want from your students. A good book I’ve started with is Daniel Willinham’s – Why Children Don’t Like School.
However, we had to do a lot of safeguarding work before Seminar 2. Now, I’ve done a lot of safeguarding courses over my time. And recently there’s been a lot of talk about ACE’s (Adverse Childhood Experiences). I just want to give some statistics…
NSPCC – Statistics 2019
- 1 in 20 children are sexually abused in the UK.
- 1 child per week is killed as a result of abuse in the UK.
- There are 68 child deaths a year in the UK by assault or undetermined intent.
- A third of child sexual abuse is by another child and/or young person.
- Child homicides are most commonly caused by the child’s parent/step parent.
I’ve linked the NSPCC website to have a look at. I know it’s not a fun topic, but I was outraged. We’re in 2020, we’re a sophisticated modern society and yet we have so many issues going on at the moment. The injustice that happens everyday to adults of different ethnicities, gender, sexuality and so on is unbelievable and horrendous. But, the fact our children don’t get the opportunity to grow up in a safe and nurturing environment (which they so desperately need to develop into happy and positive people) angers me to my very core.
ACEs
I completed a training program on ACEs as part of my role as a TA. You can find the training here – it is free and takes 50 minutes. Did you know that ACEs link to serious health problems, smoking, drinking and criminality. That people who’ve experienced multiple ACEs are likely to die far younger than those who didn’t. Over 60% of young people experience one ACE when growing up. The statistics were intense.
Now saying all of this, this sparked a drive in me to combat the problem. I want to change the statistics. While reading through all the safeguarding content it seemed to me that we don’t preempt the issue. We don’t dive into the root core of the issue and fix that. We wait for abuse/ ACEs to happen and then respond. There has to be a way that as a society we can evolve to better ourselves and reduce the levels of abuse by tackling the root cause of the issue.
So I came up with a few ideas…
- Focus on Family – We’re getting worse at relationship, and we’re getting worse at family culture. The studies show that early brain development thrives in positive, nurturing environments. The family environment.
SOLUTION – Focus on educating people how to have positive lasting relationship with friends, family and spouses by making space for it in school. Let’s not just create good academics but good people. - Now this is obvious – but fix the financial divide between the rich and the poor. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the divide widens. I truly believe most people want to work, have a family, make some happy memories and not worry about finances. People don’t want to be super rich, they just want to not be worried about putting food on the table. Let’s bridge the gap.
SOLUTION – I’m coming up with one! Hold my drink… - Pre-empt abusive cycles. Now, I may be wrong and please correct me if I am. But, surely there has to be a way to break cycles of abuse. Where one person is abused, doesn’t get the support needed, and ends up becoming the abuser (not through fault of their own) but through lack of support and positive engagement.
SOLUTION – Identify at risk people and provide a supportive and rehabilitative process that ensures the person is given the necessary skills to succeed. - Give young people a voice and a positive community to be a part of. Children that come from broken homes and low socio-economic families don’t have the same opportunities. I love that TeachFirst carries this mission of bridging the gap of inequality in education.
SOLUTION – Provide programs that enable young people to express themselves, in a positive and encouraging culture that allows them to find worth and purpose.
These are all just ideas, but I’m going to be doing a lot of thinking on this topic throughout my next year. There has to be a way to reduce the statistics and provide a better system for our young people. Let us develop generations of young people that support each other, believe in themselves and carry us further than we could.
Summary
All in all it has been a great week! I have stayed on top of the work load. I’ve been challenged and pushed. I’ve grown as a person this week. I’m getting more and more excited for September. I can’t wait to get into school and make a difference.
If you haven’t kept up with my Week 1 of SI find it here. Please leave any comments below and I’ll see you next week to check in.
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