NQT Training - 13th January 2012 'Building Resilience'

The following blog is extremely informative and rich in links and resources to support your personal and professional wellbeing: http://carycooperblog.com/

The free tool i-resilience can be found by clicking this link http://www.robertsoncooper.com/iresilience/and looks at adaptability, purposefulness, social support and confidence - well worth checking out (Well it is free!)

* The correlation between resilience and support.
* Is resilience a positive or negative personal attribute?
* Is resilience a predictor of success?
* How different people perceive situations in a different way.
* The need for perception to match people's reality.
* How do I check my perception with others?
* Where do managers get support to increase their resilience
* How you can develop resilience over time.
* How people can develop confidence through their resilience at home.
* How resilience is multi-dimensional

Useful Podcast about Resilience:
http://www.blubrry.com/engaging/794167/show-296-inspiring-resilience/

http://www.skillboosters.co.uk/

Developing Your Resilience

View more presentations from Jeffrey Russell

INSET Day - 16th December 2011: Resources

Inset day december 2011 final

View more presentations from Nina Moore.

Christmas Advent Gifts

As we countdown to Christmas, I will post a range of gifts for you here that will hopefully inspire and challenge, provoke and consolidate. It is my intention to also share some fun and unusual resources in the form of links, presentations, videos, pod casts, games and images. Here is a great offering from Lionel Cloarec to use with tutor groups or classes - Spot 100 Famous people!

The following sites are worth having a look at. 'Independent Thinking' has a wealth of interesting articles, resources and practical ideas focussing on areas including thinking, learning, motivation, leadership and creativity.

http://www.blogger.com/goog_908804900

The following is a link to David Gauntlett's work on creative explorations of use of Lego in education. This really inspired me and I hope his ideas get you thinking about how you might use Lego in your teaching:

http://www.artlab.org.uk/lego.htm

Ken Robinson talks about changing education paradigms:










20 Really useful ways to improve professional learning from 'CPD Update'

‘The teachers who get "burned out" are not the ones who are constantly learning, which can be exhilarating, but those who feel they must stay in control and ahead of the students at all times.'



Frank Smith

Over the years, we have covered in CPD Update an incredibly broad range of themes, ideas and issues directly related to the world of professional learning in schools. Below is a collection of 20 really useful suggestions for improving professional learning in schools today.




1. Keep a professional learning journal. This is for your eyes only and will be invaluable in supporting you through your career-long professional learning. Focus on being reflective and reflexive.

2. Join Twitter. There is so much high-quality discussion about education on Twitter, it amazes me that there are still some teachers who haven't cottoned on! This is a great source of free CPD, advice, information, guidance and virtual support. Hashtags (#) are an effective way of focusing your time on Twitter. For example, do a search for #ukedchat, #edchat and #education and you are likely to see current, relevant discussion


3. Consider blogging - or at least following blogs by educators. There are many bloggers out there, so it's worth spending some time searching for one with a philosophy that suits you. Blogging is a good way of developing skills of reflection - and possibly of helping others too.


4. Much professional learning is actually hybrid learning: a blend of taught sessions and self-directed learning. The internet is a rich source of high-quality professional learning opportunities that you can access at your own pace, in your own time. For starters, take a look at these ‘learning for free' sites: YoungMinds in Schools;Times Educational Supplement; Open Yale Courses; How Stuff Works; TED Talks; and Open Learn from the Open University.


5. Use peer coaching. We can learn much from our peers and, invariably, helping others is also a great way to learn. Great peer coaching involves all of the following at least some of the time: instructing; observing; analysing; feeding back; advising; facilitating; motivating; and supporting.


6. Develop your critical thinking skills... constantly! Being able to critically appraise research and other learning opportunities, as well as your work with pupils, will greatly enhance your professional learning. Critical thinking supports all other aspects of life too, as it helps us to make better choices and can help to facilitate an enhanced sense of wellbeing.


7. Focus on your creativity and your creative insights. This involves making sure that you feel safe to take risks with your professional learning and to get things wrong if need be. If you feel judged or penalised for taking risks, creativity is necessarily stifled. Look for answers - second right answers, third right answers and beyond! Allow time for your slow-thinking, dreamy, playful mind to present you with new ideas.


8. Aim to personalise your professional learning. This will mean taking a broad look at all the professional learning you do, and identifying what helps you to contextualise your learning, and what helps you to move towards independence in professional learning.


9. Take care of your wellbeing and work-life balance. Without that, you won't be the best you can be as an educator. Discuss the inherent tensions between your development needs and the needs of the school, and make sure that your goals for professional learning are well paced.


10. Boost your effectiveness as a professional learner, by working collaboratively with colleagues. Work on building mutually acceptable shared goals and values and a team mentality.


11. There is so much great professional learning to be derived from colleagues, but fears of public speaking can impact on staff willingness to present to others. On one level this is surprising - we might expect school staff to be able to do this with ease - but there is a big difference between speaking to pupils and speaking to groups of colleagues. Brushing up on public speaking skills, so that you can get your points across most effectively, will enhance professional learning all round.


12. Harness your ambitions. What do you really want to go for? Identify clear goals and a path to follow in order to achieve them. Most importantly, identify who can help you to get there. Your ambitions should ideally help to shape the pattern of professional learning that you undertake.


13. Plan strategically. Do your own research about what professional learning you might like to access and when. Build a support network - who can help you to achieve your goals and improve your practice? Think of colleagues, other professionals in your locality, professionals in national networks and international contacts.


14. Contextualise your professional learning. The training opportunities that you access are likely to be more generic than specific to your particular situation and needs, so your ability to contextualise learning is all-important. This also helps to nurture the mindset thatsomething can be learned from every situation at work.


15. Do an audit of the professional learning opportunities available to you. This isn't just about paid-for courses and conferences, but also about any professional learning that you can access at school or outside. Identify breadth and depth, and draw on this scope in your own learning.


16. Remember your calling. Why did you enter the profession in the first place? What were your original enthusiasms? Can you reconnect with your underlying goals and desires? Can you still identify your motivations for wanting to make a difference in the classroom and in the lives of young people? If you feel different now, what is it about your current experience that has distanced you from those original enthusiasms.


17. Understand what motivates you. Determine the differences between your intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and use them to further professional learning. Being motivated is likely to inspire others too. This links in with coaching and mentoring skills.


18. Explore sustainable approaches to professional learning. Being overambitious is likely to lead to disillusionment, but there is much that can be achieved through, for example, discussion groups between school clusters, use of social networks, use of ICT (such as videoconferencing and Skype), and the contextual intelligence in your school. If your plans for professional learning involve big budgets, then you may need to explore more sustainable approaches.


19. Celebrate and share professional learning. There is little point in learning taking place, if it doesn't get shared. This is how areas of expertise build up, and sharing new learning is an effective way of consolidating it. Celebrating achievement in professional learning is important too, not just for the attainment of recognised qualifications such as Masters degrees.


20. Evaluate any professional learning you undertake. Remember, though, that great learning is not always evident immediately after undertaking training and development activities. Some will have a slow-burn effect, so evaluations are best done when consolidation time has passed. Also, don't evaluate without contextualising!

Some useful reading - What makes an OUTSTANDING Lesson?

What Makes a Lesson Outstanding?

View more documents from Nina Moore

The perfect ofsted_lesson_-_article

View more documents from Nina Moore

Sir Ken Robinson on Creativity and other goodies for you!

Hello,

I have previously shared Sir Ken's 'Ted Talks' on Creativity, but have found these versions to share with you:

Welcome Back - New Goodies for a new year!

Welcome back! I have found a really interesting website that I wanted to share with you called 'Born to Learn'. There are some great animations on here and some lovely resources to support your PD. Enjoy!

http://www.born-to-learn.org/


Born to Learn: Class Reunion from Born to Learn on Vimeo.

Have a great year. I am really looking forward to working with you.

Nina