Michael's Starters and Plenaries Pack

Dear Colleagues,
I have raked out a starters, middles and plenaries pack to share on the blog. It has the names and descriptions/instructions of each activity and will be very useful for all teachers I hope.It has been very useful for me.

Thanks

Michael. (MFL)

Starters, Middles, Plenaries Activity Pack

Reflections on New York and the benefits of going abroad with students on trips

On Sunday 14th February, 5 sixth form students and I set off to New York on a joint trip with Bexleyheath School. The coach and flight connections went very smoothly but when we arrived at the hotel, we were shocked to see hundreds of dogs! America had the equivalent of the British Krufts Show and our hotel was dog friendly so most of the show dogs were staying with us! We quickly had our supersize Mcdonalds before going to bed. The next day was jam packed. We visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island followed by Wall Street and Times Square. We took a night time visit to the Empire State Building which had beautiful views despite the snow blizard that had begun. The next day was the coldest with a snow blizard lasting all day. We had planned to take a bus tour for the day but clearly realised when boarding the bus that this was silly as the bus windows were steamed up and we could see nothing! our tour guide promised it would improve, but two hours later, it hadnt and in our frustrated state, we hit 5th Avenue! We ate in Ellen's 'Stardust Diner' that night which was a great experience. All the waitresses and waiters sing musical hits whilst serving. The students also got the staff to sing Happy Birthday to me but happened to get the age wrong. 30 not 40!
Our last day was spent retracing Ben Stiller's steps at the Musuem of Natural History. We then returned to do some final shopping at Macy's and Bloomingdale's before heading home.

I cannot underestimate the value of a school trip particularly to a foreign country. Pupils recognise the 'human' nature of teachers and do appreciate the sacrifice teachers make to ensure that pupils' safety and well being are never compromised. Personally, facing the challenge of leading a trip is a welcome pressure. The responsiblity it entails far outweighed by the job satisfaction gained once the school trip is over. Your classroom management will improve if pupils know you are prepared to put in extra hours for no benefit.

Can I just lastly stress that this was not a jolly. I paid to go and will be doing so in October. You are sacrificing your holiday and many people understandably would want to avoid this. However, if you are interested in setting up a trip and want some initial advice, please feel free to come and have a chat.

Emily

Our new Vision Statement and Collective Targets for this year

Since our last Ofsted, we have been working behind the scenes to improve our vision statement. Here it is! We will be posting this as a new wallpaper on the network and putting up posters around the school to celebrate our identity. We will also be sharing our 2010 Targets with you that Ofsted set in January. We all have a collective responsibility to realise these targets and to drive forward our vision for Welling School.

Jackie Doyle and Rudolf Van Koningvieng reflect on the CPD Learning Breakfast by 6th Formers on Labelling

"Before half-term I attended a Learning Breakfast run by 6th Form students on Labelling. The session was well organised and very informative. We all think we know our pupils well and do label them even if we do not want to admit it. What was good about the session was the fact that it allowed us to see the impact that labelling had on our students; for example the sixth former who was labelled as "the quiet one" throughout her education and who admitted that she lived up to that label, showed us that in fact she was very confident and able to lead a group discussion. It was shocking really as I think lot of us teachers would have allowed her to be "the quiet one" and this meant that no one really new what she was capable of until she reached the sixth form and was placed into a situation which forced her not to be "the quiet one." What might have worked well is if the sixth formers had quotes from students lower down the school to explain how they felt about labelling as well."

Jackie Doyle (Business)

"The session was very inspiring as the 6th form students were able to show the teachers their perspective on labelling in the classroom. It was good to realise how students (and teachers) can feel when they are labelled and how hard it is to remove the label. The interaction with the group was good, everybody present was given the opportunity to participate. The activities during the session were well organised and there was a good variety of activities. The only thing missing was the labelling of teachers done by students. There could have been a little bit about how students see teachers and how they can take away the preconceptions that students have about teachers (maybe that's too much for one session). All in all, I really enjoyed it and the 6th formers seemed to enjoy delivering the session as well!"

Rudolf Van Koningsvieng (Science)

We have up-dated our Whole School Vision Statement

Our Vision is....


To empower our learning community to continue a shared journey to move from satisfactory to good, and good to outstanding. We are dedicated to the personal development of the values, skills, knowledge, and responsibility essential to successful preparation for work and life in the 21st century.

To Fulfil our Vision...

We are committed to a strong and creative learning environment, and a rich personalised curriculum driven by our strengths as a visual arts specialism school, which enhances self esteem; optimises each child's potential; builds personal responsibility; accentuates individual respect and seeks to stimulate aspiration.

Fundamental to our Vision...

Is a commitment to a connected learning community where qualities of teamwork, creativity, initiative and leadership are celebrated. We pride ourselves in shaping tomorrow’s lives today by providing opportunities for our students, staff, families, community and each other, to engage in continuous reflective learning that supports the evolution of our school from satisfactory to good, and good to outstanding.

PRIDE IN EXCELLENCE

Professional Reflection on the last CPD Learning Breakfast session on - Labelling

Currently, I am teaching the Sociology A.S. Level group who recently took part in a lesson on labelling. They enjoyed it so much, Nina and I decided that they should plan a session for teachers in the CPD Learning Breakfast programme. The students began by giving each teacher a label as they entered the room. these ranged from 'trouble maker to chatterbox'. We then got the teachers to discuss how that label made them feel? Comments such as "it makes me feel uneasy" or "immediately defensive" were mentioned.
The teachers then watched a clip from the Catherine Tate show where a teenage pupil called Lauren was in her French lesson. Teachers were asked to identify where Lauren was labelled by her teacher? This happened when Lauren got in a confrontation with the teacher who said she was stupid and would get a U grade. Although Lauren was clearly playing up, she demonstrated such a wide range of key vocabulary, this should have been utilised in a positive way.

Teachers then discussed how labels are reached- this could be by gossip from another teacher, a past experience with a pupil or by poor first impressions. We discussed whether labels can be positive or negative e.g. Some teachers so have that favourite teacher's pet. However, the sixth form explained that this can actually be negative for that child who feels isolated from their peers. They also explained that teachers can let their favourites get away with more things, which is not setting a good example to the rest of the group.
We ended the session looking at how we can prevent labelling as a negative form of stereotyping in the classroom and also why pupils like Lauren may behave in that way e.g. troubles at home? Ultimately, we concluded that teachers have a responsibility to be the 'adult' and not resort to aggressive confrontations lowering themselves into a slanging match. Teachers have a responsiblity not to hold grudges but to treat each day as a new one and turn over that leaf!

The sixth form presenters are planning to alter this workshop and present it to tutor groups. If you are interested in them coming to deliver a session to your tutor group let Emily Beer or Nina Moore know ASAP to book them in for some fantastic peer coaching.

Emily Beer

Year 8 Disco Information - 4th March 2010

The sixth form are planning to run a Year 8 disco with our help on Thursday March 4th from 6.30-9.00pm.  It will cost £3.00 and that will include soft drink and food. They can not bring anyone else and they MUST be in Year 8 to buy a ticket! Please advertise the poster below to your tutor groups. There should be a message in assembly tomorrow or week after half term. Tickets will be sold by sixth formers who will visit forms regularly. Please tell students to keep their ticket safe.We would love as many of you to come and support as possible.

50% PROCEEDS will go to Haiti and their recovery.


50% will be split between Years12/13 and Year 8 and good things bought for them. This will be discussed with Year Heads and school council.


Thanks again
Emily

Brilliant Leadership and Strategic Planning Tools

I have discovered two brilliant sites that are loaded with fantastic resources for leaders to broaden thinking and gain practical tools for strategic planning.

Vision Mapper is a superb site with a diverse range of tools, resources and ideas to make you think 'Outside the Box' and strategically plan for the future. Click on the link to discover more:


 http://www.visionmapper.org.uk/index.php

The Exploratree web resource has been developed by Futurelab and emerged out of our work on the Enquiring Minds project. It provides a series of ready-made interactive 'thinking guides' or 'frameworks' which can support students' projects and research. Thinking guides support the thinking or working through of an issue, topic or question and help to shape, define and focus an idea and also support the planning required to investigate it further. Exploratree guides can be used as a basis for whole class discussion, or emailed to individuals or groups to complete. They can also be used as a presentation tool to share your findings and thinking with others. As well as providing a set of ready to use thinking guides, which are completely customisable and shareable, Exploratree also enables teachers and students to create their own simply and easily.

http://www.exploratree.org.uk/

Ninax

Death by POWERPOINT - Some useful tips to improve your presentations!

Inspired by Presentation Zen, this presentation is a great reminder not to bore students or ourselves to death with POWERPOINT. I think most teachers are guilty of creating dull presentations, but the truth is that the problem goes beyond education. I think there are more bad ones out there in the world than good.

If teachers are guilty of producing bad presentations, then students can be even worse, creating slides with waaaay too much text which they then proceed to read from the screen. They can be forgiven for this, because they rarely see any good examples. If you follow the advice in the presentation, you will impress your audiences much more – though you will have to know/rehearse what you’re going to say, because reading it from the screen is not an option. I hope you find it useful!

Better Slides

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