T minus 1 day and counting.

Hi everyone,

This week’s blog has been written a little later than expected, as I have been thorougherly engrossed  marking the vast majority of my student’s exercise books over the weekend. It has been such a pleasure to see the time and effort that my students have spent on their work, which has been completed independently outside of the classroom. It really makes the time and effort spent marking them all worthwhile. I have been particularly impressed with the imagination and creativity some of my students have shown when completing their independent learning. I usually inform them that there are no real rules or guidelines (other than the topic) to follow when completing work independently as the work they are completing is their own and therefore they can let their imaginations take them wherever they want to go. Obviously it must be accurate and 99% of the time my students know that when learning about the subject of Science, that is an absolute necessity. For those who do not, a quick introduction to the scientific method and principles relating to it and they are flying.

To be honest, the weekend appears to have vanished but as I informed my students recently with another quote from the genius himself, I know I have found my perfect job, as this is what is currently happening to me on a daily basis. Time simply disappears. When I think about how recently it seems that I was sitting exactly where my students now sit and it was 16 years ago, it's actually quite strange to think about where the time has gone. I make it a part of my job to tell the students that I teach that they don't have time to waste but like them, I remember when I was 15-16 and I felt like I had all the time in the world. I'm glad I realised not long after that that my time on this planet is finite and you need to make the most of it.

My latest sensational YouTube video (57 views, 3 likes and counting!) is a bit of an impromptu one. After listening to Sir Michael on the radio on Thursday morning, discussing low-level disruption in the classroom I felt rather compelled to put an idea from Classroom 21 out there. I have the upmost respect for any teacher or ex-teacher so hopefully this may help one of my colleagues somewhere who is struggling with the problem of low-level disruption, if they ever find it. I think Sir Michael is absolutely spot on, particularly with one of his suggestions, to have senior leaders in classrooms assisting. Eight years of teaching has allowed me to see the benefit of having the knowledge that a senior leader can be in a classroom when necessary to assist with the teaching and learning that takes place. I am of the opinion that it is neither the fault of a teacher nor the fault of a student that low-level disruption occurs. I think the failure to tackle low-level disruption, or the reason why low-level disruption occurs in the first place lies elsewhere. I am sure if you follow this blog you will find out where I think that fault lies in the not to distant future.

I’m interested to hear the feedback that I get from my students tomorrow about the video, as some of them are very accustomed to 'The Liste, no Talky, Green Dot of Doom'. Another little gem I found this weekend that my students will be informed about is this interview of a young Steve Jobs. 32 years on the planet and this weekend is the first time I have heard it, unbelievable. Anyway, it won't take me long to show it my students tomorrow, why listen to me when they can hear from a man who was a true visionary and lived the reality he created for himself. It is so incredibly true, this is all you have to realise. If you havn't seen it, I really recommend taking 1 minute 42 seconds to watch it. It could even be used as a point of discussion for a starter or plenary activity. Let your student's imaginations run wild.