👨🏫 Teaching:
Everything went wrong in one of my year 9 lessons this week. First, I had to move classrooms and teach in a different room, that didn't have enough tables or chairs. Second, the projector wasn't working so everything I had planned to show the class through my laptop I couldn't do. Third, all of this was happening while one of our trainees was observing me! Fortunately things worked out well in the end. I went back to whiteboard and pen and adapted my lesson so students were still able to learn.
It was great to hear that the trainee thought it ended up being a really good lesson and she was impressed with how calmly I dealt with it all. Everyone likes recieving positive feedback but more to the point I wanted to make sure she could do the same in the future.
My advice to her...practice it. Put yourself in those nightmare situations in an environment that you can control. So if it does come up for real you have already had a practice and know what to do. In my first few years of teaching I deliberately practiced for every eventuality. It has paid off because occasionally something does go wrong but I am able to adapt and still teach reasonably good lessons.
I definitely feel we should continue to challenge our adaptability in teaching even if it never actually happens because it has increased my own confidence dramatically knowing that I am happy to deal with anything going wrong.
🔊 Listen:
Andrew Trimble on lessons learnt from his time as a professional rugby player and how he has been applying them in businnes to achieve high performance. He speaks about the importance of clarity and communication within your teams. Listen here.
🔊 Listen:
Craig Barton speaking to Dan Draper about overlearning. Really interesting listen, every Craig Barton podcast episode make me think critically about my own practice and this is no different. Listen here.
📚 Read:
7 variables in schools by Tom Sherrington. Highlights 7 things school's do and states the range that he sees. For example with speaking some schools have regular talk partners, opportunities for choral response and cold calling whereas at the other schools have dominant students regularly shouting out. Makes me think about where my school site and what we can be aiming for next. Read it here.
📚 Read:
Nick Hart blogging about CPD and how leaders shouldn't focus on what teachers do but instead look at the underlying beliefs. Made me immediately think about Simon Sineks book, Start with why. Read his post here.