After surviving the field course and saying good bye to the second years, I'm taking the last weeks at school to make changes ready for the new syllabus.
I've signed up for the new kerboodle IB resources from OUP, and they look ok. Slightly less than I expected, but the online marking looks good, and the key word lists will be very useful. But I'm disappointed in the work sheets, as there aren't as many as I expected, and so far there is no teacher / technician guidance for the practicals they suggest. Overall a good purchase though.
I'm looking for a way to make ebooks so that students can have a usable copy of the syllabus and key words which is easy to access. It's difficult picking a format that can be used by any student. I was going to finally experiment with moglue, but it seems the service has been dismantled. Next in the list was myebook, which is currently down for maintenance. So maybe this task is being moved till next week.
Started working on the new websites for Oxbridge candidates and the new biology syllabus. Trying to find ways to make sharepoint more interactive and interesting to look at. Themes are ok, and being able to use pictures as hyperlinks has made a big difference. But things I thought would be easy, like adding RSS feeds, a proving much more complicated, so I'll be calling in help from my programmer friends.
So a week of lots of ideas, but slow progress
Friday, 6 June 2014
Sunday, 25 May 2014
wonderful One Note
Finally set up my new scheme of work on One Note, and the other teacher can edit, while inspectors etc. can see it and not edit it.
I'm much preferring it to the old spreadsheet system. There's an overview page with hyperlinks which means if we change the teaching order I only have to change the overview page.
Each section of the syllabus has it's own page with learning activities, assessment and differentiation. I'm using the tag system to identify TOK, independent learning and collaborative learning, and can add more tags if I need to.
My head of department has said it's good, and I might show it at the staff development session I'm running on Wednesday.
Next job fill in all of the topics!
I'm much preferring it to the old spreadsheet system. There's an overview page with hyperlinks which means if we change the teaching order I only have to change the overview page.
Each section of the syllabus has it's own page with learning activities, assessment and differentiation. I'm using the tag system to identify TOK, independent learning and collaborative learning, and can add more tags if I need to.
My head of department has said it's good, and I might show it at the staff development session I'm running on Wednesday.
Next job fill in all of the topics!
Friday, 2 May 2014
Making progress
Now is a good time to think of next years teaching. The second years have started their exams, so there is more free time, and invigilation is a good time to think about things (as that's all there is to do!)
Next week I'm talking about my masters experience during staff development and that's been a good opportunity to review what I learnt and to think about how to apply it further, Next year I will be keen to set up a research group amongst the teachers, and I hope I can get some interest going.
The organisation part of the mastery is going well, the central bank is working well, the order of teaching is complete, and I'm meeting with he head of maths to try and coordinate topics.
I took my students to the local museum to teach classification for the first time. It worked really well, although a bit like herding cats. The students were so excited about all the animals they were reluctant to learn about plant phyla, but we managed. I need to remember that the bureaucracy involved in organising a trip is worth it for the learning experience.
Next week I'm talking about my masters experience during staff development and that's been a good opportunity to review what I learnt and to think about how to apply it further, Next year I will be keen to set up a research group amongst the teachers, and I hope I can get some interest going.
The organisation part of the mastery is going well, the central bank is working well, the order of teaching is complete, and I'm meeting with he head of maths to try and coordinate topics.
I took my students to the local museum to teach classification for the first time. It worked really well, although a bit like herding cats. The students were so excited about all the animals they were reluctant to learn about plant phyla, but we managed. I need to remember that the bureaucracy involved in organising a trip is worth it for the learning experience.
Thursday, 24 April 2014
New Resources
Taking some time to find some new possible resources. It's frustrating as lots of activities just repeat what I already do, or aren't quite right for my classes.
One new thing I have found which I plan to use in the next few weeks is every slide which looks like an easy way to make powerpoints more interactive, something I am always keen to do, but has to be easy and quick to use, as holding up hands still beats most poll software.
My OneNote syllabus planner is taking shape, I'm trying to make sure it is useful, and therefore used. Too often planners are written as evidence and not as a working document. It's so important to ensure planners include all the useful resources and activities without becoming a repository of resources that are never used.
The central filing system on Sharepoint is also looking good, I have my technician on board and she's adding all of our practical worksheets and safety sheets, and everything seems to be working.
One new thing I have found which I plan to use in the next few weeks is every slide which looks like an easy way to make powerpoints more interactive, something I am always keen to do, but has to be easy and quick to use, as holding up hands still beats most poll software.
My OneNote syllabus planner is taking shape, I'm trying to make sure it is useful, and therefore used. Too often planners are written as evidence and not as a working document. It's so important to ensure planners include all the useful resources and activities without becoming a repository of resources that are never used.
The central filing system on Sharepoint is also looking good, I have my technician on board and she's adding all of our practical worksheets and safety sheets, and everything seems to be working.
Friday, 4 April 2014
Easter!
Mastery update
Made it to the end of term, and managed to sort out all the piles of paper on my desk.
I'm very excited about microsoft OneNote being available free to macs and PC's. Now me and my new colleague can do all of our long term planning, and I can share all my notes with my students. My holidays will be spent planning for next year, and thinking about trying to incorporate the new practicals and problem solving activities required by the new syllabus. I also need to find some examples of data and design some activities around them.
Made it to the end of term, and managed to sort out all the piles of paper on my desk.
I'm very excited about microsoft OneNote being available free to macs and PC's. Now me and my new colleague can do all of our long term planning, and I can share all my notes with my students. My holidays will be spent planning for next year, and thinking about trying to incorporate the new practicals and problem solving activities required by the new syllabus. I also need to find some examples of data and design some activities around them.
Monday, 31 March 2014
Mastery Projects
So in my aim to reach teaching mastery, these are the skills I am going to focus on first:
Being organised
Being organised
- electronically - having an up to date bank of resources and schemes of work
- paper - having some kind of filing system
- mentally - having a mental map of what is happening
Being intellectually curious both in teaching and in science
- read New Scientist every week
- Browse teaching blogs
- Do something new at least every fortnight
Teaching Mastery
This is a reflection on what mastering teaching means to me, before I embark on a project which will help me reach it.
First some context: This year I completed my masters in teaching. I passed and my class grades have never been better, but I still feel like a master. I think this is because teaching is a never ending job, there's always new students with new problems to solve. As soon as I feel competent in one area, another area becomes important. Thankfully I enjoy developing my teaching. At the moment I am preparing for a change in syllabus and I am looking forward to making new schemes of work and collating new resources. Next year I will be head of biology and so will need to be ultra-organised and supportive of my new colleague.
So what does mastery mean to me?
Helping all students improve - Involving differentiation, making sure I know my students. Making sure my students have a variety of resources available to them, and have the study skills to be able to access them.
Encouraging a love of science - I want all my students to leave having found the lessons interesting
Encouraging a love of learning - The IB is all about this, I want my students to be willing to academic risks, and to be intellectually curious, whilst knowing how to critically reflect on what they are reading. TOK is really important for this.
Making sure my department is well organised and inspiring - This is all down to me next year and a new responsibility, so this is probably the most pressing and my first project.
First some context: This year I completed my masters in teaching. I passed and my class grades have never been better, but I still feel like a master. I think this is because teaching is a never ending job, there's always new students with new problems to solve. As soon as I feel competent in one area, another area becomes important. Thankfully I enjoy developing my teaching. At the moment I am preparing for a change in syllabus and I am looking forward to making new schemes of work and collating new resources. Next year I will be head of biology and so will need to be ultra-organised and supportive of my new colleague.
So what does mastery mean to me?
Helping all students improve - Involving differentiation, making sure I know my students. Making sure my students have a variety of resources available to them, and have the study skills to be able to access them.
Encouraging a love of science - I want all my students to leave having found the lessons interesting
Encouraging a love of learning - The IB is all about this, I want my students to be willing to academic risks, and to be intellectually curious, whilst knowing how to critically reflect on what they are reading. TOK is really important for this.
Making sure my department is well organised and inspiring - This is all down to me next year and a new responsibility, so this is probably the most pressing and my first project.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)