Mastery Projects

So in my aim to reach teaching mastery, these are the skills I am going to focus on first:

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.