Why is a union conference important?
So after returning home from my first union conference and catching up on all my favourite programmes it's a good time to reflect on why a union conference is important.
The best thing about conference has been discussing education and educational policy with educators from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. All of the people I spoke to were passionate about education and this creates a real positive buzz around the job that I love.
I have doubled the number of twitter tweets on my account. Twitter was a great tool for informally discussing educational policy and seeing the thoughts and experiences of educators not on stage.
It was a great experience for me to walk on stage and talk about teacher pay in front of the largest audience I have ever spoken to and being at conference has been great for CPD.
Finally it has been difficult to find teachers willing to let me come in to see them teach. Thankfully I now have the contact details of 3 educators willing to allow me in to their classrooms but also willing and excited to come and visit mine. Which can only be a good thing for the learners in our respective classes.
I would encourage as many educators as possible to take a real interest in what their union does. Go to branch meetings and make a real effort to attend next years conference to help #ShapeEducation.
How can we make the most of the holidays?
Its been a long old term so it was a great relief to wake up this morning and realise I've got a 17 day break from the classroom!
I love teaching and I love my job however it is always good to have a break in order to evaluate what happened in the last term, recharge the batteries and prepare for the next term.
Over the Easter break I hope to achieve the following things,
- Attend the ATL conference and make the most of the professional networking opportunites.
- Read the two remaining topics of the masters module and start writing my assignment.
- Fully update pupils levels on Incerts.
- Prepare quality mid term plans for the next half term.
- Chill out and relax!
If I can achieve all that then it will have been a successful break and I can look forward to the start of next term.
How can we engage learners on school trips?
So it's almost here an opportunity to get learners out of the classroom for some real world learning.
On Thursday I alongside other staff from school will be taking 29 KS2 learners to a power station to learn all about electricity.
In my short career in education so far I have been involved in taking learners on a number of trips which have ranged greatly in terms of level of engagement and indeed the level of learning.
In order for a school trip to be successful I believe the following criteria should be met
- Staff that are passionate about where they work
- Learners being able to ask questions
- Real world application for the learners
- Opportunities for kinaesthetic learning
- A sense of fun
I hope that together with the staff at the power station we can help ensure this criteria is met to ensure a rewarding experience for the learners.
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The Plan
So it is important that next week the learners feel a sense of excitement in the build up to their school trip. It would be worthwhile getting the learners to think of questions that they would like answered about power and I need to ensure that all staff are clear on the format of the day in order to spark the learners interest. As always other ideas are welcome...
