Year One: There was a time...

When I had no idea what I was doing. But I'm not sure anyone knew except Nonna. I could cover content and I could design activities for different types of learners like they sort of, kind of, maybe taught us in the dip Ed. But I didn't really have an embedded pedagogy. I could put on a show. But Nonna's office had a window that faced my whiteboard. And Nonna could see everything. Nonna knew I couldn't spell to save myself and clearly hadn't been taught grammar at high school. So she taught me, often in front of the kids I was suppose to be teaching. I was never threatened or insulted by her, she did it with such a humor and an honest desire to help me get better. But man did I make sure my board work was flawless before the end of the year. She suffered no fools and if I really had no idea she wouldn't have let me get away with it for long. 

When I nearly died inside because bad kids felt like it was my fault. Two of my students were the first kids in years to be sent home early from year 7 camp. I was mortified. They beat up another kid when I wasn't watching and it felt like it was all my fault and I was a horrible teacher and probably a horrible person for not stopping something I didn't know was happening. 

When I didn't have a back wall in my classroom. More than once I caught myself watching my colleague teach in the classroom across the room because it was way more interesting than what I was doing. Nonna found this hilarious. 

When I had to sleep for 30 minutes every night when I got home from work.

When I first took up responsibilities beyond the classroom. Somehow I ended up leading a literacy PLT in year one. At least I actually applied for and was successful in taking over the SRC coordination. And I learnt a hell of a lot more about kids and teachers than I did by just being in the classroom. The penny dropped - what I really liked was learning. I got to know a group of kids with different qualities and capabilities beyond what they were invited to show in the classroom. These kids inspired me to do better as we plotted ways of doing good in the world - even it was just painting a dividing line so students could stick to the left side when using the staircase to the portables. We staged a winter sleep out and at the end of term 1 my shaved head ended up in the local paper for lukemia fundraising.

When I needed therapy to figure out how to cope with it all. It was personal as much as professional but at one stage he told me that "I could be a principal at 33 if I really wanted but would probably burn out and then be stuck with nothing." Or I could slow it down a bit and get a life. It took me a while to adjust but eventually it became manageable. Nine Inch Nails helped tremendously here. The boozy weekends not so much. 

When the principal asked what I wanted to do and the other graduates were shocked at my answer. I was far too confident and wasn't afraid of what we (as in the team of graduates) had accomplished up until that point. I wouldn't learn humility until much later.

When my mentor showed me what was possible and we ran with it. For my VIT registration we designed a lesson where my year 8s would teach his year 7s about poetry (form, poetic devices, message and purpose). We took over the whole library for a double period and coached them through it. It was amazing. It was what I would come to understand as 'the right work'. Researched based risk taking in the classroom. When after the portfolio was finished he challenged me to publish journal articles, based on the adjustment we would make to common content strategies. I worked these into reflective practices in my teaching that are still the best part of my 'game.' 

When I knew I could do this, that I loved it, and it was all going to be ok. When Tanya, Ashok, Lauren, Jacinta, Alana and Eric found out I was taking their class for English again the next year their reaction confirmed that I hadn't ruined their education or their lives. They believed in me before I believed in myself. 

When I sat next to Mel the music teacher and knew this was going to be my life.

Why I am wearing RED

Just a quick note on the June 7 Strike.

Ted doesn't think we work hard enough because in a DEECD survey of face-to-face teaching hours they found teachers only teach an average 16.3 hours. This surveyed teachers across the state but did not acknowledge time release for additional duties.

At my school, the standard teaching load is 23 x 47minute periods. This is 18.1 hours and does not include home group, assembly or yard duty. My load as a coordinator is 15 x 47 minute periods (11.75 hours) since I also spend 4 x 47 minute periods a week coaching other staff, and have the rest to coordinate 30 staff and 1500 kids.

This week staff at my school did their 18 hours but also completed the following duties:

• Several took out excursions that took them beyond their usual allotment. 
• 8 English teachers spent an additional 100 minutes supervising a SAC after school until 5pm on Thursday. 
• 2 Physics teachers were with students until 9pm the same night.
• 2 Psychology teachers were with students until 6pm on Monday night. 
• 10 staff spent all of Wednesday's lunchtime in a trivia contest with students. 
• PE staff took teams to state championships that took them past their usual allotment. 
• Music staff ran band rehearsals from 8am to 5pm Tuesday and Wednesday in addition to teaching their usual classes.  
• 20 teachers supervised the Year 9 Social until 10pm Thursday.
• With VCE at a peak period a significant number of teachers spent an immeasurable amount of time with groups of students to help them prepare for SACs and exams. This usually occurred during meal breaks and between meetings.

All of this was in addition to mandatory and voluntary meetings. None of this is covered by extra pay, time in lieu, or any proposed performance pay method. It is all unpaid overtime to give students the best chance they have to experience success.


The current system prays on the good will of teachers. To not acknowledge this hard work is insulting. If they want us to teach another hour then it will be harder for us to make the extra efforts described above. The extra hour will come at the expense of more than 1000 teaching jobs. Teachers will be pushed harder for their time. Class sizes will probably be bigger. Certainly I would expect to lose my coaching time to help improve teaching and learning in classrooms. Who is the biggest loser in this scenario?

That is why I'll be wearing red on Thursday.

Feel free to join me.

More on Ted: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/baillieu-wants-longer-hours-and-merit-pay-for-teachers-20120602-1zp1v.html

Handing the inmates the keys

I learned three things today. But first a little context about how I got there.

There are occasions when they drive me nuts. It isn't the lack of progress because I am patient. It isn't their idiosyncrasies because I am amazingly tolerant (though this isn't always apparent). It is the whinging. The whining. Some are vocal about this and that I can handle. When they harp on about being boring I know they are giving me feedback. But that feedback can be interpreted in a number of ways. Yes, sometimes the structure is repetitive. Sometimes the content is uninteresting. What the young, unengaged mind fails to appreciate is that sometimes repetition is necessary.

My class uses an objective goal sheet. I put the goal on the board, they write it down and score themselves at the beginning of the lesson. This efficiently tells me how much they think they already know. At the end of the lesson they score themselves again and hopefully realized they have learned something. They score their effort too. Most kids understand what to do and do it well. Sometimes they fill it in with the purpose of helping me achieve MY goal (which is to see a progression in their learning). Interestingly most tend to be pretty honest with their effort score. They know when they've tried and when they haven't been "feeling it."

Something happened yesterday that changed this pattern.

Five students gave themselves the maximum score of four at the start and end of the lesson. They were telling me they knew it before I taught it, and still knew at the end. My first reaction was immediate offense - how can they be so arrogant? How can they know something before I taught it? Why are they such smart alecs?

Then I thought - what if they are right?

I decided to test this group of students. In homeroom I announced they would be teaching the afternoon class. I literally handed them the keys and said you need to continue our learning as a class. Set the goal, deliver the lesson. There wasn't a randomness to this challenge since we are working our way through a novel. I'll admit I was petrified. What if the boss wanders by and sees the anarchy? What if they completely stuff this up and I've got to reteach the whole lesson tomorrow?

I decided to throw caution into the wind. I sat myself in a student's chair at the back of the room. And I learned.

Firstly, the students did not understand the implications of a learning goal. The goal they set was narrow. "React to Old Bill." Actually that was the second goal. The first goal was "do the same as yesterday." (It should be noted that Old Bill doesn't even appear until well into the section we are reading. For the most part, we weren't going to be reading anything to do with our learning goal.)

The negativity (and I'll admit it, glee) I felt towards this apparent failure was soon replaced by something grander. As I watched them and completed the lesson to their instructions I saw them copy my lesson format. Without notes. Without planning or discussing it at lunch (refer to that goal - they clearly weren't prepared.) They managed to organise people to read and set out a note-taking form for quotes and reflections. And the students followed them. Herein lied my second lesson - the students had reached a point of aromaticity in the learning process. For all intents and purposes the boring repetition has served its function. Their notebooks are full of good quotes and thoughtful insights into them. And now they could do it with minimal instruction. I had in front of me, a group of students who had been influenced by my teaching and could independently put it into practice. It was a joy to watch and complete the questions the students set alongside them. I offered my own responses at appropriate times and pointed out some interesting insights. I paired and shared with my table group. It was an opportunity to model from the back of the room. (What a great idea! How had I not done this before?) And I loved it.

They liked it to. Not the authority (for ultimately they had none). But they learned. There was five of them who had to be active and checking student responses and making sure the class stayed on track. They realised it was harder than it looked.

The third lesson was more of a confirmation than a new idea. Risk taking can work. Every once and awhile I need to throw away the lesson plan and rely on my instinct. These kids gave me some feedback so I gave them a challenge. And they responded. Not perfectly mind you, they need a hand with the learning goal and making sure the lesson stays relevant throughout. But so do lots of qualified teachers. It is a lesson we can learn together. They had picked up on the key aspects of my modelling though had not been able to apply them perfectly. There is time for mastery. Hell, Bob Marzano says it takes a reflective, expert teacher ten years to reach mastery. I can't expect these kids to get it in 45 minutes.

When I got home I continued reading Roland Barth's 'Learning By Heart' for my Masters. In a chapter on the need for teachers to be active learners and researchers Barth summed it up perfectly - "[schools] can become cultures where youngsters are discovering the joy, the difficulty, and the excitement of learning and where adults are continually rediscovering the joy, the difficulty, and the excitement of learning." The message my students had been sending me was clear. The message I replied with broke some new ground for them and helped them develop a new appreciation for what we do. And I learned more about my class by not being the teacher and perhaps taught more by being a fellow student.

So how do I top that tomorrow? I probably can't. But I'm certainly going to try.