Failure does not have to be a bad thing

When I arrived in the UK what shocked me the most was the fact that you could not tell a child that he wasn’t good at something. It seems that failing at something was the most degrading thing on earth, so degrading that people didn’t even dare saying the word.

Well, actually we are not all tall and beautiful, we are not all slim and attractive, rich and intelligent….some of us are small, some are not as academic as others etc.. Why should we not admit it ??!!! I am small and I am never upset that people tell me I am small, because of the simple fact that I am actually small.

When I was at school, I was very bad at maths (and biology, and physics, and chemistry, and English !!!!) but I am ok with that. My teachers told me at a young age that maths was not my bag, and thank god they did !! If they hadn’t told me that I wasn’t good at maths, I would not have discovered that I am actually good in grammar and I would not enjoyed doing a degree in linguistics. I am very happy that my teachers were honest and so I could discovered my talents.

Although I failed at maths (and biology, and physics, and chemistry, and English !!!!) I have excelled in other areas which have given great pleasure in life. If my child could not sing at all, would I tell her that she can sing perfectly ?? Or will I help her to find something she enjoys doing ??

We don’t have to be good at everything, and I think it is acceptable to be bad at something at school because that could lead us to something much greater.

I suck at maths and I am happy !!!!

Revelation at Learning at School conference

On the first day of the conference I went to a breakout on SOLO taxonomy presented by Pam Hook from Hooked on Thinking.

I had heard about SOLO taxonomy before and to be honest I hadn’t understood a thing. So here I am in this presentation hoping to understand a bit more.

Well my dream was shuttered at first ! For a good part of the talk I couldn’t understand a thing….not a thing. After crying for a while on my own shoulder, disappointed to be “unclever”, I had a click and understood what it was all about !!!! (at that point I was so proud of myself I wanted to dance on my chair, but don’t worry I didn’t !!!)

After the first few seconds of happiness I became very sad again as it hit that I am a crap teacher ! (crap is here not standing for any clever educational abbreviation, just crap!) I don’t use SOLO taxonomy in my class. I don’t ask THE right questions to my students. I thought until this presentation that my students in my class were actually thinking all the time, but they are not.

So after wanting to dance on my chair I wanted to hang myself on my chair ! And then I thought that instead of crying I should take the decision that for now on I should learn more about SOLO, and implement the theory in my French class.

This breakout was a revelation for me and I am SO glad I went there as I have (again) grown so much as a teacher. I am a long life learner and not ashamed to admit it

Learning at school conf 2010

Here I am in my bed at 5 am in the morning and already awake in front of the computer. I could not sleep because I am as excited as a child on the day before Christmas.

Here in Rotorua is going to be held a conference for eager educators willing to learn new stuff. I have booked the breakouts I wanted to attend and I actually cannot wait that the conference starts at last.

I have been in NZ now for a bit more than 5 years and I have always been impressed by how much the educators are here passionate about their profession. Although we are a very small country (only a bit more than 4 million kiwis) the technology is here cutting edge and what I find the most amazing is how much educators are interested in LEARNING. I have never been in a country where learning takes such a big place in education.

I am sure I won’t be disappointed and I will learn a lot during this conference because I know how well prepared all presenters are and I know that all the teachers participating to this conf are ready to learn.

I feel I am very privileged to participate to such a conference.

So, you want to know how was my 1st ICT lesson???

I have been teaching in NZ for 5 years now, and since I have been here I have been teaching French and only French. Unfortunately this year I also have to teach ICT in order to teach a full timetable !!! :-(

Kids who take French in NZ are usually smart kids with a very opened mind ( languages are optional) and are, most of the time, very polite.

Yesterday was my first ICT lesson with a Year 9 (13 years old) and I have to admit that I hadn’t used any behaviour management strategies for the last five years. In my French classes, if students chat a bit too loudly I only have to give them a bad look and they stop! However yesterday I had to use a lot of strategies I used to use when I was teaching in England.

I was very tired at the end of the hour as I had to spend a lot of time dealing with misbehaving kids. I was also very upset to think that I had been paid during this hour to implement behaviour strategies instead of engaging ALL students.

To be honest, after lunch time when I had finally cooled down, I reflected on my lesson and realised that although 4 students were not taking advantages of whatI had to offer in the classroom, 26 students (or almost 26 ) were engaged and actually very excited about the learning and the thinking that were happening in our ICT class.

Should I be happy that I engaged 26 students out of 30?? Or should I aim to engage the whole class?? Would I be happy with 80% successful results if I had another job??

A year with Toni Twiss

Toni Twiss has spent a year with us at Matamata College, succeeding Richard Vandijk, as our ICT Facilitator.

Toni had to fit some very big shoes as Richard is a very good ICT facilitator but she managed it….very well. Toni has helped me during the whole year and actually saved me from boredom.

Before Toni arrived I was very bored and was never presented with challenges. It didn’t feel like working in a school but more like in a factory where everyday goes by and you feel you do the same things….over and over again.

Then arrived Toni !!! Thank god!!! If Toni had not come you would have found or dead in the staffroom or I would have to take drugs in order to forget I was in the staffroom!!! Toni made the staffroom a place where one can learn and discuss about good teaching practice. She shared her knowledge generously and was never crossed when I had a “thick day” ( or a thick month!!).

Toni Twiss is going to be missed a lot in our school…..I will miss her incredibly as I am very scared to be very bored again next year

Core subjects versus Option

In most schools in New Zealand, timetables are done in such a way that there are “core subjects” e.g. Maths, sciences, english etc and “option subjects” e.g. Languages, cooking, woodwork etc…

In most students’ minds and, unfortunately, most teachers’ minds, core subjects are seen as very important and option subjects are seen as unimportant, invaluable subjects where one can mack around and where work is optional.

Last week, I went to a NZALT meeting and we started to speak about the fact that, as language teachers, we do not like that senior managements speak about Core subjects versus option subjects. We thought it is time to find another word than “option”. As the meeting ended we were not able to find a right word.

I know that changing a word would not obligatory change people’s set of mind but I reckon it would help. I was speaking with a teacher from a respected private school and he said he has the same problem with his pupils not willing to do any work as his subject (French) is seen as optional, which means for the students that no work is required.

When I was at school, option had another meaning. And as I am not that old, one can not say that the word has evolved ! Latin was for example an option. An option was then available only to people who could intellectually follow such a course. An option was a subject quite elitist that not everybody could chose. Although French in NZ is still very elitist, the subject does not seem to be seen as an important subject.

I would love to see teachers to change their view on optional subjects and realise that option teachers teach a lot to the students, like literacy.

Easi Speak Microphone

Although they are very small and look like toys, I have been very impressed by the Easi Speak microphones. I have been using them to record my students NCEA speech. The sound quality is extremely good and the teacher who moderates the speeches said that she could hear/ understand words that she had been unable to hear before.

Using Easi Speak is very easy. Last week-end I recorded myself reading some articles in French. After recording I just plugged the microphone onto my computer, dragged and dropped the MP3 from the microphone onto my desktop and bingo!!! It was done. Then I could put the sound on a wikispace, blog or as I did that time, I sent the mp3 to my students via email. I know my year 13 were very happy as they could listen to a true French article only a few weeks before the exams.

Until now I have been borrowing a microphone from another teacher at school, but as today I will use my own ! Today I received 2 new microphones!!! A very happy day..