Thirteenth Republic - School’s out for summer, no more pencils no more books!

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff. Baiters and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here only if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the toffee vodka is hidden.

If you are fed up with cakes and biscuits there is now a cheeseboard on offer

If you come with a stick to beat us with then please do so elsewhere and not in the staffroom

Piggy are yiu flights with Ryanair? Mine are. I don't think they will cancel. 😓

@noblegiraffe

Supply teachers would definitely meet the requirement for needing masks - they’re in enclosed spaces with people that they would not normally meet. If Johnsons wore a mask in a classroom then so should they.

Yes, good point.

Doing daily supply is going to be pretty high risk. I have three friends who left their permanent jobs to do supply within the last few years as their health wasn’t great and it was more flexible for them. They all had shielding letters so didn’t work over lockdown (they may have been furloughed?). I can’t imagine they will be happy to go back into this-I must speak to then to find out their plans.

Or possibly Mark Enser telling Teacher Tapp respondents they were wrong about discovery learning

I saw Mark Enser making a bitchy comment about researchEd today (something about being full of hope at the prospect of working with academics in 2013) which relates to the research article from yesterday.

The article appeared to have been written by someone who has never argued on twitter about anything other than education. They were surprised that people take extreme positions and dig in, where reality is more nuanced. Apparently this is a problem with EduTwitter and not, y’know, the entire internet.

My flights are Ryanair but it's a package holiday ,s o I thought that overruled the whole thing. VillaPlus are forever saying you are 'safer' with a package.

There really are some EduTwitter types who are frustrated academics who can't understand why they aren't really famous and revered in academic circles, just because they wrote the odd subject specific book. I am not sure if it is professional jealousy, egos , male posturing or what. I am up for reading their ideas and theories but I also reserve the right to disagree or contend a point of view based on my excessive years of classroom experience and my subject area being different.

Re supply. We - secondary - have stated in our risk assessment that we're not using agency staff, keeping it in house as much as poss, mainly using our existing zero hours contract people who (I think) work exclusively for us. But that's only about four or five people so I don't know if our teachers will have to do more... (ducks for cover). We have 1.5 full time cover supervisors plus one or two who work elsewhere in school part-time, but do ad hoc cover.

But in theory external supply staff shouldn't be a problem because they're not going to be getting closer to anyone than 2m for more than 15 minutes, are they??

But in theory external supply staff shouldn't be a problem because they're not going to be getting closer to anyone than 2m for more than 15 minutes, are they??

See, this is what worries me. If we catch it from a child, will it then become our fault for not staying 2m away from them?!

It’s going to be impossible-many of my tinies won’t be able to do their own coat up, let alone open their water bottle to refill it or peel open a banana for snack-how is all that going to work?!

Yes @Appuskidu, I think that's a whole different ball game at primary and I'm glad I don't work in one any more, tbh...... Are the unions not pointing this out, big time? At least special schools are given more specific guidance from the government and from their heads, but the sound of it.

Need to catch up on thread, just seen this:

Coronavirus and teachers: The forgotten school key workers www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-53534125

DH just sent me this ... don’t know whether to laugh or cry!

That seems about right, motherrunner!

The thing that annoys me about eduTwitter is the inability to see beyond one’s own subject. So, with the discovery learning thing. I can see how it isn’t wildly compatible with maths, science or geography, but if you’re teaching Media BTEC to sixth formers who have a very negative view of school and their own abilities, a brief intro to using cameras and editing software and then sending them out to make 30-second films is way more effective and a much bigger boost to their confidence and enjoyment of the subject than a 1000 knowledge organisers! So although I’m actually on board with quite a lot of the trad-style teaching theory where it’s appropriate (I’ve managed to shift the teaching style of the department to be a lot more teacher-led now we have more exams in vocational courses, and that works well), there’s also a HUGE place for hands-on, student-centred practical work (or “go outside and film something instead of just sitting their talking about it”) in my subject. And I’m not going to deny that just because it’s not currently fashionable.

Sitting there, obviously, I am actually an a English teacher and I hand my head in shame accordingly.

Is anyone on any teaching facebook groups? When I think I'm fed up of the knowledgeorganiserisation of education, I just go and have a look at people posting things like "My topic for September is the stone age, anyone got any planning?" and realise that there needs to be 'something' to contain this stuff.

Personally I want to be told what to do, and want to have totally free choice for one short term. Go with child interest, but make it a bit aspirational. Thing is, there is always someone who does Minecraft as a topic.

My friend who works at a super posh private school said that she really enjoyed teaching through lockdown. All the boys were there when they were supposed to be. Because A levels were cancelled, they did university ready courses for year 13s, which meant she basically had the freedom to do what she wanted. Ended up doing a lot of work on music in film, which was "totally out of my comfort zone, I had to learn A LOT", but she said that the boys produced amazing composition work etc, which wouldn't have happened otherwise. She's a chief examiner one of the boards, and said that going off curriculum was the most fun she's had in ages.

Oh edutwitter has gone it's usual holiday bonkers. The age old researchEd is crap brigade are out in force. Old Andrew in yet another row (tbf he's right on this one). I hadn't seen Mark Ensers one but will have a look now. Has Pran Patel spouted any antiracist stuff yet?!

I have a love hate relationship with edutwitter, sometimes it feels like a playground.

The discovery learning thing isn't anti going out and making videos if they're relevant. It's anti teaching maths through BS discovery where the kids learn nothing.

Yes, true but it is the applied to all subjects as a blanket rule. And then argued about.

There is also a lot to be said by teaching stuff like poetic form through what some might call discovery (ie working some stuff out for yourself).

The most stultifying lesson I ever observed was a knowledge led English lesson.

There aren't many English teachers at the forefront of the current trends : Jennifer Webb to an extent but she isn't as knowledge led as she perhaps says she is.

Surely going and making a video isn't discovery though? It's just hands on way to learn media.

Discovery in maths is using string to measure the circumference and diameter of a circle then trying to prove pi. But not telling the students what they were doing or why.

You're right that edutwitter is SO polarised.

There does seem to be a developing backlash about frontloading all the context into teaching Lit texts.

I once went for a job at the school of an educeleb. I didn't do twitter at the time, but when I saw them on there afterwards I was extremely surprised to see what was being said by them, and the reality of their school. I came home from the pre application look round, horrified. Behaviour for learning not. a. thing. I think I described it to my partner as 'chaotic' - even the deputy who showed me around.

I would love to see some of these “amazing” schools in the flesh!

Surely going and making a video isn't discovery though? It's just hands on way to learn media.

Well, yes, but you can painstakingly talk through shot types/camera movements/editing techniques first, cover every eventuality and do endless planning before sending them out, or you can (my preferred way) do a small amount of teaching (which they ignore), let them go out and (probably) screw up a lot, then do the teaching when they realise what they did wrong! So I think that is discovery learning, really. You can teach them ho to write a production schedule until you’re blue in the face but until they’ve been out filming at 6 on a December evening when it’s pitch black, half the group didn’t turn up and they haven’t got a lift gone, they don’t really appreciate the true importance of planning...

It's kind of discovery I suppose, but they have had some instruction and teaching first. I think pure discovery is bollocks in most cases. Subjects that use it well, aren't actually doing discovery, they're doing a bit of instruction followed by a specific and short activity. It'd be like teaching how to find the circumference using pi, then using the last 10 minutes to investigate diameter and circumference to show where pi comes from. (a hash job of an example sorry!).

I'd agree that media, arts, tech all take practical examples and students doing stuff before it really sinks in.

The trouble is, discovery teaching takes time. And there isn't enough time to get through the syllabus. It usually goes like this:
Spend 12 hours on prep.so kids can discover for themselves.
2 hours of lessons where kids discover a superficial understanding.
Another lesson of teacher led teaching to make sure they actually learn what you need them.to learn.

Agreed!

Some things can be learned by discovery like not walking off a wall because you get hurt. We don't expect kids to learn to read via discovery though!

It looks like the TBs have moved onto Holiday bashing now. Apparently we should let it go now and just lose thousands.

That first week off passed quickly. 🙈

Yes. I am being bashed by the same person who bashes me for not 'cracking on'! LOL love.