a kid impressed me yesterday

[when writing a post

i'd like to set the title window

below the editing window

so the title is more a summation/target for the thing i have written]

three experiences:

pub-quiz and sense of belonging

maths extreme and county council consultants

confluence model and teacher formations...

pub-quiz and sense of belonging

simeon royale organised a pub-quiz for the school

great fun

with a whole range of school participants

from kids to teachers to governors to teaching assistants to the head

(not sure if any catering and grounds staff were there though)

some kids performed between rounds

one guy singing some kind of blues

amazing

and the rounds were based mainly on music and maths

which is quite phenomenal really if you think about it --

people enjoying themselves socially with maths...

there are definitely a group

perhaps we can call it a community

which are very vibrant

a pleasure to see leadership team on microphone being themselves

really letting their hair down

and little if no pretense

a real sense of genuine engagement

lovely

a pleasure to be part of...

and yet

i woke up this morning thinking about presenting my words to the school

perhaps at a morning staff meeting

saying that i don't share the sense of belonging so evident in a few of the people there

how the talents and skills which could make the school thrive

are not working together harmoniously

for some reason

i have the notion that everyone should be included

and that is not merely a matter of inviting people

it is a matter of welcoming people into the group

darren has tried hard at making people feel welcome in so many ways

and in fact

i think he will continue to do so

perhaps it comes naturally to him

perhaps it was his experiences in africa...

a singular incident:

i was speaking to dave

and he cut me short

it was strange

and slightly unexpected

you see

i thought we had enough of a resonance for me to resound my positivity

regarding how valuable certain people are in the school

and who are not recognised

especially those who have significant social warmth and capacity

for example

dave himself

and this guy called luke

both of whom make £11k a year

£11k a year

that's not much

and considering their contribution

which is like a gell or glue or lubricant or something

without whom

the school would be a much poorer place

how can we espouse an every child matters

and rabbit on about community

and celebrating the diversity of skills and intelligences amoungst kids

when we as adults

can not?

it is a catch-22

the most vital one

the one that i place me self at the heart of

the one which causes me to not have a sense of belonging

to form a comfortable group

unless

we are thinking realistically

of everyone being involved

the trick

quite clearly

is to have a positive cycle occuring both at the level of the children

as well as at the level of the adults

a classroom co-ordinator might do the trick for the kids

and this might be enough to confluence the adults...

but i need enough adults to confluence for the role to be piloted

a remark:

i have encountered this throughout my adult life

where i draw attention to the positive qualities of colleagues and friends and family

and they do not allow such accurate praise to... settle...?

and in so doing

they are discarding the skill that i have within a social group

that is

drawing attention to real positive talents and skills people possess

there are lots of possible reasons why any individual might not accept positive feedback

perhaps because of their school upbringing

where teachers lavish (false) praise on those who know do not deserve it

perhaps because they are not recognised professionally

and they can not bear to recognised because of the pain that it surfaces...

after all

many of us are not contributing our full human capacities

of warmth and generosity and humour and skills and love

with friends and family let alone colleagues

(me included)

maths extreme and county council consultants

two council advisors came in this week

sally and andy

and they were very stimulating

they talked about gifted and talents

and offered interesting practical ways of stretching such individuals

and as a result

the social group in which they are placed

interesting chat with sally afterwards

where there seemed to be a reasonable resonance

her background is drama

and she appears to be a genuine teacher

teacher in the deeper sense of the word

and it would be nice to continue chatting with her one day

talked with andy afterwards

and i made it clear at the outset that this was a crucial conversation for me

and he kindly stretched a 10mins chat to 45 mins

deep resonance regarding the changes occuring in the entire educational system

i managed to just about contain the same ideas we share in my own words

and then

i tried to draw attention to my gordian knot solution --

to create positive dynamics within a class

generate a sense of teamwork and belonging

and by linking this class to class

generating the strength of community which is continuous through time

i am afraid

he kept on flicking the conversation into what he was doing

speaking of pods of teachers and research groups and self-assessment

but all at the level of management and teaching

i applauded his efforts and resounded his intention and good practice

and i pressed my point twice with a different approach

and upon his third cycle into adult formations

i sat quietly and resigned myself to evident situation i was in:

my agenda was not on the agenda

he left me wishing me the best

thanking me for a stimulating conversation

however

i left feeling really frustrated

since

we had talked for so long

i had resonated with his efforts

and he could not see what i was contributing --

and his name had been mentioned by another colleague

as being someone in the council who might comprehend/resonate with my ideas

i was so annoyed

i met sean on the way back to my room

(this was at 7pm

sean always works late

in fact

he puts in 12 to 14 hours a day!)

and i just hurled out my frustration to the world

poor guy

he knows he doesn't get what i am saying either

and thinks it is i who does not understand something...

(my mis-understanding is intentional)

then i happened to bump into... sally?

we've talked a few times

she is an ast

advanced skills teacher

and she is good

though i have always thought that those who have met with success

are not willing to listen to those who have met with failure

(seemingly an obvious conclusion to make

but at the heart of it

mistaken

since it neglects a prime over-riding factor:

context)

success breeds a kid of contempt...

anyhooo

we had a lovely conversation

and we really related

which was a joy

and i had more of a deep engagement with her than with andy the consultant --

which happens to affirm one of my core principles of change

the people in the situation are the best people to sort out the problems

and since we are equals

just teachers after all

we have the power to effect the change we need to see in our classrooms

really nice

really

i wish i could relate the points

but i have already gone on enough

beyond anyone's capacity to be interested...

offering teachers to do less

concentrate on feeding the positive and not generating coping strategies for the negative

lack of self-discipline is dealt with at the level of the kids first, before we as adults step-in

we sort out the social disorder, we prevent much disinterest and disaffection

kids should not need to be pushed, but their energy inspiring and entertaining to us old fogies

we get to the perfect school by orientating ourselves towards it, and taking practical steps now

confluence model and teacher formations...

i believe the confluence model could be really useful for schools

with teachers putting in their daily intentions

which can be related to class lesson plans

links to various resources etc

so that other teachers who are teaching similar classes

can learn from

for example

if i am teaching year 8's algebra

it would be nice to follow a lesson plan that another teacher has followed

using their resources etc

it is not so much building a library of resources

which is the current thinking

but generating the relationships between similarly-minded teachers

imagine geese and their v-formations

or

it might be nice to see what year 8's are doing in french

for example

in the class just before i teach them maths

and perhaps i can make a few links myself...

so simple

and to finish

i teach this kid called jordan

he's in a class of year 10's called

the cope group

he has some ability with arithmetic

being the best in the class

but he will not really apply himself to anything tricky

kicking up a fuss misbehaving etc

the staff happened to be playing the neighbouring school at football

(which we won 5-2

and they are a sport's college!)

and jordan was amoungst a bunch of kids who were willing to stand around and watch

(it was bitterly cold)

they invited me to do a bit of a warm up

(since i was sub for the first half)

and i watched them play around with the ball --

amazing

keep ups like you see people do on adverts

looping the ball with the leg

i sigh now

while writing this

jordan could so easily have been part of the social community

contributing his skill and talents to the whole community

generating a sense of belonging

playing for his teammates his class his school

and if he was good enough

his county and even country

if only

if only

he had found his place in year 7 with his peers

instead

i suspect

he tried to compete with others in english say or even maths

found there were others better than him

and so gave up

in order to foster the best of us

we undoubtedly need competition

married to

an equal sense of collaboration

diversity

unity

every class

every lesson

every day

we do that in one school

we may help nurture human beings capable of sustaining world peace

practically