My Head (principal) goes on and on about how we teachers are first and foremost academics, and that therefore we need to be continually seeking to learn new stuff. He's right, in many respects, although I disagree that we are all academics - many teachers get into teaching because they enjoy teaching, not because they're of an academic mind-set. But I know why he says that. I understand why he encourages us to keep learning. Firstly, once you're in the classroom as the teacher, it's easy to for… Continue

Sometimes we want to really listen. But, as someone once said, we are often not listening, but rather reloading! Well, I am again poaching one of the ideas off my own website, http://www.pixelpostcards.com to share here. This week we were on holiday. Family camp. This meant no-camera-dad-please. Or so I thought. So, I packed them away. On Tuesday morning I went fishing with my son. Long walk. No fish. Bonding time... And I learnt the value of… Continue

e/merge 2008 is a virtual conference on educational technology in Africa. It's on form the 7 - 18 July. It is an online conference so essentially the website is the conference venue...This is great as, essentially it allows you to view selected presentations, read conference papers, share useful resources, take part in debate, share best practices and network informally. It also might include associated face to face events in a number of cities... "e/merge 2008 is primarily for educational tec… Continue

This has been a week for feeling appreciated (which doesn't happen very often in education!) Firstly, a large percentage of my kids at school have come up to thank me specifically for something I've done - from helping them achieve well in the exams to teaching them this term, to being willing to answer their questions, to being gracious with them (!!). It's been fab! As a teacher, you get used to busting a gut with no reward (teaching is its own reward... apparently), and to being taken for gr… Continue

A bit of a mouthful, but apparently very good for you. We had a (VERY) short ProGro presentation yesterday by some staff who'd been on a course. I found it fascinating, because it linked in with what I already knew about VAK learning and Brain Gym. VAK stands for Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic. Kids predominantly learn in one or tow of these three ways. As teachers, if we want to help our kids, we need to be teaching in such a way as to allow kinesthetic and visual learners to access the curric… Continue