I was invited to speak at the 2008 Scottish International Summer School on School Leadership being held in Edinburgh this week at the prestigious Surgeon’s Hall.
The event follows the Harvard model - which I attended last year.
Today’s programme focused upon Leadership for Learning. I was one of a panel of four who presented our own personal insights [...]
Read Full Post »
Some time ago I made an offer to any teacher in East Lothian to observe my practice for a whole day. The offer was intended to demonstrate my willingness to reciprocate the welcome I’ve had in East Lothian classrooms over the last term observing the teaching process. I received the following account last week from [...]
Read Full Post »
I was in Pinkie St Peter’s primary School this afternoon and spent most of my time in the P1 and P1/2 classes.
I came across the idea of “reading jotters” for the first time - I’m sure they are in common use in many schools but as I’ve said on many occasions I’m still learning.
The two [...]
Read Full Post »
I was in West Barns Primary School yesterday and was speaking to a P6/7 class. One of the boys asked me if I was an inspector and I asked him why he thought that - “Well you’re wearing suit and watching what we are doing”, was his logical reply. Euan had never seen an inspector in [...]
Read Full Post »
We had a very productive discussion this afternoon at the secondary headteachers meeting about classroom observation.
I was delighted to see the range of strategies being implemented in our schools but the overwhelming point which emerged from the discussion was the shift from observation with a focus on judging competence to one where the focus is [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in School visits on Nov 28th, 2007 15 Comments »
I walked into a class of 11/12 year olds this week and saw something quite special.
It was during my visit to Sanderson’s Wynd Primary School in Tranent where I saw a whole class actively engaged in personal reading. I know it sounds a bit oxymoronic - but they were definitely actively engaged in reading! - boys [...]
Read Full Post »
I visited Sanderson’s Wynd Primary School in Tranent this morning.
In the course of a very enjoyable visit where I observed a number of classes and talked with Headteacher Fiona Waddell and some of her staff about how they create a purposeful learning environment. The school is not without its challenging pupils but what struck me was [...]
Read Full Post »
The active learning banner is sometimes seen to be the sole preserve of the those who teach in early years of primary school - and it’s true that I have seen many very exciting examples of active learning in such contexts during my school visits.
However, in the course of a wonderful visit to North Berwiuck High School [...]
Read Full Post »
I visited Dunbar Primary School this afternoon and observed a nursery class and two P3 classes. I was particularly interested in the planning process for nursery classes as I’d sat in on a session during yesterday’s In-Service at Preston Lodge where a group of nursery teachers had been discussing how they lan their work over [...]
Read Full Post »
I was recently in Saltoun Primary School where I observed a P1 - P3 class being taught writing. The teacher used a storybag - an idea that she had picked up from this book:
The teacher had filled a rucksack with items and then told the pupils to imagine that they had found it outside the school. The [...]
Read Full Post »