I am very new to Edubuzz and blogging. However, I was encouraged by my good friend and colleague Tess Watson to attend the Edubuzz meeting yesterday evening. I was very apprehensive about attending as I feel that, although I think I have some basic computing skills, I am very much a novice at using the internet for anything other than surfing and chatting. However, the more I learn about it’s potential the more I understand why it can enhance Learning and Teaching and indeed the more I am enjoying learning about it.

The meeting was very relaxed and I found it to be a particularly interesting and enjoyable meeting. Everyone was very friendly and it was great to put faces to names that I have heard and to blogs that I have read. I really feel that I am going t learn a lot from every person involved. In addition, it was a chance to learn about what is going on within East Lothian and what initiatives are being put in place, marking East Lothian out within Scottish Education. I feel very lucky to work within this forward thinking authority and to be part of the Edubuzz project.

Today I had the opportunity to go along to the  S3 Outdoor Challenge. The day consisted of a number of problem solving activities set within the Lammermuir Hills. The pupils had to navigate to the various activities and then complete the challenges. This meant that the pupils had to work together to complete the tasks fulfilling the criteria of the Curriculum for Excellence.

The challenges included:

• Wordies, which is when pupils have to form famous phrases from words and symbols.
• Night Line, when pupils are blindfolded and have to follow a line round a set course.
• Injury, carrying a team member across a river.
• Compass Course, pupils had to follow directions to pick out letters to spell a word.
• Visual Awareness, being able to relate what they see to their map.

Knox Academy entered 4 teams and there were 7 teams in total. The behaviour of all the pupils was exemplary and I was particularly impressed with the team spirit amongst all the groups. Despite a very cold and windy day on the hills, the pupils displayed a great deal of effort and enthusiasim during the tasks.

The day was rounded off with a presentation to the winning team and I am very happy to say that the trophy has made its way back to Knox Academy!

 I would like to express my thanks to the Outdoor Education Staff who put a great deal of time and effort into making the day a success.

Today was inservice day 3 here in East Lothian. The day started at 7.30 when I met with Angus Tulloch, Paul Heward and one of East Lothian’s piping instructors from the East Lothian Piping and Drumming Trust. The meeting proved to be very interesting and one of the oustcomes is that we hope to run piping and drumming tutition within Knox Academy on Friday afternoons. In addition, the Trust, with the help of Haddington Pipeband, will support myself in setting up an in-school Pipeband. In the longer term, the hope is that there will eventually be an East Lothian Schools Pipeband which will compete in the Novice Juvenile section at RSPBA competitions. This is indeed a very exciting prospect!

We spent time later in the morning discussing and reviewing self evaluation procedures within the school. One interesting suggestion that arose out of the Social Subjects Faculty discussion was the suggestion that, as well as our annual, official classroom observations, we would try to operate an open door policy within the faculty. This would mean that members of staff would be able to walk in and out of each others classrooms anytime and make quick observations about what is going on and learning from each other. This, to me, seems to be a relaxed and informal way of, not only self evaluation, but also of sharing good practice.

We were split into groups in the afternoon. My group were looking at creating a positive atmosphere within the classroom to enhance Learning and Teaching. We found that there were many ways to create a positive atmosphere but we rated the use of praise and sharing mutual respect with the pupils to be amongst the most important things teachers can do.

The inservice day proved to be a valuable and enlightening experience but I am now very much looking forward to seeing my classes again tomorrow!

Watching TV is something I rarely do. However, tonight as a way of relaxing before the new term beigns, I sat down to watch an hour or so. By chance the programmes that I caught were directly related to teaching. Firstly, I saw some of the National Teaching Awards. I think it is wonderful that teachers within Britian have been recognised in this way. It was also heartwarming to see so much good practice going on within schools.

I then watched the BBC drama Waterloo Road. This programme is based on a school in a fairly disadvantaged area. It examines the lives of the pupils and the staff. While many of the issues it raises are issues that we, as educators, have do deal with on a regular basis, I couldn’t help the feeling of utter dispear by the end of the hour. Teaching is not an easy job and requires dedication. Nonetheless, it is one of the most rewarding careers there is and I can’t imagine doing anything other than teaching.

I am glad that I watched both programmes, each showing a very different side to this fantastic, tough, rewarding, challenging, exciting career.

Well the new term is nearly upon us and what a term it’s going to be! This is always a very busy and action packed term in any school.

This week we have an inservice day on Monday where we will be discussing various elements of the school development plan. The development plan is at the centre of everything we do at Knox Academy and I am looking forward to hearing about the progress that has been made already this session.

Before the inservice day even begins I have a meeting at 7.30am with the East Lothian Piping and Drumming Trust. This is a great opportunity for the Knox Pipeband and I am looking forward with excitment to the outcome of this meeting.

 The S4 Parent’s Evening is on Thursday night and I look forward to meeting parents and discussing the progress of the pupils heading towards their prelim exams.  

On Friday I am taking a group of our youngsters to the East Lothian S3 outdoor challenge. Last year I went along to John Muir Country Park with the S4 group who brought back the trophy to Knox. I am of course hoping that the S3 team can repeat this success!

Thursday 1st November sees the big launch of the African Expedition to our S3 and S4. Outlook Expeditions will be in the school delivering an introductory presentation to the pupils. A parent’s presentation will be held during the following week.

Later on in the term we have the S4 prelims so there will be lots of revision going on in both my S4 classes. In addition, my Higher class will be preparing for their first NAB on the Cold War unit of the course. We are also hoping to organise a trip for the Higher class to go to the Secret Bunker in November along with pupils from Ross High as part of the course. Moreover, there is the S4 Work Experience week too. Finally, I have been offered a week’s placement with the National Library of Scotland during November. This is a very exciting opportunity.

And all that before we start the run up to… (dare I say it?) …Christmas!

 I can’t wait to get started!

The October Holidays are here and what have I done? Well I have spent one full day in school tidying up my classroom, redecorating it and sorting out resources whilst constantly thinking about the amount of work that needs doing. When I say thinking about it, that’s exactly what I mean. I have tried so hard to motivate myself to get through the pile of marking or to get that S2 unit finished or to get next week’s lessons prepared. I just can’t find the energy. What would I rather be doing? Em…shopping, meeting friends, ice skating, sailing, piping, walking my dog or anyother activity that I enjoy but just don’t have time to do during term time.

This week I have had a few conversations with poeple who do all kinds of jobs - a bus driver, a shop assisitant, a marketer, a physiotherapist and I have noted the horror upon each face when I have answered their enevitable question of ‘what are your plans for the holiday?’ My answer, as always, ‘well I have some tests to mark, prepare some revision for my S4 classes for their prelims, prepare revision for my Higher class for their NAB, make up resources for Higher, finish a unit for S2 that I am designing, form a unit plan for S3 and S4…etc, etc, etc. None of them can believe or understand why I would want, or indeed need, to spend my holidays working. Their advice invariably is ‘this is your holiday, don’t think about work!’

I am sure that anyone reading this who is a teacher will fully understand my point, as teaching, I believe, is a way of life not just a job. As a teacher, I never stop thinking about work, what I need to do, deadlines, making better resources etc. I don’t think I am over-worrying, simply trying to do the best job I can for my pupils. But surely there must be a point where the job ends and life begins. Clearly, in other professions there is a time when work ends, why not in teaching? Is it possible to leave work behind as a teacher?

Many people outside education believe that teaching is an easy job. 12 weeks holiday each year, a decent salery and a 35 hour week. Maybe it is? Don’t get me wrong, I absoloutly love my job, there are so many opportunities within teaching and it is a very rewarding occupation, but am I the only one that feels that there is simply not enough hours in the day?

The S1-S4 Interhouse Games were held today. I was asked to help at the table tennis tournament and I was very impressed with what I saw. Pupils wearing red, green and yellow tops to mark out which house they belonged to were having a great time supporting their own team members. The behaviour of all the pupils involved was excellent and the team spirit was high.

The Interhouse Games is just one in a series of events throughout the year that allows the year groups to come together, fostering strong relationships across the year groups and allowing the pupils to show off their skills whilst winning valuable house points. Other activities running today included football, hockey, tag rugby and the ‘mystery challenge’. I am not entirely sure what the ‘mystery challenge’ was but it certainly had something to do with modelling balloons!

Tomorrow is the turn of the S5 & S6 teams to battle it out to win points. I am helping with the volleyball tournament and I fully intend to play with the other members of staff and take on the senior pupils! Again this is not only an opportunity for pupils to foster good relationships but also allows staff to build better relationships with the pupils.

Today the Knox Academy Pipeband were fortunate to be visited by Davie Leckie, Pipe Major of the Haddington Pipeband. Davie offered some fantastic advice to myself as a very inexperienced Pipe Major before chatting to the pupils and helping me tune the Pipe Corps. Davie and I both encourage all pupils involved to join a local pipeband so that they can gain more experience in public performing as well as becomming better musicians. It is also hoped that both the Haddington Pipeband and the Knox Pipeband can work together sharing resources and ideas. I hope that this will prove to be an excellent partnership!

The band played an excellent rendition of Highland Cathedral and a Green Hills and Battle’s O’er set. Both Davie and ex-Knox Pipe Major George McFarlane were very impressed with the band and thought that the pupils are showing great potential.

Both the pupils and myself are very much looking forward to our first public performance.

I am so proud of what the pupils have achieved since August and I am sure the Knox Pipeband will continue to grow from strength to strength.

Pupils regularly ask me random questions about a specific period in time. Perhaps they have seen something about Ancient Egypt on TV or have been thinking about the Native North Americans etc. While I feel confident in most aspects of History, very often, unless it is an area of the curriculum, my answer has to be, “that is an interesting question, I do not know the answer but I will try and find out”. The pupil almost always answers me with, “You are a History Teacher, you should know the answer”. To which I reply “Am I supposed to know everything that has ever happened in the world, ever?” 

While I do have a degree in History, and this is following on from a post that Luke Francis has recently posted, by the time you get to University you become specialised in certain areas. This is particularly so in History. Yes I covered some European Political History at University, along with some Early Modern British History and a fair amount of Scottish History, but by the time I was completing my Honours year I was only studying two areas of History - The Early Stewart Kings, which was my special subject and the Viking way of life in Scotland and Iceland, my dissertation topic. Therefore, there are many areas of History that, while fascinating though they are, I have never studied.

I would be interested to find out if this happens to teachers of other subjects. I suspect that it will happen less so to teachers of subjects that have difinitive answers, say Maths for example. History however, along with other Social Subjects, are such that there are many answers to a given question, so long as the answer is fully backed up with evidence. Indeed, History as a subject is so vast that surely it is impossible to expect any one person to ‘know it all’.

Integration is a hotly debated topic at the moment within the Social Subjects world. Many schools have already opted for an integrated Social Subjects course in S1 and S2. There is nothing new in the idea of course. In many schools the Science department, for example, already offer integrated courses and have done successfully for many years. Nonetheless, the idea of integrated Social Subjects courses stir up mixed feelings amongst all staff involved.

In weighing up the value of such a course there are a number of things to consider. Firstly, will one teacher teach the discreet subject areas separately or will the different subjects be merged into a larger unit examined from each angle?

Of course there are pros and cons to be added to the discussion. Taking the benefits first:

• Pupils have less teachers to become familiar with, making an easier transition from Primary School.

• Pupils have a better understanding of how knowledge and skills can be transferrable.

• Pupils gain a wider understanding of the topics studied.

• Teachers become much more familiar with the pupils as they will have the same class for longer.

On the flip side:

• Dilution of discreet subjects and skills.

• Non subject specialists teaching unfamiliar material.

• Lose of teacher passion for the topics.

• Pupils who don’t like a specific teacher will be with them for a longer.

• Pupils must make a choice at the end of S2 - will they have sufficent knowledge of the discreet subjects to do this?

As in most things in life, there are arguments for and against integration and it is down to individual departments to weigh up these arguments.