Sunday 12 February 2012

Beginning of the year itis

I think it could be that it is the beginning of the year and all the wonderful holiday stuff is now a distant memory. But do I really want to continue. It is coming up to 10 years of teaching next year, and all I can think of was the wonderful refreshment leave I took just over three years ago.
No matter what school people seem to be in, there are issues around technology, class sizes and peoples perceptions of the curriculum and what needs to be covered.
I think one of the biggest issues for me currently is the school is still struggling to develop where it is and where it wants to go. It seems to be following what others are doing are not developing its own ideas and developments. Last year the development started with the introduction of a new digital teacher, this started the development of the schools learning management system and google apps. However, this has been great, there has not been the adaption of the system, why... the students can only access it from home or in a school computer lab, 4 labs of 30 machines. Not enough. Why would one of the four curriculum areas provide information on the system when they are unable to access it in class. I see this as being a great way to assist students with the divergence in there ability, there is another word, but I can not think of it at the moment.

Can we afford to be another year behind?

There is also the issue of class size, 28 year 13 students in one class...

The school needs to think about the future and where they want students be, a graduate profile would be of great assistance, where do we see our students, what values, what ideas, are the New Zealand Curriculum Key Competencies enough?