Step Into Headship - End of Term 2 Break

So I chuckle to myself about the title as I write it. It is the end of term 2 break and yes, I am very nearly broken. Or at least my energy has been sapped. That kind of sapping that recalls those student years, the PGCE feeling or the NQT year... and the one after! 

A soft falling into a duvet, that swallows me whole and refuses to let me out. "No," it whispers. "Do not get up today..." the hiss of persuasion assaults the brain. And half a week slides by. And then suddenly on the Tuesday - wide awake at 5 in the morning. What has happened? Ahh but yes... Guilt prods and pulls the covers away. "Up," it says. "you have a list of holiday tasks...get on with them or else you wont relax!" and Guilt is right. Whilst Duvet offers the escape and comfort, guilt pulls on my clothes and makes me trudge

into work to get those essential task out of the way. The last look through of the SEF, the review of next year's calendar, a handful of jobs that sat on my desk over the last two weeks of term. And I wont relax again until they are done. 

That's okay. If I get it done before next week then I can enjoy most of next week. That is until Guilt starts to fight with Duvet again for the start of Term 3. And you know 'the night before feeling' Guilt always defeats Duvet - that's always a sleepless night!

Educational Book Recommendation - An Ethic of Excellence by Ron Berger

Despite the advent of the kindle and e-books, educational books are still best bought in paper. Here is my recommendation to support your own research and development. 

An Ethic of Excellence

"...Drawing from his own remarkable experience as a veteran classroom teacher (still in the classroom), Ron Berger gives us a vision of educational reform that transcends standards, curriculum, and instructional strategies. He argues for a paradigm shift - a schoolwide embrace of an "ethic of excellence." A master carpenter as well as a gifted teacher, Berger is guided by a craftsman's passion for quality, describing what's possible when teachers, students, and parents commit to nothing less than the best. But Berger's not just idealistic, he's realistic - he tells exactly how this can be done, from the blackboard to the blacktop to the school boardroom....." from Amazon.co.uk

A superb book. Many schools are searching for that mystical jump from good to outstanding. In this book Ron Berger outlines how children are encouraged to explore projects and that the excellence/outstanding is a culture that is developed over many years. He used the collection of portfolios of examples of the very best work. These were then used each time a project was started. Examining these portfolios was an active process where the best features or characteristics were highlighted. Ron Berger shares these stories with a wonderful narrative voice that carries you easily through the text. Great book.  

Mixed-Up on Assessment Make-Up

This is a mixed-up post that reflects the mixed-up status of where we are at. In the mixed-up world of life after levels we are striving to find stability, a validity and a robustness to our assessment procedures.  We started back in 2013 with

a reflection of the learning ladders that we were using. Many descriptors used where archaic and not a reflection of the curriculum and the learning that took place. We had a robust writing assessment system – a little bit paper/time heavy but one that Ros Wilson had produced. We decided to redo our Learning Ladders and use what we knew to try to get ahead of the game. As the new government and new curriculum came in and out went levels, we forged ahead with our ‘new’ system. The first thing that happened is that with the mastery curriculum in Maths we changed our Maths Learning Ladder to reflect this single year group set of attainment targets. Our Reading and Writing Learning Ladders used Ros Wilson and the philosophy that learners can be at a variety of different levels to create continuums to track progress. Sound philosophy, redesign, implementation and BOOM! Slowly over the course of two years it all went downhill. The sound philosophy led to an overwhelming presentation of options to the regular teacher. The difference between the use of the Maths Learning Ladder and the English Learning Ladders meant confusion rained down. There wasn’t a set methodology to lay out to teachers. Now teachers don’t want complications with their assessment system – they want the simplest system to give the maximum information. We’ve battled with these systems over the last couple of years and that brings us to today.

Comparative judgement, descriptor non-validity, data triangulation. Our current journey is the one upward through the miasma of different ideas and conflicting theories. But its okay. No, it really is. We all want the same outcome. Clarity, simplicity (as much as possible) and return to focusing on learning. This current battel has temporarily swamped the important cultural shift or paradigm change of that from teaching to learning. Roll on the next two years.