Scribbler's Den

Many students, their parents and even teachers blame the system for students results.  Some even blame the system for the students failing.  Well, imagine the perfect education system.  Seriously.  Okay, now what is it about this system that makes it 'perfect'?

Let me give you a list of things from the top of my head.

• Respect for the teaching profession

• Highly Educated Teaching Staff (Masters Level Finnish Style)

• Well Paid Teaching Profession

• State of The Art Teaching Facilities

• Teachers Teaching, Not Administering Paperwork (Outsourced Administration)

• Smaller classes (15 students or less)

• Consistent Home Room to teach in

• Outsourced Behaviour Management

The list appears to be a little teacher centric so far.  And that is a trap I often fall into.   Lets me add in a few student demands;

In my last post I mentioned the ICT Pedagogical Licence.  There are quite a few teachers 'signed on' to attempt this licence at my school.  How we fare will be interesting.

What is The ICT Pedagogical Licence?

The licence is a digital portfolio.  This portfolio contains annotated documents, examples and evidence of ICT implementation in the classroom.  The portfolio is ... well here is a paragraph from the brief I received;

A portfolio is an organised and annotated set of documents or examples that provide evidence of a teacher's knowledge, practices, values and relationships in the complex craft of teaching.  It is a collection of carefully selected or composed professional experiences, thoughts and goals that are threaded with reflection, evidence and self assessment.  The portfolio is authentic evidence of the depth of a teacher's work.

Word has It

The Licence has been the elephant in the room.  We keep hearing about it but bury our heads in the sand at the same time.  Rumours fly about regarding its purpose, relevance, rigour and how consistently it is marked.  I guess I will soon be finding out.

Word is that the licence will become compulsory - that every teacher will need to complete the licence to be eligible to keep their Queensland College of Teachers accreditation.  This accreditation is compulsory for every Queensland teacher to hold.  My understanding is that the Qld College of Teachers accreditation will become dependent on a certain amount of hours professional development being completed.  The ICT Pedagogical licence will easily satisfy this requirement but teachers may seek their hours elsewhere.  I could be wrong about this, so please correct me if I am wrong.  After all, these are rumours I am hearing.

I am aware I haven't posted here for a while but this will change soon.  Where have I been?  Well I have been busy keeping my head above water at school.  I am teaching three classes this year in subjects I have no background in or haven't been near since I first started teaching almost a decade ago.  Teaching is hard enough without familiarising yourself with unfamiliar content as well.  I know this is no excuse and so I have reflected this week on how I can better spend my spare time.  In short, I plan on making this blog a priority again.

What news?  Well, this year I signed on to the Senior Teacher program.  This is only available to teachers of nine years experience or more and also means an increase in pay.  Part of the process is a commitment to undertake responsibilities over and above the core business of teaching.  Applicants are free to nominate their own areas of commitment.

My commitments include;

1.  Accepting a student teacher (I was already doing this)

2.  Providing resources for my department on my website www.files4school.com (I was already doing this)

3.  Supporting the school chess club (I was already doing this)

4.  Undertaking the ICT Pedagogical Licence. (I had avoided this for as long as was humanly possible)

At the very least these four areas of commitment will be covered over the course of this year here at Scribbler's Den.  I hope you find my reflections helpful.

It's good to be back :)

It has been bloody hot around here lately.  Humid too! See the pedestal fan?  I have two of them.  The other one travels with me to each classroom.  The kids find it very funny.