"When I look at my timetable for the week, it isn't the recorder practice which happens next door first thing every Monday morning which fills me full of dread, nor the infamous Friday afternoon slot which brings about a sense of foreboding. My true timetable terror occurs shortly after school on a Wednesday afternoon.
The (unrelenting) weekly staff meeting should be a time to coordinate with colleagues, create inspirational ideas for the way ahead, and take key decisions for the future of the school. A chance to bring clarity to the chaos, and move the things forward."
"English…done! Reading…done! Assembly…go, go, go! Packed primary timetables can sometimes feel like you're racing through an army drill. It can be difficult to stop, and allow children time for deeper thought and study. Integrating meaningful STEM into the week can often feel like a bit of a headache. Project Based Learning as a method of teaching STEM, could be the solution to this. Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths are the four disciplines many schools are hoping to focus on this academic year, looking at an applied and integrated approach."
The Reflective Principal: A Taxonomy of Reflection (Part
IV)
Reflection can be a challenging endeavor. It's not something that's fostered in
school - typically someone else tells you how you're doing! Principals (and
instructional leaders) are often so caught up in the meeting the demands of the
day, that they rarely have the luxury to muse on how things went.
Self-assessment is clouded by the need to meet
competing demands from
multiple stakeholders.
In an effort to help schools become more reflective learning environments,
I've developed this "Taxonomy of Reflection" - modeled on Bloom's approach.
It's posted in four installments:
1.
A
Taxonomy of
Reflection
2.
The
Reflective Student
3.
The
Reflective Teacher
4. The Reflective
Principal
It's very much a work in progress, and I invite your comments and
suggestions. I'm especially interested in whether you think the parallel
construction to Bloom holds up through each of the three examples - student,
teacher, and principal. I think we have something to learn from each
perspective.
4. The Reflective Principal
Each level of reflection is structured to parallel Bloom's taxonomy.
(See
installment 1 for more on the model)
Assume that a principal (or
instructional leader) looked back on an initiative (or program, decision,
project, etc) they have just implemented. What sample questions might they ask
themselves as they move from lower to higher order reflection? (Note: I'm not
suggesting that all questions are asked after every initiative - feel free to
pick a few that work for you.)
Bloom's Remembering
: What did I do?
Principal
Reflection:
What role did I play in implementing this program? What
role did others play? What steps did I take? Is the program now operational and
being implemented? Was it completed on time? Are assessment measures in
place?
Bloom's Understanding:
What was
"Starting in the final term before I officially started in September was tough. I wasn't anticipating having such a full teaching timetable and my own classes were incredibly unsettled. I found it difficult to establish myself as an average science teacher let alone attempt to lead a department. I was seriously considering if I had made the right move! I remember one student in what I thought was a difficult Year 9 class saying "sir why don't you go and get the head of science" to which I replied "I am the head of Science!"."
This is a wonderfully simple maths quiz site with a good collection of activities for the 4 operations. Choose your category and get 10 randomly generated questions to answer.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths
A superb cartoon based maths site with areas for parents, teachers and kids. Play fun multiplication and time activities.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths