Tuesday

Yesterday I taught my children for one hour only!  The reason was that in the morning I was on a course (ICT and Geography, would you believe) and in the afternoon it was my PPA time.  The course was OK - rather demoralising to start with, as they usually are, as you realise how short of the ideal you fall.  This gradually picks up as you realise that all but one or two participants are feeling the same.  After a while the leader throws something into the mix and things come alive.  Yesterday was no exception, the 'something interesting' being a little gizmo called an i gotu which is a sort of satellite tracker USB GPS thingy that creates maps of where you take it.  Clever, and I can see loads of uses for it in school.  After a quick word with our ICT coordinator, I'm getting one to trial with a view to maybe having one in each year group.

The thing I hate most about these courses is the 'action plan' bit at the end, where you have to say what has changed as a result of this course and how you're going to tackle it.  Luckily I am already in the middle of some targets so was able to regurgitate them plus the idea of getting a GPS thingy.

Another useful thing was a sort of questionnaire checking whether we were '21st century teachers'.  In other words, how much and how well are we using available technology to enhance our teaching and the children's learning.  To my surprise, I seem reasonable up to date with technology, at the age I teach, and, that being so, I wondered whether the questionnaire itself was a bit out of date and was making assumptions about primary teachers that weren't all that relevant.  I'm just about the oldest teacher at our school after all.

And finally, in the garden the newly self seeded primroses are flowering.  Poor, mixed up little plants!