Note taking

Note taking is a skill that is starting to be required more and more.  In both my senior classes this term, the skills of skimming and scanning for information are something we are learning.  The students are working on a personal research project, which will be linked to a speech in front of their peers.  I too, am having to develop my skimming and scanning as I am taking part in a PD research project run by Otago University.  

The project is looking at ideas and concepts surrounding future focused literacy.  This week we were exploring the way students are both 'text users' and 'text analysts.'  It has been great for me to be able to step back into 'student' mode as the delivery method has required me to step up and take notes to ensure I can refer back to them when contributing to the written work.

Some of my notes from my PD #edsketch15

I have enjoyed playing around with some different note taking strategies, sketching, arrows, tables and just plain key words.  It has been a real eye-opener to remember exactly how much concentration it takes to listen and take notes for a length of time.  I need to remember this with my own students - limit the up-front talk time.  I need to investigate the concept of 'flipped classroom' more - but that also makes me wonder, if they students weren't actively engaging/notetaking - would it be useful? Would I end up with half a class who have and half a class of 'have not had time.'?

The Blog-o-sphere

I have always loved reading - almost as much as I love writing I think.  I have always love reading others people's thoughts and feelings and getting a glimpse of how they see the world.  I frequented the biography and auto-biography part of the library as a teen, and still prefer these to fiction at times. It has been interesting to note now that with the advent of "The Blog" it has become much more common for the average John Doe to write and share about both their personal and career life experiences.

 As I came back into teaching last year after a good gap (having five kids does that) I made it a priority to seek out some great NZ teaching blogs - finding several who now, when the notification of a new post goes DING in the inbox, it's the first thing to be read.  It was the ding tonight, and thinking about the post from Claire Amos about feeling the fear and doing it anyway, that I was lead to reflect on how much I am thankful for what I'm terming "The Blog-o-sphere" and how its positives have impacted on my own teaching and learning journey.

So ... a few key positives of "The Blog-o-sphere" for me:

• You get to have a peek into the thoughts of other educators.  
• You get to see into their heads and classrooms.  
• You realise it is a journey not a destination
• You are consistently challenged to think about not just the HOW I am doing things, but the WHY
• You get introduced to cool things like Twitter as a PD tool #engchatNZ 
• You get to learn and see in action things like SOLO and MLE
• The knowledge that there are so many amazing committed teachers who LOVE their jobs is so empowering! 

We do this job because we are passionate about helping our students to embrace the love of learning.  Reading about how teachers are trying new things, not being afraid of stepping outside the box and  being willing to try new things for themselves is refreshing.  It is encouraging!  It is life-changing!

Yes, there can be some negatives - and the key for me is remembering that every teacher is in a different space, with different family circumstances and commitments. I am me, and don't need to be a copy of anyone else.   I have my wee tribe at home, and I am committed to them and my amazing husband as well - and by the way my tribe refers to "mummies big kids" so I'm pretty sure they know how much my students become my 'kids' as well and the passion I have for all their learning.

So, today I am thankful for "The Blog-o-sphere".  To all the bloggers and readers out there, thanks for your inspiration and encouragement .... have a great teaching week!