A little bit about Deb
Hi I'm Deb
I feel like I've been on a long journey in my views and ideas around schooling and education. I sadly don't see these two things as being the same thing. I feel like schooling has become about systems, alignment and control! Being diverse or different is incredibly challenging for classroom teachers. It's the people that matter and the relationships that we form. There are some things that are just so engrained in our schooling system that it is seen as sacrilege to challenge them! Gosh, that seems really heavy!! Being as advocate of play based learning means that I am constantly being questioned...and not always in a good way. I suppose what frustrates me the most is that evidence based pedagogy is not lost to 'the way we do things around here'. I'll climb off my soap box!!
Quickfire
I’d rather develop: Knowledge / Dispositions
Students learn best when: They do stuff / Relationships are strong
The best food for building a class culture is: Chocolate / Popcorn
Assessment should: Be mana enhancing / Show kids where they need to get better
The most powerful presence in the room should be: What needs to be learned / The student's dreams
Student imagination: Upends my best plans / Makes learning exciting
My #1, never-fails strategy is: Chatting with students / Smiling
The best phrase to start the school year is: I'm so pleased to see you all! / This class is about learning, not assessment
Completed thoughts
School is like a park bench, it's ... has the potential to develop relationships at its best and at it's worst stays the same for years, never changing.
When I was getting started in education, I wish ... I knew what I know now.
I sleep well at night when ... I feel valued for trying my best and knowing that children went home joyful.
To make learning an empowering experience, teachers should ... have freedom....build relationships with children and whanau. Challenge their thinking. Be allowed the autonomy to try something which is based on evidence based research. Feel valued and appreciated . Find the joy!
What sticks out for Deb is
At a school reunion when one of my students who I hadn't seen for 20 years came back to tell me how much she loved being in my class and how much fun it was. She had left the school as a Y4 but her memories of the class were so happy and positive. Receiving an email from a parent to tell me their son (one of my Y6 students) had qualified as a doctor and to thank me for the care and belief I'd shown in him. Receiving a photo from a parent of her son reading (Harry Potter) and in his own world after being told my him that he didn't like to read! It took almost 2 years to find his just right book! ....it was lovely to relive these because moments and just reinforces teaching but more importantly the relationships we develop.
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