This year I am going to use this space to share, with anyone who wants to listen, my experiences with teaching at Blaxland East Public School. I have been teaching for over 20 years and I have learned a few things in that time.
The most important thing to me when I meet my new class is finding the one thing about each kid that makes them tick. Once I figure that out I am well and truly on my way to making a difference in their life.
Last year I tried something new and innovative to try and create an atmosphere where creative is valued and embraced and where students felt they could explore things that were important to them. I started by completely changing the face of my classroom! I reflected that I know students learn best when they can share their ideas and listen to others. I feel the best way to achieve this is in a circle. I our current classrooms the time it takes to move furniture to create a circle large enough to accommodate the entire class is prohibitive. So I have permanently moved the desks to the walls! I got rid of the tote tray holders as they take up so much space and now every student has wall space to put up what they want to put up.
When you think about it, we put our kid's desks against a wall in their room. When it is time to work and concentrate on a specific task then the few distractions help. When our kids think or take a break they will sometimes write notes and post them on a noticeboard above where they are working.
With this in mind I took the step of moving desks to the wall and creating a large space for circles, group work and general ease of getting around to all students and last year it worked a treat :-)
I will post photos with this year's effort!
I am really looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead this year :-)
