ATL Annual Conference: Uncertainty and Inspiration

It has been quite a while since my last blog post. Teaching and life seems to take over and things slip. But after the events of the last week I felt galvanised into action...

As my Twitter followers would have gathered from the past few days, I have been at my union's annual conference in Liverpool. 

As many of my colleagues and members of the profession will understand, there is a great deal of uncertainty and strain on teachers and those in education at the moment. There's the ever-increasing and unsustainable workload, an inspectorate that is not fit for purpose piling on the pressure, budget restraints on schools, and a record number of teachers leaving. With this overall picture, it is easy to become down-hearted, even down-right depressed by the state of education. 

But I'd like to paint a different picture. When I go to ATL's conference, or meet up with any of my ATL friends, I always leave feeling energised and positive.

The conference centre painted a wall white and allowed us to graffiti on it - Graffiti centred around the #ShapeEducation campaign. Scouring the jottings and doodles showed me that teachers across the UK are feeling the same stresses and strains. I particularly enjoyed some of the creative ways colleagues expressed their views (note the centre picture and dalek!).

It's rare to be able to attend a conference and be able to strike up conversation with virtually anyone you bump into. I love that thorough conference I have met people working in every sector imaginable, including every age phase and conceivable setting. Us teaching folk are a diverse bunch but with a shared passion for the children and young people we teach. Despite the gaps in time between conferences and meetings, when chatting it is as if no time at all has passed.

There have been some incredible speeches and debates over the past few days, including from this year's fantastic president, Mark Baker, and of course ATLs general secretary, Mary Bousted. Both speeches seemed to encapsulate and articulate the precise feeling of everyone in the room. 

One of the highlights for me was the ATL Future fringe event, 'Skills, Creativity, Ingenuity: Empowering Young People For a Changing World'. David Cameron (@realdcameron) spoke on the importance of creativity in schools, how it should be embedded and exploited in every subject. Something I will take away from his presentation is the need for "Wonder". He quoted Dave Harris (@bravehead) and said, "without wonder, there is no hope". Children need the space and opportunity to truly wonder about the world around them. David spoke briefly about having a "room of wonder" with various intriguing objects (e.g. A whale's ear, old typewriters, puzzles, curiosities, tadpoles, to name a few!) in for children to explore, investigate and be inspired by. I love this idea, and will definitely be incorporating this into my classroom/school/teaching wherever I can!

This year was my fifth conference and I sincerely hope there will be many more in the future! Through attending conference and my contributions in the ATL Future Steering Group (now come to an end after 4years) I know I have made some friends for life and met some amazing, inspiring, generous people that will have a lasting impression on me and my teaching. Now to start my new ATL adventures with a more active role in my local branch and the committee. 

When I tell people that I am active in my Union, I know that for some people a certain image of marches, banner-holding and strikes might spring to mind. For me being an active member of a union is about sharing a vision for education, debating issues, supporting colleagues, developing myself as a teacher and give me the time and space to think about what I value and want for the education system that I work in. It is easy to feel trapped in a bubble during term time, being active in my Union has helped me break that bubble and appreciate the wider picture. Conference has shown me that in times of uncertainty, there can be strength in unity and the sharing of ideas and positivity.

To catch up with my Tweets from #ATLconf2015 follow me on Twitter @Abbie_Saxby

Pinterest - Classroom Ideas and Inspiration

In less than a week the summer holidays will be over and I'll be back into the whirlwind of teaching once again! I've been trying to get my brain back into "school mode" and I've been in and out of school sorting out my classroom and finding sources of inspiration. I have found some great teaching ideas over on Pinterest. If you haven't explored Pinterest, I urge you to now. Here are my Pinterest pin-boards.

 The best ideas are the simplest, you can pick up these little pots for very little cost. There's always the potential for chaos during a maths activity if everyone in the class needs to be rolling dice, so this is the perfect solution!

This is one of my favourite ideas! In year 3 one of the science topic looks at what plants need to be healthy and this is the perfect and really easy way to illustrate to children exactly what is happening when a plant grows. One of the most interesting stages of a seed germinating is that first moment when the seed sprouts roots and this is ordinarily completely hidden from view. I'm definitely going to try this with my class this year! I also came across a fabulous idea of growing seeds inside lightbulbs that you hang from the window frames in the classroom. 

What a brilliant idea! My sister The Style PA suggested it could be adapted by inserting Kings and Queens. But this idea could be used in many ways. With a variety of book characters inserted, it would be a powerful way of children developing their skills of character description and would be an exciting way of starting a literacy lesson on descriptive language.

 Another brilliant and cost-effective storage solution.

A great way of teaching children about erosion.

Another recycling idea - using Starbucks plastic cups as paint pots.

I think I may have to steal this for my classroom. I currently have words around my clock, but this is a simpler and and more visual aid for telling the time.

 

Every child works at different speeds and there are inevitably going to be a few children that finish tasks early. This is a great way of having a quick and easy bank of extension tasks that can easily be adapted and added to depending on the context.

 This is a lovely idea for an early morning activity while children are filtering into school, a time filler activity, or as part of phonics sessions.

(for sources follow this link)