lizzzyyy051

Now I know that this might sound a little controversial and may not win me any friends but I am going to say it anyway and this is just my own personal opinion... I am pleased to be a kiwi and proud of the All Blacks being in the final of the World Cup, it's a great achievement for the squad, but it is a game (I know a franchise and business are wrapped around it, but essentially we are talking about a game here.) What concerns me is that this squad of committed and clearly gifted athletes, their coaches, management, trainers, health professionals etc are under tremendous scrutiny from our media. If the worst was to happen and they lose then our media will dissect the game, minute by minute, decision by decision, blame will be apportioned and, if past events are any indication, then heads will also roll. And this won't just happen the day after, it will happen for weeks and will be referred back to next time we meet Australia on the pitch, and every time after that until the ne...

It has been an interesting exercise to go back through some of my previous posts and consider whether my position is the same or different now. As I have recently re-entered the state system and will be teaching full time again this term it is a good time to review my perspective and the difference between what is between my ears and reality.  Earlier this year I wrote two pieces about the Game of School, the first a rather dystopian perspective (I learned that word in a Children's Literature paper I did a couple of years ago) and the second a positive, forward looking perspective to offer a challenge to the first post.   On reflection there probably needs to be a third in the series and I think this one needs to be written for teachers, perhaps looking at how we can change the rules to the Game of School despite the pressures on us to stick to the old ones. Here are some thoughts:  1. The first thing is that you are not alone , you don't have to change the rules on you...

My little boy is about to turn five and will soon begin school. It has been an awesome  journey watching him learn and  grow over the last five years, he continues to amaze me daily. It has been unsettling at the same time however. Watching him learn through play, trial and error, persistence and the emotional attachment to caring adults around him has made me reflect on my teaching philosophy. I have learned a lot about child centred learning through playcentre training and through continued learning about the brain and behaviour. The best teachers I have had are my little man, his friends, our other playcentre families and now the children in my classroom. I have always felt that we are unique and learn in our own time in a conducive environment, not that which is dictated by birthdays, curriculum  levels, national testing standards or someone else's policy. The question that screams at me often is who decided that at five years old play is no longer a relevant way to l...

For the #EdBlogNZ challenge we need to write about educators, bloggers, leaders who have inspired you to dream bigger and so tonight I am going to salute some of the ordinary (but for me extraordinary) educators/mentors/guides who have, and continue to, inspire me to keep on dreaming rather than going for the big names (there will time for that another day)... and so I am leaping away from the brief a little here to share some of the heroes from my own teaching career thus far... it is quite personal but I hope not too uncomfortable!  This list isn't finite, but there is only so much time and space here, so if you don't see your name listed please know that isn't because I haven't appreciated your gifts... Lisa Beere- my tutor teacher for my final year at T.Coll- Lisa had a programme that was sensitive to the needs of the new entrants we were teaching, she gave me licence to try new things and trusted me to take over her class. This became my first teaching position as...

Having been focused on school, playcentre, some other work for my own business and studying for my masters I haven't made the time to blog like I was last year where I would post about once a fortnight. I have missed it and see the #EdBlogNZ challenge as an opportunity to do this... despite a large essay being due in a few days (or perhaps because it is due...?!) Lately I have been doing a fair bit of reflection on my teaching as I prepare for the coming term so I'll start here I think. This year I have returned to the regular classroom in a job share model and next term will be teaching full time as my teaching partner is on maternity leave. It's been a huge year, with a lot of learning for me at least! Prior to teaching this year I have been working in a management role in an educational not-for-profit organisation and studying consistently throughout that time (I completed my post grad part time and participated in NAPP2012 along with other things). My role had me workin...

This post is a nod to my friend and mentor Karen Boyes who I remember talking about the comfort and learning zones at a conference a long time ago... I loved the concept and intend to share this with our class this term as we continue to learn about our brilliant brains.  I recently shared a post about considering the brain with behaviour management and shared some tools I have used to help explain the brain to the children I have worked with. Using Glenn Capelli's magic brain model to help describe behaviour has been effective and so using the same model I intend to focus on learning with the brain in mind (see below)... it could be said we are able to learn our best when we are in the Learning Zone which in the model below is in the blue thinking room.   Here is a little reminder of Glenn's Magic Brain model:  The blue thinking room- where we have heaps of choices and this is where heaps of our learning happens  The glitter room of emotions (Glenn talks about th...

Last week I attended a course hosted by Compass Seminars entitled Distressed or Deliberately Defiant. Dr Judith Howard presented from a research, neurobiological and personal perspective which was powerful and at times profound. Her book covers the content of the seminar and although I am going to share some of what I learned from Judith here, if you are interested I would recommend reading her book to get the big picture.  The focus was on children who have suffered significant, chronic trauma that has caused neurological pathway differences due to an interruption in normal attachment development (WOW that was a huge mouthful!)  Initially we looked at neurobiology and attachment theory so there was a basis for the discussion that followed. This was recommended as the approach we were to take if sharing with colleagues which I agree with completely, if we don't know what we are dealing with then we will struggle with implementation. The basics of this fit well with the magic b...