Background and aims- here comes September!

First blog post.

Education, often seen by many as a silver bullet, tho I think more of a Holy Grail as it feels that the goal posts are frequently being move, and the perfect lesson is always unattainable. Teachers are under pressure to perform from many different quarters and staying ahead of the curve is all but impossible. After two years in education shangular, I'm returning to the classroom, to a school where the students are often perceived to be troubled and creative could be driven out in favour of solely administrative driven improvement. Can I put my money where my mouth is? Is creative teaching possible when HMI and Ofsted are constantly knocking at your door? And will creative teaching and creative use of tech in a classroom really work?

For the last two years, I've had the privilege to work as apart of a team in a City Learning Centre. One of the last governments great achievements,allowing some teachers the benefit of experimenting with different styles, working with multiple agencies and businesses, combining all of that with the integrated use of technology. Becta championed the creative use of technology to improve learning. Using technology in a way that isn't just for technologies sake but in a way that allows students to see how it slots into a problem. The use of technology that wasn't simply the computers in e ICT room creating a PowerPoint for the sake of it. The present administration saw fit to dismantle this creative organisation, and while this blog isn't looking at politics, you have to wonder if this is a mistake future governments may regret. This means that teachers, like myself, have been sent out, like secret agents, back into the classroom with very little money to use but just what we've learnt in our time in the sun, to continue BECTAs work and continue the technology in schools revolution that they started. This blog is my own contribution to that, to put in ideas good and ones that need improving, share resources and give out tips on things that have worked really well (or in some cases have gone disastrously wrong).

I've a few key aims for the next academic year. The use of Twitter in the classroom, homework on Facebook, making a BBC class documentary, computer games design to explain the Tudors, using mobile phones in lessons and working on away to improve transition from yr6 to 7. Some lofty goals but the solutions and pit fails will be recorded here. As for you, the reader, what would be ideal is for you to use this as away of communicating good ideas and ways of improving ideas and techniques that have been recorded.

One things for sure....... September is going to be interesting!