![]() Clearly, I’ve been on a reading kick lately (nearly finished ‘Leaders Eat Last’- loving it!) but it hasn’t all been work related professional reading… and before you ask, it hasn’t been romance novels either! I recently finished Adam Kay’s ‘This is going to hurt.’ A comedian and television writer now, Kay originally trained and worked as a Doctor, and his book is selected diary entries from his 6 years on the wards of the UK’s National Health Service. The entries range from the laugh out loud, to the heartbreaking to the ‘Ugh! Too Much Information.’ I was particularly struck by the descriptions of the hours he worked, missing important events in the lives of his family and friends because there was no one to cover the rota, extending a shift because the locum who was meant to take over had no clue how to respond to emergencies in that particular department. ‘It’s not a profession you go in to to satisfy the dollar signs behind your eyes, whatever the occasional dead- mouthed politician may say. Besides, even if you’re unhappy with your salary, there’s sod all you can do about it. It’s all determined centrally, and rolled out across the entire profession. [...] Nobody joins the NHS looking for plaudits or expecting a gold star or a biscuit every time they do a good job, but you’d think it might be basic psychology (and common sense) to occasionally acknowledge, if not reward, good behavior to get the most out of your staff.’ (Kay, Adam ‘This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor.’ Pg 86 & 88; 2018, Picador.) Kay's reflections on pay and his sentiments put me right back in my classrooms of 10+ years ago; the fact that the wages are so vastly disproportionate to the work (but if you complain, it must be because you aren't prepared to give your all for the children.) That the weekends spent marking and the holidays spent rehearsing productions or (get this) laying new flooring in the classrooms went by uncommented upon and unrecognized in any way that would improve my quality of life. It’s really not about the money, it never was, but when you’re living paycheck to paycheck and your car exhaust is hanging off because you can’t afford to get it fixed until the end of the month, it’s important to recognize that a little more financial recognition would make a little bit of difference to your sense of self worth. In no small way, the teaching situation in the UK led me to my first overseas adventure- in a state (public) school in the USA. If you get chance, and whichever country you’re from, it’s worth picking up Kay’s book. It’s a reminder of the sacrifices that are made by others to ensure that we get the care, and service, we need when we need it.
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On Sunday, I posted my musings on some of the books I have been reading lately. As I was writing that, I was inspired...
I think we’re at an interesting point with educational reads at the moment. There are vast swathes of accessible educational books coming on to the market. By accessible I mean they are pretty easy to read, have bright covers, funky titles and might even dedicate an entire page of the book to a buzzworthy phrase in a graphically eye catching font. I don’t have a problem with that, although if a book has 250 pages and 10% of those feature buzzy catchphrases in buzzy fonts, would it be too much to ask for the price to be lowered slightly? Their intent to inspire, to affirm to risk taking educators that there is another way, to share what has worked for them, in their classroom. I do have a problem with the back of the book, where the bibliography and citations would normally be. In essence, there’s a lack of them. I got in hot water when writing my dissertation because it was too anecdotal and I had to work my behind off to develop quantitative data that would support the qualitative information that I was writing about. It concerns me that this is how we’re trying to reinvigorate education, with educators who can tell a great story and tell you what they do well, but who can’t (don’t? won’t?) provide additional guidance that will help you transfer that good practice to your own classroom or even better, your own school by supporting it with reference to research. Give me more than an entertaining extended keynote, give me the enduring lessons, inspire and energize me, then point me in the right direction so I can see for myself how a truly transformative education can be achieved at scale. I have never been a data junky, far from it! I used to run from spreadsheets and then hide until they went away. That is slowly changing- more on that in another post sometime in the next 12 years. My current school is bringing in the Adaptive Schools practices and their 7 norms of collaboration cite providing data as something that should be common practice. If you go to the trouble of writing a book about teaching and aimed at teachers, help them step beyond a cool fun activity they can do in their classroom and provide them with the data needed to encourage wide scale educational change. The drive from where I live to where I work is about 35- 45 minutes each way. This is great time for napping (I normally catch the bus at 6.20am!), listening to Podcasts, and catching up on professional reading. It’s also good for catching up on not so professional reading so if I’m slouched down in my seat with a kindle glued to the end of my nose, chances are Sir. Dashing Rake is attempting to woo Lady Virtuous… and succeeding! Bodice rippers aside, here are some of my more recent reads: ![]() Currently reading: Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek I admit to a bit of a crush on Sinek, he would make a good Sir. Dashing. He also crafts a very accessible narrative on what leadership means and what it looks like. For schools, bringing about change can be like trying to turn an oil tanker and while Sinek ostensibly writes for business, his thoughts and research transfer to educational organizations too. His other book, ‘Start with the Why’ has been a touchstone for me as I work within schools to effect and implement change, making the point that we need to get our stakeholders on board and that doesn’t happen with action it starts with building understanding and buy in by explaining the why- there is no weakness in explaining the reasoning and the rationale, nor does it necessarily indicate that you are asking for permission. Rather, I believe it allows people to buy in to your world view, your vision and philosophy because it is those things that guide the actions and choices you make. Anyway, this book is a work in progress and I'll update here once I am complete. In the meantime, join me in adoring Sir. Dashing Rake... I mean Simon Sinek and his genius. Buy Leaders Eat Last here Quick Read: Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess Burgess comes across as the sort of teacher we all thought we wanted to be before we started teaching… and standardized tests, paperwork and quality time with social services stole all the joy. ‘Teach like a Pirate’ encourages teachers to recapture the joy of both teaching and learning, by harnessing creativity and encouraging student agency in the learning process. I appreciated the honesty with which Burgess wrote about how challenging it is to teach in this way and the fact that he too had his struggles. If Burgess’ goal was to inspire others, I think he succeeded, his hashtag has qite the twitter following and large numbers of my colleagues (both near and far) have read this volume and as a result, have started to make small changes in their classrooms- and isn’t that what it’s all about? Helping people make small steps towards something better? Also, it made me want to buy play-do and dress up, like a Pirate. ‘...one of the big secrets and shortcuts to engagement is to spend less time trying to get students interested in what you are presenting and more time making connections between what you are presenting and what they are already interested in.’ (Pg 38) Buy Teach Like a Pirate here The door stop: Blended- Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools- by Michael B Horn and Heather Staker As an Instructional Tech team we started a little book club last year- we’d all try to read the same book and then come back together to discuss it. Needless to say, the start of the school year got in the way but I persevered in my reading of this tome and this summer saw it traveling to from the UK to Italy and the USA, before making its way back to China with me. This book is heavily researched and pretty far reaching. At its heart, I think the authors are making the case for redesigning our traditional view of education and educational institutions through the development of more innovative mindsets, learning spaces and leveraging digital tools. While we read it as a Tech team, it’s just as applicable to school leaders as it walks its readership through how to bring about change in education through strategic leveraging of teams, culture, and elements of design thinking. Disruptive innovation is not limited to what can be plugged in, nor is it defined by flexible learning spaces and rolling tables with whiteboard surfaces (though I wouldn’t say no). Disruptive Innovation demands leaders willing to take risks, leaders who knows their community, their stakeholders, leaders willing to serve as vanguard, advocate, cheerleader, captain and rowing cox in order to bring about meaningful change that will make a difference to their community. It clearly got me as I took page after page of notes and there are certainly chapters that could be read in isolation, without reference to things that plug in or tables that could be written on (NB: any table with a plastic surface could be written on with a whiteboard pen, I was doing this back in 2000 when my inner city Manchester kids needed quick explanations of concepts and skills… or wanted to know how to draw a rabbit for their RE book).
‘Culture is a way of working together toward common goals that have been followed so frequently and so successfully that people don’t even think about trying to do things another way. If a culture has formed, people autonomously do what they need to do to be successful.’ Pg 249 Buy Blended here |
About the AuthorPassionate about learning, creativity, innovation and tech. Brit Abroad keen to work with others to make the world a little kinder. Archives
April 2019
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