Month: December 2009

Please Help with my Deputy Head Teacher Interview

TwitterPublished on18 Comments on Please Help with my Deputy Head Teacher Interview

I am currently one third of the way through an interview for a Deputy Head Teacher position at a different school. Tomorrow is a full day and I am hoping to have the opportunity to show the value my network brings to my job.

I do not have any specific task you can help me with or comment on because the ones I know about do not lend themselves. However you can still help by responding in a more general way. Here is the question(s):

How has my work both online and face to face made an impact on you or your classes? Which projects or ideas of mine have inspired you to go on and do wonderful things in schools?

It will be easiest for me and for the panel that I show to Tweet your answers to me. I might just print the accumulated answers and give them out. A couple of things to remember when replying by Twitter:

  • I am @tombarrett
  • Please include the hashtag #tomsinterview anywhere in the post and I will pick it up. You can even write it without the @tombarrett bit, so long as you include the hashtag.
  • If you are not on Twitter or would like to say more than 140 characters please drop a comment on this post and I will of course include those too.
  • I will be heading off to the school at about 9.30am GMT so will be grabbing everything just before then.

Thankyou to everyone who has shown me such generous support so far. If you feel you can help contribute to my interview tomorrow I would be so grateful to hear your thoughts on those prompts.

TeachMeet BETT 2010

TeachmeetPublished onUpdated on4 Comments on TeachMeet BETT 2010

It is that time of year again when London Olympia is transformed into the BETT Show.  TeachMeet BETT is taking place again this year on the Friday night, between 6.00pm and 9.00pm, in the APEX room.

teachmeetbett2010 2

Earlier this year I was able to confirm that EMAP (the organising body behind BETT) offered the TeachMeet community 3 consecutive nights for free in the APEX room. The proposed events, some yet to be confirmed, are as follows.

  • Wednesday 13th January 2010 – TedX Event
  • Thursday 14th January 2010 – Amplified (TBC)
  • Friday 15th January 2010 – TeachMeet

As you can see from the TeachMeet wiki link over 25 people have signed up for the Friday event already and we even have our first presentation pencilled in.

In my opinion TeachMeet BETT 2009 did not have enough presentations about practical, working ideas for learning that could be used in the classroom the very next day. Also the event itself did not have the feeling of the local, regional TeachMeet events that I have attended.

The latter is I suppose a result of the scale of the event and that I am sure is set to be the same this year. With that in mind I have only one request for this year’s TeachMeet BETT:

Only sign up for a presentation if it is something that is practical and applicable to the learners some of us will return to on the Monday. No products, no theoretical stuff, no rants.

It doesn’t even need to be limited to “classroom” practice, which is so often referred to. Learning can happen anywhere – so how are you inspiring learning? What real stories have you got to tell?

It is these narratives that inspire people the most, not weighty theories, we want a window for us into other learning activities . It is the closest we can some to actually being in the classroom with other teachers. We draw parallels with our own practice and ask ourselves, will my class be engaged by that? How can I apply that great idea?

Please consider signing up for a presentation, even if you have never done it before, share your story, share your great idea.

5 NEW “Interesting Ways” Resources

Google Docs, Interesting WaysPublished onUpdated on2 Comments on 5 NEW “Interesting Ways” Resources

Just recently there have been a few people nudging me to start some specific Interesting Ways resources. Here are the latest additions to the family.

Please help by sharing your expertise and ideas by adding just one slide, one idea and maybe one image.

Also keep blogging and tweeting about them to encourage as many colleagues to use them and share their own interesting ways. Just let me know if you can contribute.