Where have I been?

All good intentions with blogging quickly disappeared as the the school year started at the end of January. Within the first few days I was dealing with various students issues and numerous challenges that would confront me in the first month. I have had a number of topics that I have wanted to write about, discus and criticize. Sometimes, however, you need to bite your tongue and rather not say anything. There are so many things to actually praise and be thankful for, and this is where the focus should be.

My intention was to blog weekly, but I realise with the way my life is currently that, that will not happen. Besides teaching, spending hours each night doing preparation, there is my own family to spend time with and now I have started studying. Blog post will more than likely be very inconsistent, but i hope that when I do get  chance I manage to share something that someone might find valuable.

2014 Begins

Tomorrow is the 1st day of the official teaching year at school. I have had a week at school already, filled with meetings upon meetings. I'm excited and prepared for this year of teaching Year 11 & 12's, and helping the next group of students on their learning journey. It felt like I closed a chapter last year with the group of students that finished, and this feels like a brand new adventure that lies ahead.

On a personal note, there is so much on this year, and I cannot wait to get into it all;

• Becoming an Australian citizen
• 3rd year on District Modern History Panel
• 2nd year in charge of the Humanities Department
• Starting my Masters in History in February -  looking forward to this
• Year 11 camp on Fraser Island
• Attending EDUTECH conference with Sir Ken Robinson as Keynote speaker in June
• Presenting at the 2014 CSA Christian Schools Conference in July 2014. My Workshop Title is: Blended Learning using Evernote as a Learning Management System to engage students and raise the bar academically. Going to be a big challenge and learning experience.

This is just over the next 6 months in between teaching everyday lessons, living life with with my beautiful wife and active 3 yr old girl. Exciting times ahead, busy times, but opportunities to continue growing and developing to be a better teacher for my students.

Looking forward to sharing some new experiences with everyone in 2014.

Holiday bliss

The great benefit of being a teacher in Australia is enjoying a 6 week summer holiday over December and getting to share it with my family. We had a great break, spent mostly at home relaxing, enjoying our 3yr old growing up, having birthday parties, swimming and lots of family time. It is my favourite time of the year, and I'm really thankful for the opportunity teaching allows us to have extended breaks with family. Our one big trip this holiday was a trip to Tasmania for a week, which was quite an experience for our little girl on a plane for the first time and we also saw another part of this magnificent country.

The end of 2013 chapter

It has been more than 2 months since my last Blog post, and I have struggled to get writing again. My last post was at the start of November, right before the final weeks with my senior students. My last blog post on Relationships being the key - click here, became quite apparent over these last two weeks with my graduating students. The two weeks that followed that last post involved saying goodbye to my senior classes and a group of students that I had formed a close bond with. It was a wonderful and emotional last few weeks with them. I held a Barbeque at my house with my senior students, lots of fun, mostly enjoyed by my 3yr old being entertained by them.

During the last weeks many of them were also honoured at the annual Awards ceremony, recognising their academic achievements and contributions made to the school and community. I always enjoy seeing them on the night being recognised and honoured.

I was also very humbled to speak about a number of them at their senior Valedictory on their last day. The final day at school involves their final school assembly, a special Valedictory service and then that night their final year culminated in their Formal (Prom), where everyone was dressed up and had terrific evening.

This brought to an end of this chapter of their school lives and journey with me. Now onto the future and their next chapter. And now I look towards my next year of teaching and the next group of students to take on their learning journey.

Relationships are the key

One of the most essential ingredients in having students achieve success in the classroom is the relationship they have with their teacher. The ability to connect, understand each other and have the mutual respect goes a long way to having a good student/teacher relationship. There are times when no matter what you do, you and some students just do not connect, but when you do the results are amazing. This is my reflection on the past 3 years of teaching, and some of the great relationships I have formed.

Over the past 3 years I have had wonderful students in my senior history and business classes. I have had the opportunity to engage in conversations, excursions, camps, and many other opportunities. I'm still in contact with a number of my students that finished school last year, and I love catching up with them and seeing how life after school is going. One of the ex-students came on a trip with the current Ancient History class this year, and even came and helped me out at school earlier this year. She is now studying to be a teacher, and I might just end up working with her at some point. She worked tremendously hard in the 2 years I taught her, and we had some great exchanges in class and through emails. there are many others that I have also had many interactions and helped along the way. Many have asked for reference letters after they have left the school and they know my door is always open to them. One of the letters I received from a student I have stuck on my wall and it motivates me and provides immense inspiration to me:

This past year I have seen relationships grow stronger with my current group of students. Some have shared personal stories with, had really tough periods to work through, asked advice, and generally been absolutely brilliant in my classes. They have achieved exceptional marks through diligence, dedication and proactive in their studies. We have had good laughs, (they love making fun at me, especially some of the words I say with my accent and my obsession with Evernote). We also had a 4 day trip to Sydney, where I saw different sides of them, and marvel at how they have all developed since meeting them at the start of 2011. Last week I launched my 1st Annual BBQ for my graduating students. It was a great evening of relaxing, laughter and inviting them into my home. I'm looking forward to this tradition continuing.

This week marks the end of their formal lessons, before their final week of school. On Wednesday night is our School Awards night, and I'm looking forward to seeing them with all the different awards they will receive. Next week they finish with a Valedictory assembly and their Formal (Prom) that night. I have been deeply honoured and humbled by the fact that 4 students have asked me to deliver their Valedictory address. I'm busy working on the speeches, and hopefully I can do them justice. I have forged a close bond with the current group graduating students, and at the end of next week I have to say goodbye to them as students, but I believe we will remain in contact over the coming years. At the same time, there are other students that I have started to develop relationships with, and the cycle continues. 

The mutual respect is there, they respect me, they have listened, worked hard, trusted and grown. I have respected them, listened, worked hard, trusted and grown. I'm no longer the teacher, I'm the facilitair in their learning journey. If you want to make an impact on a students lives, show them you care about them as a person, believe in them, work hard, encourage, be human, don't be afraid to fail, and go on the journey together.

Quick recap from a busy teacher

I have been trying to start this blog post for over a week now, and finally I hope I manage to get something down. This final term here in Queensland is always hectic, with a million different requirements and things to get done. Quick recap on these last few weeks:

• I'm on the Modern History District review Panel, and we had our Verification day on the 21st of October. Intense day of scrutinizing other schools work, students submissions, and making judgements & recommendations. It is a challenging process, but invaluable PD and learning that takes place. It always helps to understand the State assessment requirements and see how other teachers do it.
• My Year 12's have done tremendously well. I'm so excited and proud of their achievements. More than half of the Year 12's I teach across three subjects have achieved a VHA level (Very High Achievement, essentially 86% and above). Also the second year in a row that one of my students achieved a VHA 8 level (VHA 10 is the highest possible).
• My Business subject folios and tasks were selected to represent the sample for our district at State level. Only the second time in our schools history one of our submissions have been sent to State. 
• On Wednesday the 23rd October I moderated my first ever Twitter chat on #histedchat. Another tremendous opportunity to learn and interact with a range of educators from all over Australia. I have been so excited getting involved in twitter chats, and then hosting one to really move along my Twitter journey. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to have moderated the chat, and I'm really looking forward to joining more chats and getting to make contact with even more educators from all over Australia & world.
• Through everything that has been going on I have also proceeded to do 3 different MOOC's through Coursera (previous post). They have gone really well, with 2 wrapping up tomorrow, before I join a new one. All three have been fascinating, and I'll have a full review and reflection on them in the coming weeks.
• Lastly for now, I have decided to enrol in a Masters course. I'm leaning towards doing my Master of History through the University of New England or doing my Master of Education. Hopefully have everything in place to start part-time studying next year. I enjoy learning and developing my knowledge and skills. Doing a Mssters will definetely help me grow as an educator and at the end of the day benefit my students.

That is just an extremely quick recap of some of the things from the past few weeks. Lots to share and reflect on over the coming weeks with my Seniors finishing up on the 15th.

MOOC's and me

It's been a few weeks since my last blog post and I have been meaning to write for so long now. My 2 week September holiday disappeared in a flash and I'm thrust into a hectic final term. My holiday was consumed by house jobs, school work and coursework with MOOC's. This post is all about the exciting and challenging journey with MOOC's over the past month. These courses are all free and are a tremendous opportunity to learn.

At the end of Term I enrolled myself with 8 of my Year 12 students into a Coursera course titled "Understanding Media by Understanding Google". It is a 6 week course offered Free by Northwestern University. It involves online video lectures, lots of readings, quizzes, tasks, peer assessments. We have now finished week 4 of 6, and all the students are performing very well. I'm also enjoying the course, and it has taught me a lot about the company Google and the way they operate. More importantly I have exposed my students to a new learning area, new tools, new lesson formats, and a global learning place.

https://www.coursera.org/course/googlemedia

At the same time I enrolled into a History course for my own interest and to grow my own knowledge in my subject area. I'm a senior Modern and Ancient history teacher, and I love learning about what happened in the past. So far I have found this course quite intense with the workload. The weekly lectures are over 2 hours, and then there are essays over the 12 weeks. I finished my first essay last week, and then did the peer-assessments this week. Tomorrow the next essay task is up and I have a week to write a 1000 word essay on a topic from the past few weeks. I'm learning a lot and I'm finding it fascinating.

https://www.coursera.org/course/wh1300

About the Course

This course explores the history of the modern world since Chinggis Khan. It focuses on the connections between societies from the time of the Mongol conquests and the gradual, but accelerating ways in which connections became ties of inter-dependence. The relations between societies are what will concern us. The forces pulling the world together vary from religious to economic, political to intellectual. These forces bring the world together, but they also create new divisions. Nowadays, we call this "globalization." That term has tended to emphasize the drive to worldwide integration; the view of globalization taken in this course emphasizes disintegration as well as integration. We will tackle some very basic questions: How do we explain the staggering wealth of China in the centuries up to 1750, as well as China's recent ascent? Where did the United States come from, and where is it headed? What are the significance and legacies of empire in the world? How have world wars and revolutions shaped the international system over time? What exactly is globalization, and how does today's globalization compare with the past? How has the relationship between humans and nature changed over the centuries?

In the holidays I also enrolled in a course for teachers, 'Foundations of Virtual Instruction'. This course covers the foundational background of virtual instruction and I can see the benefit in my own teaching practice. This course I have signed up for their Signature Track to receive a Verified certificate. This could be quite useful for my resume one day, and will add to my professional knowledge. Two weeks in and tomorrow we receive our assignment, developing a synchronous or asynchronous lesson plan. This course will lead into further studies on Virtual Instruction next month.

https://www.coursera.org/course/virtualinstruction

I have three different instructors from three different universities. I have learnt more about online delivery of teaching thee 4 weeks than what I had learnt in two years of teaching hybrid classes (online and day school). Each one has their own style and own delivery method. I'm looking forward to harnessing some of the best qualities and applying it to my own online teaching next year.

These three courses are keeping me busy, and I'm also very busy at school at the moment. Exciting times ahead over the next few weeks as I juggle multiple things.