Today was my first day at Yewlands Technology College in Sheffield (where the Full Monty was set). Oddly enough, my first day at Yewlands meant a site visit with staff, an hour and a half away, to Hartsholme Academy in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. So, I set out on the frozen streets of Leeds (with a brave, generous Darrick accompanying me to the station for moral support) at 6:30a. I took a train from Leeds arriving in Sheffield at 8am, followed by a 20 minute cab ride to Yewlands. When I arrived at Yewlands, I got on a mini-bus with 11 others (including two HTHMA interns) for an hour and a half drive to Lincoln. A highlight of our bus trip was the question game Lucie brought, when we each drew a question from an envelope and had to answer it aloud so that the group got to know each other a bit. Thursday was the second day in a row involving 6 hours of travel time for only 6 hours in a school. At times, this job feels a bit like UK public transit boot camp.
Hartsholme Academy was a really inspiring school - the most impressive school I've seen so far in England. It is an elementary school that is truly centered around children and full of experiential, immersive learning. I was lucky enough to be involved in an online project tuning with Chris, HTe teachers and some of their staff. I got to see the product of that project tuning - a project called Parachutery - in action. A video will be coming soon! What really struck me (and I want to take it back to my classroom) was the way they really transformed the learning space to become an alien crash landing site, or the country of France, or Nelson Mandela's prison cell...every classroom had been transformed into an immersive learning environment. I wanted to linger and learn in every classroom. And you should have seen how engaged EVERY student was! They all wanted to tell me all about what they were doing and share what they were creating on their iPads. Such a beautiful environment!
After our tour (full of great student interactions) and an inspiring talk from teachers and school leaders, I got to meet with the team of teachers I will be working with, who have been given the charge to completely change the Year 7 (6th grade) educational experience at Yewlands. They are a group of primary trained teachers who have really been given free-reign to transform Year 7 to better serve their students (which is not something that typically happens in England). The group talked about dreams of simplifying the schedule, untracking classes, teaching in teams to build stronger relationships, etc. They are an amazing group of teachers willing to make change and take risks, and they have the full support of their administration. I can't wait to be a part of their team at Yewlands!
Meanwhile, as I'm beginning to unwind on the train...I'm feeling how physically, emotionally, mentally and professionally exhausted I am....and it's only Thursday. Everything is so new, stimulating, cold and far away. I am looking forward to a weekend of being snowed in. There is talk of schools being closed tomorrow due to the snow blanketing the North. I feel like my mind and body is a little snowed in at this point.
No comments:
Post a Comment