There are a plethora of existing resources around sharing good practise in schools – everyone knows why it is important, but often it is challenging to facilitate without making workload more extreme. This is particularly taxing in the time of online learning, which leads to the question: how can we successfully share good practise in a safe space about online learning?
In Lieberman and Mace’s ‘Making Practise Public’, the importance of a “growing your own” variety of teaching being celebrated is stated as key to success in sharing good practise. This raises questions with set observation criteria lists and also indicates why so many teachers are finding online learning challenging – just as pupils are all different so too are their educators. It is vital that any sharing good practise space I create has reflective topics or questions so that all educators are celebrated – those who are comfortable with technology and those who are not. Additionally, this article speaks or the existing strength of social media networks in connecting people. This will prove to be key moving forward in my investigation.
Although not strictly academic reading, another useful source to me has been Teacher Toolkit’s Article “26 Ideas for Sharing Classroom Best Practise.” In this, multiple techniques are discussed such as talking in front of peers and starting a reflective blog(!). While many of these are valuable ideas, they are not quite as practical as the ones I am looking for to solve the feeling of uncertainty and insecurity I am feeling in my colleagues at the moment. It has inspired me, however, to write a list of my own ideas.
Having read through a number of colleagues’ blog posts regarding professional “itches” – the inequalities and niggling areas in their school or classroom that just won’t go away, I have reflected and come up with a few of my own:
