The title above refers to what has happened in my school during the course of the 4 years that I've been teaching. It's been a hell of a difficult rollercoaster at times, but I've now had my final day at Edgehill College.
I've been very, very lucky with the many opportunities which have come my way during those 4 years- from being a Lead Practitioner for the SSAT to working for the BBC to presenting at various conferences. More enjoyable, though, in many ways, has been having the opportunity to work closely with some of the most inspiring teachers that practise in this country- the likes of Joe Dale, Neil Jones, Alex Blagona, Lisa Stevens, Lesley Welsh, Rachel Hawkes, Steph Hopkins, all of whom have made a huge impression on me, along with many, many other fantastic teachers and people.
Nonetheless, I'm not planning on heading straight into another job in September. After the last 4 tough years my wife and I are heading off to South America for a bit, making the most of an opportunity to really experience the world. So if anyone has any advice on Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru or Cuba then feel free to share it!!
I often start my training sessions by explaining that I often have a shorter concentration span than many of my pupils, and I guess this may well be another example of that. I've gone as far as I could at Edgehill and in many ways run out of verve. That probably explains my lack of blogging and new ideas recently as well. But it's a strange thing reading about "new" things on other blogs which I first read about and tried a goodly while ago. But in the same measure that same point is invigorating- seeing how far the word of the blog has spread and how far its possibilities have continued to expand.
So in September 2010 I may well be back... I confused quite a lot of people on facebook the other day by announcing that I may have taught my last lesson as a teacher- which is true. But equally it may not. So I will probably still pop up occasionally at the odd event next year, so please come and say hi. But until then I'll be working on 2 things which may be of interest- I intend to write a GCSE level blog, in Spanish, during my travels (which I'll publish the address of) and am in the process of uploading any half-decent resources onto a wiki for people to take. So don't consider this my last post- hopefully it will just be a springboard to reinvigoration!!
Until then, thank you all for all of your support, encouragement and fun and have a great summer!
Hi Chris,
I wish you to have a great time in South America!
Thank you for being so inspiring - your Toolkit on blogging has really changed the way I use ICT in all my lessons!
Thank you again,
Sarah (I.O.W.)
Posted by: Miss S. Ferretti | July 13, 2009 at 11:36 PM