Facing the currently unknown

My contribution to the great #ililc debate- but is there any debate?

Rather than saying my thanks at the end of this post, I think it’s fitting given that we’re in awards season to put them at the beginning. To Zena Hilton and also to Joe Dale and Jo Rhys-Jones can I please say a huge, huge thank you. Last weekend at the University of Southampton for the ICT Links into Languages conference was the best teaching event I’ve been to in many, many years. It continued the fantastic spirit of the Isle of Wight conferences in that every presentation was relevant, of the highest quality but also, and crucially for me, sparked off learning conversations. Teachers were discussing pedagogy, not just methodology- the why and not just the “how?!”. There was no separation of presenter and delegate and no whizzes and bangs for the sake of it- everything was about the learning. About the impact of the 2 days I don’t think there can possibly be any debate. I just wish I’d got the chance to listen to Isabelle Jones, to Alex Blagona or to Suzi Bewell but alas there really just wasn’t time to be inspired that many times in what felt like an incredibly short weekend. But I think Lisa Stevens sums up that element far better than I could ever express.

Another reason why I enjoyed #ililc , and to some degree the main reason why I feel like I personally benefited, was that I met knew people. I’ve commented many times before that some conferences tend to include the same faces presenting and in the audience, the same conversations take place over a cup of tea and the impact isn’t what it should be. I met some great practitioners who I felt like I knew so well from the community that is Twitter (Alex Bellars thank you for a lot of fun and interesting... exchanges), finally got to meet Sean Terry (honestly, check out his ideas and resources, well worth a few minutes of your time), met folks from the MFL Resources support network and also met many who’d never even heard of either support mechanism, people reaching out to learn. And I loved it. Looking around the room on Sunday morning as Chris Harte presented his inspirational thoughts on Languages: reboot and the SOLO Taxonomy (thanks to John Connor that section can be seen here) I saw a lot of people for whom those words were a total departure from what they’d always been told, but not from what they’d always believed. That was impact. The message had spread. And yet so many people again said to me that they’d be returning to a school on Monday morning where those messages would not be well received. They were prepared to fight, to evangelise and to convert, but could they and should they necessarily have to? So the question we need to ask again is how do we keep spreading the message of dynamic, engaging teaching and learning? And not just to those who are keen to listen right now.

At this point I feel I should step away for a moment. This is a conversation I’ve had many a time and yet I don’t feel like I’ve got any closer to the solution. On Twitter not too long ago I had an impassioned exchange of message with Bill Lord, Dughall McCormick and David Rogers about the very concept of spreading the message- in that case about cross-subject Teachmeets (if you don’t know what a Teachmeet is then don’t despair, just watch this video from BETT). It was suggested, I think by Bill, that we need to initiate a “bring a virgin to a Teachmeet” plan. Taken out of context I could see that being a problem, but the concept was very straightforward- that we need to spread the word about peer-to-peer training and support, and the best way to do this is to keep introducing “new” people into the mix. And yet nothing’s come of it, and it’s very rare that it does, because it always relies on one or two individuals to grab hold of the reins and really slog. Especially where the principle might need to include economic inducements at a time when it feels like we’re having some of the support removed- especially, and sadly, Links into Languages.  And at the end of it all there’s always the risk that we’ll end up with the same conversations when we do get people there because how do we get them involved, enthused and sharing as well? This time, however, I'm hopeful as that concept and the need to talk about how we brake down barriers is spreading. To read a far more eloquent description trust in Alex Blagona.

So as both Rachel, in her really quite moving keynote, and Chris said, language teaching in this country is far from dead, in fact to a certain degree it’s in reasonably good health because of the grass roots... activism of many high-quality professionals. Professionals from across the country who were prepared to give up their free time and come to the south coast to learn and to engage in at times heated (but always open and constructive) debate. I was asked the question a couple of times whether this happens in other subjects, and my answer was that I genuinely didn’t think so (except to a certain degree in Geography!).  Great active-research and experimentation  are taking place in the world of MFL- not just amongst those who were present over the weekend but across the country, including many great teachers who have no desire whatsoever to become "connected", all overcoming some of the many barriers that have been put in our place over the years, and continue to be today. But what I passionately believe we need to do is ensure that this verve and passion can reach the places it needs to more- and that’s where the debate really is and needs to be. I guess I'm just greedy- #ililc was superb... I just want more, especially in the long term.

I need to think a bit more

I also need to think how to get pupils to think more. This year has been a real eye opener for me with regards to PLTS, incorporating thinking and reflection at the heart of everything that I build in a classroom. I’ve always enjoyed using mysteries, but I never really approached the integration of constructing and defending an argument with any concerted effort. I just love the concept of not having a right or wrong answer that things like mysteries, living graphs and odd one out exercises offer, with any answer being valid as long as you can justify it. As most people who know me would agree I enjoy a good debate (sometimes accompanied by a pint to aid things along!). But how often do we facilitate debate in our MFL classrooms until pupils reach post-16 level? It so often seems to me that the goals of generating spontaneity and creative use of language at KS3 are the same ones as we have at KS5, so why not see if we can engender a similar approach, encouraging the development of opinion and justification. Just such a shame that the whole KS4 / GCSE issue gets in the way of maintaining the momentum that so many schools are now building up in years 7, 8 and 9. Anyway, I digress. My trip at the start of the year up to Cramlington Learning Village really woke me up as to the potential for integrating thought (and sound pedagogy!) across the curriculum. So thanks to Isabelle Jones, Chris Harte, Clare Seccombe, Darren Mead and Alex Blagona for showing me just how much I have to learn!

3- The integration of technology

The title of this post is very deliberately not just “ICT”. ICT by itself, for itself is pointless to me, yet so often I get asked about what I can teach people to add “bangs and flashes” into their lessons. I just really hope that in the near future we can start to use tools with a more long term perspective, from the blogs to provide a platform for the world, with the classroom becoming a transparent space for anyone who wants to look in to a certain extent, to my beloved podcasts, but also to using tools such as Voicethread to help develop purpose for speaking and writing, especially when harnessed using a creative context. But thanks to the inspirations provided by Steve Bunce and Suzi Bewell I really want to investigate the potential of storytelling more, something I used to have great fun with in a unit where I got my year 10s to write a Christmas fairytale to perform for a primary. Again, the concept of writing and creating for a purpose with an element of the performance, all of which I see as being crucial to developing engagement levels. Although Xtranormal has introduced a charging scale, it still remains an excellent free tool even with just the basics available. The other thing that I really want to learn more about this year is Edmodo, the concept of reaching out beyond school walls using tools which are familiar to our pupils, exactly the kind of concept I’ve been presenting about for the last 4 or so years and building on my interest in using mobiles for that same reason- if that’s how they want to communicate, let’s enable them to do so.

2- reasons to be grateful for CPD

I personally think that we’re currently really, really lucky with all the opportunities that are available to us for training and for developing ourselves as professionals and knowledgeable practitioners. Despite the fact that CPD budgets across the country are never quite enough, despite the fact that people can so rarely get out of school to attend workshops, despite the fact that we remain unsure as to the future of Links into Languages, who I think are now starting to do a cracking job in certain parts of the country, I’m convinced that in 2010 I learnt far more from informal sources than I did from formal ones.

 

1)    Blogs are, to me, the richest source of detail and good practice that I know. I’m not going to pretend that I always sit down to work my way through my Google Reader account with relish, yes, sometimes I skim, but there’s always a gem out there waiting to be found with one of the many teachers or consultants who I deeply respect sharing their experiences about something that really works.

2)    Twitter. Mmm. A year ago I really would’ve scoffed if you’d have told me that my fastest learning tool would be twitter, the land of celebrity adulation and sporting outbursts. But twitter has allowed me to really expand my horizons, taking me from being a language teacher and consultant down here in North Devon to someone who is able to immediately communicate both nationally and globally with teachers of all subjects. But in a way what it’s really served to do is to strengthen bonds with folks I already knew and got to see every now and then at various events, inspirations such as José Picardo, Mark Pentleton, Alex Blagona, Joe Dale, John Connor, Helena Butterfield but also making new contacts such as the constantly impassioned Alex Bellars. So in short, a big thank you to Jo Rhys-Jones, Lisa Stevens and Ian Addison for nagging me and then inspiring me!

3)    MFL Resources is a must for all language teachers. The free Yahoo Group is full of such generous teachers that, even though you can choose to ignore swathes of material, there are still some great pieces of advice and resources on offer. So many, many thanks to its wonderful creator and moderator, Helen Myers and to all who contribute to it.