Random Acts of Kindness

I have a Pastoral Care group of Year 7, 8 and 9 students that I see twice a day, in what is known at our College as Home Group.  In the mornings we mark the roll and announce the notices, in the afternoons we check that no-one left school early, and that everyone has their hats for the trip home.  For each House, there are 2 middle school Home Groups, and students stay in their assigned HG until the end of Year 9.  They are then distributed through the 3 senior HGs for Years 10, 11 and 12.

The morning HG time is very unstructured, and that is something that my HG (BR.1) and I have been working hard to change (at least in our room) over the past 3 years.  We only have 10-20mins each morning, but we have been trying to make the most of it.  We have competitions, we hold discussions, we have 'Bad Joke Friday', we do stuff together.  I have noticed that my ex-BR.1s tend to hold that identity even into their senior years, even after spending as much time in BR.3/4/5.

We're starting some new things this year, and the first that we've managed to get off the ground is our 'Roll and Random Act of Kindness' challenge.  On Monday I asked the students to come up with a list of 11 things that they could do around College as a Random Act of Kindness (RAK).  I know RAKs aren't new, but in my experience they are rarely used in a consistent way - usually there'll be a one week focus or something similiar.  Here's what my guys came up with:

 We started at '2' as every Monday each member of BR.1 (including me) is going to roll 2 dice to determine which RAK is theirs for the week, and with 2 dice you can't roll a '1'.  We then have until Friday to complete our RAK.

The Acts that the HG decided on were converted to a poster and pinned up on our noticeboard just inside the classroom door, and the students wrote their name on a tally ticket.  Each week, they get to add to their tally if they have completed their assigned RAK, sometimes multiple times.  

We have also started HG blogs, one for each student, and one for me.  On Friday morning the students blogging topic was about our 'Roll a RAK' - how they felt about the initiative in general, and how they felt about the RAK they had that week.  I was blown away by the students responses, both in their simple blog posts, but also in the conversations we had as they filled in their tally tickets.  The boys, in particular, were very proud of their RAKs and delighted in telling me how good they felt doing something for someone else.

There is no competition here, no reward, except the feeling that we have put some positive energy into the world, and perhaps made someones day a little easier, or brighter.  The tally tickets are for when we are having a tough day, to remind us of the good things we've done, and to consolidate the BR.1 identity as people who make a difference, no matter how small.

#YourEdustory Week 2 - A better place

Inspired by MLK: How will you make the world a better place? @CoffeeNancy

Topics like this one scare me. I don't see myself as someone that will be an agent of change on the world stage, but that seems to be where my mind goes when I see topics like this - go big or go home.

My favourite TV show is 'The West Wing', has been since it first aired. I have the full set on DVD and it's soothing background noise when I am working. I know when I can just listen and when I need to look up to see the images. I know the big speeches, the soundtracks, the characters, it is all comforting to me. So often I find that TWW provides guidance in sometimes strange ways.

For those who have not seen the show, hopefully this will still make sense. For those who have seen the show, hopefully this resonates with you as it does with me.

Spoilers, I guess... Episode 17 of Season 1 - "White House Pro-Am"

The bodyman of the President, Charlie, has been dating Zoe, the youngest daughter of the President. He is discussing relationship issues with a member of the Press Corp, Danny. Danny points out that Zoe probably hasn't had the easiest childhood with her family history and her fathers political life, and he advises Charlie to be "the one guy who was hassle free."

When I had to write my teaching philosophy for a portfolio this scene came to mind straight away. Uncomplicated, hassle free. That is what I aim to be for my students. I want them to feel confident in their understanding of the expectations in my class and around me as a teacher, mentor, friend, whatever label it is that they place on our professional relationship.  

I aim to make the world a better place by being me, always, for my kids.

For the most part, we don't know what happens in our kids lives when they leave our classes, or in the minutes and hours before they enter. The statistics on child abuse of various kinds are staggering and depressing; statistically speaking, horrific things are happening to many of our students and we don't even know the half of it.

So I will make the world a better place by being hassle free. My students know that I expect them to work when I ask them to, but they also know that I will work just as hard for them. They know that once something has been dealt with it is 'done and dusted', it won't be dredged up later to be used against them.

Make the world a better place = scary for me, daunting. Make their world a better place on any given day? I can do that.

#YourEdustory #oneword

What is your "one word" that will inspire you in your classroom or school in 2015?

In 2014 our College Captains got every student and every staff member to think about their 'one word' resolution for the year.  I chose 'chill' - I needed to find work-life balance, I needed to remember to chill out a bit, I wanted to make my classroom a place for students (and me) to chill outside of lesson times.  I achieved two out of three, and made decent progress on the middle one.

For 2015 my word is '-self' - myself, yourself, ourselves, themselves.

We ask our students to be a part of so much, to participate in sport, performing arts, clubs, activities, service, and academic endeavors, and I worry that we don't let them have time to themselves.

We are bombarded with media stories and images that make us doubt our self-worth and value if we do not meet the impossible standards set by computer software and people who don't have anything to do except spend time 'looking good'.

We take responsibility for a class not doing as well on an assessment as we thought they should have, and wonder what we did wrong - I am often guilty of this!

We take on so much to prove that we are a good teacher - Masters, extra extra-curricular activities, other study, CPD out the wazoo.

We, and our students, often forget to make time for ourselves, time to just be.

So for 2015, I am focusing on -self.

I am not going to be so harsh on myself, and I am going to do my best to help my students not be so hard on themselves.

I am going to look after myself, otherwise I am no good to anybody!  I am going to help my students realise they need to look after themselves first too.

I am going to stop taking sole responsibility for my students learning, and help them to take on that responsibility themselves.

I am going to be myself, and be happy with who that is, and encourage, cajole and beg my students to be themselves too!

I am going to ensure that my classroom is somewhere that -selves can feel comfortable.