#11 You can say no

OK. I didn't do it. I got nominated for the Ice Bucket Challenge, and I declined. I paid money to a charity of my choice, but politely said no.

That's not to say I haven't enjoyed the spectacle. I watched countless celebrities getting cold for MND, enjoying George W.Bush in particular. Inevitably, as the campaign gathered momentum and broke into the lives of mere mortals, I laughed as I saw friends garble speeches, like condemned men at the gallows, before they got soaked. I even took a bit of delight from watching some 'Ice Bucket Fails' when the challenge goes a little wrong. All the while, in the back of my mind, I was thinking 'when will it be my turn?'

Then it came, on Wednesday. Not once, not twice, but three times was I nominated. Nearly all of my friends had done the deed, so perhaps they'd looked through their friends lists and thought, 'Wow, who can I pick who HASN'T done the challenge?

But I said no. Why? I am a killjoy? Was I scared about tipping ice over my head? Of course not. I just thought that the campaign had become so huge that there was nothing I could do individually to raise awareness for MND. Everyone in the country knows what those three letters stand for. It's a worthy charity, but actually not one that I feel called to support personally. So if I took the challenge, it would basically be because someone had told me to: "You have 24 hours."

And I have a bit of a problem with that. At school, children face peer pressure on a daily basis. It's important to do something to fit in. Don't question just do it. Follow the leader. Wear the right clothes. Do the same things. Don't make choices for yourself, just do what everyone else is doing.

There is another type of person that likes to follow the crowd, but has to try and go one better. I read about the teenager who had tragically (and foolishly) lept to his death off a cliff after taking part in the challenge. Why did he do it? Was that for charity? Was that to raise awareness of MND? Or was it to impress his friends?

And I know what's awaiting me when I return to school next week. Many children in my Y6 class are on Facebook. They shouldn't be, but they are, and there's nothing we can do. They've seen celebrities doing it. They've seen their parents do it. Sooner or later, they will get nominated themselves, purely because they are on Facebook.

Will they be doing it for MND? Should they be drawn into this? There is a danger it could all go too far and MND becomes a meaningless sideshow.

Before I finish, let me just say this - I love social media. I love being able to share pictures and videos instantly with friends and family all over the world. I love the way it has massive power to make changes for good. I love how it raises awareness of world issues. I love the way charities are benefiting from a whole new audience of givers. And I'm not saying that if a similar challenge took place in the future, I would decline again.

It's just that on this occasion, I have chosen to say no. Why? Because I can. It's MY choice.

It's also my choice to give money to a charity, of my choice. That is something that I know WILL make a difference.

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Guided Reading - Iraq

In my previous post, I posed some ideas as to how teachers could interact with the current situation in Iraq. Well, here is a guided reading activity that I have written, available through my page on the TES resources site. Go to the website for a free download, with questions and answers. Hope you and your class find it helpful.

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#10 Schools can change the world

Looking at the news this week, I've been feeling really down.

In the Middle East, Palestinian terrorists are attacking Israel, and Israel are retaliating by bombing Gaza into submission. In Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Christians have been sent into the mountains to die simply because of their religious beliefs.

Ethnic cleansing on this scale has been rarely seen since the World Wars, and as we mark the centenary of the beginning of WWI, we have to ask the question 'have we learnt nothing at all?'

In both of those stories, the media is keen to stress how children are frequently the victims here. Children. Girls who should be skipping to school with bunches in their hair. Boys who can't wait for break time to get out and kick a football. Instead, they are killed and maimed simply because they happened to be born in the wrong country.

In the west, we really don't know how lucky we are, but it shouldn't be this way. Every child has the right to a childhood, safe from harm and exploitation. But we can do something about this.

As a teacher, I have noticed that schools often educate children about very contentious issues. They encourage children to make choices about morality and raise awareness of the importance of charitable giving. In September, World War One will be a focus of many schools up and down the land, and children will gain knowledge and insight about that chapter in our collective history. Schools are very good at teaching, and even analysing history BUT (and it is a big but) they are not always so good at telling children what is happening RIGHT NOW.

Be it lack of understanding; lack of time in the curriculum; fear of being political or even blind ignorance, most schools will completely gloss over Iraq and Gaza this September. Yet as teachers, we are in the unique position of having a group of twenty or thirty young people with us for six hours every day. There is no other sphere of life that brings people together so frequently in such a melting pot. Further to this, these children don't want to be passive observers...they want to change the world, and we as teachers have the great privilege of facilitating that.

So what can we do?

1. Share the story

Some children will know about the issues, but others won't. Often parents choose to shield their children from news like this. Find a child-friendly source of news that will be accessible to all children, and not too graphic in content. I often start a class discussion by watching BBC Newsround. They will have plenty of video material on these recent conflicts.

2. Give

It's only when we see the plight of others that we understand how fortunate we are to live in the west, and an important response is to donate some of our worldly wealth. This could be money; Christmas presents for children; paper and pens; baby clothes...the list goes on. School's are often tied in to commitments with charities meaning non-uniform days (the quickest and easiest way of raising a few hundred pounds) are booked in for the year. That said, school's also need to be reactive to where the most pressing need for help is. Right now, there are humanitarian crises in Iraq and in Gaza. The easiest way to donate money to any of these appeals is through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). This website can be used for any area of need in the world at any particular time.

You may want to do something slightly different...how about a sponsored sleepover in school? You could build makeshift shelters to try and go some way to understanding what life is like for Iraqi Christians trapped on a mountain.

3. Pray

OK, quite a contentious one here, especially given that these conflicts have religion as their root cause. Having said that, the vast majority of believers of all of the world's religions are praying right now for peace and relief for those that need it. Praying can be important for children as it helps them to be reflective; see situations through different eyes; and feel that they can do something about a situation. Whether you're a faith school or not, prayer can be a powerful tool in mobilising your class behind a common cause. Prayer doesn't have to be boring either...in fact it can be extremely creative and fun. Here are some ideas as to how you might use prayer in your classroom to engage with this topic.

4. Write

As an adult, this is one of those ideas that we like the sound of but rarely do anything about, if we are honest. But with children, persuasive writing is part of the curriculum, and is even more engaging for children if we are actually going to do something with the work. So what can we right about? How about asking the Government to increase aid from our country? Or banning the export of weapons from EU countries to these conflict zones? Or putting pressure on countries that kill innocent children? Or how about this - opening our borders so Christians living in fear can take refuge in the UK.

If your local MP receives a different letter from every child in your year group, he will have to respond in some way. You can find a list with your local MP on here.

5. Sponsor a Child

What better way to understand the issues faced by children in another part of the world than by sponsoring one of them as a class? This video provides some information on child sponsorship and how you can go about doing it.

6. Learn more

Here are some more websites with ideas for you and your class to learn more about what is going on in Gaza and Iraq:

Christian Aid
Save The Children
CAFOD
Unicef


So there are some ideas as to how we can engage with Gaza and Iraq. Teachers have a unique role to play in helping to shape and change the world that we live in, and can do this by promoting a curriculum that is responsive and reactive. We don't need to be overtly political to do this...we simply need to be able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. And there are plenty of things that are wrong in the world today.

Shall we do something about them?

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#9 Age is no barrier

The Commonwealth Games were a resounding success. As the euphoria subsides, there is one memory which stands out for me. It was the image Steve Way, a super-slim English marathon runner who had just achieved his personal best. At 42-years old, he ran the race in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

This is remarkable in itself...someone of that age running such a distance in such a quick time. What's even more remarkable is that he only took up running seven years ago, at which point he was seventeen stone in weight and smoked twenty cigarettes a day.

In October this year, I will be taking part in the York Marathon, at the age of 35. I'm the same age as Steve when he took up running, but I don't smoke and am a healthy thirteen and a half stone.

If I use him as my inspiration, just think what I could achieve?!

In school, we often tell children that they can achieve their dreams. Sometimes as adults we need to be reminded that it's never too late.

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#8 Franz Ferdinand's assassination is a compelling story in itself

        

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

I've always known that Franz Ferdinand's death triggered World War One, but didn't know much more about it.  I'm currently planning some reading resources on the war for my class in September, and have been intrigued by the story.

In 1914, Europe was a cauldron of tension and fear as the dark clouds of war loomed on the horizon. The cauldron reached boiling point when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assasinated in Bosnia. Historians often focus on the complex set of events that followed, as various countries became involved in a war. The assassination itself, however, was a daring and bold mission that often gets overlooked.
        In spring 1914, Danilo Ilic carefully co-ordinated an assassination that would change the course of history. The Serbian recruited six others to kill Franz Ferdinand because they didn’t want Bosnia to be part of Austria-Hungary. Instead, they wanted Bosnia to be with Serbia in a new country called Yugoslavia. Using intelligence from a number of sources, Ilic learned that Ferdinand would visit Sarajevo in Bosnia at the end of June along with his wife, Duchess Sophie. He smuggled his team into Bosnia and provided them with false identities. As well as his fellow assassins, Ilic received a stash of weapons. These had been hidden in a large crate of sugar which was taken to Sarajevo. In the box were six hand grenades and four Browning automatic pistols and ammunition. There was also money, suicide pills and a map with showing the location of sentry points and a secret escape tunnnel.
        On 28^th June 1914, Ilic positioned the six assassins along the route of a motorcade that Franz Ferdinand was due to travel along later that day. Amongst that team was a Serb called Gavrilo Princip. 

Gavrilo Princip

        Despite the importance of the visit, security was limited in Sarajevo that day. Only sixty police officers were tasked with protecting the Archduke’s motorcade. This made it ideal for Ilic to carry out his plan. The vehicles passed the first assassin, who was armed with a bomb. He failed to carry out his duty. The second assassin had a pistol and a bomb. He too failed to act. At 10:10am, the car carrying Franz Ferdinand and Sophie approached assassin number three: Nedeljko Cabrinovic. This time, the assassin threw the bomb, but it bounced off the canopy of the car and blew up the car behind instead, wounding more than a dozen people.
         The remainder of the motorcade sped away quickly to the Town Hall. The cars travelled so fast that the final three assassins, including Gavrilo Princip,  were not able to carry out the plan. At the Town Hall, Franz Ferdinand was greatly distressed. “Mr Mayor, I came here on a visit, and I get bombs thrown at me. It is outrageous!” That said, Ferdinand and Sophie wished to visit the injured in hospital. This would prove to be a fatal decision.

         Gavrilo Princip knew that the planned assassination had been unsuccessful so took a chance on the Archduke’s next move, waiting beside a nearby delicatessen. Sure enough, the motorcade travelled towards him. The driver of the car stopped right in front of the shop. Princip knew this was his one and only chance. Stepping forward, he fired two shots from a distance of about 1.5 metres. The first hit the Archduke in his jugular vein; the second inflicted an adominal wound on the Duchess. Both remained seated upright, but died on the way to receiving medical treatment. His last words were “Sophie, Sophie! Don’t die! Live for our children!” followed by several utterances of “It is nothing.”
         So what happened to the assassins? A trial was swiftly set up in Sarajevo in October 1914. Danilo Ilic was sentenced to death and executed by hanging, along with one of his conspirators. The other six, including Gavrilo Princip, received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years. Their sentences were so lenient because they were seen as unwilling participants in the killing, and were forced into it by Ilic. Princip died of tuberculosis in prison.

The trial. Princip is seated in the centre of the first row.

What happened next? Well, we know a bit more about that - and we'll all know plenty more in the months to come I'm sure.
For Guided Reading resources on the Great War, check out my store in the coming weeks. There will be some free resources, and more in depth resources which can be purchased.

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#7 The World Cup should be celebrated in the classroom.

It's June 1990. I am emerging from the newsagent with my pack of World Cup '90 stickers. The sun is beating down on this glorious June morning as I walk the short distance to school. I open the pack carefully. Could this be the one? Toto Schillaci. Got. Tomas Skuhravy. Got. Baggio. Got. Matthaus. Got. Tony Dorigo. Got. But there's one left, and it's a foil sticker...a shiny. It's Cameroon! A need! One need, five swaps, another 20 pence spent. Another pack tomorrow...

The Panini World Cup sticker album fills many people of my age with nostalgia, so much so that their target audience is probably men in their mid-thirties as well as children. Not that teachers are too happy about it. One school has banned the stickers after fights broke out in the playground. Not me. We have our class copy of the World Cup sticker album, and the entire class are buying stickers and exchanging swaps. We hope to fill the album...but we still need the Cameroon shiny.

Italia '90 was the World Cup I fell in love with. It was Gazza and his tears that did it for me. He showed that it was OK for a grown man to cry on the sports field. In that moment that Gazza became aware of what he's lost, a nation had a new footballing hero. I often wonder how strange it must seem to others, that a hero was made as a result of tears. We played football after school every day for that entire month.

Mexico '86 is also in my memory. The grainy pictures on TV. David Coleman's commentary. The hand of God. Maradona...best footballer in the world? Or a villain who should never have been allowed on a football pitch?

We've been looking at heroes and villains from the World Cup as part our Guided Reading. Pele...Bobby Moore...Joe Gaetjens (the American who scored against England in 1950). The children enjoyed deciding who were the good and bad guys, and for players like Maradona and Zidane, there was a great deal of debate. We've also been looking at the chances of the major nations in the World Cup with the reading resource. It's helped to get the whole class enthused about the month of football ahead!

To see my World Cup Guided Reading resources, click here.

But it's in maths where I may have created a monster. My fantasy football game is taking the school by storm! Children have to pick five England players with a budget of £40 million, and see how they score in the World Cup. As well as testing mental arithmetic, we will use the scores as part our data handling topic.

So the World Cup can be used successfully and justifiably in the classroom. And as for wet playtimes, there's always penny football. If you want the rules for that one, you'll have to message me...

Check out the resources mentioned above on my store. 

Enjoy!

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#6 It's NOT all about the children

SATS. The very word fills most people in schools with a resigned sense of dread.

As an NQT, I couldn't believe it when I was offered a role as Year 6 teacher, helping children through this crucial stage of their education. It was a great massage for my ego. Now, with one week to go, I would prefer to retreat to the safety of teaching in a year further down the school.

This week, I have seen several children in tears and spoke to a number of concerned parents who are worried about what the prospect of the SATS are doing to their children. A sense of impending doom is prevalent amongst some in the staffroom, and I am spending my Bank Holiday weekend feeling tired and run down.

It's no surprise. During the week, the children have been either revising excessively or taking tests. Often the tests don't reveal what the teacher wants or needs them to, and so the stress levels rise. The children, the vast majority of whom wish to please their teacher, feed off this stress. Consequently, the classroom can become a very emotional place. It takes a special teacher to keep a classroom calm at this time of the year!

I've been asking myself the question, "What is all this for?"

Is it for the children? Well, yes, to an extent. It may be preparing them for testing in High School. It may be furthering their knowledge. It may ensure that they are being taught what they should have been. But once a child leaves primary school and enters High School, what has all of this taught them? They have been in school lessons for the last six years. They know the curriculum. The crucial difference is that some children can retain information. They will thrive. Those that can't will crumble.

Is it for the teachers? Yes, much more so. Future contracts can depend on good results. Headteachers can hold back pay if they deem results not good enough.

Is it for the schools? Absolutely. If children aren't gaining Level 4s, this can be seen by everyone in the school league tables. Since these are usually the first thing that's looked at to judge the effectiveness of a school, the SATS results have got to be good.

The government has created a system that perversely puts children last of all. They are simply pawns in a political game where Britain aspires to prove it's greatness against the more rigid and seemingly successful school systems of Singapore, Finland et al.

Some schools are taking this so seriously that their Year 6's are going in this weekend, on a Bank Holiday, for extra revision.

When I was at school, I can't remember being tested heavily. I didn't know my levels. I knew I was on the brighter side of my class, but there was no sense of competition, no pressure like there is today to succeed. People argue that children need to experience this pressure as that is what life is like in the real world, but surely not at 11-years old?

Sometimes I wish our school system would allow children to be children. There must be an alternative to this rigorous testing.

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Schools aren't as safe as we'd like to hope

#5 Schools aren't as safe as we'd like to hope

At this time yesterday morning, she would have been preparing for a new week in school. No doubt she would have been going over her lessons for the day. Reminding herself to photocopy the homework. Have a word with the Year 6 child about the work he'd struggled with. In the back of her mind she may have been preparing for half term, perhaps a holiday to look forward to. Maybe she was thinking ahead to retirement, surely not too far away, and receiving her well-earned pension whilst spending her time with those that she loved.

 Nothing could have prepared her for what lay ahead. 

Anne Maguire's tragic death has horrified and spread fear among teachers everywhere. Whilst now is the time to pray for her family and those that witnessed this terrible incident in Leeds, you can guarantee that in the medium term, there will be national calls to tighten security in schools; and that unions will use this event to demonstrate the pressure that teachers face in the classroom.

As a primary school teacher, I do feel safe. I feel in control. I feel strong. In a secondary school, the children are a lot bigger, a lot stronger. If I taught in a secondary school, this morning I would feel a little less safe. It's not the knives that I'd be worrying about...it's everything else that children bring to school.

Put it like this. Here is a system that throws together several hundred children each day. Each one has witnessed different things around the breakfast table, or perhaps the night before. Arguments. Laughter. Domestic abuse. Love. Graphic language. Nurture. Abuse. A good proportion will have returned from school the previous day and spent the time in between in front of a screen, watching TV that is unsuitable for them or playing ridiculously lifelike games that parents bought to keep them quiet. They have not been socialising with their peers. They have been shooting, killing, even performing acts of a sexual nature on a computer. They have been accessing hardcore porn which is so prevalent on the Internet. Their worldview is shaped by such things. Their relationships are shaped by such things. And so often, they don't have a clue about the consequences of their actions in the real world.

And so, to lessons. Crammed in a hot classroom, sitting closely to someone you don't like. The pressure of exams and tests. Black children, white children, Christians, Muslims, boys, girls. Teachers. Children. Friends. Enemies. Us. Them.

Snap.

This morning, two lives have been ruined. A 15-year old boy who is currently in police custody and a 61-year old teacher who paid the ultimate price in a career where there should never have been a price to pay.

Schools aren't safe places. What can we change? More security? Police on site? CCTV in every classroom? Stab vests for teachers?

No. It's too much. All we can do is teach good values, to parents and children. Teach about consequences. Teach against violence. It may not be enough, but I'm a teacher, not a security guard.

RIP Anne Maguire.

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Never save cutting and sticking until the end of term

#4 Never save cutting and sticking until the end of term

With a hectic school schedule, and short lesson times, the temptation is to wait until the end of term for the children to glue everything into their books.

Don't do it. Just don't. It will be chaos. Their books will look like a result of the Big Bang. And the cleaners will hate you.

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The best books have a happy ending.

#3 The best books have a happy ending

If you read just one book to your Year 6 class, make it this one.

'Wonder' by RJ Palacios is an emotional rollercoaster. It follows the story of a  child with Treacher Collins Syndrome. Children who have this condition have facial deformities.

August, the central character, just wants to lead a normal life, but he can't because of the way others view him.

Without giving too much away, this is a story about  a family's love, a boy's courage, bullying, friendship and being different. It's a story that touches on human emotions in incredible ways. 

Using the slogan, 'You can't blend in when you're born to stand out', this book celebrates our differences but makes us feel deeply uncomfortable about the times when we have judged others because of the way they look.

We laughed. Some of us cried. I choked up on several occasions as I read out loud. And all the while, I couldn't see how things could turn out well for this kid. 

Thankfully, I was wrong.

Don't judge a book by it's cover. Don't judge a person by their face.

Read it!

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Meat is Murder

#2 Meat is Murder

Morrissey is a famous vegan. As a big fan of his,
I've still found some of his rants quite amusing. Until now.

A circle time discussion of class pets was meant as a light-hearted way of getting to know the kids better. We had several dogs, cats and rabbits. We had a hamster and some budgies and a number of goldfish. And Chloe had a pig.

"A pig? That's a bit different. Where does it live?"

"In the garden," she replied.

"Why do you have a pig, when everyone else has dogs and cats?"

"So we can eat it," she replied as if this was a stupid question.

The class looked horrified. I looked horrified. In my shock, I moved swiftly on to teaching subordinate clauses, trying desperately to get the image out of my head of Chloe with a bolt-gun to the head of an unsuspecting Percy Pig.

My own attitude to eating meat is anything goes, as long as I don't see it alive beforehand. My visit to Korea, for example, still haunts me. At a fish market, my friend chose a fish for our tea. It was swimming in a tank with others. The fish seller, grabbed it from the tank, killed it with a fatal blow and then sliced it before our eyes. There was no need to cook it...it was still warm. Then there was the time I went sea fishing off Bridlington. I caught about a dozen mackerel. Back home, they remained in the freezer for months. I couldn't bring myself to eat something that had been happily going about it's life in the North Sea before I put an abrupt end to it.

What a waste.

Recently, I've read a book that has changed my attitude. 'Eating Animals' by Jonathan Safran Foer opened my eyes to the appalling conditions that animals on factory farms contend with. It gave evidence on the pain and stress they endure, which were beyond what even a depraved imagination could comprehend. It also gave some alarming statistics about the dangers posed by contaminated meat entering the human food chain, something which occurs every second of every minute of every hour of every day.

"We know, at least, that this decision will help prevent deforestation, curb global warming, reduce pollution, save oil reserves, lessen the burden on rural America, decrease human rights abuses, improve public health, and help eliminate the most systemic animal abuse in world history."

Mostly, this book made me ask questions. Can I justify eating a creature whose only purpose in a painful and inhumane existence was to feed me for just one meal? 

Whilst it wouldn't turn me to vegetarianism, this book has made me question where my meat is coming from. I want to know that my meat has enjoyed life before its slaughter. I want to know that it was slaughtered as humanely as is possible. I want to know exactly what vitamins and nutrients it was fed in its diet.

There will be a price to pay. Organic meat is more expensive (and let's face it, there has to be a reason why meat is cheap compared to in the past), but perhaps we eat too much meat anyway?

So this book has changed the way I think. It's the reason why I regret not doing anything with the mackerel I caught. It's the reason why I will happily eat the carcass of lamb that a nearby farmer gave to us recently. Finally, it has made me see that Chloe was right after all.

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BEST CLASSROOM APRIL FOOLS PRANK EVER

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April Fool

#1 Some word problems are impossible.

April Fool's Day. Can teachers join in? Is it permissible to fib to your class for one morning, for the sake of entertainment? Well, we do it for Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy, so on that basis, I decided to set my top set maths class an impossible question:

My maths set love a challenge. I convinced them with some 'Higher Order Thinking Skills', it could be done. Every one of them started writing calculations on whiteboards. Various strategies and methods were used. One table were convinced that it was to do with the area and perimeter of a compound shape. Only one child, a Chinese boy with a keen eye for maths and an even keener eye for logical thinking, didn't attempt it.

After fifteen minutes of hard work, my bright maths set explained their answers in great detail. Several of them had got the same answer of 28. A few others chose 3. A handful had gone into algebra. When I revealed the true answer, I was greeted by blank and confused faces. Only then did it twig with one of them. The others laughed. I laughed. The Chinese boy continued to look confused. It took me another fifteen minutes to explain the concept of April Fool's Day to him.

Despite my amusement, I felt slightly bad that I had exploited the good nature of my maths set. It did make me think though, that teachers get away with telling a fair few lies in the nature of their profession.

Here's one example: My eldest daughter, 5 years old, came home from school last week and said, "Daddy, Mrs A can see through walls."

My ears pricked up. "Really?"

"Yes," she replied. "She can see into the cloakroom and outside."

"Does she see good things as well as bad things?" 

"Yes. But mostly bad things."

Lesson of the day: Tell the truth in all circumstances. But remember that a little bit of creative embellishment can make for a happier - and more entertaining - classroom environment.

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