I hope half term has been good for everyone. March sees a very busy month, with concerts, exams, performances and much more. I am sure we will all cope with how much is going on! Where timetable changes are needed, please ask Sue to ring parents and inform them. Last week some of the A Level recitals were rehearsed, and the results are very promising. Thank you to everyone who cam in on Tuesday.
Just before half term we had the very successful Wind and Brass team meeting. Thanks so much to Clare for leading, and to Debbie and Alex for their input. Everyone else will be involved in meetings later this half term, or just after Easter. The inset looked at what was expected in an instrumental lesson (to ensure minimum standards that every student can expect), lesson records, technology and the developing process for instrumental exams.
We are all aware of the developing nature of technology and teaching at Simon Balle, in light of the developing educational climate. Blogs are used more, but also is the way we teach. Please take a moment to look at this video. It only lasts about 2 minutes.
Flipping a classroom is a great idea, and something we could be gradually adopting. The thought process behind this is the need to embrace how students learn. Producing a podcast, blog or video is increasingly easy and we can be pushing the responsibility of learning onto the students. Providing the resources means that they can ‘have a lesson’ in between lessons, to develop their learning. Using something like a blog means that, especially in curriculum terms, students can research a topic before they start to learn it in a lesson. With instrumental lessons – why not direct a student to a recording or video of a piece before the start to learn it? Record them playing, so they can listen to it and compare themselves. Teaching is changing, as the amount of resources or teacher time we have, decreases. This is at the same time as the expectations rising. Learning is becoming even more personalised. Michael Shelton, in his inset 18 months ago, spoke about transferring the teaching to the student. Whilst we all have to achieve results, we provide the resources for them to be able to work at home, do what is required. It is not just a case of leaving them to get on with it, we guide them, enthuse them, inspire them to want to achieve at home, and then in school.
The calendar is on the right here. Do have a check of dates coming up. Also, I have emailed parents to remind them that many teachers are now on lesson 18/19. Everyone currently learning is now committed until lesson 33. It has to happen, and we have to ensure that they understand this!
With the concert coming up, I have agreed with staff (including PE) that we have priority with our rehearsals. Parents know this, and I will be chasing students up for rehearsals this week. If they ask, ‘no’ is the answer. They have to attend.
Have a good week.
Mark
