This quote from Donna J. Haraway’s introduction to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction keeps inspiring me from all directions.

‘It matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what concepts we think to think other concepts with. It matters wherehow ouroboros swallows its tale, again.’

Right now it’s wiggling around helping me with reflective practice, formative assessment and curriculum design.

#EduTooter #EduGlow #SEND

Footwork the underground Chicago dance music and their battle circles inspires my teaching. It reminds me that teaching is a cooperative practice and the student and teacher are playing off one another to push into new ground (Puhpowee!).

Teklife/Ghettoville/Eski: The Sonic Ecologies of Black Music in the Early 21st Century by Dhanveer Singh Brar

#EduGlow #Pedagogy #EduTooter #Footwork #Dance #Music

‘puhpowee… translates as ‘the force which causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight.’

Anishinaabe ethno-botanist Keewaydinoquay

From The Democracy of Species by Robin Wall Kimmerer

I love this quote it helps me focus on finding that point in teaching where you help the student push through a challenge and into the a new world of possibilities that new learning brings. Puhpowee!

#EduTooter #EduGlow #Environment #Puhpowee

#EduGlow

A student who has been struggling with their health and hygiene has had an awesome week. Worked hard at the gym and started swimming. They did 20 odd lengths and showered after each. They loved swimming. We’re trying to find a way for cheap/free gym membership close to their home to keep the enthusiasm going into their everyday life for when they leave education. We’re travel training them on routes so they can access it all independently. They’re doing great.

#EduTooter #SEND

#EduGlow

Really good Teaching Assistants who keep the whole place running smoothly, reflect on our practice, offer their insight, experience and expertise on how best to teach and support some very complex students… are worth so much more than they’re payed. Invaluable.

#EduTooter #SEND

Today’s #EduGlow (sorry there ain’t been much this week, I have bronchitis and feeling pretty sorry for myself, please bestow pity in the shape of rum or £): Started with my new Y10 group and they are going to be WONDERFUL! They’re so honest and so receptive! I am stupidly excited ☺️

#EduGlow

The head of our setting liked the Personal and Social Development (PSD) curriculum I’d been developing since my teacher training days. It’s still a work in progress as it’s flexible to the needs of the students and their EHCPs. I’ve been using lots of Talkabout materials and Zones of Regulation as a base as the social emotional communication skills make everything else we do easier. Everything else spirals out in all directions like a mad rhizome using those skills.

#EduTooter #SEND

First day of classes done and dusted. My students are amazing, and I am so excited for the semester!
#eduglow #edutooter

#EduGlow

We got a really good transition in place for a student that the student and family are happy with. We’ve also set up bereavement counselling for them as it’s been a huge loss they have gone through that has understandably hit their education. The family came on board with them accessing it as they’re all grieving in their own way. We’re glad we can make it happen for them as getting any kind of counselling for young people is like gold dust.

#EduTooter #EHCP #SEND

Back to school proper and an #eduglow, as my new year *intention* (softly, forgivingly) is to remember positives:
Whole school poetry slam today, my first one, and it was lovely. Especially Y6’s sonnets about their pets 😊

#EduGlow

Young lad who has struggled with attendance last year, who we’ve been working with really hard. We got him mental health help, social workers, worked with his family… has started to turn a corner. He’s got way more confident and lighter in his vibes. He’s got confident enough again to go into town independently and grab lunch and hang out. For the longest time he’s not been able to do that. We’re so proud of him.

#EduTooter

Things I learned at our Christmas party:

A little bit of sand on a shuffle board is an incredible lubricant.

And a shuffle board beats an airtrack for conservation of momentum demos hands down.

#physics #eduglow

@Mr_n_wood
So I finished today, and my Y11s gave me three cheers and my form made me a card. 😢 #eduglow

#EduGlow

Todays highlight for the end of term is getting loads of our students up the climbing wall. Some were so good and they all worked so hard at it. So proud. We’re going to make it a regular thing. Lots of our staff did it too it brought a great atmosphere to the last day, we were all in it together cheering each other on.

#EduTooter #SEND

#eduglow time. Let’s squeeze one in while I pretend I’m not going down with the lurgy. Today the whole school had hot chocolate and sang Christmas songs around the fire in our Wild Area. Beautiful weather for it, frosty and clear with low winter sun.
And the staff did their annual unrehearsed panto for the kids. My role is to try and keep the whole thing together while 200 kids scream with laughter. Chaotic good!

#eduglow time. Let’s squeeze one in while I pretend I’m not going down with the lurgy. Today the whole school had hot chocolate and sang Christmas songs around the fire in our Wild Area. Beautiful weather for it, frosty and clear with low winter sun.
And the staff did their annual unrehearsed panto for the kids. My role is to try and keep the whole thing together while 200 kids scream with laughter. Chaotic good!

#EduGlow

We got the whole college to a pub through the snow, ice and slush at the other end of town safely to have Christmas dinner together and socialise with their mates. They had loads of fun.

#EduTooter #SEND

#EduGlow: rang home to tell a mum about a Y10 who smashed fruit battery experiment out of the park. Turned out she and he are having a very difficult home life and it was the perfect time to call. He is going to be amazing again and she does know it, but it helps to hear it from someone outside the two of you.

#EduGlow

We found some grief counselling for a young person who has been struggling for a year after losing a parent. They’d not known how to express it so it has been coming out in ways that haven’t been very positive. They’d been falling out with friends and disengaging with everything. They reached out for help and we finally found something that isn’t inaccessible websites and phone lines. Hopefully it’s the seed of some healing for them.

#EduTooter #SEND

After a tough week, I have an #EduGlow! Nativity day today! I watched a 5yo sing the purest sweetest solo I ever heard from a child so little. A TA had to bring me tissues.