From the Head of School

 ISA Training Day

Today, students are taking a day away from school, to give teachers the space to become students.

A good teacher never stops being a learner, reflecting on their own practice, considering how they can better connect with and develop the students they have this year.  But sometimes it helps to do this in a more formal way with colleagues and some outside assistance.

Some of it involves looking at what we actually do in the classroom.  Over the last couple of months a group of about 10 teachers have been dropping into classrooms for no more than about five minutes to make a note of what exactly is being learnt, how the students are working (eg, as individuals, in pairs, in groups or whole class) and with what resources.  

In looking at the data, we followed a see, think, wonder protocol that our own students also use.  It gives structure to reflecting and what we do.  The first part - ‘seeing’ - is surprisingly difficult: in life generally we often don’t really ‘see’; we glance and let our brain fill in the gaps with assumptions.  

At ISA we are pretty ambitious with our learning principals - not just what we teach but how we teach.  We are proud of what we do, but are always looking to get better.  A careful look at not only what we teach but how and supported by what resources brought up some interesting things to wonder about.

Preschool teachers took time to visit other Aberdeen nurseries, talking with colleagues who share their passion for developing very young minds, but maybe have different assumptions of how to do this.  It was an opportunity to think through why we do things a certain way, by being challenged by different ideas.

Other groups looked at advisory time, neurodiversity or their curriculum.  It has been a space to think and reflect, to come back to school on Monday as more effective teachers.