More reflection

As the dust settles on the end of term, I’m still in end-of-the-year stock-taking mode, so, why am I bothering with this blog? Well…do I value thoughtfulness? (Yes.) Would I like to think of myself, or be described by others, as a thoughtful person, or a thoughtless person? (Easy choice.) It’s true that in some mechanical sense we’re all thinking all the time, but in my experience, as a teacher, the act of writing gives shape to thought, helps to generate thought, and allows me to have, once the first thoughts are down, second thoughts: elaborations, further questions, shifts in point of view. Thinking well isn’t something that ‘Just Happens’. Thinking well is a discipline which can be improved, like any other skill-based discipline, with practice and attention to process. Furthermore, it was only when I started teaching that I realised that I seldom thought for myself. While explaining things to my students, I faced the fact that I had not felt or thought as honestly as I could have. So, this is a means to reengage with my own intuitive truths. That’s one answer. Ever since I started Teach First I have kept a teaching journal (we had to). For the first two years I was pretty good but since joining my school my writing wasn’t sustainable. However, I do find it cathartic and helpful as a vehicle of thought. The presence (implied or actual) of an audience doesn’t really affect me too much; I am quite happy just to explore my thoughts which hopefully, somewhere along the line, have a point and a direction. So, now for something completely different…(I'm going to take a break from the curriculum dialogues and give my brain a little breathing room...)