Summer CPD made EASY!

Me in Zanzibar

This summer has been dedicated to an amazing delayed honeymoon in Dubai, on safari in Tanzania and then a week on the beach in Zanzibar... it was GREAT!

However now it's back to business and a number of education bloggers have been helping with the new years' preparation. I agree with Tom Sherrington when he said, "Over the last two years, I’ve found that I can engage much better with the ideas in some of these books when I’ve seen the authors express their ideas directly – either in person at a conference or through some of the video material on the internet." (<here>). It's also why I love TeachMeets, teachers expressing ideas from the books in a real and practical way!

Tom's post, "Contemporary educational ideas all my staff should know about" <here>, is a great starting point for beginning conversations about the most up to date ideas. This is vitally important, as every now and again I hear staff talking about learning styles and even brain gym!

Shaun Allison has also put together an excellent collection of videos <here>. In time where staff can really take control of their CPD, this is an easy and accessible way into many contemporary ideas. They are ideal as a starting point for discussion in a school or department session, or simply as a bit of personal viewing! 

The Educators on BBC Radio 4, <here>, has also brought some up to date educational ideas to the general public; teachers were listening and ready to blog, particularly when John Hattie made an appearance. Two great overviews of this are found <here> (concise from John Smith) and <here> (a little longer from David Didau).

That's me started off... (tickets are also booked for ResearchED 2014: see <here>)

I wonder how I can bring a few more colleagues along with me this year? I got 9 staff to TeachMeet Havering (in our school!) at the end of term and I'm ready and refreshed to start these conversations again.