Christmas cheer
Igniting curiosity.
Thoughts and musings
As many educators start to wind down for their well-deserved festive break, today’s post will be a shorter offering inspired by Teaching Against the Tide’s recent post.
Where I absolutely support a mindful Christmas, I also believe that engaging with your interests in the realm of education, is also a worthwhile use of time. Which I imagine is why many of us are here, on Substack. Learning from each other, sharing ideas, discussing issues and agreeing to disagree. In my view, teaching requires passion and drive. If we, as educators, fail to be inquisitive, to have a stance and to open our minds to new concepts, are we modelling life-long learning to our pupils?
I was on a course recently where a Senior Leader announced proudly that she doesn’t engage with any further reading, listening or viewing to do with school in her free time, as this feels like work to her. It appeared that she wanted to draw a very clear line between her life as an educational professional and her personal persona, making sure that there was no blurring of this. Years ago, I felt the same. I worked myself to the bone during term-time so when it came to the holidays I couldn’t have got further away from what I saw as my teacher identity. My school laptop was chucked into the depths of my wardrobe, dreading the moment when ‘work’ started all over again.
What I hope ‘shines’ through in my posts is my evolution as a practitioner. I couldn’t be further away now from the person I describe above. It took a lot of time, which came with experience, but as a result of this I got closer to the idea of a work-life balance. It was through this journey that I discovered the joy in embracing my love of education and no longer seeing the investment in my own professional development as a chore. I am incredibly grateful that very quickly I discovered exciting practitioners who were sharing their experiences in education and understood that engaging with these was not an extra expectation, or a drain on my time, but an inspiring, motivating experience that was just as engaging as watching yet another Christmas film!
Practical ideas and suggestions
So, if (like me) you find having that extra bit of time over the festive period a luxurious opportunity to delve into a new theory, polish-up your skills or get excited about an interesting idea, below are three suggestions which I hope can be enjoyed with a box of Celebrations and perhaps a mulled wine, possibly by the fire and illuminated by the glimmers of a Christmas tree.
1. To read
I have a number of books on my list this year, based on recommendations or having had the fortunate opportunity to see the authors sharing their thoughts live. I also avidly look out for the drops into my inbox of inspiring education writers on Substack and would suggest taking a look on my recommendations page to ensure that you gain access to this wisdom too.
My selected Christmas reads are:
Punk Leadership - Keziah Featherstone
Guerrilla Teaching - Jonathan Leer
The Open Doors to Ambitious Primary English - Bob Cox
Dynamically Different Classrooms: Create spaces that spark learning - Claire Gadsby
2. To listen
There are so many amazing education podcasts out there currently and listening on a walk, in the car or during a ‘post-Terry’s Chocolate Orange for breakfast gym workout’, is both a great use of time and often an interesting way to get those creative juices and future ‘glimmers’ going!
A selection of my go-to podcasts are:
Mind the Gap: Making Education Work Across the Globe
Thinking Deeply about Primary Education
The Evidence Based Education Podcast
3. To watch
I love an inspiring TED Talk or watching an educator explaining their thoughts and theories first-hand. What an opportunity it is also to see authors discussing their books and gaining a wealth of high-quality recommendations in the Just Imagine archive (linked below) fitting in quite nicely with last week’s glimmer about the importance of reading for pleasure.
If the visual element resonates best with you, take a look at the following videos:
Do schools kill creativity? - Sir Ken Robinson
Dual Coding - Oliver Caviglioli
Every kid needs a champion - Rita Pierson
Just Imagine - authors and book recommendations
I would like to finish today’s article by extending a huge thank you to those who have taken the time to read my articles and have hopefully reignited some glimmers in their own educational practice, which can be so easy to lose in the busy day-to-day demands of being an educator. I wish those of you who celebrate a restful and rejuvenating Christmas and a wonderful break to all. I look forward to continue ‘Shedding light. Weekly’ in the new year.
As always, please do continue the conversation below, adding any further reading, listening or watching suggestions. Sharing is caring.
I’m reading ‘Botheredness’ by Hywel Roberts and am doing some book-writing of my own all about school trips.
I’m with you on the work-life balance, Laura.
In my experience, some of the teachers who are very keen to be a different person entirely between home and school are often pushing away the most valuable bits of being an educator. They are left just delivering their schools’ ‘non-negotiables’ and crawling their way to the holidays, without having found the most meaningful, self-affirming and joyful bits in the craft of educating.
It’s a balance, and teachers shouldn’t be expected to give their whole lives to the job. But I think everyone benefits when people live rich lives through and with their teaching.
Happy to have found Substack and your writing over the last fortnight. Have a great break.