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Remember little tongue...

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  Just reading an extract from Etienne Wenger's (1998) Communities of practice (page 151): "Who we are lies in the way we live day to day, not just in what we say about ourselves, though that is of course part (but only part) of the way we live. Nor does identity consist solely of what others think or say about us, though that too is part of the way we live. Identity in practice is defined socially not merely because it is reified in a social discourse of the self and of social categories, but also because it is produced as a lived experience of participation in specific communities." Wow - this is a humbling thought! On a personal and professional level this really hit home and I wanted to take a moment to document this. When I think about all the things I've said to people, said about people, said about myself, not to mention all the things other people have said about me that I know about, all the things people say about me that I don't know about... It ...
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The importance of Being in the Background

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Have you ever seen a post on social media and been left utterly aghast at what you just read.  I found the following infographic in a well known social media site and could not believe my eyes when it refers to reading, writing and mathematics as an "Out of focus Skills" which are less essential and not expected to increase in use while in the same breath refers to "AI and big data", "Analytical Thinking", "Technological Literacy" and "Systems Thinking" as being "Core Skills for 2030" which are "Core now and expected to increase in importance".   Mathematicians have been teaching the underpinning skills that enable the analysis of data, whether big or small, for many years.  How does one begin to analyse data without an awareness of statistical techniques?  Analytical thinking, problem solving, system thinking, creative thinking... these are all part of the maths curriculum.  While I think there are weaknesses in the...
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Signing off for a while

What is loneliness?  I know that I'm lonely, but how do you describe it?  And how did I get here? I think loneliness is longing for a deep connection with someone but you can't find one.  Strangely, for me, even when you do find a meaningful connection I'm so affected by the consequence of past experience that I choose to cast people aside preferring the predictability of the solitude I've always know to the risk of being unbearably hurt again.   Hmmm... someone told me not long ago that I made a choice just like that.  I cast them aside and I hurt them badly in the process.  I acknowledge that and I'll always regret the hurt I caused.  I tried to apologise but the truth is I lost my closest friend that day.  But that's what I do.  I hurt people and then, in doing so, I hurt myself.  It's a sinister form of self-sabotage.  I see it frequently in the students I work with.  But now, today, I see it in myself.   I s...
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Trauma Informed Thinking with Dewey

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  I was in class today and I was reading the work of John Dewey (1997) while my students were doing an assessment.  Now I don't want to get caught up in the theory of his work.  But one line I read had immediate significance: "A separation of the active doing phase from the passive undergoing phase destroys the meaning of an experience.  Thinking is the accurate and deliberate instituting of connections between what is done and its consequences." Strangely, I couldn't help comparing what I was reading with what was unfolding in front of me.  I made a few observations: the passive disengagement of students who, rather than taking part in the assessment process, began scrolling through their phones.  If I followed Dewey's thinking, I had to what they were undergoing? What were they experiencing that made them disengage from actively participating in the task that was in front of them?  Or was this disengagement perhaps less passive than it looks?  A...
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Six word stories

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  I've been working with student this year who has a background in English literature and she's currently studying for her teaching qualification at a local university (Huge thank you Vicki!!)  But last week she's introduced me to a whole new concept - the six word story.   I'd never heard of this before, but it's a challenge designed to enhance our ability to use language concisely by trying to convey a story using only six words.   As an example:   For sale: old house, my home.   When I heard about this I thought this is such a powerful tool.  But then it got me thinking whether any teachers or college lecturers out there might want to share a six word story about their day, their experience of being a teacher, the joys, the challenges...   So this is a really short post today - more of a challenge I suppose.  For any of my education friends out there, could you write a six word story that describes what it's like t...
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Considering Pilot Interviews

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  Anyone reading this blog probably already knows that I'm a post-graduate researcher with the Open University in the UK.  I'm currently studying for my EdD (Doctorate of Education) and things are going reasonably well so far.  I've managed to get my upgrade and, pending ethical approval, I hope to be commencing my data collection soon.   ( " A researcher interviews a university student and part-time journalist on a university campus in Salvador, Brazil. May 29, 2017 " by Marielle Velander is licensed under  CC BY-SA 4.0 .) As part of my research I'm hoping to conduct a series of narrative interviews with college lecturers from around Scotland as part of my wider study into the impact of infrastructural change on lecturer professionalism within the Scottish FE sector.  For clarity, the intention of my study is not about providing criticism of anyone's professional practice in any way.  Rather the aim of my study is to examine how infrastructural c...
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A Reflection on Metaskills

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Introduction Have you heard about metaskills?  This is a framework that the SQA have devised that allows us to reflect on many of the skills and qualities that we have.  It also allows us to reflect on our strengths and weaknesses highlighting what we might want to improve on.   When I reflected on this framework I realised that my self-management, social intelligence and ability to innovate didn't just magically happen overnight.  They emerged over time.  So I wanted to write this with a view to sharing my own experience and to highlight some ways that other people might consider developing their metaskills too.  So here are two things that I'd like you, the reader, to think about.   1.  Focusing on the Important Bits. As a student when I began studying maths, I really found it hard to focus.  Maths was boring and hard, and there were lots of distractions around.  I wanted to be able to go out with my friends, play some music,...
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