So why Twitter?

Because I needed a job!

Moving back to New Zealand I knew the job market would be tough. There were more teachers looking for jobs and less jobs around. But moving to Christchurch where they were still recovering from the 2011 earthquake and Education Minister Hekia Parata announcing school closures meant an even tougher job market.

I took the novel approach of ringing the principals first and asking whether or not they would consider my application. To be honest I didn’t want to spend hours filling out an application form to find out I wouldn’t even be considered for an interview.  Most were brutally honest. As one principal informed me, he had already received over 100 job applications for one position. One criterion was that applicants had sound knowledge of the New Zealand curriculum and could show example of this. Something I couldn’t do.

I got it! I hadn’t taught in New Zealand for over 10+ years, I had no idea about the curriculum at all. But secretly, I thought my experience in behaviour management, leadership, mentoring, and even curriculum development might have counted for something.

But the prospects of no relief work, no job and knowing no one in the teaching field to even help out in their class was beginning to get to me. I had used the internet to read up on Key Competencies, the curriculum, navigated around TKI but memorising what was on websites that everyone else knew inside out wasn’t going to cut it.

So I tried Twitter.

To be honest I wasn’t sure what I expected. I had always thought of Twitter as a place celebrities bragged about themselves or argued with others. I had never thought of it as a PLN (professional learning network).

I was a clumsy Twitter user (and probably still am). I had no clue what anything meant and then suddenly I also had to pick up on the jargon New Zealand teachers loved to you as well!   I will admit it was daunting and at times I did feel a little out of my comfort zones.

 I think SherylNussbaum-Beach’s analogy of Twitter being like a river sums it up. The river keeps flowing but sometimes you might just walk past and have a quick look, sometimes you might hang around and dip your toes in, other times you might spend hours swimming around.

And it is true. The wealth of knowledge I gained in the space of a month was amazing. It linked me to teacher’s blogs, articles, videos and probably the best thing edchatnz. -free professional development! I learnt that in 140 characters you can say and learn a lot.

Once I got over my fear, I stopped lurking and joined in with my first edchatnz and haven’t looked back. To be honest, I am not sure if it did help me get a job but it did other things;

• I connected with others who are moving towards a MLE or who experience/expertise in this.
• New innovated ideas to use in the classroom.
• A wealth of knowledge regarding blogging, QR codes, gamification and that is just for the students!
• Teachers sharing resources and lending quick support to peers with similar interests.

The list could go on!

Most of all, it allowed me to connect with some amazing people (who one day I hope to meet). It has shown me that there are other like-minded people out there and numerous individuals willing to share their knowledge and expertise.  And it is those people who are on Twitter that are making changes in the education system. Challenging the norm and taking risks. So I like the idea that I ‘hang out’ with those kinds of educators!

Having only been on Twitter for over a year I can honestly say it is the best decision I made. Yes, I do try and convince others to join as where else do you learn something new every day?

If you've been teaching for around 14-and-a-half years, you could be about to ask your one millionth question.

Having spent the weekend couch surfing on Twitter (literally) following #edchatnz I began to question myself and my teaching. Not in a negative way but in a positive way. I began to realise that a lot that was being tweeted, I was doing or knew about.
It made me realise that maybe I need to be more open and share my teaching journey. So the idea is to write a few blogs about what I have done in the past and doing now.
This one came about while reading all the tweets during Steve Mouldey presentation at the Edchat.
Having spent the last 10+ years with Ofsted breathing down my throat you do develop some nifty skills and questioning was one of them. When observed, inspectors needed to consider whether: “teachers use questioning and discussion to assess the effectiveness of their teaching and promote pupils’ learning”
Therefore headteachers in our very regular observation used to follow a lot that was outlined here so that we all could ' be 'outstanding' teachers. Yes, many did turn up with the class list to make sure you asked every child!
Teachers are great at asking questions!
• Teachers ask up to two questions every minute, up to 400 in a day, around 70,000 a year, or two to three million in the course of a career
• Questioning accounts for up to a third of all teaching time, second only to the time devoted to explanation
• Most questions are answered in less than a second. That's the average time teachers allow between posing a question and accepting an answer, throwing it to someone else, or answering it themselves.


In a traditional teaching classroom, the questions are very teacher centred. Hands go up, teacher picks a frantically waving hand (which is usually accompanied by noise??), question is answer, response is usually a' no' (if they got it wrong) moves on to next waving noisy child who answers it correctly to which the teachers responds with either a ‘yes’ or ‘ well done' and then quickly moves on as they are aware they need to get this lesson done.
But has any real learning taken place? Has any of the class had the opportunity to reflect on their own thinking and learning? Have the children had the chance to ask questions as well? How do we then go about appropriately checking for understanding?
We end up ‘pinging’ all these questions out into the room but all that is coming back are ‘general’ answers. We also don’t allow children to ask questions. Majority of the questions asked in a classroom are from the teacher!
Effective questioning can be used to:
• Identify where pupils are currently in their learning
• Expand and deepen their learning
•Develop critical thinking skills.
•Increase motivation or interest
•Nurture insights
•Stimulate independent learning
"Good learning starts with questions, not answers," says Guy Claxton. The consensus is that questioning leads to more effective learning - and more enjoyable teaching - than explanation alone.
So how can we improve our questioning techniques?


Questioning is an integral part of a teachers everyday life. But if you're going to be asking millions of questions, it's probably worth making sure you ask the right ones in the right way.
I love asking questions! A colleague of mine will tell you I tend to great him most days with a question.
These are just a few things I do in the classroom. I am no expert and all these ideas have come from readings, professional developments other teacher etc.
• Ask fewer questions- As they always say 'less is more'.
• Prepare key questions
• Involve the whole class (multi choice, on line, moving to a place etc)
• Think, pair, share
• Provide think time- 5- 10 seconds. If you’re asking deeper questions you need to allow the class to have time to think and ponder their answer.
• Try no hands up
Stop now and think of your class and I bet you can name those same 3 who always put their hands up? How often do you go straight to them for the answer? The 'no hands up' is great. I was one of those students who hated putting my hand up to ask a question- the fear of being made to look silly not wrong. Research shows that student's main fear is not of being wrong, but of looking silly. Such "peer fear" is the main obstacle to students answering and asking questions Lots of children are like this. It also means that you are more likely not to always choose the same students as well, meaning you are engaging everyone. Try using lollipop sticks (where you have the entire classes name on sticks and randomly pick one out) or the IWB that randomly picks children names or like me, I just pick. Even if they are not comfortable at answering the question, offer two or more options and let the student choose one e.g. 'phone a friend' where they get to ask someone else to answer the question.
• Avoid NO!
We can't always be right but what we need to do is foster an environment where children feel safe to answer questions. Reward every answer regardless by the way you respond.
“What do you mean by…?”
“Can you give me an example?”
"What are your reasons for saying this?”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Let me see if I understand you. Do you mean…?”
“Could you explain your answer further?”
“Can you rephrase your answer?”
• Ask more ‘open’ questions, question the answer, develop deep thinking questions, Ask why?
Blooms Taxonomy provides a structure for developing questions that encourage students to think on different levels. In order, the levels are:
Knowledge (facts, recall, recognition)
Comprehension (translation, interpretation, extrapolation)
Application (to new or unfamiliar situations)
Analysis (break into parts)
Synthesis (combine elements into a new pattern)
Evaluation (apply criteria to defend the conclusion)

Throw the ideas around the room. Pose, Pause, Pounce, Bounce is a great technique.
"Asking good questions is the basis for becoming a successful learner," says Guy Claxton. "If children aren't asking questions, they're being spoon-fed. That might be effective in terms of getting results, but it won't turn out curious, flexible learners suited to the 21st century."
It is about getting students to think more critically enabling them to have a better understanding of what they are learning. Effective questioning isn't a one-way process. If we asks the kind of questions that stimulate thought and debate, there's a strong chance our students will also start to ask more.

Spinning less plates.

Time is an issue with me and probably most teachers as we never have enough of it!
Having spent the weekend on Twitter following edcahtnz it opened my eyes up to a lot of things. More positive's than negatives and even some 'pat on the backs' when I realised I was already doing some of this stuff already.
Oddly enough the negatives had nothing to do with words like 'I can't so that' or ' my school won't allow/go for that' ' we have always done it this way!' but more 'where am I going to find the time?'.


I work full time (which I love!) and have two small children but sometimes juggling both can be extremely hard. One of the reasons I made the decision to drag my husband (who is from South Africa) away from the UK to NZ was because we (more him) had no work/life balance. We were out the door by 7am (navigating the M25!) everyday and not home until 6pm ( or even later) most nights. Not great when you also had two children under the age of 4 and no family support network! Although the move here ended with us moving to Christchurch and my family lives in the North Island!


Now this is not a cop out for me but a reality. I am not limiting myself but instead taking smaller steps rather than huge ones! Something that we need to also teach children to do. You are the only one who limits yourself. So rather than just make the excuse 'I have no time' I have readjusted. I know time is my Achilles heel but I have found a way around it - less is more. Spin less plates rather than a lot!


At the moment where I work, we are going through the process of moving into a MLE so we have already done a lot of work with Core Education. We are also going through a whole different mind set in the way we see teaching and learning. I already do a lot in my classroom and tend to 'jump' on new concepts/ideas all the time. Therefore, that is covered - a compulsory PD requirement from work. So what could I do myself beside just follow people on Twitter without feeling like I was spinning to many plates and unbalancing my 'work/life balance?


One thing that stood out for me this weekend was all the things I was already doing. I realised from a few tweets that 'talking tins, kung fu punctuation, post its, questioning, peer evaluation are being used a lot by others but there are those who had no idea about them. Most of those mentioned have been part of my everyday teaching for the last 10+ years.
So, I decided to try blog a few of these things and how they have worked for me and in the past. I am no expert but one concept that came from the edchat tweets was about sharing and letting others know what you are doing. This is a BIG step for me as I always think others do it better and it also means letting my guard down and accepting that not everyone will like my ideas and thoughts.


Heck, it will take me at least a week to plan out one blog! I am very envious of those who seem to do it with such flair!


Other things I want to try and do:
Connect with other Chirstchurch teachers via this
I think by doing this, I will probably end up spinning a few smaller plates as well.
Learn more about Google Doc thanks to @chasingalyz blog
So thank you EdcahtNZ and everyone who was there tweeting. You have given me a lot to think about.