Caught up in the DC excitement...

Firstly, I must apologise, as I have spent the past couple of days caught up in the moment and embracing every opportunity- hence being super hectic and not bringing you up to date on my antics! 🤦🏻‍♀️ It has been a fun-filled week, with lots of developments, both in my research plans and also orientation here in #Doha. So much has happened, so apologies for the lengthy blog in advance! 🙈

Let's start with Tuesday.

We went for a trip to the other campus in West Bay, which was a real eye-opener! This area is the business and entertainment hub of the city and is poles apart from the smaller Al-Waab campus, where we have been basing ourselves so far. We enjoyed a guided tour and the only word I can think of to describe the facilities, space and resources is "WOW!" It also helped of course that the Sun was beating down on us ☀️🙌🏼

However, despite the imposing size and impressive array of provisions on offer at this relatively new and swanky campus, at it's core is the DC sense of heart and enrichment, where every child is both expected to and indeed does achieve their best.

If you think those stats are impressive... this week also saw the school revealing the construction date for the new campus - which will take the school to a 10 FORM ENTRY school for 3-18 year olds, as of Sep 2020. That will take the school to the position of 3rd largest in the world 😳 Here is the virtual tour 👍

https://youtu.be/v412k6tl5mQ

But despite the size, the support we have receive at both campuses, from all levels of staff, is second to none and we could not have felt more welcome in the last week - in a place which is essentially is rather alien to us 🙈

I had the privilege of observing some creative and well-structured T&L and, once again, the children were super engaged and keen to learn and challenge themselves.

I observed countless pupils self-regulating their mistakes and reminding their peers that the word "can't" is not something that a DC student is allowed to say, without it preceding "yet". The #growthmindset culture fostered in every class within this school really does encourage children to want to challenge themselves and to actually enjoy enquiry-based learning. It's so refreshing and quite exciting to see and the buzz around campus is unavoidable!

When discussing my #actionresearch with staff at West Bay, it became even more apparent that, when teachers here in Qatar say they feel as though they are in a metaphorical 'bubble' - far from in the 'loop' of educational developments back home in the UK - these feeling is shared with many of their colleagues alike. The key thing which stood out to me was their lack of meaningful engagement (as an individual) with Twitter, or actually, even the awareness of the benefits it can bring to us as practitioners. It's a vital tool to share ideas, tips, mistakes and reflections and moreover, to connect with networks which can be invaluable professionally. I have even this week received a tweet from a year 1 teacher in NZ who has been keen to attempt the #flippedapproach with her class and we are now able to share the experience and our reflections. Such a unique opportunity! I also received a #ShoutOutWednesday from an organisation in the Middle East who appear to have somehow been influenced by my goings on 🙈. Super humbling to be considered an 'influencer', but it really wouldn't be possible with the wonders of Twitter! I'm not trying to impress you, but to impress upon you the impact an active feedback can have. So get tweeting and sharing guys n gals!! 😁

More good news...

I am super excited and privileged to have been asked (along with Han) to lead a staff meeting on her importance of digital tech, both for T&L and for CPD and collaborative purposes. Also, I will personally be delivering informal #flippedlearning training to staff, on a drop in basis, using @edpuzzle over the coming weeks.This will be delivered in both campuses the week after next, so watch this space for updates on that!

Back to the research!

To guage the interest in and willingness to implement #flippedlearning in EYFS @DohaCollege going forward (providing my project produces positive results), I surveyed both class teachers I will be working alongside for the duration. Both gave incredibly positive responses and are leading by example in terms of their own #growthmindset, by embracing change that is way out of their comfort zone of more 'unplugged', traditional approaches. 👏🏼

In addition to the support of the teachers, of course, pupil voice is super important when it comes to altering home learning opportunities and potentially removing a group for a lesson at a time - to deliver an intervention. As #flippedlearning in this context has a focus of deepening levels of engagement and aiming to excel the already excellent achievements in the classroom, it was key for the pupils selected for this 'pilot' to have a positive mindset and to want to challenge themselves. Therefore, it seemed right to have informal chats with them prior to making firm plans, to ensure that this would be something that would be right for them imminently. Here is an example of how articulately one child describes how she feels about maths ...(cue horrifically cringey moment of listening to my own voice 🤦🏻‍♀️)

https://youtu.be/2lXUDeYHfTg

It goes without saying that she is a perfect candidate for such a project and is a very conscientious little girl indeed 👏🏼 Just today she asked for extra tricky chilli challenges during our maths session and for me to keep her in at playtime to do them! 😳🙌🏼 A teacher's dream, right?!

Next steps...

So, once the support of both staff and pupils was secure, I decided to write a letter home to the parents to invite them to meet with me to discuss the project, potential impact for their child and to be shown a demo of the software. As the letters didn't officially go home until today, I decided to create a dummy assignment video on @edpuzzle for the parents and children to play with over the weekend. Once again, it is a cringe fest 😬,but I have been reliably informed that the more you laugh at yourself, the more engaged the learnerswill be and that's what it's all about! Here is the dummy, presented by myself (who felt distinctly like one myself!)

https://edpuzzle.com/media/5a68bacf4f426940df3b429d

So... this is where I've got to at this point! Sunday will be an opportunity for parents or children to ask any questions which may arise once they have viewed the example and setup -which I will of course happily welcome. In the meantime I am working on adapting the planning to suit a #flipped structure and producing the content to assign to the children'a @edpuzzle class on Sunday.

However, it's now the weekend (will take some getting used to), and in Doha that means two things -adventure and relaxation.

From fancy brunches, to garden parties over the Corniche, desert adventures to poolside retreats, we will certainly make the most of our two days off with our new-found buddies! Perhaps the most important aspect of the weekend, is to not have that god awful alarm rudely harassing me at 4.30am!!!

Sorry for the looooooong post, but as you can see.... it's all been going on!

Enjoy your weekend lovelies!! Please feel free to like, share, subscribe, or leave a comment (honesty is welcome!) 👍😁