Getting to know you...

#Day1 @DohaCollege

Once I had snoozed my alarm multiple times, I finally rose at 5.05am for our introductory day at #DohaCollege.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by many staff who could not have been more kind or welcoming - all super keen to know about us and our studies etc.

For well-established teachers to be so interested in little old us was a flattering surprise!! The overall consensus was that they were eager to know what was "on the boil" in UK education right now and, considering the huge, somewhat revolutionary change that the Welsh curriculum is seeing in the imminent future, we said we are happy to share!!

The key area of interest for the staff we met, particularly in EYFS, was how to incorporate #digitalcompetency into the every day curriculum effectively. The school affords the children the luxury of access to individual iPads -with #KS2 upwards being 1:1. However, the knowledge of how to utilise these meaningfully, especially with younger children, remains a challenge for some staff. It is at times like this when I realise just how fortunate we are as students to be training at this time of change when it comes to #digitallearning. Things which have become second nature to me, such as blogging or interacting on Twitter to broaden my knowledge and connecting with other educators, are things that some consider slightly alien even now. Change doesn't come to everyone at the same pace, so it is key that these practices are shared for the benefit of the children and our own #CPD alike. As @ChrisWaterworth says, "sharing is caring!"

We were treated to an early morning staff meeting at 7am 😳 "How can a 7am meeting be a treat?", I hear you say... Well, it was a treat as we spent the whole time in a state of #mindfulness, complete with guided meditation, dimmed lights and candles 😊 Bliss! Oh, did i forget to mention we also received complimentary massages, as part of #HealthDay? #sorrynotsorry

Then the fun started!! 7.30am and in came the children. Polite, well-mannered, spirited and super keen to learn, the energy levels they had at that time of the morning would put Mo Farah to shame! They were in it for the long haul 🙌🏼 From sugar assembly to PE on the astro, dental talks to mindfulness, they were so focused and happy to be there it was remarkable. The levels of independence, especially when it comes to literacy, honestly blew me away - considering they are a year 1 class.

Intros done, it was time to get down to business! I met with the phase leader to discuss my research project and how best to place myself etc. He agreed that the idea of attempting to use #flippedlearning in #EYFS was pretty exciting and rarely considered, but that I had his full support. As a budding KS2 teacher, he reaffirmed my belief that it is so important for me to gain more experience with younger learners to know where my future KS2 learners have come from, in terms of elementary understanding. It will be a challenge in many ways for me, but I'm practising what I preach and embracing #growthmindset and the #powerofyet.

We discussed ensuring I get the parents on board to help, but not do, and that I would be better focusing on one class to see progression and get to know the children more easily. This will also help me to differentiate extension tasks etc. more effectively, as knowing the children is so important.

Following our trip home to the villa, I spent some time playing around with #edpuzzle, to check if I could layer voice notes with questions presented in text-form. This is absolutely possible and will allow learners to hear any #AfL questions posed, which is especially useful for not so confident readers. They can then either read and select their answers or use the dictation tool on their iPad to orally record their responses.

With work-arounds established to help my year 1 children to access and engage with 'flipped' content, tomorrow's plan is to discuss upcoming learning for my class and make decisions about what to flip, which children will be in my focused group and how and when I can engage with the parents. With the leadership team keen to use this as a sort of 'pilot', the results of which potentially seeing them being one of the first schools in the #MiddleEast to embrace #flippedlearning in #EYFS, we are all super excited to see how it goes!!

Let's hope it flips without flopping! 🤞🏼 Either way, there will be so much to learn along the way for sure.

As its 9.30pm here and the awfully aggressive alarm is set for 4.45am 😳 , I shall stop waffling and get some much-needed sleep. I hope to have so much more to update tomorrow 👍

Thanks for dropping by!