Teacher Award winners at Northern Grid Awards
The best part of working for Northern Grid is getting to meet exceptional teachers and learners across the region. Many of these were rewarded at the recent Northern Grid Awards. As part of the judging process I spent a hugely enjoyable week visiting classroom practioners who had been nominated and shortlisted for the Teacher Award.
I felt extremely privileged to be able to spend time finding out about the work these teachers have been doing and their approach to teaching and learning. The only downside of the visits was the expectation that I would have to decide on a winner, and present one of the teachers as somehow ‘better’ than the others. After each visit I found it more and more difficult to decide. There were many common elements between the teachers but they were also very different, one from an infant school, one from a primary, two secondary teachers including one working with pupils on the Autism Spectrum, and one wasn’t a teacher at all but a network manager.
In the end after reporting back to the full judging team we decided that all four teachers should be recognised as outstanding.
- Claire Hayden from Norham Community Technology College, North Tyneside
- Myris Groom from St Aloysuis Infants, South Tyneside
- Nicola Padgett from Normanby Primary School, Redcar and Cleveland
- Stephen Ainsley from Harton Technology College, South Tyneside
Over the coming weeks we will be publishing case studies of each of these teachers on the Northern Grid website www.northerngrid.org but after the visits I wondered if what I had learned could help me identify some common elements, characteristics of outstanding teachers.
All of these practitioners had these things in common.
They:
- have a very clear vision, are totally dedicated to teaching and learning and focussed on the needs of their pupils now and in the future.
- have high expectations of their pupils and give them a voice and independence.
- don’t see barriers between key stages or subjects, it’s about taking ideas and finding what works for you.
- know that subject areas aren’t the only things they teach.
- never stop exploring new resources, activities and opportunities.
- provide real, purposeful and relevant activities that go beyond the classroom.
- are well respected by colleagues and benefit from supportive senior leadership teams.
- know that they are not on their own, they take advantage of the support available from their LAs, learning grid and others.
- support colleagues in and out of their own school.
- motivate and enthuse others and encourage colleagues to share their ideas and practice.
- make a real difference to their pupils, their schools, and their colleagues.
- don’t see what they do as special.
Interestingly though the award recognises the work they do with technology, none of the items on the list are about this. They know technology is just a tool that helps them meet their core aims of providing outstanding teaching and learning.
Update November 2011
All of the outstanding practitioners’ schools are now involved in the Northern Grid for Learning Lead Schools Network. To find out more visit the Northern Grid site.
Another important aspect is that they see themselves as learners, so they provide an excellent role model for young people in schools. They probably aren’t frightened to say that they “don’t know” and to ask their students and other colleagues for help.
This has particular reference with e-learning when many pupils will have greater knowledge about IT applications and tools. Outstanding teachers aren’t phased by this – they welcome it as new learning opportunities for all.
I’d second that. in some of the schools we work with through Creative Partnerships, that dimension has been systemically encouraged in teachers by having student led IT development groups so that out of school interest and expertise is formally engaging with schools.
Would you also say from your observations that outstanding teachers seek to provoke /make learners curious with their (creative) use of resources / approaches / contexts?
Is questioning strong/dominant in teacher talk?
Is thinking-silence encouraged in students when responding to questions?
I’d be very interested to knwo if these were diemsaniosn of what you observed as I’d add these in too…
I agree, these teachers want to learn more and continually improve their practice. They are happy to learn from anyone including pupils.
One school in particular involves pupils in all aspects of ICT including evaluating and choosing equipment. They found pupils are very mature in how they do this (they are primary aged) and don’t just choose the most ‘desirable’ hardware but the devices that are best suited to support their learning.
I think the comment about making learners curious is an interesting one. One of the teachers talked about their pupils being originally quite insular but now through using the technology they are interested in the world around them and keen to interact with it.
I don’t know enough about their classroom practice to answer the points about questioning but will ask when I go back to talk to them about their case studies