Week 2

Week 2

As I write this I’m sitting in a car at a local near by High School (7:30am), I’m attending a IT Curriculum Area Team Meeting (CATS) which will discuss some of the goals and targets the local high schools will aim to meet during the year.

Week 2 was interesting, the students had got over the ‘shyness’ that always comes with Week 1 and were much more ‘alert’ in the very general sense. Our students may come from tough backgrounds; however there this is constant spark in them that never seems to subside. That spark may turn to anger and frustration ... sure... but what it also gives me is a hope that on a continual basis I can change a student so that the spark they carry becomes a positive and the learning they engage in connects with them.

I won’t lie and say Week 2 was a breeze because by around Wednesday/Thursday I had my first dreaded ‘what am I doing here’ thought. The LEGO course work was continuing but I had been given a new class and although they engaged initially enough with the program I quickly realised that this class was flow over from another.

My Year 10 Multimedia class continued with the work they had been set but I was hit with a few technical issues and tapping into that ‘spark’ some of the boys had was becoming difficult.

On the positives I know in my mind where I want to take the LEGO courses and that is not to say I have it all mapped out but I’m excited as I begin to make the connections in terms of the schools overall literacy goal. Originally I had ‘mini projects’ lined up solely for the two year levels I teach but I want to attempt running a ‘story’ project that connects the Year 9 students with the Reception to Year 2 kids.

I can’t really write too much about the idea at the moment because the ideas are fermenting. I did conduct a slight ‘experiment’ with the students on building a bigger robot and out of 60+ lego students only 6/7 were at a stage willing to attempt the more complicated build.

I’ve identified a few reasons why:
Purpose - why are we building a bigger/better robot?
Access - the pieces are currently in boxes jumbled together and unless the students have the inner ‘lego nerd’ factor (as I did during my teenage years) then they will quickly lose interest at trying to find the pieces - I’m working rapidly on developing a new solution.


As the week ended I knew that ‘small successes...’ had to be my motto. I have huge goals personally to try and achieve at MOC over the next 3/4/5 years and that belief/drive call it whatever you want will override those ‘slam in the wall’ moments I had during Week 2.

Thanks for reading,

Emil