This weekend I was extremely privileged and fortunate to be at the National Teaching Awards 2009 for a long weekend of celebrations. I wasn’t just hanging around for no reason but was up for an award because I had won the Silver Plato for the South West. So as a matter of fact I am actually already a teaching award winner but was hoping to pick up the Gold Plato which was the national winner for the new category of Next generation learning (I have a little badge too). First thing I want to say is that I don’t agree with the term next generation learning because as far as I can see it is actually happening now in the classroom. I see this walking round school every day so really it should be now generation learning or just maybe 21st century learning. (Can you tell I didn’t win the award then ha ha No seriously this is what I have said all along and would have said even if I had won it live on television so probably just as well that I didn’t then as I am not sure Becta would have been happy.)
So as you can guess let’s get it out the way I didn’t win, if I am being honest of course I am a little disappointed but I am still made up I won a regional one and got that far not for myself but for the students and staff at my school because it really does put what we do at Saltash.net Community School up there with the rest of them. This whole process though has made me really reflect on these accolades etc. Are they important? What does it actually mean? Should we be striving for this type of recognition? I would be interested in what you think?
From the very beginning of this journey from being initially nominated I have felt a whole range of emotions and have thought of different opinions to those questions. At the beginning when some of my students nominated me I felt a little embarrassed, why was this? Is this just a ‘British’ cultural thing where we don’t like to blow our own trumpet? Or were there other reasons maybe this was an educational thing – I know that I had found this to be true when collaborating with other international teachers they spoke about being like poppies growing in a field and that they were constantly frightened of being cut down by others within their own schools for making themselves stand out from the crowd. I do feel like this sometimes in my own school that when you get nominated for something like this I can already hear the staff room behind a closed door saying huh teaching award don’t make me laugh. This of course is not what everyone says as some teachers are genuinely happy for you and think it is a great thing where others perhaps out of jealousy or just because it gives them something to moan about use this as the next bit of ammunition to fire at you.
So my embarrassment lasted about 3 days when I came across a couple of students who endorsed my nomination, when I told them I was a little embarrassed I was very quickly and firmly put in my place ‘get over yourself will you and grow up’, ‘kids in this school think that your great and if you act like this then that means that you don’t care what we think’, and finally if that wasn’t enough ‘we are proud of our school and what we do why aren’t you?’ Needless to say I quickly had a change of heart and decided to be proud and thankful for the nomination. So after this and after the first judge’s visit I began to feel very nervous about the regional awards, what if I don’t win? What will that mean? Will I have let the kids, teachers, and the school down? Now I had made the shortlist I really wanted to win because otherwise what was the point? So we went to the regional awards and I won which was amazing, the students and staff had a great day and it was lovely – we got a good write up in the Guardian newspaper and the prospect of a weekend in London in October.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/16/teaching-awards
So anyway back to now (the flashback is over…) We had a fantastic weekend – The teaching awards really know how to spoil you, lots of drinks receptions and nice food, a couple of nights free accommodation at the Tower Hotel with a room overlooking tower bridge all very nice. We had an excellent workshop on the Sunday before the ceremony at Drury Lane theatre broadcast on BBC 2 at 6pm. The workshop was comparing inspirational leadership to Henry V and Shakespeare and it was fantastic it really inspired me. The experience of the ceremony which you may have seen on TV was also an awesome experience and as we were waiting outside I bumped into the host Jeremy Vine as he was doing a publicity shot holding a golden plato (I did get to hold one in the end anyway although not through winning!) Then afterwards we were whisked off for a champagne reception and a lovely dinner and lots of free drinks to help lubricate myself to dance away the night with a live band.
The whole teaching awards experience was amazing, although I didn’t win one of the awards, I did have a fantastic time and I am so pleased I was originally nominated by the students. I would like to congratulate all the winners but more importantly all those nominated across the UK who didn’t get that far and also anyone who has not been nominated but deserves to be nominated which I am sure there are thousands. I would also like to thank the teaching awards staff for looking after us so well over the weekend.
As I return home now, blogging on the train I was thinking about this time last year when I was in Hong Kong at the Worldwide Innovative Teachers Awards sponsored by Microsoft. Yes yet another awards ceremony and you know what I think about awards ha ha! This one I actually did win an award at. This year’s Worldwide awards are actually in Brazil and start next week, some friends of mine are up for awards Ollie Bray and Mandeep Atwal.
I met them both at the European Innovative Awards this March in Vienna were they were both award winners and so get to go through to the worldwide awards. I was there doing a keynote on some of the projects I had taken part in recently. You can see pictures of Ollie and Mandeep below winning their awards in Vienna and you can read more about them both below:
http://blogs.msdn.com/teachers/archive/2009/03/02/award-winning-innovative-teacher-ollie-bray.aspx
I am tipping both Ollie and Mandeep to get awards in Brazil as both their projects are absolutely fantastic and I know they stand a good chance of winning although the competition is always high because of the quality of their projects and the quality of their characters.
They will be escorted their by Stuart Ball and Kristen Weatherby from Microsoft UK who run and coordinate the Innovative teachers network http://www.partnersinlearningnetwork.com/Pages/default.aspx In fact you can sign up very easily today and start collaborating and take advantage of everything the communities have to offer with over a million teachers there from over 50 countries. In fact on the home page at the moment you can read about when I went to Washington this year and even see my award winning VCT Recharge the Battery.
Read Kristen’s latest blog on Brazil here: http://blogs.msdn.com/teachers/archive/2009/10/29/microsoft-worldwide-education-forum-brazil-this-could-be-you-next-year.aspx
If you are interested in maybe getting to next years’ Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum then you first need to register at the innovative teacher’s network and submit a Virtual Classroom Tour (VCT) before mid November to see if your project has a chance of being selected for the UK Innovative teacher’s forum. When I first submitted my VCT a year or two ago I never thought it would have taken me to Zagreb then to Hong Kong and then as a result to Vienna and even Washington but it did. The whole process of the Innovative teacher’s network is one of the best professional development experiences I have ever had. I can’t recommend it enough so if you are interested read some of my earlier blogs on the opportunities with Microsoft or Innovative teachers forums or get in contact with me to chat about it more.
So are these accolades important? Well it depends on you really, I like to think they have had a positive effect on me, my students and the teachers I work with but they don’t compare to the daily accolades I get in the classroom from my students which are normally smiles, thumbs up, the occasional thank you I really enjoyed that sir but the best are the shinning eyes when you know you have them captivated. I am sure we all see these on a daily basis and that has to be why we do the job.
You may not have won an award Dan but you certainly do so in my regards. You are a great example of a teacher who leads the way in the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Long may it continue.
You are being far too modest…. The BIG question is ‘Why didn’t you win an award?’. With all that you do , the teachers you support , not just in the UK , but globally. The impact you have on learners is immense. What else do you have to do to win National recognition for the work that you. It’s a privilage to have you as part of the Innovative Teachers Network and I know a significantly large number of teachers that would agree with me.
Power to the Poultry !
When the Awards first started I wrote a piece in the TES where I looked into the reluctance of UK teachers to be recognised in this way. In the process I spoke to the American teacher of the year (their Award is long-standing and very respected) a wonderful African-American woman. She regarded herself as a spokesperson for the profession, able to put the teachers’ point of view in the highest places, including the Oval Office. For her, this more than made up for any embarrassment effect. (I’m pretty sure she got the year off to do it, too, though I’d need to check that)
I think our T of the Y marketing/PR people could push the winner (and local winners) much more — TV appearances, press, wheeling them out when there’s a controversy. “And to discuss this, here’s Teacher of the Year xxxx”.
While it might make some people feel wary of taking up the mantle, it could, and ought, to make them feel that they have this wonderful opportunity to speak up for their colleagues. One problem with that, of course, is that the judges would have the high profile public role in mind when they were making the choice, but, hey, you can’t have everything.
Thank you Kevin you are very kind! I think it is great that we can all collaborate as we are doing on twitter via the PLN it is forming many strong future partnerships and long may it continue!
Ha ha power to the poultry indeed! Thank you for all your support and hopefully we will have many more future collaborations!
Awesome comments as always Gerald – some very interesting points – it would be good to see what our american friends think of this post from their perspective – yes I think your comments are valid and if handled in the right way the winners could really do a lot of good!
It is a little odd that teachers who do out of their way to recognise learners’ achievements to help them progress should be so awards averse themselves. Working with Becta on their former ICT in Practice awards it was something we came across regularly.
It’s time for the culture to change because there is some fantastic work going on in schools, and it’s important for it to be shared because it makes such a huge difference to the lives of the learners.
Being a judge at the Microsoft Global Innovative Teachers event in Hong Kong last year was an unforgettable experience. It was great to catch up with your work, and that of Peter Carney and other UK and Ireland teachers as well the others. Sometimes we’re not aware of what’s going on under our noses – and award schemes can spread the word.
Congratulations on your success! It was well earned, and I’m looking forward to visiting Saltash.net. It’s a pity we’re not going to Brazil though! Ollie’s a great candidate and I’m looking forward to learning more about Mandeep.
Yes Merlin you are so right in every school there are innovators doing fantastic things – how do we get to hear about it? How can we make effective use of these talents? Looking forward to seeing you down at Saltash soon! I think Mandeep and Ollie stand a very good chance of winning and Big Pete is excellent too!