The Supreme Ordeal

When I started teaching I started teaching at a difficult to staff school in Pilbara. It wasn't quite the middle of nowhere, but on a clear day you could see it. There were three staff members in the department.

I was given the barest minimum of programmes and by day 1 I was expected to teach it. Whilst help was available if I asked for it, it was pretty much me from then on in. I had to figure out the purpose of the topic, I had to teach myself the topic, I had to resource the topic, then go ahead and hope I didn't fail my kids too badly.

It was difficult, but it made me the teacher I am today. I like creating my own stuff; I like to be an expert in what I teach; I am not afraid to try something new knowing it may fail spectacularly.

 But I think the most affective result is that I now love programming and doing my own thing. And as I am borderline Sheldonesque, I have trouble thinking that anybody could possibly be different.



Anyway. I have just spent the last week typing up my vision of next year for my staff. It's all based on the Australian Curriculum and designed to give the teachers as much scope for their own styles and approaches as possible.

I'm going to attach the documents I sent out for years 7-9 teachers. I've also included what are the two options I see as generic grade descriptors.

Tech note: I saved them as PDFs then converted them to JPEGs. Only idea I had. Anything better?

Let me know what you think.