Progress report

Enquiring Minds
Summary of Project Work to date

I have been working with JM to develop an existing scheme of work for year 7. This project has become dated and needed expanding, therefore it presents the perfect opportunity for experimentation. I plan to run through the SOW in it’s entirety in the new year with a new group of year 7s. The project will cover 23 lessons, 12 of which are double lessons of 110 minutes. There is also the added challenge that the group’s lessons are scheduled in a non-practical room. I have to plan with another member of staff to trade rooms well in advance if I want to figure in practical work of any substance.

In the last month I have been trialing some of the lesson ideas with the groups that I currently teach. I have found that an effective way of working out some of the potential problems and giving myself a clearer idea of where I can take the project.

Enquiring Minds, in conjunction with the new DT KS3 Strategy, ideas from Opening Minds and in-school training about group work has indeed effected my teaching and thinking this year. OFSTED and Departmental inspections have contributed too. I have been moving away from the traditional DT model of developing a project, focusing more on teaching design thinking. I have been using non-food experiments to allow pupils to, hopefully, develop a greater understanding of the design process in real terms. I have also been experimenting more with group work, trying to develop better skills of managing and utilising this work to benefit the individual’s project.

With the support of the research group and the school, I have found it much easier to experiment and to look at the results in a more objective way. This project will be of benefit to my teaching as it has already made me more confident. I feel less a Food Technology specialist (with the attached cooking/home-economics prejudices) and more of an educator. I’m working towards developing higher level thinking lesson plans.

I have enjoyed the meetings with the whole research group. The activities have been stimulating and everyone has remained positive and open to possiblities. What has been frustrating is that these lovely energetic days out have caused difficulties with teaching groups. Missed lessons have made it difficult to complete projects. Pupils don’t react well to a lack of continuity. I will need to think about and alter schemes of work across the year groups. To be effective, I need to make the work easier to complete by the pupils without me leading them at every stage. This of course is in the spirit of the Equiring Minds project, but will take a lot of planning and altering of teaching style to make these projects more successful and less dependent upon me.

Personally, the biggest barrier for developing this project in the coming months will be the three to four months I will be taking for maternity leave. I’m sure everyone will find conflicting issues, both personal and professional. I need to keep positive and active so that I don’t feel that I have fallen behind and become a hindrance to the project.

I wouldn’t like to say how I would like to see the project develop in the next year. While at University, I had the great luck of being a pupil of a man that was a sage in the true sense of the word. He told me that one should beware of prepared ambitions and goals as it can stop one seeing the opportunities that are there and unconsidered. I have lived my life with that in mind and have been blessed with these unplanned opportunities. I think Enquiring Minds will benefit in this way too.