Obstacles to learning

Today I've been wondering about what's happened to my teaching recently.  I was really excited about having two days a week in one class, rather than bits and pieces across the school.  And yes, I was nervous that I would be teaching Y3 rather than my comfort zone of Y5/6.  However, I WAS excited; I was looking forward to being able to focus on being in a classroom with a set of children.

I am naturally a risk-taker in my approach to learning and teaching.  I enjoy the focus on learning and what children need.  But you wouldn't know that if you'd visited my classroom over the past few months.

I think one of the issues is that I'm aware of much of the learning I find most successful is 'messy'.  And specifically it doesn't fit nicely into an exercise book.  Also I have in the back of my mind that clearly structured tasks are easier for the four ASD children and one child with attachment disorder to cope with.

But I strongly feel that 'messy' learning is important.  That I need to take risks and make learning more hands on and interesting. I also need to think about the needs of ALL the learners in the class, rather than focusing on those with more extreme needs.

Sounds like I'm just making excuses - poor ones at that!  It's me putting obstacles in my own path.

So next term I'm going to get back to basics - the basics of what I believe are important for learning and learners.