Switching off, can you do it?
As a teacher I find that hard, there's always something lurking at the back of my mind that 'needs' to be thought about and fiddled with in my head, discussed on Twitter or researched on the internet.....
At the end of last term I decided that I was going to try to take a whole month away from anything that was school related. The summer term was very difficult for us at my school - if you've read a previous blog post you'll know why - and I really felt the need to just stop....so I got quite a lot of things ready for next term before we finished such as books, labels etc and then I stopped! My memory pen hasn't been anywhere near my laptop, my brain has rarely been in school, very little Twitter - one ukedchat, a bit of thinking when I had a lovely lunch with Jan Webb, it's been great! I realised I had truly managed to do this one day last week, I was on holiday in Northumberland and went for a walk from Seahouses to Bamburgh (see photo below) and back...it's a big favourite place of mine..the tide was as low as I have ever seen it which made that vast expanse of beach feel even more special. I love it there when the tide is way out and when it's windy and sunny...which it was...it feeds my soul and gives me peace. I walked along, watched gannets fishing and just sat on the rocks watching the sea for at least an hour...when do I ever sit still for an hour?..Rarely because there's always something coming into my head that just needs doing!
So, you might ask, what have you been doing for a month?!...Well I've been learning ...I have a new passion, which is nature.
I've always been an outdoors sort of person and way back in February a friend who works for the RSPB at Old Moor told me that they wanted volunteers to be 'reserve guides.' This sounded interesting and so I went along on a very cold Saturday, chatted to someone about it, put my name down and went for a wander round. I realised that I knew very little about birds! Garden birds, yes I could name a few, but actually not very much else! At Old Moor there's lots of water so there are waders, ducks, geese, warblers etc etc..Luckily for me there are charts in the hides from which you can work out what you are looking at!...that was the start ...
Since then I have absolutely loved my volunteering at Old Moor. As a reserve guide I wander around all day chatting to people in and out of the hides, I chat about what's currently around, from plants to birds, to insects to butterflies and about Old Moor in general. If I chat to people who have never been before I might explain what you might see and which hide to see it in, sometimes people come who are just getting into 'birding' and are a bit worried that they don't know much. I can then tell them that they were me before I started volunteering and just chat about all the things I now know! I am constantly amazed by how much some people who visit the reserve know.... they pick out calls, see a glimpse of a bird and instantly know what it is...I talk to them and I learn!
Sometimes I help with pond dipping on the 'Wild Wednesday's' which are days with activities for children, sometimes I help out on walks around the reserve, whatever and wherever really. I once went on a walk down the river at the side of the reserve with members of the Yorkshire Dragonfly Society. I went along knowing absolutely nothing about them but that didn't matter, these lovely people were only too willing to help me learn. I came back from that walk knowing something about dragonflies (big chunky bodies), damselflies (little thin ones) and demoiselles (somewhere in between) and that's something I have been able to pass onto others as I wander around.
So during my month away from school things I've spent quite a few days at Old Moor. Did you know that birds are confusing?...They have winter plumage, then they have another one for breeding, then they lose that one and look a bit different still...then there are their chicks....I found I just got the hang of one bird and then it changed! Luckily I have an iphone and I bought a brilliant app - Birds of Britain and Ireland (pro). This app is great, it gives you pictures of all the different ways the birds can look, male, female, their chicks, details about habitats etc and also their calls. This is such a fun way for me to help people on the reserve and learn at the same time. If I find people unsure as to a call, then I check it out on my app, is the 'app call' the same one as the one they are actually hearing?...oh yes, there are songs, calls and alarm calls...more confusion! I can show pictures or actual photos to 'prove' it's a certain bird...it's been a great hit!
Another reason I love it there is because of the staff and fellow volunteers. They are all passionate about nature and it's importance in our world. I thoroughly enjoy being around people who love what they do and who are enthusiastic, passionate and have a want to share that with others....teachers are like that too, that's another reason I really appreciate my PLN on twitter and those I know in 'real life.'
Come and visit, it's a great place!
My other learning has been with my new camera. Again this is related to my nature passion! I have never taken a huge interest in cameras or photos and have had a £30 'just point and click' sort of camera. One of the lovely people at Old Moor loves taking close ups of insects, butterflies, flowers etc...I kind of got the bug from him and found it amazing to see such tiny creatures in close detail! So I did a bit of research and decided to go for a 'bridge' camera. These are cameras with all their lenses in one so there's not too much fiddling around or things to carry before you can actually get around to taking a shot. I have spent hours looking and photographing insects and butterflies...great stuff!
Here are a few of my favourites...
.JPG)
As a teacher I find that hard, there's always something lurking at the back of my mind that 'needs' to be thought about and fiddled with in my head, discussed on Twitter or researched on the internet.....
At the end of last term I decided that I was going to try to take a whole month away from anything that was school related. The summer term was very difficult for us at my school - if you've read a previous blog post you'll know why - and I really felt the need to just stop....so I got quite a lot of things ready for next term before we finished such as books, labels etc and then I stopped! My memory pen hasn't been anywhere near my laptop, my brain has rarely been in school, very little Twitter - one ukedchat, a bit of thinking when I had a lovely lunch with Jan Webb, it's been great! I realised I had truly managed to do this one day last week, I was on holiday in Northumberland and went for a walk from Seahouses to Bamburgh (see photo below) and back...it's a big favourite place of mine..the tide was as low as I have ever seen it which made that vast expanse of beach feel even more special. I love it there when the tide is way out and when it's windy and sunny...which it was...it feeds my soul and gives me peace. I walked along, watched gannets fishing and just sat on the rocks watching the sea for at least an hour...when do I ever sit still for an hour?..Rarely because there's always something coming into my head that just needs doing!
So, you might ask, what have you been doing for a month?!...Well I've been learning ...I have a new passion, which is nature.
I've always been an outdoors sort of person and way back in February a friend who works for the RSPB at Old Moor told me that they wanted volunteers to be 'reserve guides.' This sounded interesting and so I went along on a very cold Saturday, chatted to someone about it, put my name down and went for a wander round. I realised that I knew very little about birds! Garden birds, yes I could name a few, but actually not very much else! At Old Moor there's lots of water so there are waders, ducks, geese, warblers etc etc..Luckily for me there are charts in the hides from which you can work out what you are looking at!...that was the start ...
Since then I have absolutely loved my volunteering at Old Moor. As a reserve guide I wander around all day chatting to people in and out of the hides, I chat about what's currently around, from plants to birds, to insects to butterflies and about Old Moor in general. If I chat to people who have never been before I might explain what you might see and which hide to see it in, sometimes people come who are just getting into 'birding' and are a bit worried that they don't know much. I can then tell them that they were me before I started volunteering and just chat about all the things I now know! I am constantly amazed by how much some people who visit the reserve know.... they pick out calls, see a glimpse of a bird and instantly know what it is...I talk to them and I learn!
Sometimes I help with pond dipping on the 'Wild Wednesday's' which are days with activities for children, sometimes I help out on walks around the reserve, whatever and wherever really. I once went on a walk down the river at the side of the reserve with members of the Yorkshire Dragonfly Society. I went along knowing absolutely nothing about them but that didn't matter, these lovely people were only too willing to help me learn. I came back from that walk knowing something about dragonflies (big chunky bodies), damselflies (little thin ones) and demoiselles (somewhere in between) and that's something I have been able to pass onto others as I wander around.
So during my month away from school things I've spent quite a few days at Old Moor. Did you know that birds are confusing?...They have winter plumage, then they have another one for breeding, then they lose that one and look a bit different still...then there are their chicks....I found I just got the hang of one bird and then it changed! Luckily I have an iphone and I bought a brilliant app - Birds of Britain and Ireland (pro). This app is great, it gives you pictures of all the different ways the birds can look, male, female, their chicks, details about habitats etc and also their calls. This is such a fun way for me to help people on the reserve and learn at the same time. If I find people unsure as to a call, then I check it out on my app, is the 'app call' the same one as the one they are actually hearing?...oh yes, there are songs, calls and alarm calls...more confusion! I can show pictures or actual photos to 'prove' it's a certain bird...it's been a great hit!
Another reason I love it there is because of the staff and fellow volunteers. They are all passionate about nature and it's importance in our world. I thoroughly enjoy being around people who love what they do and who are enthusiastic, passionate and have a want to share that with others....teachers are like that too, that's another reason I really appreciate my PLN on twitter and those I know in 'real life.'
Come and visit, it's a great place!
My other learning has been with my new camera. Again this is related to my nature passion! I have never taken a huge interest in cameras or photos and have had a £30 'just point and click' sort of camera. One of the lovely people at Old Moor loves taking close ups of insects, butterflies, flowers etc...I kind of got the bug from him and found it amazing to see such tiny creatures in close detail! So I did a bit of research and decided to go for a 'bridge' camera. These are cameras with all their lenses in one so there's not too much fiddling around or things to carry before you can actually get around to taking a shot. I have spent hours looking and photographing insects and butterflies...great stuff!
Here are a few of my favourites...
.JPG)
A month off....throughly recommend it to anyone....back to work from tomorrow!
P.S
I've been thinking more about this post today as I've wandered around Old Moor....'teacher mode' sort of thinking.
As a learner who started with very little I haven't been afraid to say so or ask. Is this true for children as learners?
I have found myself at times 'saturated' with new things and unable to take anything else in. Is this true for children as learners?
I've been lucky to have been 'taught' by such enthusiastic people, it's been so enjoyable. Is this true for children as learners?
I didn't know much but didn't really know what I wanted to or even could learn until I started. Is this true for children as learners?
I think all those bullet points ARE true for children as learners, it's been a good reminder.
I've had a very big 'wow' factor in all this. The thrill of seeing something for the 'first' time or more likely the first time when I have actually know what it is I am looking at! When I was at uni (I did music) I remember one lecturer saying how much he envied us listening to certain pieces of music for the first time - we were about to listen to the Schubert 5tet for string quintet (2 cellos)...I have felt this this year. Big wow seeing the marsh harrier flying, the brilliant blue darting of a kingfisher, the gorgeous call of the little grebe, just how playful birds can be and just how aggressive birds can be!
When we go back in a couple of weeks I hope to take all this with me to enhance my teaching...I think we should remember that for some things and some children it will always be a 'first.'
I want to make that 'first' very special and memorable.
P.P.S
Here are a couple more photos I took today and that have wowed me, if you download them then you can zoom in even further!
