If we want are students to amaze us we must first amaze them with our relentless, endless pursuit of learning. The role of a teacher offers the greatest opportunity in the world coupled with a complex set of responsibilities. The moment we stop reflecting on our practice, the moment we settle, is the moment we veer dangerously close to mediocrity.  It’s the commitment we make as teachers to never stop learning that will build good habits, develop great teachers and ultimately move the lives of the young people in our care forward.

Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.

The above quote from Dylan Wiliam was one of the reasons that led me to start Never Stop Learning. I wanted to encourage colleagues to reflect on what they were doing and offer some help in doing that. So I founded this idea upon the following principles (via Jamie Smart):

Last night at the first annual Never Stop Learning teach-meet #TMNSL over 150 teachers from around the south-west (and beyond) volunteered for the opportunity to exercise and experience the above three principles to deepen their understanding. When remarkable people congregate in one place with a shared vision for improvement, something magical happens that is difficult to measure but very much experienced.

The people who think they are crazy enough to change the world are the ones who do.

The evening began with a truly inspirational keynote from Hywel Roberts. I’ve seen Hywel speak at a few events and he never fails to send his audience away with lots to think about and a renewed vigour for teaching great lessons. He speaks at a very personal level which is engaging, heartfelt and also very funny – a perfect way to start any teach-meet! Hywel is perfectly summed up in his website address – Create | Learn | Inspire – please pay it a visit.

The keynote was followed by a series of 10 workshops offering a wide selection of opportunities from leading whole school change to differentiation to using video for CPD. All workshops were planned and delivered by teachers committed to making a positive change, spreading their influence beyond just the school in which they teach. The typicality of comments coming from people who attended followed this theme…

 

Click here to read tweets from #TMNSL

The crazy ones responsible for delivering expert workshops at #TMNSL were:

Chris Hildrew – @chrishildrew – ‘Great teachers.’

Amjad Ali – @ASTSupportAAli – ‘Creativity in the classroom.’

David Morgan – @lessonhacker – ‘Stop doing IT wrong.’

David Bunker – @mr_bunker_edu – ‘Teach like a champion.’

Dr Dan Nicholls – @BristolBrunel – ‘Leading change in schools.’

Chris Moyse – @chrismoyse – ‘Differentiation.’

Mat Pullen – @mat6453 – ‘Solo Taxonomy.’

Kate Heath & R Escourt – @artedu_kheath – ‘Practical ways to show progress over time.’

Sharon Porter & Tom Leahy – @sporteredu & @MrTLeahy – ‘Differentiated homework.’

Steve Gill & Jason Dayment – @mrgillenglish & @mrdaymentmaths – ‘Whole school oracy & numeracy.’

The workshops were followed by further opportunities to connect with others and share discoveries through a series of micro presentations, opened up by the powerfully motivating Action Jackson – @ActionJackson (leader of the FixUpTeam). This was a remarkable second half to the evening with lots of teachers still going strong at 19:30 on a rainy Thursday evening in the middle of March. What followed was a series of short presentations that included lots of tips, ideas to think about and consider coupled with motivation and encouragement to continue to explore the role and practice of teaching.

The crazy ones responsible for presenting were:

@ActionJackson – You are AMAZING!

@edubaker – The behaviour triangle.

@hrogerson – Confidence grids.

@theheadsoffice – Improving writing through blogging.

@ASTSupportAAli – Teaching tips & tricks.

@sporteredu – The ace of… spades, clubs, diamonds or hearts.

@leading_in_pe – Plenaries – voting with your feet.

@mrgmorrison – Robert Blakes best bits & learning lunches.

@lessonhacker – Mid-term lesson planning.

@cgould6 – Working with newly arrived EAL students.

There was a great buzz and atmosphere throughout the evening which was down to the excellent calibre of speakers / presenters and the amazing audience who supported and engaged throughout. The evening was captured brilliantly through the artwork of David Jesus Virnolli.

Next steps…

Thoughts have already entered my mind for the next #TMNSL. Over the coming weeks I will endeavour to share, in more depth the ideas from the workshops in a series of shorter posts. Whether you attended #TMNSL or not I implore you to take time to reflect on your practice, re-visit your moral purpose regularly and make a pledge to never stop learning.

Thank you to our sponsors for the evening!