25th February 2014

Loved the "escape from the classroom" feeling of the first input. Gave me lots to think about in terms of the place of special schools in our society and I surprised myself by hoping that some point in the future I might be out of a job! Really enjoyed hearing everyone's perspectives on what including ASN children actually is. I liked hearing about the attainment focused curriculum demands faced by the mainstream and LS teachers and the challenges posed to the secondary teachers by the learners who may have previously found themselves in specialist provision.
Admission time: I'd like to spend all of my time reading, researching and talking about this stuff!

Getting into the reading
Finding the reading challenging and although I read quickly i have had to find creative ways of making links to "who wrote what" in my mind. Have devised a wee table to fill in as I read to try to keep me focused on the salient details! 

Ainscow's levers for change brought up, for me, a lot of the challenges faced by teachers and schools when trying to bring about full scale societal change!

Salamanca Statement (particularly the section on curriculum flexibility 20-32)
Made me feel optimistic about the vision for the youngsters I work with! however it really highlighted the development needs for the education system I work within. I like the references to the challenge faced by teachers in ascertaining what learners' wishes are - I can see the links to the ladder of participation chat I had with Mhairi and Amanda and leads me on to further reading on the subject of "learner voice"
Need to finish Salamanca reading next time - life gets in the way! 

Linking to everyday practice...
Already starting to see links from reading and with other training (Talking Mats) This is beginning to lead me down a path of learner voice / autonomy / control as a focus. Might help with T to lessen anxiety and increase ownership of learning.

Big wobbles at work today over getting it right for the children in my class in terms of getting a balance between creating an environment where learners can work things out for themselves vs the more traditional "bucket filling" approach I have always used. Genuinely worried that i am able to talk the talk bu that I'm not actually walking the walk.