This term I have been trying to notice things a bit more. I have tried listening, not the usual head-nodding and jumping to conclusions listening. But I have been really trying to listen to what my students are saying, noticing how they say it, observing their behaviour, and my behaviour, and reflecting on the projections, transference and counter-transference of life in the classroom and at school. In closely observed vignettes, I feel I have been developing a deeper understanding of the emotional content of teaching and learning relationships. I sometimes feel this way, whilst at other times I feel as if I am as clueless, clutching at straws, joining the dots that are not really there. My antenna has been on … and it is bloody exhausting.
One of my ambitions in starting the blog has been to scratch the surface of my little corner of the world of education. To dig a bit deeper into the gap between rhetoric, dogma and the messy reality of the chalkface. To explore the ideology of education, to unravel why I do things the way I do and whether they are of any benefit. To explore the real learning that goes on in our educational institutions, academically and emotionally. To hold my own practice to account, to evaluate myself and my thinking.
