JCT training day

Icsics

We have one of these next week, our first one. How does the day work, is it groupwork & feedback or presentations? Thanks

2xj3hplqgsbkym

Haven't had it yet either . But I guarantee you it will involve loads of group work, walking debates, drawing pictures, making posters and very little factual information on how you collate all the CBAs from your 90 JC students every year and no help drawing up a new 3 year plan for each of your subjects.

km79

Briggs Happy Wisecrack wrote: »

Haven't had it yet either . But I guarantee you it will involve loads of group work, walking debates, drawing pictures, making posters and very little factual information on how you collate all the CBAs from your 90 JC students every year and no help drawing up a new 3 year plan for each of your subjects.

This is exactly what it is . Useless . Very disappoint .. CBA coming up in a few months for Science and absolutely no clue about it .
But I’m sure the upcoming “cluster day “ will help .................
Also each book has treated topics / the course completely differently due to the lack of anything resembling a syllabus .
I do like the more interactive nature of the course for students but it’s next to impossible to know what to teach in each topic. Very frustrating

Icsics

km79 wrote: »

This is exactly what it is . Useless . Very disappoint .. CBA coming up in a few months for Science and absolutely no clue about it .
But I’m sure the upcoming “cluster day “ will help .................
Also each book has treated topics / the course completely differently due to the lack of anything resembling a syllabus .
I do like the more interactive nature of the course for students but it’s next to impossible to know what to teach in each topic. Very frustrating

That’s exactly it, frustrating! I have JC class & I feel like I’m teaching a bit of everything but not a lot of anything! We have the cluster day too soon, but at least with that you can meet teachers from
other schools & share ideas. But I’m annoyed already that the JCT day will be a tick box exercise & no concrete info.

km79

Icsics wrote: »

That’s exactly it, frustrating! I have JC class & I feel like I’m teaching a bit of everything but not a lot of anything! We have the cluster day too soon, but at least with that you can meet teachers from
other schools & share ideas. But I’m annoyed already that the JCT day will be a tick box exercise & no concrete info.

I wanted it to be good
I wanted it to give us loads of info and help us move forward
It was appalling

evolving_doors

What is the purpose of a cluster day.
What is it meant to be?

Mardy Bum

They are pushing the fad idea of using phones in the classroom. Disgraceful really how lacking in research the whole thing is.

km79

evolving_doors wrote: »

What is the purpose of a cluster day.

Teachers from different schools meet up to share ideas I think ????
I don’t have any to share !

evolving_doors

km79 wrote: »

Teachers from different schools meet up to share ideas I think ????
I don’t have any to share !

Ugh!
So group work. Brainstorm. Write on big flipchart paper. Share. Go home.

km79

evolving_doors wrote: »

Ugh!
So group work. Brainstorm. Write on big flipchart paper. Share. Go home.

https://www.jct.ie/perch/resources/publications/cluster-day-leaflet-aug-17.pdf

Looks like it

happywithlife

I agree 're phones etc
They expect every student to have access to a device and Wi-Fi
Our students have neither - school has totally banned phones not to be seen ever and anyway there is no student network

r93kaey5p2izun

We've had three JCT days. Each one worse than the last. Everyone in the hall sitting around group tables. Boring presentations that could just have easily been an emailed powerpoint. Every 20 minutes or so stop for some group work. Then feedback using some gimmick such as write on post-its and stick on the wall, or use a "ranking ladder" or a "diamond 8". Then maybe have everyone take a "ghost walk" to look at everyone else's post-its or posters. And possibly choose the best ones using "dotmocracy". Depending which of the days it is you might have to explain the principles of AfL using a poster, song or poem or draw a dinosaur then grade each other's efforts using a rubric. You'll try some fun team building icebreakers like trying to get 100 people to count to ten without interrupting each other. And everyone getting their phone to pick a personal picture that represents who they are. The presenters will share theirs with the whole room, very sweet. And you'll receive great little classroom management tips like standing around with your hand in the air when you want people to stop talking.

They will spend the day bigging up this groundbreaking new style of teaching and learning but reassure you every 5 minutes that your school is so wonderful that you're already doing it all anyway and just need to document it differently. Most of the group work involves writing down all the great things your school is already doing then getting a pat on the head from the presenters for being such good little teachers.

jimmytwotimes 2013

We got to walk around the school to take a photo of something important to us or the school.

Seems to be the best the Dept can come up with, along with post-its and no information whatsoever re: exams

Mardy Bum

Presley Ashy Vigilante wrote: »

We've had three JCT days. Each one worse than the last. Everyone in the hall sitting around group tables. Boring presentations that could just have easily been an emailed powerpoint. Every 20 minutes or so stop for some group work. Then feedback using some gimmick such as write on post-its and stick on the wall, or use a "ranking ladder" or a "diamond 8". Then maybe have everyone take a "ghost walk" to look at everyone else's post-its or posters. And possibly choose the best ones using "dotmocracy". Depending which of the days it is you might have to explain the principles of AfL using a poster, song or poem or draw a dinosaur then grade each other's efforts using a rubric. You'll try some fun team building icebreakers like trying to get 100 people to count to ten without interrupting each other. And everyone getting their phone to pick a personal picture that represents who they are. The presenters will share theirs with the whole room, very sweet. And you'll receive great little classroom management tips like standing around with your hand in the air when you want people to stop talking.

They will spend the day bigging up this groundbreaking new style of teaching and learning but reassure you every 5 minutes that your school is so wonderful that you're already doing it all anyway and just need to document it differently. Most of the group work involves writing down all the great things your school is already doing then getting a pat on the head from the presenters for being such good little teachers.

Infantalisation of the profession.

Granted there are teachers who don't know their arse from their elbow (2 in every 40), these days are lowest common denominator stuff.

km79

Ah the Ghost Walk I forgot about that

mtoutlemonde

We had our JCT day and it was very similar to other posters. I thought it was an insult to our intelligence and would have preferred to be teaching my classes. It got worse as the day progressed. I loved the videos from the students (who weren't actors being scripted by the Department) saying they learn better in subject inspired classrooms (can't remember how he phrased it) but he was on about posters and the like on classroom walls. And the award goes to ... the girl who couldn't wait to ask her teacher in September what they would be doing this term One thing the students did say was that if the classroom is very warm - it's difficult to work - well we know how to solve that ... reduce the ratio - won't happen though.

Now for the positives - I attended my cluster day and it answered a lot of my questions. Great presenters who knew their stuff. It was all positive and we finished with some planning. The only negative would be that we would have to get creative (and practical) in terms of materials which could be used for groupwork i.e. creating flashcards etc. I still have issues with the loss of contact hours for the amount of work we have to get through but not as anxious as I was.

mirrorwall14

On the other hand I found the cluster day just as bad. No questions answered that I didn't already know. No answers to the extension questions I had come with. Group activities that took tons of time but either a) wouldn't work at all without massive editing in a classroom or b) seemed literally to only exist to waste time. Huge emphasis on extra curricular. And lots of patronising.

What I wanted was reasonable and practical for teachers given it is a new syllabus:
-Assistance breaking down the learning outcomes which are very vague
-Assistance regarding where we start next September
-Assistance deciding the order of teaching of the syllabus for each year group

I got none of that. The only activity related to any of those ended in disaster where neither presenter could actually answer our questions related to how to do the activity in the first place

Mardy Bum

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

On the other hand I found the cluster day just as bad. No questions answered that I didn't already know. No answers to the extension questions I had come with. Group activities that took tons of time but either a) wouldn't work at all without massive editing in a classroom or b) seemed literally to only exist to waste time. Huge emphasis on extra curricular. And lots of patronising.

What I wanted was reasonable and practical for teachers given it is a new syllabus:
-Assistance breaking down the learning outcomes which are very vague
-Assistance regarding where we start next September
-Assistance deciding the order of teaching of the syllabus for each year group

I got none of that. The only activity related to any of those ended in disaster where neither presenter could actually answer our questions related to how to do the activity in the first place

Part of the problem is the horrendous NCCA which has been poorly managed for a long time. Drivetime reported on it but it has for some reason been hushed up.

Bruton doesn't want it to become public knowledge that non experts were working on drafting up the new syllabi.

Leadership of the NCCA has changed but it doesn't look like things have improved according to reports.

rainbowtrout

evolving_doors wrote: »

What is the purpose of a cluster day.
What is it meant to be?

more like clusterfuck

mirrorwall14

rainbowtrout wrote: »

more like clusterfuck

I laughed more than I should have at that.... Its been a long week!

rainbowtrout

km79 wrote: »

Ah the Ghost Walk I forgot about that

I refused to do the photo thing, and left the room to do more pressing school work during the ghost walk. It was such a load of bollocks.


We had a different clusterfuck in December two weeks after that one. I was in the science group. Yer one that was facilitating it, was going around with all that fake friendliness bullshit at the start asking our names and where we were from, and being all happy clappy. When she got to me, and I gave her my name, she went 'oh. I remember you from the last time':D:D:D:D

We were given sample experimental write ups done by students and a rubric to grade them on under their new grading system. Seems like everyone is a winner here.

I commented that an experiment with a diagram drawn without one single label could be anything and didn't merit the full marks (or highest achievement grade) that was being proposed. She said that I had to stop thinking in terms of marks under the old system, that my standards were not the same as the new system. I replied, that no my standards were not the same, they were higher.

Totally fucking disaster of a system.

evolving_doors

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Part of the problem is the horrendous NCCA which has been poorly managed for a long time. Drivetime reported on it but it has for some reason been hushed up.

Bruton doesn't want it to become public knowledge that non experts were working on drafting up the new syllabi.

Leadership of the NCCA has changed but it doesn't look like things have improved according to reports.

From what i heard on primetime it was allegations of bullying to the nth degree.
It sounded like People went in with great intentions of creating new syllibi grounded in good practice and theory, it appears to have ended up with 'yisll do what yissr told to do and forget about that theory nonsense'.
So we are where we are, it's a pity we can't brexit this dumbing down out of it.

It was probably hushed up as it's being investigated. Maybe before the courts.

rainbowtrout

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I laughed more than I should have at that.... Its been a long week!

:pac::pac::pac:

According to Google clusterfuck is defined as a disastrously mishandled situation or undertaking.:D:D:D:D:D

Shaungoater

I found it all okay. The new spec is in this year for my subject so it's either get on with it and try it or risk getting left behind.

Didn't feel the whole school days though, bit pointless

km79

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I refused to do the photo thing, and left the room to do more pressing school work during the ghost walk. It was such a load of bollocks.
.

So did I and I apologised to nobody for it!

evolving_doors

rainbowtrout wrote: »

:pac::pac::pac:

According to Google clusterfuck is defined as a disastrously mishandled situation or undertaking.:D:D:D:D:D

First heard that term in Heartbreak Ridge.
Heartbreak is right.
We were told at one in service that it's all about teaching methods. 'In theory we should be able to teach any subject using these methods' was the phrase.
In theory... I thinks to meself... in practice we will be teaching any subject the way things are going:pac:

rainbowtrout

Shaungoater wrote: »

I found it all okay. The new spec is in this year for my subject so it's either get on with it and try it or risk getting left behind.

Didn't feel the whole school days though, bit pointless

But what's to try? The science spec is in its second year, I've been to a number of science days now and they haven't done anything remotely useful with the syllabus content or explain anything about how it's going to be examined either in terms of the written exam, or the coursework.

I don't blame the authors of the textbooks, they have tried to produce a book the best interprets the new syllabus. Some are better than others, and we have chosen a book that we feel has the best content. However as we have gone on, we have noticed more stuff that is missing from the book and having a quick look at the vague list of learning outcomes, missing from the syllabus. It's impossible to figure out to what depth we should be teaching a topic, and whether students will be put at a disadvantage if some topics are only given scant treatment. Also given that science has been reduced from a recommended 240 hours to 200 hours, I'd love to know where we are supposed to fit in all this material, because it's impossible to gauge how much extra stuff you should teach in a topic that isn't explicitly listed in the syllabus and may or may not be in a text book depending on which one you have chosen.

From a personal point of view I feel that some strands of science could suffer as teachers tend to have a personal preference for chemistry, physics or biology depending on which is their senior subject. I am the only physics teacher in my school and I rarely have JC science. Will it have a knock on effect in LC physics if JC science teachers (who are mainly biology teachers) give all the extra depth of treatment to the biology sections in the course,and only give physics the bare bones treatment?

rainbowtrout

evolving_doors wrote: »

First heard that term in Heartbreak Ridge.
Heartbreak is right.
We were told at one in service that it's all about teaching methods. 'In theory we should be able to teach any subject using these methods' was the phrase.
In theory... I thinks to meself... in practice we will be teaching any subject the way things are going:pac:

Does this mean that specialist knowledge is redundant and we don't need a degree in a subject area to teach anymore? Will the teaching council become obsolete as a result?? :pac: *silver linings*

evolving_doors

rainbowtrout wrote: »

But what's to try? The science spec is in its second year, I've been to a number of science days now and they haven't done anything remotely useful with the syllabus content or explain anything about how it's going to be examined either in terms of the written exam, or the coursework.

I don't blame the authors of the textbooks, they have tried to produce a book the best interprets the new syllabus. Some are better than others, and we have chosen a book that we feel has the best content. However as we have gone on, we have noticed more stuff that is missing from the book and having a quick look at the vague list of learning outcomes, missing from the syllabus. It's impossible to figure out to what depth we should be teaching a topic, and whether students will be put at a disadvantage if some topics are only given scant treatment. Also given that science has been reduced from a recommended 240 hours to 200 hours, I'd love to know where we are supposed to fit in all this material, because it's impossible to gauge how much extra stuff you should teach in a topic that isn't explicitly listed in the syllabus and may or may not be in a text book depending on which one you have chosen.

From a personal point of view I feel that some strands of science could suffer as teachers tend to have a personal preference for chemistry, physics or biology depending on which is their senior subject. I am the only physics teacher in my school and I rarely have JC science. Will it have a knock on effect in LC physics if JC science teachers (who are mainly biology teachers) give all the extra depth of treatment to the biology sections in the course,and only give physics the bare bones treatment?

Just take your lead from Richard Bruton.

richardbruton.JPG

rainbowtrout

evolving_doors wrote: »

Just take your lead from Richard Bruton.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

If all my students fail JC Science, can I put it down to trial and error?

Mardy Bum

rainbowtrout wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

If all my students fail JC Science, can I put it down to trial and error?

But at least they had "fun" and were "engaged" as opposed to actually learning anything.