And your chosen specialist subject is…?
As the clocks go forward and spring hopefully begins, we are taking stock of where our own Steps 2 Summit journey has taken us over the last 10 months.
Well, we are now experts in everything mountainous! It would be our specialised subject on mastermind…
Q: Highest art gallery in the world?
A: On Mount Aconcagua of course.
Q: On which mountain summit was a hot tub party held in 2007?
A: Easy, Mont Blanc.
Ten months after beginning this project, why are we still so obsessed with it? Well, what started out as planning ‘a few cross curricular lessons’ (to go with an initiative aimed at keeping children active whilst they climb a virtual mountain,) has taken on a life of its own.
We started off with our own self-imposed rules; we are teachers, we love teachers, we know teachers don’t need any more unnecessary initiatives when they are already time poor.
This prompted the creation of the golden rules…
- Lessons must fit on one page so that they are easy to read in a rush
- All resources must come with the lesson so that when you press print it’s all there
- A PowerPoint (where appropriate) should guide you through the lesson, including any pictures or video links that are needed
- It must link to the national curriculum – there isn’t time to teach stuff that doesn’t :(
- The lessons should be fun and engaging and not worksheet heavy
- You should know in advance how long a lesson will take to prep (can I sort it in 10 minutes at lunch?)
- The lessons should flexible – used in PPA? By a supply teacher? Assembly cancelled at the last minute and no back up plan? Once a week to really get the most out of the project?
Fast forward ten months and we have written 112 lessons from EYFS to Y6 which stay true to our golden rules. We have also created a set of ‘Summiteer Skills’ – such as adventurousness, perseverance, compassion, team work, managing failure, (the list goes on) and these have not only fed into the lessons but also made us branch in the direction of assemblies and displays – our next blog will introduce these.
In the meantime, after an Easter break, (incidentally not up a mountain!) we will be back, batteries re-charged, ready to continue supporting teachers in a project that we feel passionately about, now, where’s that mastermind application form…?