I reviewed a great piece on working smarter this week and an equally fantastic piece on how if you work smarter the time you create gets absorbed by more work!
Felt a bit like that this week…

My focus this coming week is around one word….

“Aspiration”

One of my year 7 Maths set made my week by telling me they loved my lessons so much they wanted to be a Maths teacher. No self glorification here as this is not a regular occurrence but when those gems do occasionally appear I feel that warm glow of doing something right As I am sure we all do

But what is clear is that it really wasn’t me but the fact that the student could see it was part of a bigger picture. They knew why they were doing it and related it to a dream and that dream to an aspiration. This student had grabbed a dream, a hope, a future. To be a Maths teacher! But the dream concept I believe to be very important. From basketball as a route from poverty in the USA to me wanting to be an airline pilot as a kid. No matter what label you put on it, it is a dream of a better life.

Students who have dreams work harder. Students who have dreams are better independent learners. Students who have dreams smile more.

Can parents create the dream?
Can educators create the dream?

In my head I guess it is a combination of both parent and educator creating the environment for the dream to grow and solidify the aspiration. On reflection that seems obvious. The student must create the dream and the aspiration otherwise it is not theirs.

In my assemblies when I first started where I have worked for 5 years I asked two questions.
What do you want to be when you leave us?
What do you dream of becoming
Lots of hairdressers answered question 1 but vey few question 2. Interesting!

Is the dream the key? This week we have a real drive on relationships and bullying in school. I will deliver this but in the background I will continue my hidden agenda of creating dreams. Sir John Jones was right about the power of the dream weavers!

My student has proven their power. Arriving with me at key stage 2 level 4 the smile as they completed the first two level 6 question on angles correctly did make just a little part of their dream a reality.

I am not a good maths teacher but if I can become a good dream weaver there may be hope for me yet!