3A

TASK 3A: Current Networks:

When looking inwards at my own networks that I use within my practice I need to split them into two separate categories depending on which aspect of my job I am approaching from. These two roles are:

• The ‘technician’; in this role I am not looking at classroom knowledge. Instead I am acting as a supporting role to five curriculum areas therefore my primary concerns are maintenance and resourcing within these departments.
• The ‘primary school drama club facilitator’; this role differs as it involves me working directly with students where I am responsible for the co-ordination of extra curricular activities in order to enhance their learning experience

Therefore I shall list my current networks beneath these two headings in order to offer more clarity in why I use these networks:

The Technician:

·        RW HART: This is a local supplier who is used regularly across the school. This service proves very beneficial as the company are willing to do price comparisons with other companies to offer competitive prices for resources ranging from classroom essentials (exercise books & stationary) to more complex machinery and equipment (sound systems). I often contact the owner of the business when looking for deals within a specific price range. Finances have shrunk on a yearly basis so within creative subjects where resources are drained regularly in large quantities it is important to know a reliable cost effective solution.

http://www.rwhart.co.uk/

·        http://www.uk.freecycle.org/

This is a network I have only begun using very recently but again with funding limited this is a superb tool to have in terms of resourcing. Users are able to ‘offer’ items they are willing to get rid of free and allow other users to collect them when a time can be agreed. This has been of benefit to a couple of my departments as I have collected audio cables and music leads as well as canvas for our Art department. All I have to do is make time to pick such items up and we receive them for no cost. It may only produce something of interest occasionally but thus far as proved to be a useful resourcing network.

Primary Teaching:

·        TES: This is an online community for teachers all over the world providing news, information on job vacancies as well as lesson plans and learning resources. The latter being the most useful element for me as I can try to freshen up my teaching using other ideas as starting point.

http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resources/

·        Internal Communication (LGFL): The London Grid for Learning offers similar services to TES in terms of providing some generic interactive resources. However my school use the staff e-mail service which it provides. Benefits of this system are the ability to communicate to staff as a whole which is often hard to do face to face in a split site school. It also helps when organising whole school events.

·        Students: This may seem a strange inclusion. However I would justify this inclusion as without being able to gage how students are responding to tasks or long term projects I would not be able to adapt my teaching strategies in order to enhance firstly my own teaching and more importantly their own learning experience. As a result I find interaction and feedback from my students an integral part of my networking.

Networks That Are Relevant To Both:

·        Colleagues: In both aspects of my practice I use the existing and ever growing network of colleagues who are able to provide a very accessible and human source of networking. As a technician I communicate regularly with teaching staff to identify short and long term goals for my work within the departments. Colleagues are also an imperative network for the development of my teaching as I can regularly observe colleagues teaching lessons and discuss ideas or problems that I have within my primary work. It is useful to speak to colleagues in this respect as they have an awareness of practical limitations that I face within the school that they may have direct suggestions to help me work around.

As I discovered during the first set of tasks, social media networks were initially considered no go areas in my line of work and even now there is still a great amount of scepticism surrounding their use. I think it is worth mentioning that I feel in my specific line of work they are difficult to incorporate into my daily practice. Perhaps in the future I may look into groups that are designed for support staff within schools however I do not wholly trust leaving queries or information openly on a social media format.