That was a long term! I found those last couple of days really tiring although the children worked better than I expected, they were actually better than last week. I rushed off on Friday to go to Edinburgh for the first training weekend for the Global Teachers programme. It was really good and it gave me a lot more confidence about going out there, living with a family, working in a school and leading staff out there.
There are fourteen teachers going from throughout Scotland, 2 of whom could not be there this weekend. Everyone is really nice and I think just like last year on the trip with LECT we will all get on really well and that will be a great part of the experience. I commented at dinner on Sat night that a few years ago I could not even have sat and had a conversation all night with people I had only just met and how much I had changed since then. This whole experience will just cement that and I am so glad to be doing it.
We started on the Friday with introductions etc and then had dinner together. Everyone has similar motivations for doing this and I think that is why we are all going to get on together so well. We were handed a large pack each to keep which will keep me busy during the holiday, it has loads of information about Malawi, LINK, the programme and the work we will do when we get back. Most of us did not last very long that night due to end of term-itis although as councils are still running different holidays some people were in the middle of their spring break and some almost finished it.
We had a full day from 9am to 5.30 on the Saturday which started with a game, then went into an intro to Malawi and the programme etc. There was a good mix during the day of listening and then activities and sharing between us, as well as breaks for coffee! We looked at how to apply our skills in Malawi, raising awareness and funds and and had an introduction to the follow up work we will do.
We had a health and safety talk in the afternoon from a travel nurse who had been brought up in Africa. Luckily I will only need to get one jag (for a type of meningitis) and my anti-malarials. She has scared me off from swimming in Lake Malawi due to a nasty bug in it but otherwise I am not too worried about anything from that talk.
On Sunday we did a bit more work on the follow up modules we will do and it was good to share ideas with everyone else. One of the highlights of the weekend came last which was four of last years global teachers sharing their experiences with us. This was the point when I got really excited about the whole thing and realised I would be able to cope with everything. I was relieved to hear they all got private holes in the ground built for them! We also found out why get buckets given to us – any suggestions before I explain?!They gave us loads of tips from taking flip flops for when you are washing, to buying your books at Heathrow so you can choose ones with other people to swap over and take them through as hand luggage, presents to take etc. They spoke about how they were worried beforehand about how to take staff CPD etc and how well it turned out. I am really looking forward to getting the chance to develop my leadership and management skills in this completely different way and it was clear from their presentations that we would really get this chance when out there.
Next term I would really like to involve the staff in my school and maybe the cluster in sharing ideas to share when I get out there for things like interactive mental maths, games, reading ideas etc which do not require resources or only very minimal resources. Feel free to post some ideas on here as well.
I shall enjoy my spring break now, I am at present now typing this up on my wireless laptop in my living room so no doubt I will be surfing the net a lot! Going into school tomorrow though and probably Tuesday to get myself organised for next term. That will then hopefully give me the chance the rest of the fortnight to organise my GLOW stuff and then start organising stuff for Malawi.
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