Double Standards??

Two new posts in one day? I must be in a ranting mood!!

I'm sure this one will spark some interesting debate......

As teachers, are we the worst exhibitors of double standards when it comes to classroom expectations? When we are teaching or addressing or classes, what are our expectations for the children? While we all (hopefully!) encourage interactive learning, do we have expectations for how children go about this? Do we expect children to show manners and model appropriate behaviours for interactive learning to occur?

Consider the following scenarios and how you would react if this happened when you were teaching:
* While addressing your class, small groups of children just carried on with their own conversations, oblivious to what you were saying....
* Children interupt you mid sentence without waiting for an appropriate moment to do so, or signalling to you they had some input to contribute....often with points you were getting to anyway.....
* Children in your class are too busy playing / typing on computers to actually be listening to what you say....
* When given time to discuss / share about a topic in groups, students gather others around to show them a clip / photo / something on their computer instead....
* Chilldren who were displaying one or a combination of the behaviours above then ask about information / content you have just discussed in the lesson.....
* The same children then answer you back with total lack of respect or appropriate tone when you don't regurgitate the information specifically for them....

Very few teachers I know of would accept this as appropriate behaviours in their classrooms, yet these are all behaviours I regularly observe at teacher meetings / conferences etc....And as lead teachers / management, we are supposed to just accept this?....

How do you deal with these situations in class? What would you say to the student who was displaying these behaviours? Are we the biggest exploiters of "Do as I say, not as I do"?

Hmmmmm.........

National Standards (Gulp!)

I don't know where to start with this one, as there has been so much coverage of this topic in the media in so many forms.......
Personally, I have so may conflicting views and angles on them within myself that I'm sure there's not really anyone who has formed a well rounded, "expert" view on them yet!!
My initial personal thinking tended to sway towards the notion that as long as they keep the student's achievements at the heart of the matter and are used properly to raise student achievement they have the potential be a good thing......
However, therein lies the problem!!! Media bias, the standards being rushed through without sufficient thought process and input from schools, the lack of standards being able to show progress as opposed to levelling against a static level, a general lack of understanding of how these standards work, "league tables" these standards are sure to create in the media, the inevitable fact that some schools will "teach to the standards" which in turn stifles creative and imaginative teachers, all point towards a very slim probability that these standards can be used properly or even effectively! I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.....
So obviously for me, the jury's still out! However the standards are here, we have to be seen to implement them and they're not going away......so no doubt there will be plenty of hours ahead reading, understanding, developing and implementing these standards so they benefit our children most.
Keep watching this space........