Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Teaching News

Teaching News

Brilliant Blogger of the Week: Juliet Robertson

Posted: 28 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST

This week’s Brilliant Blogger is Juliet Robertson. Her fantastic blog is called ‘I’m a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!‘ and it has lots of wonderful ideas to encourage teachers and children to take part in learning outdoors.

Juliet currently teaches one day a week in an integrated Primary/SEN school in Aberdeen, with over 500 pupils of which 70 are in the SEN classes. She covers non-contact time for teachers and does lots of activities that support other teachers and staff to take learning outdoors. She teaches outside every day that she is in school, all year round in all weathers and has done since 2008! The rest of the week, she is an education consultant.

‘I’m a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!‘ is about taking learning outside. There are over 400 posts containing a mixture of lesson ideas, personal commentary, great resources, as well as play and ideas for developing school grounds and outdoor spaces.

I'm a Teacher, Get Me Outside Here!

Juliet started blogging as a way of supporting teachers and practitioners who want to take children outside. She also finds it useful as a memory bank of the good things that she (and others) are doing to encourage learning outdoors. It’s also great fun! She has been amazed at the response to the blog. The site has had over 90,000 visitors in the past year and almost a quarter of a million page views. Some of the most popular posts include:

  • Stones –  The value of painted stones as a learning resource.
  • Outdoor Music Wall – Lots of great ideas and photos showing a wonderful outdoor music wall!
  • Outdoor Play at Cowgate Under 5′s Centre - Outdoor play at a nursery that is based on Froebelian principles and where the children’s ideas and contributions are truly valued. This post focuses on the centre’s approach to enabling children to take risks.

If you’re interested in using more outdoor learning in your own teaching, Juliet’s blog is well worth looking at. I also recommend following her on Twitter and Facebook too!