I was watching the students perform this
evening was listening to the words they
were saying I was watching the way in
which they delivered them and there’s
something very special about what they
were doing that isn’t easy to do I cast
my mind back over 20 years ago when I
was a young trainee teacher in Bristol
at the tender age of 22 just a couple of
years older than our own Jack Weston and
I remember one of the first times I
walked into a grade seven science class
to deliver this lesson I don’t remember
how well I did I don’t remember how much
they learnt but I do remember one
incident in that class a boy called Tim
Fraser
I remember him to this day sitting at
the back of the class messing around
distracting everyone spoiling my rhythm
as I was trying to get into the lesson I
thought how am I going to deal with this
boy
I’m not going to shout I’m not gonna
lose my cool I’m gonna stay calm I know
I’m gonna give him a look I’ll give him
the stare and that’ll keep him quiet so
I stood there for what seemed like about
five minutes until he finally noticed me
and he looked up from what he was doing
and he shouted out to the whole class ha
ha look at him he’s about to cry you
could you could imagine you can imagine
how my heart sank as I was trying to
shut this boy up and and and the only
effect I was having was appearing like I
was about to break down in tears at the
front of the room but I went back into
that class the next day and I learned
from that and I was a little bit better
and then the following day I went back
again and was a bit better still 20
years on I can’t say that I’ve perfected
my craft but I’m certainly a lot better
than I was back then and that’s what I
observe in these students this evening
I watched them thinking about what
they’re saying and what they’re doing
the skills they’re developing but also
the ideas that they’re sharing and what
I see in them is young people who are
determined to act in order to make them
better in the future
with the way that they’re practicing the
resilience they have their tenacity to
learn and so on but beyond that I see in
them a desire to make the world a better
place to not just thinking about
themselves but thinking about how their
actions affect other people and it’s for
that reason that I’m particularly proud
to be a part of this community and
particularly proud of our students this
evening thank you very much ladies and gentlemen
evening was listening to the words they
were saying I was watching the way in
which they delivered them and there’s
something very special about what they
were doing that isn’t easy to do I cast
my mind back over 20 years ago when I
was a young trainee teacher in Bristol
at the tender age of 22 just a couple of
years older than our own Jack Weston and
I remember one of the first times I
walked into a grade seven science class
to deliver this lesson I don’t remember
how well I did I don’t remember how much
they learnt but I do remember one
incident in that class a boy called Tim
Fraser
I remember him to this day sitting at
the back of the class messing around
distracting everyone spoiling my rhythm
as I was trying to get into the lesson I
thought how am I going to deal with this
boy
I’m not going to shout I’m not gonna
lose my cool I’m gonna stay calm I know
I’m gonna give him a look I’ll give him
the stare and that’ll keep him quiet so
I stood there for what seemed like about
five minutes until he finally noticed me
and he looked up from what he was doing
and he shouted out to the whole class ha
ha look at him he’s about to cry you
could you could imagine you can imagine
how my heart sank as I was trying to
shut this boy up and and and the only
effect I was having was appearing like I
was about to break down in tears at the
front of the room but I went back into
that class the next day and I learned
from that and I was a little bit better
and then the following day I went back
again and was a bit better still 20
years on I can’t say that I’ve perfected
my craft but I’m certainly a lot better
than I was back then and that’s what I
observe in these students this evening
I watched them thinking about what
they’re saying and what they’re doing
the skills they’re developing but also
the ideas that they’re sharing and what
I see in them is young people who are
determined to act in order to make them
better in the future
with the way that they’re practicing the
resilience they have their tenacity to
learn and so on but beyond that I see in
them a desire to make the world a better
place to not just thinking about
themselves but thinking about how their
actions affect other people and it’s for
that reason that I’m particularly proud
to be a part of this community and
particularly proud of our students this
evening thank you very much ladies and gentlemen
Please follow and like us: