OOO the JOY of teaching SENIORS

For everyone of you guys who are teaching....the Juniors tend to "suck up" all my energy in the period that I spend with them...in a NICE way (I am sure you understand!!!) They truly keep me on my toes, and make me give my 5 cents -worth back to the school every minute. They each assume I am only there for them, and want their questions answered immediately...even if I am already busy assisting someone else. They are super excited, to have my individual attention most of the time, and the coolest thing is, waiting for them after morning tea or lunch, and they come running up to class with all of that exuberence....READY 2 LEARN..

Unlike the seniors, no running to class...a senior  will first listen to the video of me teaching the day's topic, and then only ask for support, if they can't figure it out on their own, and after having a korero with their classmates.These moment I treasure like gold nuggets, to see how they support each other, I find myself "eavesdropping" just to make sure that the "correct" information is shared, and that the person who asked the question, understands the solution/or the help.

They (the seniors) support you (the teacher) in whatever you want to try, new teaching ideas, new ways of learning, and they will give you valued feedback.  As I often tell my seniors:  "see this is why I teach, I learn something new from you guys, every day".

As a teacher it is so important for me, to find a few minutes a day, where I talk to each of my seniors, making eye contact to see how they are and how they are with the new learning for the day. So, to have my year 13's being excited about sharing their learning through making videos, were absolutely "mind-blowing-ly" COOL.  What they did, each of them chose a different part of the topic for the external, then they made videos of them talking through all the different examples.  They then shared it with each other and me, sharing their learning with all of us. They were so excited to plan, make the videos and then to share it with each other, and to compliment each other on it.
I am so blessed to be a teacher, and to have the opportunity to learn, create and share with my students.