This is not nearly as negative as it sounds! Really it's more of a reminder to me as the start of the school year looms. I have to remember that my class this year will not be in the same headspace as the class that I just farewelled a scant 4 weeks ago.
I know that sounds like stating the obvious, but having spent some time in a school with a mixed age class that spanned 4 year groups it had become normal for me to pick up largely where I left off every January. Changing jobs last year was different, because the whole situation was new to me, but this year I must keep reminding myself that these new children in my class are not only new to me, but new to the whole idea of self-direction.
I have kept a small number from last year and hope that they'll be the role models and leaders that the other need to have in front of them, but realistically I'm starting back at the beginning of the Maths Cafe journey once again. And I have to keep that at the forefront of my awareness so that I don't get frustrated when self-management skills are not what I was used to at the end of last year, or some such hiccup in the smooth running of the Cafe.
This is not a criticism of the children, but just an awareness that it is all too easy for me to slip into habitual ways of thinking or behaving in class and I have to take time to build those foundations again in order to make progress through the year.
Maths Cafe will need modelling to them, slowly, clearly, methodically. I will need to take some time to teach them the appetisers we use, to create some common understandings, games and activities that will carry us all through the year. And I will need to remind the "old hands" that they too will need to exercise some patience as their new classmates build routines and confidence - just as they themselves did in February and March 2016.
I'm sure we'll be fine. I'll let you know!
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