Risks

So I've been told that I should start recording my thoughts, ideas and teaching practice.
I guess I should start by introducing my self. I'm a primary school teacher. I have been teaching for almost  5 years.
I was born in Russia and have been living in NZ for 16 years. I think this adds an interesting element to my teaching. The kids seem to enjoy listening to stories about my past and about my culture.
I've been trying to apply new ideas to my classroom for a while now. It was quite scary to experiment at first but now it seems to have become part of my teaching.

The most interesting thing I've done this term is create pretend trenches in my classroom for ANZAC day.  The children and I focussed on what ANZAC day meant to us and what life was like for the soldiers who fought in WW1. I was quite nervous about doing this at first as I didn't know how my kids would cope with it. In the end I decided that if it didn't work then I could always put everything back. I was pleasantly surprised by my kids.
The work they produced and the understanding they got was pretty impressive.

I think the moral of the story is that risks do pay off...