St Moses the Black and Black British Boys

I learnt a bit about some African Popes and black Saints today, as part of marking Black History Month with my Sixth Formers. I found St Moses the Black particularly interesting. He was a bit of a robber who was converted to Christianity by some hermits in the desert (near Ethiopia, I think). His robber associates tried to persuade him to go back to his robbing ways, but instead he converted them. I thought it sounded a bit like a modern day parable, with a positive message for our Sixth Formers. They just wanted to listen to hip hop ... Some of them eventually did made some simple posters for display. (One of my A2 students later asked if they were done by my year 7s!)

The highlight of my day was probably getting invited to speak at a conference in Nottingham next month. It's very exciting! I have finished the second year of my Masters and am about to begin my dissertation (did I mention that yesterday?!), and I've been asked to speak about how my research last year fits in with the Black British Boys' project (I think that's the title, although I understand that the project is changing). I will also have to explain how the course I've been following has supported my role as a teacher and impacted on my students, in order to encourage other LEAs to begin similar courses. It's such a privilege to be invited to this conference; I hope the Head will give me permission to go. I told one of the Assistant Heads and he was very positive about it, so hopefully he might have a word with the Head ...

The day finished on a more subdued note with a rowdy year 7 class followed by an extended leadership meeting. It's good to be home!