Colette Flanagan

"I am an English teacher in my sixth year of teaching at Notre Dame High School, and I became Literacy Coordinator two years ago. Previous to this I completed a degree in International English with German and then spent two years as an Assistant Language Teacher in a Junior High School in Japan. On my return I became a School Liaison Officer at Hopwood Hall College for one year, before completing my PGCE in Sheffield and deciding to make it my home.

I would never have labelled myself as a particularly IT literate person. It began with necessity making me learn how to use Word and Access well prior to teaching, and then gradually realising that I was one of the few in my English department who was enthusiastic about the possibilities in using IT in the classroom rather than scared of it. I ended up with the one year temporary post of ICT Cross Curricular Coordinator in my second year of teaching and then another temporary position as one of six Curriculum Innovators two years ago.

It has been a steep learning curve for me; it still is, but the enjoyment and fascination of trying out new things for interest and variety in my teaching is what keeps me going. I don’t use ‘technology for technology’s sake’, and my lessons are not all singing, all dancing ‘whizzy’ ones as you might put it, but when something really works well through using technology then it makes it all the more enjoyable for me as well as the students."

Joanne King

"I have been teaching English for seven years and happily ensconced at Notre Dame High School for the past six. I teach all year groups but have to admit to particularly enjoying a ‘lively’ GCSE class.

The Literature poetry has been a project of mine for a number of years, juggling the sheer amount of pieces we have to get through with the desire to enthuse the students as much as possible. I love the mixture of books and technology and finding new and inventive ways of bringing literature to the iPod generation.

I now work part time and in my very limited spare time I enjoy reading, rock climbing and red wine, though not necessarily in that order – it depends on what kind of day my toddler and baby have had!  My favourite reading is a mixture of old and new, Jane Austen and Louis de Bernieres being two authors I like to curl up with, and I must admit to having a passion for Harry Potter that is slightly indecent in a person of my age." 

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