24
2019
The first five years of teaching: motivation, CPD and retention.
It has been a very quiet few months on this blog. The TES English teacher podcast has been keeping me very busy (this latest episode with Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts on helping boys achieve is a cracker) and I have been trying to finish off my Masters in Practitioner Enquiry. This post is a brief summary of some of the key findings of the...
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01
2019Teaching The Secrets of Effective Revision
Half of my life is an act of revision. John Irving I can’t quite believe that ‘Slow Teaching: Finding calm clarity and impact in the classroom’ came out a year ago this weekend. I have hugely appreciated all the people taking the time to pass on feedback and write reviews. It has been so rewarding to see that it has helped some teachers and had...
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01
2019
The Introduction to ‘A Quiet Education’
Schools are anything but quiet. Their walls reverberate with noise, with a hubbub of activity that begins long before the bell loudly dictates the start of the day. The interpersonal demands are huge: talk and communication dominate every space. For those of us who are more inclined to quiet, it can be an exhausting experience. To the untrained eye it may not appear...
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17
2019
Ten Non-Fiction Books Every Teacher Should Read
“The differences between expert performers and normal adults are not immutable, that is, due to genetically prescribed talent. Instead, these differences reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance. K. Anders Ericsson I didn’t write as much as I would have liked in 2018: it was a busy old year with the arrival of a wee chap who doesn’t fully support any writing...
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16
2018
Teaching Writing Using Comparisons
“Thought the quest for improvement may be informed by lessons and honed by practice, it must first be kindled by delight in the best works of the masters and a desire to approach their excellence”. Steven Pinker ‘The Sense of Style’ Over half-term I had planned to read ‘Learned Optimism’ by Martin Seligman and Steven Pinker’s ‘The Sense of Style: The Thinking person’s guide to writing...
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06
2018
‘The Four M’s’ in the English classroom
Yesterday, I delivered a workshop to a group of English teachers from Harris Academy, under the title of ‘Sustainable Outstanding Teaching’. In part of the talk I wanted to talk about what I am focussing on developing in my own classroom practice this term. I have, in a moment of lightning bolt genius, deemed one my pedagogical projects for the year ‘The Four M’s.’ Now...
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28
2018
The TES English Teaching Podcast
For the past two months I have had a social media and, for the most part, educational break. I haven’t read anything on education, I haven’t seen a single Twitter feed and I have, as far as possible, tried to live a mobile phone free existence. I won’t bore you too much with the rationale for this, and fear not – this is not another...
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23
2018
Teaching and Learning Leeds Conference: ‘Slow Teaching: A recipe for improved teaching, leadership and wellbeing.’
I have spent this week obsessing and fretting about delivering this at the wonderful Teaching and Learning Leeds Conference. This was the initial ‘script’, and while I gave learning it a good bash, what I spluttered through in fifty minutes might not have sounded exactly like this! “The best laid schemes” and all that… I appreciate that this is a slightly terrifying list for...
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15
2018
Summer term experiments: Year 10, ‘Invictus’ and ’12 Years a Slave.’
“Don’t address their brains, address their hearts.” Nelson Mandela. This mission to develop the reading confidence of my low set Year 10 group continued with earnest this week. Last weekend, I spent a delightful hour rummaging around my book shelf to find some suitable extracts (my long suffering wife seemed to have issues with my retort that I couldn’t possibly complete any housework,...
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08
2018
Summer term experiments: Year 10, extracts and creative writing.
“Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.” Oliver Sacks ‘Gratitude.’ The sun is shining, exams are (finally) coming to a close and there are now glimpses of time available to think and be creative in the classroom. My low set Year 10 now need some serious...
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