Tomorrow I begin the writing modules. I intend to research the teaching of writing, and to write more myself as once I did. In line with practice seen elsewhere, a booklet created with colleagues has been created, along with resources elsewhere. It covers the content of different writing types intended for …
Look at any major resource sharing website for teachers and you will see a task-based culture dominates. Students produce things, complete worksheets, and get to the end of books. Differentiation might (if at all) remove conceptual thinking requirements. You will see schemes of work that prioritise completing things over the …
Put thinking at the heart of lessons; not just doing stuff Putting cognitive science and thinking at the heart of lessons is my ambition. It is my overriding pedagogical priority. Differentiation is not only difficult; it can be counterproductive It is a truism that some task differentiation means student don’t …
Click below to download devils-advocate-debate conventional-speed-debate In terms of debating as a form activity, there are two conditions to consider: a) How much preparation time? b) How much expected participation? The Speed Debate is more substantial, and put less onus on the teacher. The Devil’s Advocate debate has potentially more …
At the start of my Education MA (long overdue!) I am writing my theory of learning. After 12+ years of classroom teaching, with all its relentless endeavour and aspiration and questioning, this is something near to what I think. Reactions from immediate colleagues have been that it is,”aspirational given the …
And so it comes to that time in the holiday when I look ahead to the next year and to engage in the kind of thinking (and planning) that is too hard to do under the regimes of classroom teaching and marking. A tremendous amount of organisation and planning has …
While a leader needs to be strategic, they need to lead others by example. A general cannot fight in the trenches, at least not when he has responsibility for the larger war. Yet, in principle, I believe you have to put yourself in a position where you do what you …
When I first started teaching, I absolutely needed a projector with PowerPoint. It was a wonderful tool to manage attention, and (as I started) the kind of behaviour necessary for learning. My latest school has enhanced my PowerPoint designs so they are now compelling and non-linear. I manage attention. You can purchase my …
I am writing this post to save you (and me) time. As you will read, teaching for me is a vocation (and one that, now I am international, pays well). I’ve shared plenty of resources for free; I am now selling premium version of such resources. I wanted to say a few words about …
For years I have enacted two kinds of planning – the planning that my students will see (PS), and the planning I , and my colleagues and inspectors, will see (PT). The principle of the PS that I do not write anything more than once, and that anything that anything the student will see will …
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