Category: For Teachers
Throwback – Thoughts on preparing lessons on a Sunday Evening in 2012
Preparing a lesson Normally I prepare my lessons after marking so that my planning responds to my...
Read MoreA thought: make students write as intensely for a common writing task as they do for an exam.
So much of my training has involved inspiring students for whom there is little intrinsic motivation for study. I have taught in schools where the consequences of this can be visceral. Teaching students like this is a different job, although you cannot separate good teaching from behaviour management (although you can separate behaviour management from good teaching, it seems). If a student trusts you and desire to work (often it is even just because of your persona as a teacher), the enable them to create and analyse at length outside an exam is an ambition not often mentioned.
Read MoreWhy consider Concept-Based Curriculum? Five Necessary Thoughts
CBL aims to create intellectual character. This is a worthy mission. Not every teacher has the cultural literacy to do so immediately, but every teacher should have the tools to strive for intellectual character.
Read MoreBeing a Lifelong Learner – Thoughts about Teaching After 15 Years (and why most teachers don’t improve after 3-5 years)
An Easter of reading raises some old truisms: That most teachers do not ‘improve’...
Read MoreThe Vegetarian Book Review: Planting Desire and Rooting Order?
The Vegetarian is a dark book that has sat with me for a few weeks now. Conventionally about the...
Read MoreIn Cold Blood – Playing With Genre
In True Blood is another dark read, distinctly American and impressively literary. It is a text...
Read MoreTedX Presentation on Confidence: No Difference between Real and Fake Confidence?
A student that I taught at the beginning of my international career spoke profoundly well at a...
Read MoreDo English teachers need charisma?
English teachers are usually charismatic. The act of reading and considering poetry and drama...
Read MoreMetacognition – Guiding students to sense the right time to use strategies
My training for staff at the start of this year focuses on making screencasts. You can see a video...
Read MoreBook Review: No Baboons in India: Frank Memoirs from an International Headteacher
The TES is a popular website for teachers. It used to host an excellent overseas forum until the...
Read MoreTeaching Comparative Contextual Analysis in Literature: Spark Presentation January 2017
This is a short presentation I delivered at a Spark event (TeachMeet) organised by the wonderful...
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