(This article was first published in Teach Secondary Magazine. You can subscribe HERE) How could a group of crossword puzzle champions save the world? Such a startling question has a very British answer, and it should inspire teachers everywhere. During WWII, at Bletchley Park, a collection of academics and other
“Dad, what is a whisk’s favourite drink?” “I don’t know. What is a whisk’s favourite drink?” “Whisky!” And so starts my young boy’s burgeoning entertainment career. So far, it is full of bad puns and energetic attempts at word play. Most jokes narrowly miss the mark,
Year after the year, the same pressures attend exam revision. Each year teachers try the old favourites, alongside a few new revision strategies to keep our students interested. Happily, we now have a wealth of evidence to support some revision strategies over others as we approach the revision stretch. We
“This porridge is too hot!” she exclaimed. So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl. “This porridge is too cold,” she said So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge. “Ahhh, this porridge is just right,” she said happily and she ate it all up. Every teacher knows the
We have all been there… You are being observed by a senior member of staff. Your hands are clammy as you grit your teeth through every minute of this crucial lesson observation. This one hour may determine months of hard work. You are speaking to a small group of students,
We don’t grade lessons anymore, right? That would be foolish, wouldn’t it. Back in 2013, Professor Rob Coe made a challenge to the teaching profession and OFSTED. He proved that judging lesson observations was not only ‘harder than we thought‘, but that grading lesson observations and ‘seeing learning’
What if we were faced with uncomfortable questions about some of our brightest and best teaching and learning ideas? It would be uncomfortable and challenging, no doubt. Perhaps, though, such reflection on the potential of unintended consequences and unforeseen failures could prove both revealing and instructive? With this thought experiment
There are memories and moments that form who we are and what we become. I cannot recall exactly when reading for pleasure became a part of me, and what I would become – a teacher, dear reader – but it happened before I’d ever realised. Perhaps it was my father perched
Like any self-respecting English teacher, I like to tell stories to my students. One such story is the embodiment of a flourishing, confident learner. It is the story of a little girl from North Carolina, USA. A real-life story that shines a light on the amazing capacity of young people
There is no more important act in education than helping children to learn to read. I am sure we can agree that developing our students as confident readers, writers and speakers is the core business of every teacher, regardless of age, phase or subject specialism. Too often though we take
Thinking about better assessment is not always at the forefront of the mind of a busy English teacher. We are so hassled by marking, planning and well, teaching lots, that we keep our nose to the marking grindstone and, well…just keep on going. More recently, I have been trying
I have written a countless number of essays. At school, university, and back at school again, showing my students how to do it. In my fourteen years teaching I must have modelled hundreds of essays. I have likely set and assessed thousands of the blighters. My go-to strategy has always