Trying to apply educational research to students of all abilities and backgrounds
This is the first blog in a possible series on school behaviour. Let me preface it by saying I am happy to be challenged on what I propose here, especially by those teachers with much greater expertise and academics who might be able to find flaws in my application of certain theories. The aim of... Continue Reading →
Me: What is an alkali? Student: It turns a indicator purple Me: That's right it is a substance with a pH above 7 that turns universal indicator blue or purple. This is an example of a teacher ‘rounding up’ a student's answer. The student's answer wasn’t wrong, it just wasn’t the completely right answer for... Continue Reading →
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom (the new staff were wise to join you), it was the age of foolishness (for those that left your incredible team), It was the epoch of ….. Ok I'll stop with this tedious Dickensian intro. Every once... Continue Reading →
One of the best parts of my job is visiting lessons. Lesson observations are a funny thing because they are always trying to achieve two things: They are trying to be developmental. They are trying to complete quality assurance processes. In Middle Leadership Mastery I made a partial case for separating these two processes. While... Continue Reading →
Picture the scene: It's a wet Tuesday morning. I'm a little late in and swearing under my breath as my laptop begins to boot up. You see Yesterday's Adam left school without doing his printing for today. Yesterday's Adam thought today's Adam would have plenty of time. Yesterday's Adam is a bit of a selfish... Continue Reading →
Recently the educational world became aware of some ‘aide memoires’ Ofsted had provided their inspectors during their training. Someone ‘leaked’ them online and loads of people clambered to see what pearls of wisdom they possessed. Some were angry that not all schools get them, others were just glad the inspectors were given training and guides... Continue Reading →
When I was appointed as the Lead Practitioner for our school in January my first job was to create a shared language for our schools teaching and learning policy. A lot had been achieved from September to January by the Assistant Principal in charge of Teaching and Learning; there had been a push on consistency... Continue Reading →
Let's say we are leading a Mayan tribe and this year we sacrificed a dog to the gods in exchange for a good harvest. The tribe next door sacrifices a deer. #NoBestWay From Wikipedia Adrian Zwegers The year goes on. We plant the same seeds and water our crops from the same river as our... Continue Reading →
We had some friends over a few weeks ago and the conversation ultimately drifted towards education. They have a daughter who is in Yr 8 at the highest performing school within 15 miles of my house. It’s a faith school and also runs its own teaching alliance SCITT thingy. It has been outstanding in Ofsted... Continue Reading →
A teacher's time is education's most vital resource. In this series of blogs I explore some of the common aspects of classroom practice, give my opinion and what works and suggest some reasons why other things might not be worth our time. The aim is to share what I think are the most time efficient... Continue Reading →
Reflections on Education 