One of the best things about writing Middle Leadership Mastery is when I get contacted by someone who is preparing for a Head of Department, HoD, interview. It’s nice to know that they found the book helpful and often they ask for my advice on preparing for the interview. So I thought I should note... Continue Reading →
Making the juice worth the squeeze: The anatomy of lethal mutations
Early on in my Head of Science career I spent a whole year with an action plan built around growth mindset theory. Although I spent a long time campaigning for my school to adopt it and not make it a series of posters about ‘FAIL = First Attempt At Learning’ and categorising thoughts as being... Continue Reading →
Middle Leadership Mastery Expansion Pack 3: Planning Subject Specific CPD
The way CPD has been structured has been going through a quiet revolution over the last few years. If you think back 5 years or so it would have been highly likely that your CPD was a series of days in the hall with external speakers. You may have twilight sessions every half term that... Continue Reading →
Time management and productivity part 2: Dealing with delegation and prioritising the right things.
Part one of this blog discussed various issues about To-Do lists and the way we manage our own time. This one deals with the main issues middle leaders face: Line management and prioritising. What about when others give you jobs? This is the real crux of the issue. The fact is you are in a... Continue Reading →
Empty hands: A tale of back pocket phrases, deliberate practice and teacher improvement.
I was working with our head of RE recently. I was videoing his routine for stopping the class, which I had been told was very successful. When he wanted to stop his class discussion he would simply say "Silence in, three…two…one…now empty hands and track me." Brilliant! By Jacek Dylag https://unsplash.com/@dylu This is a back pocket... Continue Reading →
Delaying No Opt Out
No Opt Out is part of the excellent Teach Like a Champion questioning flow that is used all the time. The combination of Cold call, wait time, right is right and no opt out is dynamite at increasing the think ratio in the classroom and helping students learn more. Here is a typical quick version:... Continue Reading →
Time management, productivity and wellbeing part 1: To-Do lists
The work of a teacher can sometimes feel like an endless cycle of writing To-Do lists and trying your best to get as much done before you give in to the need for sleep/wine. It's easy to see why time management and productivity are key concerns when it comes to wellbeing in education. Lots of... Continue Reading →
Videoing lessons: A cheap and easy way to set up a secure lesson filming system.
OnePlus Nord. Our phone of choice Why film lessons? Recording videos is great, but also its totally cringe. I can vividly recall watching back my 10 minute explanation of the Bernoulli principle during my PGCE 20 years ago. The overuse of ‘yeah’ and my nervous rocking side to side. Aside from the embarrassment, filming yourself... Continue Reading →
From you to we: How to bypass a resistant teacher’s defenses and help them develop.
Can't help a Star Trek reference, soz. Coaching is a common form of teacher development used in schools. The more open-ended coaching models like the rise model are often used to work with leaders while more directive instructional coaching models are preferred for working with teachers. Jack Tavassoly-Marsh identified two types of instructional coaching in... Continue Reading →
Making the juice worth the squeeze: Retrieval Practice (again)
In this new series of blogs I aim to look at common aspects of classroom practice and describe the different ways they are done. I then want to suggest why some methods are better than others and make a case for my preferred method. This blog is not about why you must do retrieval practice.... Continue Reading →
Reflections on Education 