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Yearly Archives: 2011

Is grammar glamorous?

2015-01-26T12:38:54+00:00November 16th, 2011|English, literacy|

Well, no it's not is it. Grammar's that dull stuff what kids got taught in the 60s. And then enlightened educationalists decided it was unfashionable for children to know how to parse sentences and wotnot. Which leaves me part of a lost generation who trundled through our schooling without learning a blessed thing about this arcane and mysterious subject. And that neatly segues into the fact that I've recently been enjoying my favourite linguistic professor and all round eccentric, David Crystal's lovely new book, The Story of English in 100 Words. One of his chosen 100 is 'grammar'. You see, it [...]

What's deep learning & how do you do it?

2011-11-09T00:08:16+00:00November 9th, 2011|learning|

So, deep learning. What's all that about then? I've just been dipping into Evidence Based Teaching by Geoff Petty and then cross referencing his advice with Why Don't Students Like School? by Daniel Willingham. How sad is that? Fairly sad for a Tuesday evening when I've got a cold and my wife's already gone to bed. Sad, but I think necessary. You see, I've come a long way in past few months. I've begun to have a healthy scepticism for whatever anyone tells me. I've also begun to re-evaluate my position that skills are more important than knowledge which, at least [...]

But is it art? The art of teaching

2013-07-22T11:58:58+01:00November 5th, 2011|leadership, learning|

No. 5 - Jackson Pollock I'm a big fan of art. I wouldn't claim to know a lot about it, but it speaks to me. Whether it's standing, enraptured in front of The Ambassadors, climbing Louise Bourgeois' towers, peering into Tracey Emin's tent, or trying to mentally piece together Cornelia Parker's exploded garden shed it grabs something inside me and compels me to be present. To pay attention. To be interested. I get heartily sick when yet another curmudgeonly professional complainer comes along, takes a cursory glance at (for instance) Jackson Pollock's No. 5 and scoffs, "That's not art! [...]

Should we be teaching knowledge or skills?

2011-11-02T20:31:31+00:00November 2nd, 2011|learning, SOLO|

It is a truth universally acknowledged that our education system isn’t quite up to snuff. And at that point virtually all agreement ceases. There are those on which we might loosely term the ‘right’ of the divide who point to PISA scores, claim that we’re in the middle of a crisis and suggest that a return to traditional values is the way forward. Oh, and Free Schools are good too. Then there are the proponents of the ‘left’ who think that the current emphasis of schools does not fit us for a future in which compliance will no longer be rewarded. [...]

Controlled assessment and why I hate it

2011-10-28T11:15:46+01:00October 28th, 2011|assessment|

Yesterday I took a break from ploughing through my Year 10 controlled assessments to exhort myself to "bloody well get on with it" and stop moaning about my work load. Marking is virtuous. You know it's important so you get with it. Plus, it produces a warm satisfying glow when you finally get the bottom of the stack and scribble your last improvement target. Except, I got to the bottom of my pile of summatively assessed controlled assessments and thought, what was the point of that? I now have a list of marks for each of my students. Some [...]

The joy of marking

2011-10-27T11:09:21+01:00October 27th, 2011|assessment|

I'm a big fan of marking students' work. I love it so much I let a big pile of it build up to do over the holidays. As an English teacher I'm faced with a lot of marking and most of it needs to be read carefully rather than given a cursory tick 'n' flick. I know that marking students' books helps to ensure that they care about the work they produce. I also know that providing formative feedback is the most important intervention that I, as a teacher, can have on my students; there is nothing I can do that will [...]

End of term

2011-10-24T01:01:25+01:00October 24th, 2011|Featured|

Term 1 is always far more exhausting than I expect it to be. Some of the highlights from last term include meeting some cracking education types including Ian Gilbert, Phil Beadle and Jim Roberson; being published by The Guardian; completing day 1 of the Critical Skills Programme; Compering my school's awards evening and attending my first ever TeachMeet. But what's had the most impact on my teaching in recent months? Easy: keeping up the blog. Firstly, it's been a fantastic way to record my own musings and meanderings. In the past I'd teach a great lesson or think something really profound [...]

Objective Quest – Day 5

2015-04-22T17:57:14+01:00October 18th, 2011|English, learning|

Phew! After two days of 'curriculum enrichment' followed by an evening compering awards evening I'm knackered. Friday's lessons seem a long time ago now but I'm committed to reviewing the learning objective techniques used. Sadly though, I've reached my limit and this will be the final installment of the Objective Quest for a while at least. So, without further self-justifying twaddle, here are Friday's lessons: Lesson 1 - Yr 9 - 3-2-1 This is the first of two lessons with Year 9 today and they are spending both lessons reflecting on the term's learning and preparing a presentation for Thursday afternoon. [...]

Objective Quest – Day 4

2011-10-13T22:59:25+01:00October 13th, 2011|English, learning, SOLO|

Am starting to feel slightly exhausted by all the different objective introducing techniques whirring around my head like a cloud of relentless cheerful wasps. I long to use the same one all day for all my lessons but am stubbornly committed to seeing it through. At least until the end of the week. And the surprising reality is that as of today I have only managed to plough through 15 of the buggers! Lesson 1 - Year 9 - Create Fun Signs This was a lesson I'd agreed to cover for a colleague so that she could go on a learning [...]

Objective Quest – Day 3

2011-10-12T20:34:06+01:00October 12th, 2011|English, learning|

Quick update on the Learning Objectives google doc: we're now up to 47 ways to introduce learning objectives! Only three more to go so if you have any good stuff lurking in the cluttered cupboard of your brain, please add it here. Another 3 lesson day, punctuated by Jim Roberson doing some motivational speaking for our Year 10 & 11 students. P1 Year 11 Connected Words Lesson 1 was with Year 11 and our objective was To be able to explore the ways power is presented in Of Mice and Men. The chosen techniques was Connected Words. I gave different tables different [...]

Objective Quest: Day 2

2011-10-11T18:47:42+01:00October 11th, 2011|English, learning|

OK, after a positive start yesterday on my quest to try out 40 different learning objectives before the end of term, I was raring to go today. I only have three lessons on Tuesday and spend a lot of time running around trying sort things out, have meetings and generally try to stay on top of running the faculty. P1 Year 11 - Order the Learning The basic premise of this one is to take out the words of the objective and arrange them in order of importance. Today's was on the ending of Of Mice and Men. I wanted them [...]

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