Archive

What is it exactly that we are supposed to be preparing pupils for?

Dec 01, 2011 | Category: Featured

As with anything, the answer to the above question depends entirely on who you ask. And, also depending on who you ask the answer may well be anything from strident soundbites to mumbled confusion.I'v...

#Sir Ken Robinson #Seth Godin

What makes a perfect English lesson?

Nov 27, 2011 | Category: English

[caption id="attachment_718" align="alignnone" width="300"] Click me[/caption]Is there such a thing as the perfect English lesson? Well, no, probably not. At least, not that I’m aware of. There is, yo...

#Jackie Beere #English #popplet #Samuel Beckett

Does creativity need rules?

Nov 20, 2011 | Category: English

[caption id="attachment_4643" align="alignleft" width="300"] Grammar for toast?[/caption]Last week's #ukedchat was titled, How can we build children’s imaginations so that they have more to choose fro...

#Sir Ken Robinson #ukedchat #Einstein #grammar #Marmite #Michael Swan

Awards season

Nov 19, 2011 | Category: Featured

Being as I'm still very new to this blogging game (was it only July I made my first post?) I had no idea there were awards for it, let alone awards for educational blogging. Who knew?Well, apparently...

#Kristian Still #Dr Mark Evans #edublog awards #Laura Sutherland #Mark Anderson #Tom Bennett

Is grammar glamorous?

Nov 16, 2011 | Category: English

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 wo...

#Sir Ken Robinson #Gove #David Crystal #grammar

Off sick

Nov 10, 2011 | Category: Featured

I had a day off yesterday. My first this year. It felt like failure.Having a day off as a teacher seems so much more troublesome than most other jobs but I'm sure it probably isn't.Firstly there's the...

#sick

But is it art? The art of teaching

Nov 05, 2011 | Category: leadership

[caption id="attachment_640" align="alignright" width="147"] No. 5 - Jackson Pollock[/caption]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,...

#Carol Dweck #Dan Pink #art #Life Hacker #Seth Godin #wordsearches

To set or not to set?

Nov 26, 2011 | Category: Featured

I feel genuinely torn about this. On the one hand I am aware that there really isn't any solid research evidence that setting (or streaming) has much effect on students' attainment and some evidence w...

#Ofsted #Eric Bolton #Fearghal Kelly #mixed ability #setting #streaming

Should we be teaching knowledge or skills?

Nov 02, 2011 | Category: learning

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’ o...

#Ian Gilbert #SOLO taxonomy #Hattie #Tait Coles #constructivism #Daniel Willingham #direct instruction

Controlled assessment and why I hate it

Oct 28, 2011 | Category: 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...

#GCSE #Gove #controlled assessment #English language #English literature #iGCSE