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Should teachers do what children want?

2018-01-05T23:32:17+00:00May 19th, 2017|behaviour, leadership|

Every weekday morning, my daughters both moan about having to get up for school. They moan about their teachers and they moan about homework. Given free rein, they would spend all day every day watching BuzzFeed video channels, making Spotify playlists, watching Netflix and taking online quizzes. It's not that they're lazy, it's just that they'd really rather not have to learn maths, science and geography. They're both moderately conscientious, reasonably hardworking girls who never put a foot wrong in school. On parents' evenings, we're regaled with tales of how good their attitude to school is and how much progress they're [...]

A heck of a lot of posters

2015-09-20T18:07:06+01:00September 20th, 2015|Featured|

Is it just me, or do secondary school children make a heck of a lot of posters? Now, I've got nothing against posters per se, but why do we seem to have decided that poster making is the best way to demonstrate knowledge and understanding? I suspect it may be because deep in our blackened, embittered hearts, we secondary school teachers think somehow that making posters is fun. Further, many secondary teachers have a bit of a warped view of what goes on in primary schools. We have a tendency to assume that the primary curriculum is - at least to some [...]

“The kids absolutely love it!” The phrase that launched a thousand gimmicks

2016-09-18T09:12:05+01:00February 5th, 2014|learning|

I attended a TeachMeet recently where a number of the presenters argued that their teaching strategy of choice was worth trying out because, "The kids absolutely love it!" This seems to me to be a wholly inappropriate reason for teaching something. Then, in a wildly irresponsible fit of despondency, I tweeted the following: Predictably several people saw fit to take me to task, saying variously that I sounded "really boring", was in favour of "dour" lessons, that I judged the success of my teaching on whether kids hated learning, or that I was just indulging in some sort of "bear baiting". [...]

"The kids absolutely love it!" The phrase that launched a thousand gimmicks

2014-02-05T22:39:28+00:00February 5th, 2014|learning|

I attended a TeachMeet recently where a number of the presenters argued that their teaching strategy of choice was worth trying out because, "The kids absolutely love it!" This seems to me to be a wholly inappropriate reason for teaching something. Then, in a wildly irresponsible fit of despondency, I tweeted the following: Predictably several people saw fit to take me to task, saying variously that I sounded "really boring", was in favour of "dour" lessons, that I judged the success of my teaching on whether kids hated learning, or that I was just indulging in some sort of "bear baiting". [...]

The problem with fun

2016-10-02T13:38:59+01:00August 22nd, 2013|learning, planning|

Getting students engaged so that they can be taught something seems much less effective than getting them engaged by teaching them something that engages them. Dylan Wiliam Could fun be the enemy of learning? I've not always been the curmudgeonly killjoy I am today. Some years ago, I took part in a department meeting where we were asked to prioritise those qualities we most valued about teaching. We came up with all the tiresomely worthy answers you might expect, but, somewhat controversially, I insisted on including 'fun'. The case I made went something like this: I don't teach for the money, I [...]

Deliberating about practice

2013-08-22T12:54:21+01:00April 22nd, 2012|learning|

Should learning be fun? A few years ago I remember saying that was all learning should be. If you weren't enjoying it, why on earth would you do it? But now I'm not so sure. One of the most frequently used (and abused) buzz words in education over recent years is 'engagement'. Now, I'm not suggesting that students shouldn't be engaged in their lessons but I would urge you to check the definition of the word. To engage means either "to occupy the attention or efforts of a person" or, "to attract and hold fast". For a dissenting view on engagement [...]

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