" Oh this learning, what a thing it is"- The Taming of the Shrew, Act 1 Scene 2
NACE Report Review- December 2020 The title of NACE’s most eagerly-awaited recent research report is very apt indeed- the question remains: do we truly make enough space in our schools for all of our learners to flourish? But what does it really mean to ‘make space’ to allow the highest levels of cognitive challenge in … Continue reading Book Review: ‘Making Space for More Able Learners’ published by NACE 2020
I woke up at 5am this morning with my 9 week-old son. I went downstairs to do the morning feed and unlocked my phone to see that I’d received an email through the contact page of this website. It doesn’t happen very often- there’s an occasional flurry of activity, but it’s rare- so I always … Continue reading A timely reminder…
It's 5pm on Friday 5th June and I've decided to stop and to just do some thinking. It's all too easy at a time like this to just carry on- to take action, to plough on through until the bitter end. It's far too easy to forget to take stock of where we've been, what … Continue reading Leadership Lessons from Lockdown
The Challenge: Getting students to think in a more critical and conceptualised way (especially in English Literature GCSE/ A level study). What sort of issues have you identified? In English, students seemed very comfortable with the knowledge that they had gained in a particular unit (they have their own views on characters/ ideas/ themes present … Continue reading Teacher, ‘Try Me’ No. 7: Complex Graphic Organisers
Problem: Students are not able to place texts within relevant social and historical contexts; In written work at KS3 to A level, students make vague and generalised comments when linking texts to their contextsStudents have little understanding of texts in the literary canon written during the C19th. How we’ve tried to fix it: In previous years, … Continue reading C19th Texts at KS3 Scheme Available!
"Done right, a talk is more powerful than anything in written form. Done right, a talk can electrify a room and transform an audience's world view. When we peer into a speaker's eyes; listen to the tone of her voice; sense her vulnerability, her intelligence, her passions, we are tapping into unconscious skills that have … Continue reading Give them Gumption! 5 Top Tips for Starting a School Debate Society
For the last week or so, I’ve been looking at honing students’ ability to have their own personal and critical stance on the themes in Macbeth. I’m fortunate enough to work in a school where students actively seek out revision guides and additional materials which support them in improving their knowledge of the text, but … Continue reading Teacher, Try Me No.6: Teaching the Concept of Masculinity in Macbeth to the More Able
I know it has been a while since the last update, but work has been progressing well with the garden office. I had to wait a little longer to build enough cash to be able to afford the external cladding- I had sampled a few (western red cedar and thermowood) and decided to go with … Continue reading Project 2019: Home Office Build Part 3
As a department, we teach the GCSE Modern Text in this final term. I have taught Animal Farm for some years now but have, at times, found it a challenge to teach students how to be more critical and conceptualised in their responses. With so many excellent revision resources out there, students often prioritise the … Continue reading How do I get them to be ‘critical’ and ‘conceptualised’? A few ways to get students thinking about the GCSE Modern Text
Having taken a hiatus from updating the blog (mainly due to being shed-busy), I decided a new page would be useful, especially for those people looking to add some of the interior detail to their own buildings. I'm pleased to say I'm currently writing this blog post IN the shed (now it has wi-fi and … Continue reading Project 2019: Home Office build Part 2
