“On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was,“ “It’s October 3rd“ Mean Girls, 2004 I had no idea 3rd October was “Mean Girls” Day. For many years, I have worn pink on Fridays to show my support for inclusion and LGBTQ+ inclusion – not that anyone has ever asked me. So it was a […]
Whilst helping my daughter with her maths homework this week, I heard myself say, “Show working” I immediately kicked myself. First, because it was clear I was just repeating something I’d been told as a child — and there’s nothing more annoying than that. Second, because only now, years later, do I fully understand why […]
When I’m interviewing potential new teachers, I often ask, “Can you share an example of where your thinking has shifted from: I used to think this, but now I think this?” I don’t ask this because I’m seeking a dramatic conversion story. I ask it because I’m genuinely curious about how people open themselves up […]
-ocracies Often, the best learning in our classrooms is not planned for. In one of my lessons this week, we went off on a tangent about how different governments might respond to the same issue differently. We thought that a democracy might call for a vote, an autocracy might impose a decree, a technocracy might […]
When I first started teaching, I used to reprimand tardy students and tell them, “You’re late!”. Nowadays, I ask, “Are you OK?”. The Lord of the Rings is still the best thing I have ever watched on the telly. Not that new Amazon TV series tripe, I am talking about the Peter Jackson trilogy. The […]
Another invitation arrived this weekend (compliments of the bots feeding my social media feed) offering me another packaged AI solution to mark all my student essays. Here’s the title: The #1 AI Essay Grader for Teachers And here’s the hook: Reduce grading time by 80%. Grade your entire class’s essays in 2 minutes or less and […]
At the end of every school year, I feel it: the compression. Teachers are finalising reports, marking exams, writing references, and preparing next year’s curriculum and timetables. Parents are emailing. Students are burning out. What should be a celebratory end to a fantastic year starts to feel like siege warfare. Everyone is trying to get […]
When I left school, we weren’t told to find our purpose – we were told to get a job! I wasn’t sure that would go down too well as the central theme of my own Closing Address this year, so I tweaked it a little bit and ended up sharing the three hopes that I […]
I’ve recently had two wildly different – yet strangely connected – conversations with teachers. One teacher expressed frustration after asking his Grade 9 class to write 400 words—by hand—in their exercise books. Within minutes, students anxiously asked, “Can we bullet-point this?” or “Can we use our laptops instead?” The idea of sustained writing felt overwhelming. They’re struggling with basic […]
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