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 […]
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 […]
There’s an old English saying that I often mutter when I’m being worn thin by seemingly excessive demands: “Do you want the moon on a stick?” This week alone, the question has crossed my mind on at least five occasions in conversations I have shared. They (parents) say They (teachers) say They (parents, teachers, students, […]
A To-Doom List I have a bittersweet relationship with To-Do lists. On the one hand, how else would I remember to pick up some milk and cereal on the way home, buy that birthday card, or pick up that stuff for the kids? And how could I possibly get any work done without that list of […]
I spent some holiday time on the Jurassic Coast this week looking for dinosaur fossils. It was a wonderfully terrible endeavour. It was wonderful because we were joined by much of my extended (and eclectic) family. It was terrible because the weather was predictably cold, wet, and windy, making me grumpy. My parents often took […]
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