An Explanation: Romeo and Juliet – Fate and Interpretation
This month's #blogsync calls for "an example of a great classroom explanation". I must admit that I have thought twice about the following contribution as there's a sense that it really does put me in the firing line - and with a recent damning judgement by an...
Four Successful Homework Strategies
Homework is one of the most fraught areas of secondary teaching. We know it's important, its impact is visible and its routines don't offend common sense. Yet in the daily reality of the classroom homework is so often reduced to an after-thought, a misery and a...
Presentation to Pedagoo London
This is the information that accompanied my two presentations to Pedagoo London on 2 March 2013. The event was a grass-roots un-conference run by teachers for our own professional development. It brought together a group of about 200 practitioners from all over the...
Presentation to Teachmeet BETT: From Intention to Effect
In this presentation, delivered live to Teachmeet BETT 2013, I introduced the intentions behind the development of EDUTRONIC and then provide evidence, in the form of a snapshot of a single interaction with a Year 8 Student, Henry via his online English journal
Tangled in the Scaffolding
Teaching writing is one of the greatest joys and challenges of the English domain. Along the way, you encounter, acquire and discard many approaches and strategies - but there are always some that stick. Unlike the teaching of reading, for which I entered the teaching...
Give the Feedback Before the Race is Run
Presented to Teachmeet London on Tuesday 11 December, 2012, to follow is a quick drive through one moment in the life of The Edutronic - with a focus on feedback. Teachmeets are a grass-roots phenomenon where teachers get together and share elements of good practice,...
Edutronic Presentation for The London Leadership Strategy meeting
As part of Dr Laura Ovenden's presentation to the London Leadership Strategy meeting I was invited to present an introduction to Edutronic and its power as a vehicle for student feedback. Here's a video of the presentation documents. Some of the delegates recoiled in...
Blogging Alchemy: Success in Secondary Student Blogging
I have set up a comprehensive student blogging platform for my classes. I have a blog for every class with a lesson stream that tracks and compiles the daily traffic of the classroom, I publish my year plans, samples of excellent student work, moderated exemplars,...
Why should my students blog?
Two days ago the long-awaited installation of internet-connected devices landed in my underground classroom. The buzz was palpable. My students, unable to contain their enthusiasm, started to burble inchoate (and largely unwarranted) references to my being "Their...