This presentation was made to an assembly of 15-18 year olds on the day of their receiving their results from a series of practice examinations. The quote can be attributed to Sir Edmund Hilary. Thanks to Cath Wilberforce for filming it!
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...
Grant More Freedom
This journal entry was written as part of the first #blogsync, an initiative in the synchronisation of online journals by UK Educational professionals. The first shared topic was "The Universal Panacea? The number one shift in UK education I wish to see in my...
If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes
Albert Einstein defined insanity as: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Yet, inescapably, the English education system ignores this logic, and repeats the same tired strategies and the same ill-informed notions in and out of the...
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...
The Real World – A Meta-Letter to My Pupils
Picture this: a classroom inhabited by a class preparing for a "functional skills" English assessment. The students are clear about what was expected of them. They are working with focus and the atmosphere in the room is calm. What these boys are earnestly doing, in...
Transcending Grade Boundaries
In the eye of the GCSE English "grade manipulation storm", I’m seeing a silver lining Almost as soon as this year’s GCSE English grades were released, the twittersphere, broadsheets and tabloids were set alight, first with murmurings, and then all-out accusations that...