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  • Résumé
Christopher Waugh

Personal account

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Deus ex Machina

Deus ex Machina

Jun 20, 2014 | Anecdotes, Open Classroom, Opinion, Pedagogy

Presentation to the Sunday Times Festival of Education, exploring the "God in the Machine". The notion that it is through setting up a class environment that concentrates on the imperatives of authenticity and agency, the aspects of learning that we care about...

Who I am, What I do.

Who I am, What I do.

May 31, 2014 | Anecdotes, Reflection, Sexuality

This piece was written as a contribution to Rory Gallagher's "Who I am, What I do" teachers' personal testimony blog. My path to the classroom started for me on the impossibly isolated South Island of New Zealand. It’s a story of how I was saved by literature and...

Grant More Freedom

Grant More Freedom

Jan 31, 2013 | Opinion, Pedagogy, Politics, Reflection

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...

Tangled in the Scaffolding

Tangled in the Scaffolding

Jan 20, 2013 | Anecdotes, Open Classroom, Opinion, Pedagogy, Reflection

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...

Why should my students blog?

Why should my students blog?

Oct 7, 2012 | Open Classroom, Opinion, Pedagogy, Reflection, Students

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...

Why I’m an Openly Gay Teacher

Aug 27, 2012 | Anecdotes, Opinion, Pedagogy, Publications, Sexuality

The Importance of Being ... Out Why Sexuality Matters in English Chris Waugh reflects on his experiences as a gay English teacher, arguing that openness about sexuality is a crucial element of the work of the English classroom. If I were given the opportunity to speak...

ADVICE

It’s not the mountain we conquer

Advice, Featured, Presentations, Students

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!

Four Successful Homework Strategies

Four Successful Homework Strategies

Advice, Homework, Open Classroom, Pedagogy, Resources, Students

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...

ALL POSTS

Our Presentation at Northern Rocks #NRocks

Assessment, Featured, Open Classroom, Pedagogy, Presentations, Students

National Excellence in Teaching Award

National Excellence in Teaching Award

Featured, Geekery, Open Classroom

In late 2019 I was anonymously nominated for a National Excellence in Teaching award, and after submitting my application - the content of which I publish here - I found myself in the beehive at a pretty flash luncheon receiving two of the awards, one for excellence...

Podcast: See Me After Class

Podcast: See Me After Class

Featured

http://achieve.edutronic.net/smac-see-me-after-class/ Now safely embedded back home in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, my restlessness has not abated. As a result I pitched the micro-credentials idea to an educational charity, The Education Hub, who are funding...

RESOURCES

An Explanation: Romeo and Juliet – Fate and Interpretation

Anecdotes, Open Classroom, Pedagogy, Reflection, Resources

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

Four Successful Homework Strategies

Advice, Homework, Open Classroom, Pedagogy, Resources, Students

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...

SEXUALITY

Who I am, What I do.

Who I am, What I do.

Anecdotes, Reflection, Sexuality

This piece was written as a contribution to Rory Gallagher's "Who I am, What I do" teachers' personal testimony blog. My path to the classroom started for me on the impossibly isolated South Island of New Zealand. It’s a story of how I was saved by literature and...

Why I’m an Openly Gay Teacher

Anecdotes, Opinion, Pedagogy, Publications, Sexuality

The Importance of Being ... Out Why Sexuality Matters in English Chris Waugh reflects on his experiences as a gay English teacher, arguing that openness about sexuality is a crucial element of the work of the English classroom. If I were given the opportunity to speak...