Teaching for 13 years is a long time. That means I’ve been teaching twice as long as I was in industry. Where does this leave me in terms of careers choices? Software Training I definitely have the soft skills for this sort of job, face…
Posts
The seasons of this blog
If you look at the post frequency of this blog I always seem to make some wildly deep and introspective posts in March and April each year. Why is this? Is it the fact I am coming out of the dark winter months and my…
KS3 Curriculum ideas
My problem with Computing (Or how I learned to tolerate uncertainty)
Background Ever since entering teaching in 2008/9 I’ve always wanted to make the subject more realistic and technical. After spending 6 years in industry working in web development, technical support and network administration, I was passionate about the power and benefit of technology, and how…
Distractions – When did it get so hard to focus?
What is it that makes concentrating so hard? I’m writing this in one tab, while updating a database in another. I have a presentation open on a revision topic I’m preparing. I am listening to music, and also have my work and personal email open.…
5 Whys? Root Cause Analysis
Are you dealing with difficulties, but there is no clarity? Is there a general feeling or dissatisfaction with things? Are you not sure what is going wrong? Do you ever come out of a conflict with someone and feel like it went badly or could…
What to do when it all feels too much?
Deadlines, changes, challenges, personal problems, self-esteem, self-worth, lack of control and communication problems. What do you do when they run riot in your mind? I often feel that I’m on a rollercoaster. A ride with massive highs and lows. Things that scare me and fill…
New Year, New You!!!
I hate those sickly sweet mantras you see everywhere. Live, Laugh, Love. Positivity and smiles, Don’t worry everything is going to be alright. Mindless optimism. Hope for the best because you can’t cope with the worst. Reality is that you can cope with the worse,…
researchEDHome 2020 Jon Hutchinson: Seven Distinctions Every Subject Leader Should Know About (Notes)
As part of my lock down, I’m determined to improve my knowledge when I get back to leading my department and teaching in-front of students (instead of behind a screen as I am doing now). One of things I’m trying to do is read more…
Why Don’t Students Like School by Daniel T. Willingham (Notes)
As a birthday present to myself, I bought myself a used Kindle of eBay. Wow, why didn’t I do this before? It has revolutionised my time in lock down and vastly increased the amount of fiction and non-fiction I’m reading. My first non-fiction read was…