#bbcInterview2 with @paulwat5


-          First, tell us about yourself.

I've been teaching since 2005 after making the change from being a plater. So instead of a life working on oil rigs, I plumped for the classroom. I'm from the small town of Hartlepool in the North East and have taught in Middlesbrough and Sunderland as well as my hometown. I organise education events in the North East BrewEdToon and Total Teaching.  One I get tipsy during and the other most definitely after. Oh, and as cheesy as this sounds - I love being a teacher.

-          Not cheesy at all. #NobleCalling

-          1. Why teaching? What would you be if you weren’t a teacher?

I'd have stuck at plating. My dad is a plater and it's good money; more than teaching put it that way. I'd have loved to be a comic book artist but didn't have the talent. Why teaching? I got to the end of my apprenticeship and didn't fancy sticking with plating so my girlfriend (now wife) suggested I give this a go. Cheers to her for that.

-          2. What advice would you give for newcomers to twitter?

Find chats and stick about. It isn't an instant thing so you need to engage with things like #primaryrocks, #PrimaryPicBookClub and other chats. It is a bit like going into a place as a newcomer, you have to ask questions and comment to be noticed and then folk will interact back.

-          That’s definitely made a difference for me.

-          3. What are your passions?

Reading kids books is a huge passion, but to narrow it down comics and graphic novels are my favourites. I do have a charity shop book hunting thing as you pick up absolute gems. Outside of reading, football. I love to get a game of five a side in during the week and for my sins I watch the mighty Pools.

Last of all, watching my daughter play sports. She is a pure warrior and at the moment my sporting hero.

-          Sport and football, no surprises there!

-          4. What has been your favourite lesson ever?

I did this lesson as a student. I went to Bradford College to train as a teacher and lecturers tended to do this lessons to us.

Provide the students with a range of fruit boxes, the type they get dropped off in schools in, and you basically act as detectives finding out what it contained, where it came from, and what others places it had been. From there, you chart the journeys on maps after collecting all the info from different boxes. Kids find it amazing to find out the many miles a banana travels.

-          That’s sounds ace. Real learning.

-          5. Who should play you in the film of your life?

Peter Kay. Not cause I'm funny, just the closest looking.

-          That’s true. He’d have to work on the accent.

-          6. What is the best/worst teaching advice you’ve heard?

Best: if you teach one really good lesson each day and the rest are ok, then you’re doing well. Sometimes think teachers burn themselves out trying to smash outstanding lessons all the time.

Worst: That lesson would have been better if you laminated the resources. I refuse to laminate now.

-          Absolutely agree. I think “outstanding” teachers are the ones who produce mostly good lessons. Everyone has a stinker once in a while.

-          7. If you were an inanimate object, what would you be?

Bloody hell, what a question! A table.

-          Why?

Don't know, just never gave it much thought.
-          We’ll maybe come back to that one.
 (Back to that question after a few days thought, I'd still say a table. Sometimes on the surface it is messy, sometimes the surface is organised and purposeful, but it is always doing what it's meant to do. Yeah, a table is my answer. Wonder what a therapist would have to say about that.)

  

-          8. What's your most controversial opinion?

SATs are worth doing for our education system, however I don't think the heads or teachers of those schools should supervise them. I think if heads of other schools partner up to perform this role for each other in an impartial manner then the system would be better.



-          9. Which 4 living people would you invite to dinner?

Great question.  Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman who are both comicbook gods after writing the likes of Watchmen, Killing Joke and Sandman between them.  Moore is a bit bonkers as well.  Pep Guardiola would have to be in the mix as he is a genius and I'd love to talk football with him.  Lastly, Dave Grohl who seems a top fella and has been in two of the best bands ever.

-          10. What would you like to be remembered for?

Obviously, being a decent teacher and I've gotten to the stage when ex pupils will tap you on the shoulder and say nice things about being in your class which is lovely. I'd also like to be remembered as someone who helped younger teachers keep faith in themselves on their teaching journey

-          And.....Finally….Who would you nominate for an interview?

Next up I'd like you to interview

@KarlDuke8

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bbc interview with Ashley Booth @mrboothY6

Image
Welcome to today´s bbc Interview with Ashley Booth. Please introduce yourself... I'm a Year 6 teacher originally from Bury. I teach in Toxteth, Liverpool and I'm going into my fourth year of teaching. I lead Computing and the school development plan area of Reading. What made you become a teacher? I knew from about halfway through High School that I wanted to be a teacher. I was a clever lad and I enjoyed presenting to peers and the like. But, what really steered it for me was my own experiences of school as a child. I struggled through the entirety of Primary and High School. I was diagnosed with ADHD in Year 4 and I grew up in poverty and in a house where DV was rife. (I should take the opportunity to say my mum is the most wonderful woman I have ever met, she saved my bacon from being expelled from School a lot of times, and she worked long and laborious hours to try and make sure we had what we needed.) I found it very hard to concentrate, very hard to make rel...
Read more

A bbc Interview with Beth Bennett

Image
Today´s interview is with Beth Bennett @f33lthesun. Tell us a bit about yourself... A Scot in Yorkshire (via 13 years in that there London) I trained in Glasgow, my first teaching practice was in the Gorbals and after graduating I moved to London to teach. I have taught from Nursery up to Year 6 and even done a bit of caretaking when needed. I have just completed my 30th year of teaching and my 19th as Deputy Head. I have also been SENCo alongside this for the past 6 years and it is this path I have chosen to follow in my next move, to Parklands (not sure if anyone knows anything about this particular school) in September. Outside of teaching, I love football, golf, the sea, Greek Islands, and BOOKS. I teach children. I guess that´s what we all aspire to do, sometimes things get in the way. What made you become a teacher?          -  It is in my genes. Both my parents were teachers. My mum was a primary teacher and she taught me in my final yea...
Read more

#bbcInterview with @mrlockyer

*Due to a number of factors, this  was the  world's slo west intervie w, taking 4 months from start to finish. Something big must have happened in that time, but I can't think  what. First tell us about yourself. I'm Stephen, officially 44 years old. I wanted to be a teacher aged nine (arrogance started young) when a hideous teacher wouldn't let me choose books from the mobile library after some form of event happened in school. I vowed then and there that I wouldn't ever deny someone a book. 1. Why teaching? What would you be if you weren't a teacher? Twenty years on from graduating, I still *love* being in the classroom. You get to be insanely creative should you wish, and I love learning around my subjects to fill the curriculum with all the bits that were lopped off. In another world I'd be an author or inventor, but as a teacher I get to be both. - 2. What advice would you give for newcomers to twitter? In the sands of time, I can't reme...
Read more