bbcteaching

Transition: A bone of contention  In September the mud-slinging starts. Accusations that Year 7s arrive unable to count, read or write. Accusations that Year 7 is just Year 6 rehashed. National headlines about millions of illiterate Year 6s. Key Stage 3 is just coasting until GGSEs.  None of the above is true. But from my perspective, it seems that the transition from Year 6-7 doesn't work.  The main reasons?  - Year 6 teachers are working towards SATs in May. - High School curriculums are reverse-engineered from Year 11 downwards.  - There is a lack of communication between settings. - Year 6 children disperse to countless High schools.  I personally think all of the above is a result of the culture in our schools, which is in turn driven by DfE policy. I also think this transition could be managed better by central government, but our School system seems to be becoming MORE fractured with Acadamies and the Grammar School push....

New Year, Same Old You I don't make New Years resolutions. As a teenager I'd 'ironically' make the resolution: 'To not make resolutions' which would obviously then be broken instantly. Hilarious. One second to the next you are the same person. The change from 2016 to 2017 holds no arcane magic, no 'witching hour' spells.  One second to the next you are just the same old you. Most of us are just ordinary, run-of-the-mill people. We could do with exercising more, drinking/eating/smoking less, relaxing more etc etc. None of us are perfect.  The issue I have with NY resolutions is how quickly they are broken. They tend to be short term promises. Made, difficult to achieve, broken, forgotten. A quick fix often breaks easily.  If you want real change in your life it takes time and effort. In taking time I mean it might not work first time around. A broken resolution shouldn't mean you stop trying. In putting in the effort, mean devoting en...

This post was originally written for Innovate My School... Think tension. Think Music. Think a knife and a shower curtain. Think a rocking boat and glinting teeth... When teaching my pupils about tension in narrative, I turn to film scores. We’ve all been there: a darkened cinema, the heavy breathing of a potential victim, the slow building music, an increase in heart rate. The scene reaches its climax and the victim is caught by the ghost/vampire/serial killer/rabbit. Now play the scene without the music. Does it have the same impact? Does your heart beat in quite the same way? Why does a building “duh duh…duh duh” have us sprinting for the shore? I use film a lot in class: to inspire writing, to develop understanding, to structure reading skills, to aid pupils in understanding characters, to hurriedly finish a class novel. But only recently have I realised the impact of backing music and how we can relate that to building tension. Sometimes as a viewer we don’t understand t...

Firstly apologies for the vaguely sexist picture. Women can drive just as well as men. Women aren't necessarily back seat drivers. Ok now that's sorted. The term back seat driver has always amused me. Until I passed my test (at the 2nd time of asking) I had no clue why the person in the back was telling the person with all the power what to do. Now I get it. Any drivers out there who have ridden in someone else's car have probably had the 'ghost brake pedal' experience where the driver doesn't quite slow down when you would do in their place. A lack of control where usually you are in the driver's seat, literally. 'What relevance does this have?' I hear you cry. As a middle leader (lowercase) I sometimes get that 'ghost brake pedal' feeling at work. That feeling of helplessness and the urge to shout out 'You're doing it wrong', the feeling that someone else is at the controls and you are just a passenger. Your awarene...

After #LLL16 I was inspired to set up a local TeachMeet, only to find out that one was in the offing round the corner (#tmrammy). I decided to bite the bullet and present. But what to present on? I guess most teachers imagine, like me, that their practice is no better than their peers', with nothing to declare to the world. I thought back through my 6 years of teaching and realised I had used one technique more than any other. I have decided to call this technique 'Concrete Imagination' although I do not claim to have invented it. Concrete Imagination involves using physical objects to inspire imaginative writing. Much is made of the use of video, image and sound to inspire writing. However I have found that children, especially KS1 pupils, can lack imagination, or struggle to focus their imagination. The technique I have used utilises physical objects to inspire creativity. This can   range from activities like 'The Mysterious Key' to 'The G...

I have been seeing the phrase 'teachmeet' on Twitter for the past two years without really taking the time to see what it's all about. I assumed it was just one of those buzz words or fads (see @teahertoolkit's latest post) that infect teaching occasionally. Historically a teacher would be trained then let loose on their classes with little or no CPD. My father, a retired D&T teacher claims to have never been on a course in his career. In my 6 years of teaching I have attended courses, some good and some awful, and taken part in Diocesan Leadership training, as well as NPQML. However all of this extra training has been voluntary, in fact I search out opportunities rather than them being placed before me. Courses invariably cost money, my school buys into the REAL trust in Rochdale, as well as the added cost of supply cover, the disruption to my class... The list goes on. With school budgets falling 'faster than since 1950' (BBC News, 2016), is it any wonder...

After attending Lead Learn Lancs #lll16 ‍, the first educational conference of that kind I've ever attended, I've had some thoughts about collaboration. There's working with 'real' colleagues in school, and talking via social media to colleagues around the world. Both are important and can be formative in a teacher's career and practice. However, like myself, there is a gulf between practice in schools and what can often be seen as the 'ideal' promoted by talented teachers on Twitter. Sometimes it is hard to catch the buzz from afar, as if distance makes the practice you see other-worldly or untouchable. Sometimes in School there are 'mood hoovers' (thanks @ict_evangelist. Whereas on Twitter those people can simply be unfollowed, in school you are stuck. Events like Lead, Learn, Lancs, and I imagine the various teachmeets around the country, allow you to Join the dots. Rather than viewing amazing practice from afar, akin to being an educational...