blog (n.) 1998, short for weblog (which is attested from 1994, though not in the sense “online journal”), from (World Wide) Web + log. Joe Bloggs (c.1969) was British slang for “any hypothetical person” (cf. U.S. equivalent Joe Blow); earlier blog meant “a servant boy” in one of the college houses (c.1860, see Partridge, who […]
Irreverent Tips for New Bloggers Read More »
Many a debate is sparked in education about the need for ‘engagement‘ in teaching and learning. Some dismiss ‘engagement‘ as the bastard language of OFSTED to encourage an adventure playground style approach to learning. For me it is something a little more quotidian, a little bit more…well, normal. It captures a buzz symptomatic of students
Mastering Boredom – The Secret to Success Read More »
13-year-old Arvind Mahankali from New York (correctly spelled “knaidel,” a word for a small mass of leavened dough, to win the American national competition) Americans love a ‘Spelling Bee‘. They are unique competitions where precocious children battle it out in a linguistic street-fight, whilst anxious parents look on with a mix of pride and anguish.
Winning Ugly & ‘Gritty’ Learning Read More »
This week I gave a seminar at TeachMeet Clevedon. I am going to post more fully on my topic of teachers getting better by undertaking ‘deliberate practice‘ sometime soon. One smaller aspect of my presentation was how teachers can improve written feedback, both to improve learning and to marginally reduce the time taken to give
Improving Written Feedback Read More »
“A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.” Anthony Trollope I have just received my congratulations from WordPress on the first anniversary of my blog! Nearly eighty posts later, easily over one hundred thousand words, I feel immense pride at having reached this point. So, why
“There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to.” Michel de Montaigne quotes (French Philosopher and Writer. 1533-1592) Very recently I responded to
Explanations: Top 10 Teaching Tips Read More »
Leap over you professional plateau. (This post is a copy of my article for the Guardian Teacher network) I’m a huge football fan and I always have been since my father took me to watch Everton with the promise of dour football and a lukewarm pie. Such inspiration led me to play football almost continuously
Overcoming the ‘OK Plateau’ Read More »
So often this year I have encountered students crippled with a fear of failure. At this time of year, with exams looming, that crisis of confidence can erupt – flattening a student with terrific force. In schools we can use the resilient language of the ‘growth mindset’, but for many students it never comes close
Failing with Confidence Read More »
‘I speak therefore I am’ Ten years ago I moved from my home in Liverpool to become a teacher in York. I went to the Liverpool University so my accent, dialect, and my language more generally, was largely unchanged from my time at school. Of course, I had undertaken lots of reading and language development
Cracking the Academic Code Read More »
There is a lot of cognitive science research that proves what revision strategies work best for embedding information into the long term memory – which is our goal in relation to exam success. Some of it is common sense, but other aspects may surprise you or challenge your thinking. There are many time-consuming revision strategies
Effective Revision Strategies Read More »
