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Incorporating Art into Creative Writing
Cultural capital For my latest piece of IGCSE coursework, I have been working on incorporating artwork into my students’ writing by using it as a stimulus for their work. We have been investigating JMW Turner, an artist that I remember having a big emotional reaction to when I was in my teens, and one which…
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Strategies for winning over difficult kids
I teach a class which some of the most experienced teachers have told me is the most challenging class they have ever come across. During this first year of teaching, I have toyed with multiple ways of getting them to write the requisite minimum by the closing bell. It feels easier to experiment with slightly…
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Finding the Holy Grail: ECT Work-Life Balance
Teaching is not a career known for its balance: working terms are short and intense, and the holidays are relatively long and almost totally empty of official working duties. The message threads on your phone are a working history of this: your mid-term self is ‘Not free. Sorryy. [Insert classic teacher reason]’ or your holiday…
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Copy after me: learn your kids, then learn your lecturers
Recently, I have been working on making my resources more ‘shareable’ to teachers delivering different curricula, which has meant reducing my lesson resources to the bare bones of what strong teaching should be: imparting knowledge and enthusiasm. By using my (or anyone’s) ideas, your mental bandwidth can be employed in delivering your knowledge well. If…
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Hello, new teachers
I’m writing for new teachers who are trying to find a work-life balance and some teaching ideas while they’re head-in-hands looking at the cursor flashing on the title slide for tomorrow’s ‘inspiring…motivating’ first-period lesson. Maybe you’ve made your unmarked papers into a tunnel: a creative solution, yes, but you still have to go through them.…
My Early career teaching
Blog for Early Career Teachers like me, who are looking for teaching tips and a work-life balance
My Early career teaching 