When we first went into lockdown in March 2020, I was 7 months into self-employment, doing lots of bits and bobs in education and publishing. Within a couple of hours, I had had every single part of my work cancelled. It is not the fault of the schools or the organisations I was with, but […]
Read more "(School) Life Through A Lens"In March 2020, when the first lockdown began, my work life had to change completely. The work I was doing – running cross-school writing projects and delivering CPD across England – was almost uniquely unfit for the times of COVID. Pretty much everything stopped. The kids I had been right in the middle of working […]
Read more "What you learn about yourself from writing a book"In March 2020, when the first lockdown began, my work life had to change completely. The work I was doing – running cross-school writing projects and delivering CPD across England – was almost uniquely unfit for the times of COVID. Pretty much everything stopped. The kids I had been right in the middle of working […]
Read more "Poetry residencies in schools: learning lockdown lessons"In March 2020, when the first lockdown began, my work life had to change completely. The work I was doing – running cross-school writing projects and delivering CPD across England – was almost uniquely unfit for the times of COVID. Pretty much everything stopped. The kids I had been right in the middle of working […]
Read more "Teaching on Outschool: Learning Lockdown Lessons"I am making my way though Ross Young and Felicity Ferguson’s encyclopaedic new guide to the teaching of writing – Writing for Pleasure (Routledge). Each chapter ends with some reflective questions, and I am going to answer them. This kind of reflective writing always helps me to understand my practice, which is something that is […]
Read more "Reflections on ‘Writing for Pleasure’: Creating a community of writers"I am making my way though Ross Young and Felicity Ferguson’s encyclopaedic new guide to the teaching of writing – Writing for Pleasure (Routledge). Each chapter ends with some reflective questions, and I am going to answer them. This kind of reflective writing always helps me to understand my practice, which is something that is […]
Read more "Reflections On ‘Writing for Pleasure’: Teachers’ orientations"I’ve been thinking about my encounters with strangers. I veer between feeling quite extroverted and stiflingly introverted. I have been the keynote speaker at a conference, and have enjoyed the moment enormously until suddenly, I feel like I am suffocating and need to escape. Within the space of five minutes I can go from feeling […]
Read more "Strangers"This post is as much about me processing things for myself, so I apologise if it comes across as self-absorbed. It is, and that’s the point. Nonetheless, I always find it interesting to read about what’s going on with other people, and I share this in this spirit. I’ve got an interesting year ahead, but […]
Read more "Reflecting on this strange year, preparing for the next"This school year has been strange. This has been well-established. I chose this academic year to start a new venture, leaving my role as a broadly-contented Assistant Head at Park Primary, to set up OtherWise Education. I regret nothing, but am gently amused at how the ebb and flow of a global pandemic nudged me […]
Read more "There Are Three Spectres In My Lockdown Shed"The children of the country are not preoccupied with the contested movements of a special advisor. Most children are currently preoccupied with boredom, home learning, fear of the virus and the loss of their own freedoms – the freedom to attend school, to socialise and to play. For many of them, they are preoccupied with […]
Read more "Can we talk about anti-democracy with pupils?"
jonny walker teaching 