On Friday,  I worked with a class of Year 3 children. I had put together some lessons about humour in fiction. We explored what made a good comedic character and we explored the importance of plot. The kids created some characters and then, working with the kids, we put the bare bones of a plot together, keenly attempted to […]

Read more "The Sad Thing That Happened To That Cow"

I want to state right from the offset that it was Professor Teresa Cremin who introduced the term of ‘Dahl- Dependency’ to me, when she led our INSET training last Monday. Research conducted as part of the Teachers as Readers Research Project showed that teachers have a ‘limited and limiting repertoire’ of children’s authors, poets and […]

Read more "Dahl-Dependency: Break the Cycle"

1. The longer you play in a given day, the worse you get so make sure to take a break. 2. You cannot control more than half the players on the pitch the opposition and your goalkeeper operate independently of you. 3. If you use up all of your sprint you can’t defend when they […]

Read more "How to teach: lessons from FIFA"

In primary schools, subjects are classed as being either Core or Foundation. Core subjects are English and Mathematics. Foundation subjects are those which are not tested in the SATS. Now, in most schools this includes Science, History, Geography, Art, Design, Technology, PE, RE, Citizenship, Modern Foreign Languages and PSHE. Schools cover the foundation curriculum in […]

Read more "7 Tips for Leading a Foundation Subject"

My name is Zayn Malik. You probably know me for my shrimp but I was once in a band. We were backstage at the O2 and had finished another show. Harry was rummaging around in his bag looking for moisturiser. Out of the corner of my eye I could sense something moving. Then came a […]

Read more "Sloth: No Direction"

Few people think that they fall neatly into any given category; it harms our sense of uniqueness to slot so easily into a vacant gap in the jigsaw. I am happy to endorse the Singaporean approach to early maths teaching, as seen in the Maths No Problem scheme, though I don’t think the approach is completely […]

Read more "My Post-Punk Scoutism"