Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

Honing your history skills (during a pandemic)

History is an ever-evolving subject and there is always something to read, watch or listen to in order to expand your knowledge as a practitioner. Around two months ago on Twitter I had seen several soon-to-be trainee teachers looking for ways to develop their knowledge and it made me consider how I use my ‘downtime’.

How to be a digital citizen in the lockdown period

No matter how young or old you are, no matter where you live and no matter what language you speak, this digital citizenship roadmap is meant to help you navigate these uncharted times we all find ourselves learning and working at home.

How to increase student engagement remotely

Google ‘teacher presence’ and you are welcomed by a sea of abstract and nebulous terms: ‘that special something,’ ‘the wow factor,’ ‘a certain vibe,’ ‘a personality that exudes confidence,’ ‘that special je ne sais quoi,’....

Supporting pupils with separation anxiety

Given the current climate that we all find ourselves in, where most of us have been in lockdown for eight weeks now, it would probably be fair to say that for a lot of children and young people being at home is the new norm.

5 Social Science activities for home learning

With another week of lockdown continuing, many of us will continue teaching our students online. Engagement through remote learning can vary, it can be especially difficult if you are not teaching a core subject like English, Maths or Science. If you are like me, I have been struggling to keep some of my sociology and psychology students engaged outside of the classroom. It has required me to think outside the ...

How to preserve your sanity as a parent-educator

When Boris Johnson announced the lockdown at 8pm on Monday 23rd March, I wept. I was relieved to know that I wouldn’t go home after a busy day of teaching 150 different children feeling terrified at the possibility of bringing death into my home. But after suffering from postnatal depression last year following the birth of my first child, I was shaken with the dawning familiarity of feeling trapped and ...

Introducing a competitive edge to boost STEM engagement

When it comes to teaching STEM, it is important to make learning as creative as possible for students, in order to boost their engagement and deepen subject knowledge.

Maintaining momentum during lockdown

Global society has been transformed in ways not seen for generations. We are all facing massive challenges in terms of health and education. School leaders, teachers and families around the world have all asked:

Lock it down, skill it up!

For myself and every teacher friend I have, the end of a term has us dragging ourselves towards the holidays like the bright shiny beacon that is a chance to sleep, eat and use the loo at a time of our own choosing.

Let's equip young people for a new now

My Grandma was becoming a teenager at the start of the second world war. Now in her nineties and ensconced in a lovely care home in South Devon she plays the role of an aging matriarch from an Agatha Christie novel to a tee. With several biblical resurrections to her name I am beginning to wonder whether she will outlive me, let alone the generation between us.

6 Drama activities for home learning

I guess, like all teachers, I panicked when I heard schools were shutting. But I think there’s a special kind of panic that teachers of practical subjects had – how on earth was I going to replicate my practical, collaborative, entirely group-work based drama studio when they were all sitting behind a computer, miles apart?

Bringing creativity and focused practice into the home learning environment

In recent weeks, I’ve found the idiom ‘how long is a piece of string?’ has entered my daily vocabulary. With parents, students, teachers and even Joyce next door all asking ‘how long will this last, do you reckon?’, it seems the monotony is getting to everyone. Throw into the mix the demands of home learning and progress concerns, and we’ve got a seemingly endless summer of stress coming ...