I m just a teacher, standing in front of a class, asking them to be quiet and listen.
She said, I don’t think I can do this anymore. I love you but I can’t do this. I said, But if you love me, why can’t you try? She said, It’s over. I said, I know we aren’t perfect, but who is? She said, It’s over. I said it’s over. I said nothing. But Continue reading L’esprit de l’escalier
Someone has left a newspaper on this train. It is open on a story about how avocados are being cultivated so they don’t have stones. It seems that modernity has left people too busy or too impatient or too listless to want an avocado with a stone in it that they have to remove with Continue reading The end of things
This is the third in a series of blogs on the key philosophers of education. Part 1 can be found here. Click here for Part 2. A.S. Neill Neill was a Scottish educator who is most known as the founder of Summerisle, a school that gained notoriety in the 20th century for its progressive philosophy. Continue reading An idiot s guide to the philosophy of education: Part 3
One of the lovely things about the online teaching community is the sharing of resources. Teachers have an innate desire to help – not just their own pupils but other teachers too. Most are happy to share freely the resources they have created. We are at heart a collegial profession and the free sharing of Continue reading All the Gear but No Idea: the Aggrandisement of The Resource in Teaching
Best Way Story (1961) An adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, this 1961 movie centres around the tension between two rival groups of teachers, the Trads and the Progs. The arguments and the blockings are all played out through brilliantly choreographed dance scenes and a truly memorable musical numbers. With music Continue reading The Best Films About Teaching
Back in the early 90s, my older brother managed to get me a second-hand Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It came with two games which, as I had no money to buy any others, occupied much of my time for months on end. One was the classic arcade game Kung Fu Master and the other was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Whilst Kung Fu Master Continue reading The tantalisation of standardisation: It s…
This post has been agreed by several teachers and is shared across several blog sites. In the last couple of years, we have openly expressed concern at the approaches taken by Tes Education Resources to plagiarism and copyright violation, theft of resources, and the selling of resources that violate copyright. This is not a blogpost Continue reading Tes Education Resources: An Open Expression of…
This is the second in a series of blogs on the key philosophers of education. Part 1 can be found here. Michel de Montaigne Whilst sounding like she might be a woman, Michel de Montaigne is actually a dead white man – a group who seem to dominate the philosophy of education throughout history, which Continue reading An idiot s guide to the philosophy of education: Part 2
Socrates Socrates was a brilliant man. Not only is he considered the father of Western philosophy, he was also a great teacher and, what s more, a great teacher trainer. One of Socrates most successful students was Plato, who, in turn, went on to teach Aristotle, who himself would then tutor Alexander the Great. There are Continue reading An idiot s guide to the philosophy of education: Part 1
The way that artists have portrayed education throughout history has been something of a fascination for me in recent years. Over a series of blog posts, I have explored how artists from various eras and artistic movements have cast their eyes, their brushes, their lenses and their, er, casts over the educational landscape before them. Continue reading An art history of autumn term