I hope you don’t mind, a bit of a bit of a change of tone in this part of the guide, can’t see a way of satirising the point I want to make and it’s one very close to my heart. As always, interested to know what you think. At school we require students toContinue reading “17/03/24: teacher guide (2) do unto others”
Category Archives: love of learning
03/03/24: student guide (4) understanding teachers
Teachers were born middle aged. This is very important to understand. They did not have childhoods. They have never farted – and don’t actually know what this is. They never went to school as students – which helps to explain some of their oddities as explored in part 3 of this guide. They think weContinue reading “03/03/24: student guide (4) understanding teachers”
25/02/24: student guide (3) going from room to room
One of the facts of secondary life, of course, is that students go from room to room for their lessons while teachers mostly stay where they are. For some subjects – food, technology, science, PE – this makes sense, but for others it doesn’t. Wall displays get changed about every 10 years so that wouldn’tContinue reading “25/02/24: student guide (3) going from room to room”
05/06/22: a kindness remembered 40 years on
In a recent Facebook post, responding to an obituary for the late Simon Preston, I recalled how, in the early 1980s, I was practising the organ at the Royal Festival Hall (my goodness, what a privilege for a 17-year-old!) when somebody appeared silently behind me and started turning pages for me. That person was SimonContinue reading “05/06/22: a kindness remembered 40 years on”
08/05/22: I blame calculators!
The particular reason calculators are on my mind right now is because we’re in the middle of the examination season. My Grade 10 (Year 11) class did one of their papers on Friday with another tomorrow (Monday). For part of their exam I was teaching another class in a room next door which was aContinue reading “08/05/22: I blame calculators!”
17/4/22: school is returning to normal!
A very happy Easter to you as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! With a week off school. Hallelujah once again! Meanwhile, at school there is a very satisfying sense of things returning to normal. Since the beginning of the pandemic, when school has been in session on site, we’ve adoptedContinue reading “17/4/22: school is returning to normal!”
03/04/22: student as teacher – and green pens….
It’s a great privilege at Acacia School that we’re able to split what are already, by UK state school standards, small groups, into 2 for mathematics, which we call ‘core’ and ‘extended’. And I’m really enjoying teaching Grade 7 (Year 8) core, a group of 8 students. They may not find the subject easy butContinue reading “03/04/22: student as teacher – and green pens….”
4/9/21: trying to recapture the fun of being at school
SPOILER ALERT: please note that this post assumes you already know the ending of Robert Louis Stevenson’s, “The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. If you don’t, please consider yourself extremely fortunate! Suggest you stop reading now and return to this post when you have read the book. Enjoy! Over lunch last weekContinue reading “4/9/21: trying to recapture the fun of being at school”
Geoff Tennant's Blog 