A new kind of display for the new school year

I have been teaching for 14 years. I know lots of things: photocopier codes, teachers’ nicknames, who will lend me a board pen at short notice. But every new academic year is still full of monsters: previous failures, planned upheavals, unknown whole-school assessment strategies. So, along with pinning my new timetable to the board above…

My INSET session on decolonising curricula

In this session, in February 2021, I shared my research on decolonising curricula with teaching staff from across infant, junior and senior schools. I began by explaining some of my motivations to take on a one-year role leading efforts to diversify curricula, which includes raising a mixed-race family. Teachers were encouraged to ‘draw along’ to…

Teaching, sympathy and the art of Kintsugi

I discovered that a ceramic pot had been broken yesterday. The pot was less than 5 months old. A year ago, I would have been very annoyed with this broken pot. The broken pot would have been taken to the tip. This year, I didn’t see a broken pot. I saw an opportunity for something…

The history of Medieval Mali: some ideas

A lot of people have been asking about my approach to my Mali scheme of work so I thought that I would share some of what I have put together. In this blog post, I wrote about how some of my research led me to create a causation enquiry, ‘Where did Medieval Mali keep its…

The beauty of bounded tasks: Olusoga and I

This is a one-off blog post in which I show how a book inspired me to improve my teaching practice. The post ends, as they all do, with a practical resource. Today I show how my reading of Olusoga’s book The World’s War, and the philosophy of Alain de Botton, helped me to diversify our…

A hunger to belong: Using a word as a window into a text with Year 10

This is the last in a series of four blog posts in which I show how a journal article or book has inspired me to improve my teaching practice. Each post ends with a practical resource or activity. Today I show how my reading of Doerr’s bestselling novel All The Light We Cannot See, and my reflection on the…

Teachers’ journal clubs? An exercise in integrity

This is the last in a series of weekly blog posts in which I show how a journal article or book has inspired me to improve my teaching practice. Each post ends with a practical resource or activity. Today I show why our first journal club meeting, based on a book by Christodoulou (2017) and recommended to…