Education hotchpotch
Education hotchpotch

Education hotchpotch

Post its, emails to self, photos, bookmarks. Originally this blog started out as a thinking skip. A place to collect my thoughts and off load. 1,648 posts later and I am still making good use of that facility.

Teaching is cyclical. September, building new relationships. October, getting into a rhythm. January, driving to work in the dark. It is getting more serious. Mock exams = preparation and even more marking. Is the third term tougher than the others? Very possibly. A reminder to myself, senior and middle leaders – have consideration for the pressures felt within the school.

Preach always. Use words some of the time.

Accepting the concerns surrounding the misquoting of St. Francis of Assisi, Mike Ebeling borrows or paraphrases the sentiment that drives Dr. Tom Catena. Dr Catena is a former military doctor and the sole physician left working in Gidel in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, an area of active conflict since early 2011. Ebeling and Catena’s stories converge in the support of Daniel Omar. Aged 14, Daniel had both his arms blown off by a bomb dropped on his village. Aged 16 with the aid of a 3D-printed prosthetic, he was able to feed himself for the first time in two years.

Inspirational and humbling.

A discussion with consultant Dr Rakesh Choudhary led to a comparison of our ailing professions. He explained that for Hindus, teachers were highly revered. He shared a favourite teaching.

I opened the door the see God and my teacher at the door. I didn’t know who to welcome in first.

A timely reminder to teachers of our appreciation.

Teaching is to DIE for. Diagnose, Intervene and Evaluate. – John Hattie

If you had £86,400 in your account and someone stole £10 from you, would you be upset and throw the remaining amount in hopes of going back at the person who took your £10? No… You would move on, right? The same way we have 86,400 seconds each day. Don’t let someone’s negative 10 seconds ruin the remaining 86,390 seconds of your day.

Whilst I am not overly keen on the style, the sentiment is there. The value differential is clear. I am confident it will help redirect a student blown of course by the intentional / unintentional comments of a peer.

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