How valuable is teacher autonomy? It seems like a no-brainer. But like with most interesting philosophical questions, nuance makes the answer more conflicted than first meets the eye. Whilst I've seen some discussions of teacher autonomy spiral into straw-man arguments and caricatures of robots ... I hope this sparks a sensible debate. In this post … Continue reading Teacher Autonomy: Part I – Behaviour
autonomy
The Limits of My World (Part II)
In Part I of this post, I discussed the importance of teachers (of all subjects) making language teaching explicit in their lessons. I argued that an improvement in language enables pupils to better access the curriculum and broaden their cultural capital. I shared three practical, easy-to-implement strategies to help teachers incorporate the teaching of language into their lesson: sharing … Continue reading The Limits of My World (Part II)
Developing autonomy: taking a step back
"I aspire for my pupils to develop their independence." I've said this to myself constantly since I began teaching, but when I ruminate on the details, I realise that my understanding of independence has changed, and so have the behaviours and words I expect to observe in 'independent pupils'. To begin with, my vision of my pupils being independent … Continue reading Developing autonomy: taking a step back
Comprehension Strategies in the Classroom
Poor comprehension skills are undoubtedly a hindrance to learning. As teachers, we expect our pupils to read and make meaning from an unfamiliar text nearly every lesson. This might take the form of a text to teach new ideas and facts, a stimulus for discussion, to give instructions or even to read and interpret our marking. But to what extent … Continue reading Comprehension Strategies in the Classroom
Success Criteria
One of the most pupil-empowering pedagogy ideas I use, is to ask pupils to determine the success criteria for a task, then ask them to use it to do the task, and finally self/peer-assess using the criteria. It's a very clever tool to use because it has so many benefits: Helps pupils engage with an activity at … Continue reading Success Criteria
Bunsen Blue 