1. A Substack:
A few weeks back, I mentioned Austin’s Butterfly in a post. Specifically, I was highlight the beautiful pace of Ron Berger’s delivery. It’s something I really want to explore more - not just on here but in my actual real-life teaching. Anyhow, Jared Fox got in touch to further endorse Berger’s work, and I was interested to discover that he had worked for the network that Berger is part of:
“I was lucky enough to teach at an expeditionary learning (EL) school (the network Ron Berger is a part of) and see the power of implementing critique in the classroom.
In particular, peer critique connected to rubric based evidence in the learning process either via looking at exemplar student or teacher samples or early rough drafts helped to encourage what we referred to as ‘craftsmanship’ - raising the quality of student work and slowing down the rush for students to ‘just get it done’ “
I love this, and I’ve since really enjoyed reading Jared’s Substack - particularly his book publishing journey (fascinating stuff).
2. At School (Off School)
Mid-term this week. Nine days. How precious they are. How quickly they disappear. I can’t escapee the fact I want it all: structured days, no-structure days; full family days, quality one-to-one days; exercise and well-being days, eating chocolate and doing nothing days; getting organised for school days, completely forgetting about school days.
If there’s one thing I should have learnt about mid-term holidays by now, it’s that you can’t have it all!
3. “What’s the ONE thing you would change about teaching?”
I put this up on messages. Please feel free to add your response. FYI, and in a nutshell, the most popular answers so far are:
Better well-being initiatives (for teachers)
Greater respect and better wages
More autonomy
Thanks to everyone for their continued support on here. Looking forward to moving things forward this term. Please feel free to get in touch, tell your colleagues and subscribe (it’s totally free).
Happy Weekend!
Jon