mrgreenw00d

Quick Wins: 3 Ways to do Modelling With Worked Examples

This blog is part of a series designed to give a short, sharp insight into a pedagogy strategy or technique. Originally these blogs were CPD sessions, delivered by myself to teachers in the school where I work. Over the next few weeks I hope to type up some of these ‘Quick Wins’ briefings into 3-5Continue reading “Quick Wins: 3 Ways to do Modelling With Worked Examples”

Quick Wins: Metacognition and Modelling

Quick Wins: What are they and why do them?

Firstly, my apologies that I haven’t updated in a long time. This began as a lockdown project and fell very easily onto a back burner. Over the past few months I’ve struggled to get available time and inspiration to line up, but here is the product of a few weeks of mulling things over. I’mContinue reading “Quick Wins: What are they and why do them?”

Being a new middle leader

I’ve been a middle leader for four years, 2 as 2nd in Science, and 2 as Lead Practitioner in Science, each in very different settings. I don’t claim to be an expert leader in any way. I can instantly think of lots of ways that i’m probably not that great, but I do think thatContinue reading “Being a new middle leader”

Thinking about behaviour

Recently I saw this on twitter: It got me thinking about different approaches to behaviour management and how my understanding and my approach to behaviour in schools has changed in the past eight years. The effect of good behaviour is obvious. In a calm learning environment, children are able to concentrate on what is beingContinue reading “Thinking about behaviour”

Is my 4 year old a genius?

Recently I was reading to my little boy. He has just started primary school and is getting a good introduction to synthetic phonics and is starting to segment words into their sounds when asked to ‘robot’ them and blending simple words too. He can’t read yet. Despite this, during his bed time story he wasContinue reading “Is my 4 year old a genius?”

It’s my way or the highway: It’s time to ditch ‘non-negotiables’

We all know about business terms being dragged into other contexts, expecially schools. Blue sky thinking, buy-in, stakeholders, these are all well established ‘business speak’ terms that are regrettably ubiquitous in schools and while they aren’t too bad, they clearly have their origin in a competitive, corporate area. Other ideas have come into schools fromContinue reading “It’s my way or the highway: It’s time to ditch ‘non-negotiables’”

On Twitter: Some Thoughts

I joined Twitter in late 2018 as MrGreenw00d (@MGreenw00d). At the time I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing, but did follow some of the people who wrote blogs that I had been reading. I certainly didn’t know how to attract my own followers, find #FFB schemes or even to interact moreContinue reading “On Twitter: Some Thoughts”

What I Learned From: – Teach Like Nobody’s Watching by Mark Enser

Mark Enser is a Geography teacher, author, D&D enthusiast and a prolific tweeter. He has also written the book Teach Like Nobody’s Watching (TLNW) which I have recently read. I really enjoyed reading this and I felt that there’s so much good stuff in there I had to take notes. Given that I then hadContinue reading “What I Learned From: – Teach Like Nobody’s Watching by Mark Enser”

Learning to reflect

I trained in 2012/3 by completing a PGCE. I genuinely enjoyed the course and at the time I felt that I was getting a good introduction to the world of teaching and being shown the best way to teach. The work load was challenging of course but, more difficult, was the fact that for meContinue reading “Learning to reflect”