Thirteen

My thoughts after 13 years teaching (2019 / 2020)

13 thoughts on teaching


1 Balance. Balance in everything
2 Everyone think and think and think
3 Disrupt routine and delight in the empty page
4 Be mindful of the world not just your world
5 Laughter is like sunshine
6 Work without applause if you have to
7 Be a quiet old fossil then a howling fool
8 Be as adjustable as the sails of a sail boat (and keep oars)
9 Accept awfulness once in a while
10 Be almighty and determined then take a step back
11 Relax your jaw
12 Be a raging fire full of calm
13 Everything is temporary

13 Thoughts on learning

1. Walk and walk, walk fast and be liberated
2. Walk through hell if you have to
3. Remember the view after that long walk
4. Read after walking
5. Watch and revel in the gritty progress of water
6. It never ends
7. Be messy and overgrown
8. Breath in
9. Breath out
10. Scribble down your last mistake
11. Find therapy in best friends
12. Confront those wolves over the fence
13. Simple is beautiful

13 questions to ask your students

1 Why???
2 Would you rather A or B?
3 How could you do that?
4 Can you answer the question in exactly 7 words?
5 What would happen if...?
6 Which month has 28 days?
7 What is the opposite of _____?
8 What's the question to this answer?
8 what has 4 letters, sometimes 9 letters but never has 5 letters
9 What didn't you do at the weekend?
10 How is _____ similar / different to _____?
11 How can you make _____ better?
12 Can you find a mistake here?
13 Can you escape?

13 thoughts on teaching teenagers

1 Hold an element of amusing mystery
2 Make connections at their level
3 Endless movement between teaching methods
4 Play games. Play thinking games.
5 Acknowledge and thank and praise
6 Encourage and inspire and listen
7 Make eye contact
8 Show them progress is victory and reward and escape
9 Anticipate everything
10 Don’t forget all the other crap they have outside your dazzling importance
11 Offer choice
12 Ask for help if it falls apart
13 Each class is a new page

13 Thoughts on the shift to online classes (April 2020)

1, Gratitude to be able to carry on
2, Keep it simple and smile
3, Be as certain as a surgeon – one thing at a time
4, Quality of spoken words, not quantity
5, Adapt and explore like a space probe. Slowly.
6, Let there be silence – awkward if necessary
7, Structure in some deep breaths and a stretch
8, Love your machines
9, There might be an aching eternity but nightmares end
10, See 7
11, Remember the great outdoors and the curve of the earth still out there
12, Remember the rapport you already had with those groups
13, Be your own guzzling twisted and bottomless self in a headlock when its over