English teacher from England. Currently teaching in South East Asia.
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At the heart of the most significant package of reforms since GCSEs replaced O-levels 30 years ago is the end of marking by assessment to cure what Gove called the “structural problem” in the exam normally taken by 16-year-olds.
In its place comes a return to final examinations as the sole measure of a pupil’s success at the end of a two-year GCSE course – with the exception of science, which retains a small assessed practical element.
"Urgh
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A British National Breakfast by Hollie McNish
They start the day with a small glass of orange juice,
Bought at Sainsbury’s. South African produce.
Mugs emblazoned with our German-bred queen
They sip English breakfast tea,
forgetting its Indian leaves
1 and a half teaspoons each of sugar grain
Asda bought. Barbadian cane.
Husband fries eggs. Wife waters wysteria.
Cooking oil from Italy. Heating oil, Nigeria.
They swallow two pills each
to help their bowels and digestion
invented by a research team of US and Indian.
Newspaper flicked through. Headlines are read:
Reads “more crime, more violence, less hospital beds”.
She complains to her husband, he complains to his wife.
They complain it must be those
‘foreigners’
ruining their lives.
Voting polls open. BNP ticked.
Pen bought from Staples, Iranian ink.
They drive home on roads laid by Irish Jamaicans.
She sprays on her perfume, an Arab invention,
complaining about ‘foreigners’ joining their country,
forgetting the source of their dear British money.
Desperate for someone to blame for her boredom
She waters the pansies, fertilizer from Jordan.
Desperate for someone to blame for his misery
They complain that ‘foreigners’ are ruining the country.
Afternoon nap to TV, both sigh.
Made in Sri Lanka. Sold from Shanghai.
Mumbling that Polish have run to their country
they watch ‘A Place in the Sun’
repeated from Sunday
Shop down at Asda cos the stuff there is cheaper,
they complain:
‘more British Jobs for more British people’.
Buy 2 for 1 offers from low wages abroad,
claiming:
‘the price of local farm shops is robbery fraud’.
Pick up a pizza on the short journey home,
complaining:
‘British cuisine is being pushed to death row’
Home on the couch. Watch tv all night.
Claiming that ‘foreigners’ have ruined their lives.
Finish their day with a cup of hot cocoa.
Beans made in Kenya. Profits to Tesco.
Complaining in bed about closing sea borders,
They don’t learn Spanish. Retire to Majorca
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Fair Trade in the classroom?
I’m looking for help with finding resources to teach my freshmen about fair trade (and the surrounding issues.) I was thinking specifically about the issues around chocolate and coffee since those are goods the most of them consume already. I found some great things on blood diamonds, but less for that age group on chocolate/coffee. Does anyone know of any good lesson plans for freshmen on this? Or can anyone point me in a good direction?
Divine chocolate have a range of resources here and a youtube channel with educational fairtrade chocolate related videos here.
They also have a yearly poetry writing competition for UK schools. The theme this year was ‘Chocolate is Something to Cherish. The final submission date was the end of April, but look out for next year. I entered a few years ago. The kids liked the idea of entering with chance to win chocolate!
Even if you are not in the UK and can’t enter the competition, I still recommend having a look at the resource. They also accept submissions in Welsh.
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"Let’s not allow the isolated acts of some chip away at the foundations of co-existence we’ve built across London and the UK. We’ve come a very long way in learning how to integrate multiple cultures in singular communities. So, in reality coexistence is not such an alien term as we might think it is. Communication is key: let’s keep talking, sharing and learning along the road to utopia. We are not blind to the fact that there’s a problem and I am not saying we have all the answers, but we are capable of finding the solutions; it’s in our human DNA."
Despite witnessing the Woolwich murder, I still have faith in humanity
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Night Zoo Teacher: Reading Torch Competition
We have launched a Reading Competition in partnership with the National Literacy trust. The competition will challenge your students to read for a total of 9 hours to acquire power for their magical Reading Torch. This will be recorded in a Night Zookeeper Training Manual, which…
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Teacher Training Practice Interview
The best page I have ever seen for preparing for PGCE interview. Including a section which generates questions, lets you answer them and then gives you answer tips.
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Creativity is not a linear process, in which you have to learn all the necessary skills before you get started. It is true that creative work in any field involves a growing mastery of skills and concepts. It is not true that they have to be mastered before the creative work can begin. Focusing on skills in isolation can kill interest in any discipline. Many people have been put off mathematics for life by endless rote tasks that did nothing to inspire them with the beauty of numbers. Many have spent years grudgingly practicing scales for music examinations only to abandon the instrument altogether once they’ve made the grade.
The real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself. When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done. Their mastery of them grows as their creative ambitions expand. You’ll find evidence of this process in great teaching in every discipline from football to chemistry.
"To encourage creativity, Mr Gove, you must first understand what it is
