Category: Teaching and Education
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3 Minute Reads // “Does that make sense?” How schoolteaching made me a better academic
When I completed my doctorate, I was still quite new to this teaching malarkey. It wasn’t until I re-read my old PhD thesis after several years in the profession that I realised just how much my writing style had changed – and, I believe, improved – as a result of what I’d learnt in the…
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The alternative academic: celebrate your transferable PhD skills!
Whatever point you’re at in your doctoral programme, it’s a safe bet that by now you’ve already developed the kinds of useful and *demonstrable* transferable skills that employers love. Here’s what I wish I knew back when I first started applying for roles outside of the academy!
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Quick and Effective Lesson Ideas #6 – Two fun ways to demonstrate student progress!
Over September and October I will be publishing articles on effective teaching strategies for trainee teachers and NQTs, offering brief (and, I hope, useful and practical!) examples of lessons, ideas, and resources that saved my bacon on more than one occasion! Previous article in this series: * In this final “Quick and Effective” article, I’d…
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Quick and Effective Lesson Ideas #5 – “The Big Yellow Box” (Or, How to make your students work harder than you!)
I’m cheating a bit here… this article is really a shameless plug for the “Yellow Box Methodology”, innovated by the George Spencer Academy and made famous by the fantastic Ross Morrison McGill (@TeacherToolkit). The Big Yellow Box completely changed my marking process, and made it better in every conceivable way. Not only did deployment of…
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Quick and Effective Lesson Ideas #4 – Take a student-focused approach to improve your marking efficiency
Two years into teaching, I was in the staffroom scribbling furiously over yet another essay in department-mandated green pen when a colleague asked me a simple question that completely changed my approach to marking. Even better, it ultimately led to my marking becoming faster, more effective, and more efficient!
Writus Andronicus 