Hi there everyone – I’m settling in nicely at http://www.strictlypositiveteaching.com. Come on over and have a look-see! Maybe you’d like to follow me for all things educational, positive and kind. I know my readership! Oh, and get news about my book, finally published and available on Amazon. I’m very proud of it, and of the […]
I have decided to re-create my website and blog. With the launch of my book approaching I wanted to create a more streamlined image which pulls everything together and will enable a better overall experience for you when visiting the site. I hope to see you there! Thanks. Find us here: https://www.strictlypositiveteaching.com/ Here’s a preview […]
The advice to ‘catch them getting it right’ is hardly a novel idea. But I would argue that, like the smiley face and the sad face, it is not often put into practice with enough consistency and therefore with enough impact. In fact, I think in practice it often deteriorates into an exercise of stabbing […]
I’m working to update my blog with a bright new look in keeping with the design of my book cover, designed by Naomi Wilkinson. Here’s hoping that soon I will be able to redirect you to the fab new site!
Why Strictly Positive Teaching? The positive reasons The Oxford Dictionary defines positivity as “the practice of being or tendency to be positive or optimistic in attitude”. Interestingly, the illustration of the word is ‘pupils draw power from the positivity of their teachers’. The difference between positivity and optimism, however, is that to be optimistic you […]
My mother was a teacher, and met my father when he, too, was briefly teaching. When they were both teaching they wore gowns as daily uniform, and had to shake chalk dust off them when they left their schools. They were about as calm, tolerant, middle-class and focused on education as it was possible for […]
To make a seating plan or not to make a seating plan? I’ve been in schools where it was the teacher’s choice and where it was mandatory for every class. I now firmly believe that a seating plan is a vital tool in the teacher’s armoury. The paramount reason for this is the basic, essential […]
So it’s the summer holidays and top of my to-do list is getting this weary old body back into shape. What shape, I’m not sure. It brings to mind that old greetings card joke: “I am in shape. The shape I have chosen is a circle.” Anyway, I’ve been hitting the gym and going to […]
On EduTwitter I read a lot of discussion about how teachers shouldn’t need to be liked by students; they should simply be able to expect obedience and compliance from their classes, and schools should have ways of dealing with the students if they don’t comply as expected. And I agree. There must be an expectation […]
It’s early 2018 as I write, and a very tough time to be a child. It’s not that easy for the rest of us, but it doesn’t take much of a stretch of imagination to see that it must be unbelievably scary and confusing through the lens of a child. We have lived through a […]
