nikki able

I read a really interesting post today from @theheadsoffice (I'd never thought of the kids when I went back to school! bit.ly/oRs3td).  It made me think about how much I have changed my approach to the first day back.  I was taught, and I believe others continue to teach, that the first lesson with any new class should be devoid of fun or good humour, rather that you should present a tough exterior so children understand that from day one they won't get away with poor behaviour.  I have been known to spend the first 50 minutes with children talking at them about my expectations and reading out sets of rules or worse making the children copy them down.  And I think it is a really good question to ask - what impact does this have on your students?  Does it intimidate them?  Scare them?  Bore them?  If the answer is yes to any of these questions then this is a problem.  I always thought this was what I had to do to make children be good.  I...

Currently I think that assessment is used to put children into boxes, to label them as successes or failures based on somewhat arbitrary criteria. I have encountered schools who use the key stage 2 SATs tests to place children into curriculum pathways that will dictate their future successes. Other schools use data to direct us to the children with whom we should do intervention. It seems that in these cases, the purpose of asessment is to work out which children we should spend time with and which we should write off. I have always wondered how it must feel to be the child who gets given the target grade of a G to be measured against for five years. What does that even mean? I do, however, believe that assessment is important if it is used for the right reasons. I enjoy assessing my pupils learning. I enjoy watching them achieve success that they have worked so hard for, I enjoy the dialogue that good assessment necessitates and I enjoy seeing pupils achieve things that they tho...

I hate this time of year and love it in equal measure. Not the 6 weeks holiday but exam results day. Partly because it is the day the whole world judges you as a teacher but also because it is a day when you see students that you truly care for either feel genuine elation or you see their hearts break. It is always at this time of year that I find myself asking 'did I get it right?' 'did I do enough?' I have been teaching for seven years now and I know that it is really down to the students - did they work hard enough? Were they truly motivated? And I know these are valid questions but in truth it would be naive to think that as a teacher you don't have influence over outcomes. My teaching style doesn't fit into a box as such but I love teaching, I love teaching A level and helping pupils on a journey from GCSE which tended to come so very easily to them to university which often doesn't. I try to make my lessons fun and interesting, I try to meet every...