The (Passionately) Boring Teacher

The day of my university graduation was also the day I learned that I had a place on a PGCE course. My other half, who did not know my parents very well, sat down with them for a coffee while I got my robes fitted. “Are you ready?” – My mother, a teacher who at that point had around 35 years of teaching under her belt. “…For what?” – My other half “This is going to be the hardest two years of Becky’s life. You’re going to need to support her and you’re not going to see much of her until she’s at least out of her NQT.” When I met up with my cheering session after the ceremony, he looked paler than I did. It’s now been eight years since that fateful conversation and my other half has more than stepped up to the challenge; he’s cooked dinners, ironed shirts, cut out lettering, dropped off forgotten books, made banana bread for the team, prepared an ungodly amount of chicken for ‘Humanities Fajitas’, and he can even tell you what TLAC stands for. Most importantly, he has always g...

The world of Knowledge Organisers is often a dichotomous one. Are you team ‘narrative’, or team ‘grid’? In this blog, Becky Sayers and Nathan Burns explore the purpose of both types, as well as their respective advantages, disadvantages and applicability across subjects. So place your bets, as the fight is about to start…!   Becky Sayers writes about the definition, purpose, advantages and disadvantages of the ‘narrative’   Knowledge Organiser. The ‘Narrative’ Knowledge Organiser Why do we use Knowledge Organisers? As a faculty, we have been using Knowledge Organisers for around seven or eight years. If I’m honest, the original reason I used them is because I was told to do so by a faculty leader in whom I had immense trust. I did not understand their overall purpose and, as a result, the pages I produced were fairly poor quality. However, over the years we have thought carefully as a team about their purpose and, as a result, the Knowledge Organisers we have produce...