The (Passionately) Boring Teacher

In my previous blog, “Weaving the Tapestry: How I Use Knowledge Organisers”, I spoke about how my school has made knowledge organisers the core of homework by asking pupils to either write questions and answers about them or to test themselves on the quizzes they have already written. In previous years, I have always found homework a bit of a struggle and, as a result, on many occasions I quietly avoided it. This year, I’ve seen a substantial change, both in terms of pupils completing homework and the quality of their work. A particularly enthusing example is seeing that many pupils are independently catching up on quizzes when they have been away. I believe that one of the key reasons why I have seen a significant increase in the perceived ‘buy in’ of students to this form of homework is because, right from the off, we emphasised the sound pedagogical basis of this homework; we explained the forgetting curve to pupils during assemblies and lessons, we demonstrated the importanc...

Every year in terms one and two, year 9 learn about the Holocaust. It would be wrong to say that this is a topic which I enjoy teaching. However, having studied World War Two during my GCSE, my A level and my degree, it is topic which I have regularly encountered and which I find interesting. Despite this interest, when I first started teaching the Holocaust, I found it incredibly difficult. I would spend hours sat at my computer at a loss of how to approach topics. More often than not my lessons would end up centred around opinion and big philosophical questions. My students either produced mediocre work or their written pieces were littered with misconceptions. I believe this discomfort and poor quality ultimately came down to two factors: my lack of in-depth knowledge (despite the hours spent in classrooms and lecture theatres) and the Holocaust’s extremely sensitive nature. I felt that this topic morally precluded two, then popular, methods of teaching history: teaching ...

I have written extensively about what knowledge organisers should be and how I write them. However, I also believe that, just as when teaching a class, it is important to look and dissect examples of strong and weak knowledge organisers. In this post, I will be looking at what I see as an example of an ambitious but poorly written knowledge organiser. This document was written for a cohort of year 7s who were being introduced to Elizabeth I for the first time. WWW: This teacher clearly has high expectations of their pupils: as well as a number of pieces of complex vocabulary, this document briefly covers a number of complex concepts, such as the tension between Protestantism and Catholicism. The use of quotations and dates demonstrates this teacher's emphasis on concrete examples. The timeline at the bottom of the page attempts to fit Elizabeth I within the narrative of other Tudor monarchs. Assuming that pupils had already studied Edward VI and Mary I, this knowledge ...

One of the best pieces of advice I was given when I started my PGCE was this: “You are not their friend.” Unfortunately, like many student teachers, I briefly fell into the “favourite teacher” trap. I like to think that I have climbed out of it. However, an article I read in the TES appears to be trying to direct teachers straight into the pit. ( https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/being-a-nice-teacher-works-my-pupils-me-and-i-them-all-them ) I have three main issues with this article: I am not a miracle worker. This blog seems to perpetuate the damaging notion that if you are good enough at managing behaviour in your classroom, the children will behave. Apparently, if your seating plan is good enough, you can achieve silence and an entire classroom of pupils who are on task. If you don’t have silence, that’s the fault of your poor seating plan, isn’t it? I like to think that I have quite a formidable reputation at my school; I have reached the point wher...

In true history teacher form, I often think about the factors which contribute to changes in my practice. Over the last few weeks, this factor has been luck, bad luck specifically; the car of a good friend of mine broke down a few weeks ago and, while she’s been waiting for it to be repaired, I’ve been driving her to work every morning. While this is unexceptionally unlucky for her (both having to deal with her car and deal with me at 6:50 every morning), it has been good luck for me; this particular friend is a very conscientious English teacher with a particular interest in meeting the needs of SEN students. As a result, the drive to work every morning has provided me with an excellent opportunity to pick her brain about her subject and how it links with history. I have always firmly believed that, in order for pupils to be successful in history, they need to be taught how to read for meaning, how to construct an argument and how to write that argument in a sophisticated and log...

The ethos behind my department's use of knowledge organisers: In my previous blogs, I have discussed the elements of a good knowledge organiser and I have explained the process I use to write knowledge organisers. My school creates knowledge organisers on the principle that they should contain the foundational knowledge needed to be successful in a topic . However, unless knowledge organisers are effectively woven into a unit of work, they serve as add-ons which very few pupils will independently take advantage of. The humanities department in my school has developed a system which ensures that knowledge organisers can be used to their maximum benefit and that their use is underpinned by methods advocated by contemporary research into cognitive science, specifically self-testing , interleaved practice and  spaced practice. The process which we use to give feedback is also designed to minimise teacher workload  while ensuring pupil accountability . The general uses of kn...

In my last post, “Knowledge Organisers: the good, the bad and ugly”, I argued that while knowledge organisers can be a powerful tool of inclusion, they only work if they are focused, sequential and accessible . When I first started writing knowledge organisers two years ago, my attempts did not even come close to meeting these criteria. As a result, they were cluttered, unfocused and ultimately an exercise in fashion over function. Since then, I have devised a standard method to ensure that any knowledge organisers I make have an impact and can be used in the long term: Identify key knowledge. Group your facts into sections. Write your sections. Number or code your sections. Quality assure your sections. 1.        Identify key knowledge It’s easy to fall into the trap of including too much in a knowledge organiser, particularly when writing about topics we’re interested or about which we know a lot. We want to share our passion and subject...