In preparation for the webinar I recently ran called “The Comeback Kid” we looked at what schools around the world are doing when it comes to the Covid stuff and lockdown returns – masks, social distancing, air flow, hand sanitizer, etc. What we found was an almost ridiculously wide spectrum of both approaches and parental…
I find it curious that we so readily associate responsibility with time. It’s a simple equation – commit a serious crime and get a longer sentence. We often replicate that approach in schools where, depending on the seriousness of the offence, students receive longer suspensions or more detentions. And that’s all fine if you’re game…
For states emerging from lockdown the distinct challenge of returning to full-time face-to-face learning is imminent. Part of that challenge might just be learning to teach with your pants on again! This alone got me thinking about what we should wear when we teach … and whether it matters. Well, it does. I often hear…
This is that message. When I began sending out these weekly Home Truths, I made a promise to my subscribers that only once a semester, I’d send a message purely about something I want you to do. I want you to come along to a free webinar for Principals, APs and Wellbeing Coordinators next week…
Greg Jarvis was a wonderful Principal that I had the privilege to work with in the Northern Territory. Greg, by his own admission, was far from perfect. One day that he walked into my office and bellowed that the parent meeting he’d just conducted was “Like eating a shit sandwich” … while that parent was…
After 27 years of teaching and leading in schools, I’ve never been more frightened for my industry. In the old days, miners would watch the canary in the coalmine for signs that a gas leak had made the worksite uninhabitable. I prefer to think about the teaching profession as a powerline with several canaries perched…
I get it. There are times when we need to press the reset button and acknowledge that a particular lesson has gone pear-shaped and just isn’t working for a particular student. There are times when we just can’t go on. And I trust teachers to be able to tell when it’s just not gonna happen…
I spent the last few days at the ACEL National Conference and one presentation got under my skin. Georgie Harman is the CEO of Beyond Blue … and she’s freaked me out a little bit. In commencing her keynote, Georgie spoke to it being the way that School Leaders show up in crisis – and…
Geez, I’m lucky. I’m currently collaborating with ACEL on their 2021 National Conference and it’s meant zooming with a few educational heroes of mine including Pasi Sahlberg, Michael Fullan, Pak Tee Ng and Mary Jean Gallagher. I’ve tried – I suspect spectacularly unsuccessfully – to look cool in those zoom meetings. Something simple that Mary…
Favouritism is something that every teacher actively strains to combat. We’re not supposed to have favourite students or classes … but we totally do. I think my favourite class of all time was a group of Year 5 & 6 students that I taught at Skye Primary School around 2002-ish. I had most of these…