Author Archives: Joe Kirby

  Francis Gilbert describes his experiences of being a new teacher in a tough school with vivid candour. He agreed to let me share some extracts from the book, which is well worth reading. In a primary school I visited in … Continue reading →

This is one new teacher’s account of her first year as a newly qualified teacher in a tough school. I teach at an inner-city secondary school, where sixty percent of students receive free school meals. Eight million was spent doing … Continue reading →

These are some paragraphs of Year 8 pupils writing about ‘Macbeth’, on the witches, Lady Macbeth, and an essay conclusion comparing Macbeth to the play they studied in Year 7, ‘Julius Caesar’. Snapping and sharing pupil paragraphs is a good … Continue reading →

Charlie Carroll is a supply teacher whose book is called ‘On The Edge’. I asked him if I could share some extracts. Charlie kindly agreed, so here is the second of two blogposts (the first is here) sharing a supply … Continue reading →

Charlie Caroll was a successful 28-year old teacher in a great school, who loved his job. In 2008, he decided to become a supply teacher in different cities in England. His encounters bewildered him so much that he wrote a book … Continue reading →

‘It’s hard to tell the signal from the noise.’ Nate Silver In 2015, the blogosphere continued its unstoppable momentum. The Echo Chamber Uncut was set up by edublogosphere commander-in-chief Old Andrew in March, with over 60,000 blogposts in 2015, over … Continue reading →

“It is not happiness that makes us grateful. It’s gratefulness that makes us happy. How can we live gratefully? By becoming aware that every moment is a new gift, and if you miss the opportunity of this moment, another moment … Continue reading →

Written marking takes up huge amounts of teachers’ time. If the average teacher marks for just over 5 hours a week, that’s 200 hours of marking a year. In a secondary school of 100 teachers, that’s 20,000 hours of marking. … Continue reading →