Lesson Five: Being the Authority in the Classroom

“Authority is the thing I struggle with…I just don’t feel like I want to bully them into doing things..” Mike, Drama Teacher Questioning “Authority” What does ‘Authority’ mean? Just because someone says you are in charge, does that mean you… Continue Reading

Lesson Four: Getting Adolescents Going

…once I got my mind right, everything else began to fall into place. Child Psychologist, Donald Winnicott said “we have to recognise the everlasting in the ephemeral”.   (Winnicott, 1971) In other words, don’t just react to the moment. When a… Continue Reading

Lesson Three: Take Charge of Yourself in the Classroom

If we are not aware of how we are emotionally driven to make decisions then we are fools to ourselves. Worse, we are fools in charge of the life chances of others! Understanding the place emotion plays in learning will… Continue Reading

Lesson Two: Anxiety Powers Change…really.

Take charge of anxiety and you’ll take charge of the learning   Anxiety demands action, just look around the room at the beginning of a lesson… Pupils come into the room.  They know they have to be there for the best part… Continue Reading

Help for new teachers who…feel they don’t know enough!

Teaching can be the greatest job on earth but it can also be tough.  Sixteen years ago I was thrown out of teaching for exposing what I judged to be the unhappy and desperate measures teachers resorted to in order to… Continue Reading