The (Un)official Teacher's Manual

Becoming overly dependent on your school’s behavior policy can be detrimental to your career. Explore the reasons why and what to do instead. Particularly suitable for PGCEs and ECTs.

Some tips for best performance in a lesson observation. Particularly suitable for PGCEs and ECTs.

Good relationships are often championed as the key to all things teaching. But how do you build them? This episode we discuss simple ways of developing a good relationship with your class(es).

2 short and simple ways to make your lessons more engaging. 

No feeling is worse than that of standing in front of your class while they flagrantly disregard your rules, waste your time and theirs, and the inherent disrespect felt by being repeatedly interrupted is enough for us to all agree on one thing: there is nothing ‘low’ about low-level disruption. This episode gives some less obvious ways of managing it.

What kind of a relationship are you likely to have with your mentor?  What are the ways in which a good mentor will support you?  This episode discusses the less obvious (but very common) characteristics/methods of good ECT mentors. 

Are you an ECT who's somehow convinced you're nowhere near ready for September? Are you an experienced teacher who is permanently haunted by the feeling that you are overdoing everything?  Or are you just fed up of feeling like it's only a matter of time before everyone discovers how crap a teacher you are?  Check out my 5 tips for overcoming imposter syndrome. 

Every worked with a busy body? What about a martyr? Annoying aren't they? Please don't become one! Some tips on how to foster a good working relationship with fellow teachers.  Particularly suited to PGCEs and ECTs.  

This episode discusses the different characters one may come across at school- some pleasant, some less so. Particularly suitable for PGCEs/ECTs. 

'Well, they behave for me' is amongst the most hated phrases in education. Unfortunately, it's not used by Ofsted, education secretaries, or politicians, but by us- teachers.  If you've ever struggled or are struggling with classroom management and that one smug teacher adds insult to your injury by claiming: 'Well, they behave for me!' this episode will help you overcome the inevitable self-...