While this book is comprehensive, and gives instructions step by step, it is not what you might call an idiot’s guide.
Read MoreWhy you should test your product
This article was originally published on the Bee Digital Marketing website. Although it was mainly aimed at companies, many of the principles apply to anyone wanting to implement a new application in school.
Read MoreReview: Teaching Machines (for SchoolsWeek)
Here is a very strange paradox. On the one hand, everyone agrees that a key ingredient for success in life is having great teachers. On the other, there’s a relentless narrative that education is somehow broken and that fixing it entails replacing teachers or transforming some or all of what they do.
Read MoreOf COURSE classrooms have changed in the last few hundred years!
Is it really true that classrooms haven’t changed since the year 1600?
Read MoreThe art of listening: full article
It seems to me that one of the most important skills a salesperson should possess is to be able to listen. Yet some salespeople and technical support people launch into a script or a flowchart when you call the company, or when you meet them.
Read MoreThe Homework Excuse Management System, by Terry Freedman
Blast from the past: the homework excuse management system revisited
You can use a spreadsheet to solve even relatively trivial problems — but why should you do so?
Read More3 reasons your students are bored in Computing lessons, and 9 solutions

14 Ways to Make the Most of Teaching Assistants in Computing lessons
In my experience, many teachers make poor use of teaching assistants, regarding them as a sort of junior helper on the same level as a school pupil doing a holiday job. This is unfortunate.
Read MoreUse a spreadsheet for literary criticism: it's more accurate
If book blurb writers had any sense, they wouldn’t put wordy descriptions on the back cover of books. They would put a graph there instead.
Read MoreGetting permission to go on a course or to a conference
Having to make the case for actually registering for an event is, in my opinion, treating teachers as if they were (a) non-professionals and (b) children.
Read MoreOn this day: Robot rights
You can just imagine the family rows of the future, should technology ever reach the point where it isn't possible to distinguish between humans and non-humans merely by looking at them.
Read MoreUsing badges
The attractive thing about badges is that a school can invent their own categories and achievement levels.
Read MoreWho is responsible for a company’s image?
The answer to the question “Who is responsible for a company’s image (or a school’s image)?” is, of course, everyone who works for it. But what does this mean in practice?
Read MoreWhat differentiates your product from the competition?
If you sell a similar product or service to that of another company, what is it that makes yours stand out?
Read MoreQuick look: Organise Ideas (follow-up)
[When I was a teacher,] as with many of my blog posts these days, my own handouts and lesson summaries were festooned with drawings, diagrams and arrows.
Read MoreIs it worth doing an MA? Continued
In June 2021 I wrote an article called Is it worth doing an MA? I listed several reasons why I think the answer is “yes”, but forgot to include one or two really important ones!
Read More7 questions about blogging
You can build up a body of work without having to try going through gatekeepers.
Read MoreMy experiments with transcribing audio
I was surprised, at first, to discover that dictating articles is very easy. When I thought about it though, I realised that it should not have been surprising at all.
Read MoreThe horror, the horror! N-Noooo!!!, by Terry Freedman
The inspector cometh
Being told that the inspectors are coming is pretty scary, but I would say that some people respond in ways that are counterproductive, including to their own health. These are the things I’ve either come across first-hand or experienced when I was an Ofsted inspector myself, or when I was being inspected.
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