Back to work!!;-)

I'm back to work, today!

And it's no hardship to be going to my place of work as I love my environment,

where so much learning takes place.

For a smallish room, I have always tried to provide something for everyone

to enjoy and feel inspired. I know that I feel inspired, 

which in turn makes me a better teacher; I am certain of that!

Anyway, I love my workplace, I've had a good 'tidy up' and I am raring to go!

In my room there is a good mixture of old and new because that's

 what I believe in and that's how I work, picking what I think is the best

from today and yesterday.

You can read 'Swallows and Amazons' and any of the books in that wonderful series.

You can read Enid Blyton because she was and still is a valuable

 part of children's literature.

You can read Harry Potter; Holes; War Horse and an endless amount of Roald Dahl!

You can enjoy poetry and even a smattering of history!

I have Ladybird books alongside Anthony Horowitz  and 

I have Horrible Histories alongside Michael Morpurgo,

Malorie Blackman and Rupert Bear!

I even have a school inspector breathing down my neck...

but no more about that apart from to say that I remember my very first encounter

with a school inspector in Surrey. A very nice man he was too!!

He oversaw my probationary year in teaching and the most important words he said to me

(and I remember then well) were, ' If you can truly justify what you are doing

in the classroom, then that's fine by me.'

So that's what I always try to do. I am also constantly questioning

what I do. I talk to myself rather a lot!!

Enough said!!

;-)

So ... welcome to my working world!!

  

And please enjoy a browse!

If you ever come for lessons, this is where you'll sit!!;-)

My other chairs are usually covered with books or games!

Have you noticed, 'Moonfleet'?

One of the best stories written, I was delighted to see the television

adaptation!  Books like this live on and on!

Superb writing!

I have 'War Horse', alongside 'The Little Wooden Horse'!

I love reading these with children.

Slates, satchels and an old university scarf (my dad's)...

all part of the fantastic history of education in our country.

And here I sit, waiting patiently for my first pupil!

You can find me here:

http://www.sally-hall-tuition.co.uk

Crazy!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10516149/Flagship-free-school-to-close-over-inadequate-teaching.html

OH DEAR ME!! WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?

IT'S AN INSULT TO THOSE WHO HAVE QTS! CRAZY!

‘In its response to a Freedom of Information request by the NUT  earlier this year,  Discovery New School  revealed that of the school’s five teachers, just two had qualified teacher status (QTS). This did NOT include the Head teacher who similarly did not have QTS.  The school added that it had two associate teachers, only one of which had QTS. So here we have an unqualified Head leading a staff team in which half the teachers were unqualified. This perhaps provides a clue to the unacceptable standard of education found by Ofsted.

******

Deluded!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/all-seven-and-14yearolds-must-take-exams-says-ofsted-chief-sir-michael-wilshaw-8997816.html

This man is having a laugh.
7 year olds don't need Sats tests. They never did! Sats tests are the worst thing that ever happened to
a 7 year old! ( and their parents!)

The trouble is that,nowadays, too many people think that if you throw a test at something,it'll be the cure. How wrong they are.

Throwing a Sats test at the reading problem in our country,is not the answer! And think of the money wasted.

A good teacher knows her children inside out. A govt test does not. And the sooner as those in power
start thinking differently, the better.

I will tell you what is needed to improve children's reading. It's easy.
Make reading TOP PRIORITY. Hear children read, daily. It's as simple as that. Show me a teacher who does that nowadays!

As a classroom teacher in various schools, that's exactly what I did.

As a private tutor,reading takes top priority. I may not be able to hear my children read daily
but I try to get over the importance of this,to their parents.

I have children  ( struggling readers) who come to me and they hardly read to anyone at school. Maybe,they get to read to their teacher once a week, if they are lucky. Sometimes ,they only read to a parent. This isn't right either because they are struggling; the hearing of reading  is a teaching situation as far as those children are concerned.
Yet , they are expected to make progress ! Goodness knows how!

You can throw as many Sats tests at 7 year olds but it's not going to help their reading progress one little bit.

Better that you concentrated on the cause of the problem,Mr Wilshaw!!!

Teach Shakespeare, properly!! ;-)

I wonder ...would you appreciate a piece of music if someone were to place some sheet music
in front of you and tell you to read it and then imagine the tune?

It sounds crazy, doesn't it?

But for many years, in a similar way, that's exactly what we have been doing in our schools when it comes to teaching Shakespeare. No kidding!

We put his famous plays ( well two or three of them , as hardly any school explores anything beyond
Romeo and Juliet , Macbeth or A Midsummer Night's Dream!) in front of our children and we get them to annotate until they are beside themselves with boredom.

Occasionally, we might give them a smattering of a film...sometimes it's  a modern version which
bears no resemblance to the original play. Occasionally, a teacher might just show both an older version and a modern one. Rarely, there might just be a theatre production of the said play at a theatre
in the area...but that's rarely!

Shakespeare was written to be watched. Simple as that. It was the entertainment for the people at that time.  Shakespeare's plays certainly were not written to be picked to pieces...but sadly, that's what's been going on for far too long.

And it's not just Shakespeare! I am horrified that, in GCSE English Lit, we teach certain plays in the very same way. Last year I was helping someone with 'An Inspector Calls' and I noticed that there was a theatre production not too far away, The year before that,I was studying Blood Brothers with a pupil and I noticed that it was being performed at a theatre close by to where I live. Neither school
chose to use these resources.Ok, so money would be the main factor but surely there is a case for trying to negotiate a deal...maybe a matinee performance for all pupils who are studying the plays?
It just doesn't make sense to me that plays have to be studied but cannot be watched. Utter madness!
I am convinced that making use of such a resource would raise these pupils' grades, significantly.


And so I was very heartened when I noticed the article ,below, which is all about the introduction of  Shakespeare workshops . I hope that this idea catches on throughout the country. I really do.

In my opinion,you shouldn't have something on the curriculum if it can't be taught properly.
Let's properly teach Shakespeare, for once and for all!

In the words of the great bard himself:

'Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.'

Contrasted with the tedium and monotony of annotating this great writer's words, I reckon this quote is very apt.

Long live Shakespeare!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/plays-the-thing-globe-theatre-wants-learning-shakespeare-to-be-fun-not-a-chore-8976039.html