This question comes from Aniko Madi, who is embarking on writing a novel of speculative fiction: — What is the best way to learn how to write? Should I do a course? Do I need to go to university? Is it possible to teach myself? This is a great question, Aniko, and the short answer isContinue reading “What’s the best way to learn how to write?”
Tag Archives: Education
…a history of classrooms
66.The first classroom you remember has a high ceiling, high windows, a plastic trough where you play with water. There are books that are read to you while you sit cross-legged on the floor, your feet tingling with pins and needles. You sit at your desk pondering over workbooks that have puzzles and questions, theContinue reading “…a history of classrooms”
…teaching in the age of Covid
25.You return to teaching after many months away. But this is not teaching as you know it, sitting around a table with your students to debate, discuss and enquire. Instead you are in your living room, meeting your students on a laptop screen. This is teaching in the age of Covid, and this is whatContinue reading “…teaching in the age of Covid”
Beginning Again
It has been five years and two months since my last post. I try not to feel too bad about this, as I was drawn away by novel writing, working two teaching jobs, moving house a multitude of times and launching my children into the world of adulthood. Still, I feel bad about it. Continue reading “Beginning Again”
The future is built on the dreams of today – Part 2
Last week I posted about the restriction of creative subjects in our schools, with Education secretary Nicky Morgan in one corner suggesting that studying the arts will hold young people back, and Steven Spielberg in the other, fighting for the daydreamers and window gazers who spend their time imagining a whole world of possibilities. NeedlessContinue reading “The future is built on the dreams of today – Part 2”
The future is built on the dreams of today – Part 1.
Yesterday I caught the end of an old episode of The South Bank Show, where Melvyn Bragg interviewed Steven Spielberg in 1982, the year ET: the Extra-Terrestrial was released. I tuned in at the right moment, when Spielberg looked at him with a childlike smile and said, “Movies are dreams. They’re the daydreams you haveContinue reading “The future is built on the dreams of today – Part 1.”
If you don’t know the answer, still ask the question.
This week has seen a hiatus in my own writing while I mark my students’ work. This is for the Teaching Writing module, and the work they’ve produced is in the form of a blog, charting their progress over the past few months and reflecting on how the theories and ideas about teaching have fedContinue reading “If you don’t know the answer, still ask the question.”
Teaching Uncertainty
So here we are, fresh into the new semester at BSU, and this week my students have made me think about the role of uncertainty for teachers in the classroom. This all started in the module Teaching Writing where I’m teaching students how to teach, a class that can become so self-referential I keep expectingContinue reading “Teaching Uncertainty”
The things that scare you…
A couple of weeks ago I bumped into an ex-student at a seminar run by the Higher Education Academy. I taught her as an undergraduate on a module where writing out of your comfort zone and experimentation was encouraged. She told me I gave her two pieces of advice that she’s never forgotten and nowContinue reading “The things that scare you…”
Sally Gander 