It’s a funny feeling, almost new each time I experience it, an anticipation of loss that is somehow fresh and … More
Tag: PGCE
The class of my dreams
The Class to the Class of 2014 after Raymond Carver The class with beautiful scarves The class who learned … More
Lifesaving Poems: Riddle 7 (The Exeter Book)
Sometime in 1997 I went to hear Kevin Crossley-Holland give a reading at Exeter Central Library. I’d heard he was … More
Scribbling With Delight
When I speak to trainee primary school teachers about their views of poetry I am often struck by their divergent … More
Lifesaving Poems: Shel Silverstein’s ‘Not Me’
I wrote yesterday about pitching poems in the classroom which are aimed not at the crowd but perhaps one … More
Finding ‘And Yet the Books’
One year I decided that I would decorate one of my teaching rooms with my collection of Poems on the … More
On Saying Goodbye to Primary PGCE Students
For the last nine years at the end of the first week in July I have been saying goodbye to … More
In Praise of PGCE Students
PGCE students are so dedicated. They burn with desire to be amazing. They hand in their work and have beautifully … More
Why initial teacher education needs to stay in universities
What Michael Gove says about trainee teachers having the opportunity to observe and learn from teachers in school is critically important. … More
Writing and Silence
I love the silence that descends on a classroom full of people who are all engaged in the act of … More