[please note that all references to Mr Blatter are in a light-hearted manner in reference to moderately recent media speculation. In the word of Have I Got News For You: "allegedly"]  When running peer assessment, it's common for the class to give a few "bonus" marks to their friends. I recently got a class to ...

It may not be the case for all of you, but my position is being filled by another probationer next year. Even if this isn't what's happening to your role as the year comes to a close, have a thought for whoever is taking over your classes if you're not being kept on. Remember what it was like the first time you took that fourth form, ...

 A comment I overheard between two pupils this morning made me realise I had been concentrating my efforts in all the wrong places if I want my classes to like me as a teacher. They were examining their new timetables and comparing staff when I heard the following comment:  "She's great - her room always smells dead ...

I'm finding this all very bizarre. I was taught mostly in England. At the end of the year we left and when we came back, we were in the year above. Not so north of the border. It seems common practice to elevate the pupils a year at the end of the year before. This means organising resources, timetables and so forth during term time. It also ...

 ...for exam leave. We're now down to just S1, S2 and S3 as the S5 and S6 pupils joined their S4 brethren yesterday, heading off into the wild blue yonder with only a handful of appearances left before the summer break. It was a moderately emotional experience. I only had one class of "senior" pupils, a mixture of S5 and S6, ...

 I'm currently finishing grading some past work for S1 due to the parents' evening coming up shortly. Each pupil has a card which lists each module and the tasks within those modules that they have done. These get a mark out of 4 and the module assigned an overall mark based on that. Essentially: Very good workAcceptableJust ...

 So what's happened today? It's Monday, I have a short working day so plenty of lesson prep time and since the bell went at 8:30, I have: 1) Taken a register and had some banter with my registration group 2) Hurriedly drafted a Prezi presentation for my S5 class 3) Issued a referral to one pupil 4) Worked with a small sub-group of ...

I've not done the maths, but I'm reckoning that this is around the halfway point in the academic year (just after half term of the second term). However, don't rely on the calendar to tell you when you should have things finished without taking into account all the other events that affect this. Main amongst these, particularly in the ...

 I'm going to delve into politics a little with this post, so do bear with me. Recent decisions have been made, or at least proposals put forward to change the structure of education in the city in which I work. Obviously, this has fallen under the catch-all of "saving money" - obviously a good thing. However, the way it's ...

As the Christmas holiday comes to an end I realise I've not posted on here for some time. I admit it's been fairly low priority what with everything else going on so it's time for a quick catch-up. Also, apologies if you have spotted your comment on an earlier post is missing. I've been having some dreadful problems from two ...