Miss Atkinson (she/her)

Shout out to the Assistant Headteacher who emailed me at work today and abbreviated his job title to “Ass Head”. Thanks for the Thursday afternoon giggle 🤣 #immature

@kenpanthers would love a 30th birthday shoutout tonight to my boyfriend Barney who is sitting in Block 6 tonight! It’s his birthday today and He’s a huge Panthers fan! 💛🖤

@ShakinthatChalk I would imagine that in the boxing club you haven’t got 35 kids under supervision of one adult. More adults = more likely to see what really happened.

Behaviour management at my boys boxing club tonight. One lad clearly a difficult character. Kept misbehaving He punches my boy who hit him back immediately. Coaches intervened and rebuked the lad and openly said my boy did nothing wrong In school both would have been punished.

Interaction I had with a Year 7 today: Him: “Miss, I got detention again! I always get them for such dumb reasons.” Me: “This says it was for having incorrect uniform. Was your uniform incorrect?” Him: “Well, yes.” Pause. Sighs. Him: “Sometimes, I’m the dumb reason.”

@hayleymtaylor @ICT_MrP If you’re using your PPA to go away for the weekend when do you do all your prep?!

@ICT_MrP I’ve been teaching 11 years - I’ve only ever had my PPA at home every other week (so had the whole day off) and I’ve always been given it on a Monday of a Friday. We’re encouraged to use it to go away for the weekend! Can’t see how this would work for secondary though!!

In today’s education news… teachers to be allowed to take their non contact PPA time from home. Does this already happen in your school or are you expected to stay in school for PPA and if so why?

@Sue_Cowley At secondary kids can choose not to go to school (as they are often responsible for getting themselves there). Generally in primary they are dropped off so don’t have a choice!

What are people's thoughts on why attendance is significantly lower in secondary than in primary?

@adamboxer1 I agree with you. I really like planning lessons and I wish I had more time to dedicate to it. The best solution is to give teachers less teaching time and more planning time — not the same amount of teaching time with automated but poor planning.

There is another issue with using AI to plan your lessons, which is this: When planning lessons, experienced teachers don't tend to sit down and write a "plan" that would be recognisable to anyone as a "plan." They think, they might write some notes, they might make some slides, they might make sure they have a worksheet. But they often won't have a "beginning, middle, end" type thing. The bulk of their planning exists in their head. When I ask ChatGPT to plan me a lesson, the output is totally useless to me. It's not in a structure I would want, it's got too many things in it, it's not related to the way that I teach, it uses activities I would never execute. Using its plans would actually just annoy me. I know that ChatGPT is inaccurate and makes mistakes, but (other than time) this isn't really an issue for me as I could check and find them. The bigger issue for me is that it's just wrong for me and the way I teach. Continuing down the spectrum, what about novice teachers? These people would definitely benefit from materials like this. They don't really have a distinctive style yet, aren't set on "a few routines done really well", and a bit of structure can go a long way for them. But now we have a problem with accuracy. How is someone inexperienced supposed to be able to know where ChatGPT is making mistakes? How would they know if the content is accurate? If the activities are suitable? How long things will take? Almost by definition, they couldn't do this. In sum, it's not good for experienced teachers because they have a distinctive style, and forcing them into a different style is restrictive and lowers performance. It's not good for inexperienced teachers because they won't know if it's any good and cannot adequately quality assure.

FINALLY 🥳

@drivelcast @vizcomic There’s one that says to keep potatoes wrapped in foil in your kitchen cupboard so if your house burns down you’ll have a tasty dinner ready. I think about that a lot!

Is there a @vizcomic Letter or Top Tip that lives rent-free in your head? EVERY time I'm driving, I think of the person who wrote in to say "Why should I use my indicators? It's none of your business where I'm going"

@MorgsEdu There’s also a very real chance that you’ll get shot at work. 🤷‍♀️

I once met a class teacher from the US while on holiday. She said she earned $90,000 and didn't have any responsibilities beyond classroom teaching.

We should be shocked by the behaviour that many students and staff are expected to endure in their everyday lives in school. Children need and are entitled to a place that is safe, calm and dignified free from disruption and harassment. Excluded children still deserve a full time education option. Councils are obliged to place all excluded students in AP. No excluded child is outside that system. Which is why we need more investment in high quality post-exclusion destinations PRUs, AP etc. We also need more investment in in-school specialist units where children with chaotic behaviours can be supported to re-integrate, without threatening the well-being of others. 'Inclusion' must be understood properly- it can't just mean 'keep them in the classroom,' or everyone suffers. Sometimes, the best inclusion work is done *external* to the classroom.

@CantabKitty I’m an ECT1 but had a marketing career before starting. I would find something like this so unbelievably patronising. Not every new teacher is 21 going into their first ever job!

@benkarlin1 @adamboxer1 I couldn’t agree with this more. Would make such a huge difference.

@adamboxer1 Make people less poor. Seriously. Alleviating poverty would do more for education than any education policy ever could.

Ok, teachers: if there was one thing you'd want in Labour's education manifesto, what would it be? Read the replies once they come in and hit like to support your faves 👇👇 ALL FOR NEXT WEEK ON TBFM

@naomicfisher Maybe you could post some things about what you think a good school would look like. I see an awful lot of posts about how terrible it is when schools do xyz but not what they should be doing instead.

Imagine you start a new job and they send a strict dress code, down to the colour of your socks and style of your shoe. They also send you a list of equipment which they say you must have every day. Some of it seems a bit strange - two green pens?- but off you go dutifully to Smiths and equip yourself. On the first day, you’re lined up with your colleagues and inspected. Anyone whose clothes aren’t exactly according to the dress code is told they’ll have to work an extra half hour. Same for any missing equipment. The penalties add up - wrong colour socks and missing protractor? One hour after work. You’re a bit concerned at this because you had arranged a lift home and if you have to stay late you’ll miss it. You check your clothes and equipment, all seems okay. You pass the check, but the woman next to you has the wrong shoes. She’s distressed at the news that she’ll be staying late - she had plans later. Tough. She starts worrying about how she’s going to get new shoes to avoid the same tomorrow whilst also staying late at work. You don’t know how to help. You get into your office and look around at your colleagues, but there’s no time to chat. On the whiteboard is a list of expectations for the day. You must be on task at all times and this will be monitored through your computer. Toilet breaks are limited to particular times and you’ll be queuing because it’s the same time for everyone. Eyes must be kept on your computer and this will be tracked. You must sit facing forwards and not slouch. You must use a regulation ruler whenever you read a document. If you break the rules, you’ll be kept after work the same day. You’re told that if you get too many ‘after works’ then you’ll spend a day in the Quiet Room where no one will talk to you for the whole day and you can’t eat lunch with your colleagues or go to the toilet more than twice. You start to feel a sense of unease. You’re worried about whether you can comply and what will happen if you start gazing off into space or rocking on your chair. The office is very quiet. ‘Isn’t it lovely?’ says your manager. ‘People here appreciate our structure and clear boundaries. You’ll do the best work you have ever done here because no time is wasted. We’ve set it up so you don’t have to worry about making decisions, you just do what we say and concentrate on your work’. You think perhaps this isn’t the right place for you, but they remind you that you’ve signed a five year contract without a get out clause. There are no other options. You are powerless. What effect would that have on you? Would you be happy and relaxed at work? Would you be motivated and doing your best for those five years? Might you feel anxious and trapped or resentful and angry? And why would we think it would be any different for our kids?

It has to be:

@MrHtheteacher I agree w you in principle but in practice, we have some children at our school who are given a new pen EVERY DAY and still lose/forget it by the next day. They’re turning up to school every day without one. Going through box after box of pens giving them out. What’s the answer?

@welshbookfairy Go as a River is beautiful!

𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬 🦔🌿 A comprehensive round up of the UK kindle deals. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 🫶🏻 ⇊

Thinking about how in my old job, if I had to work in the evening for an event, I got TOIL AND paid for it AND a decent free food. Whereas tomorrow I’ll be at school til 7pm for Parents’ Evening and get none of those things. 🤔

@alicemjslater I read this back in Jan and loved it! ☺️

@meh50187 It’s fantastic. One of my faves!