On being a human teacher – Part 1: The gentle disciplinarian
I try really hard to be a gentle teacher, every moment of every school day. But last term, a new student in my class…
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Moo-ving to the country: life in Shepparton
“So, where am I going to teach?” This would be the question that plagued me for weeks on end as I carefully weighed the…
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Ninety nine problems but motivation ain’t one
According to the behavioural science author, Dan Pink, the three levers for influencing motivation at work are autonomy, mastery and purpose. While I listened…
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The Surprising Lessons I Learnt From Teaching
Throughout my traversing of social media, there is one internet meme that I have always particularly enjoyed. The meme is entitled “What people think…
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Five reasons (plus one) you would make a great teacher
You’ve heard about teaching and you’re interested, but how do you know if you should take the plunge and sign on for the best…
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The reality of a maths class where all kids learn
This morning, I came into school early. I wanted to whip up a tracker for my year 10 maths class so I could tell…
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Connecting with community
In early 2017, I left inner-city Sydney to live and work as a teacher in a small regional town in north-central Victoria. I swapped…
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English as a fourth language
“Dat one dere cheese, Miss!” These were the words of one of my Aboriginal students in French class, holding up a flash card with…
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What I learnt about Australian values teaching about ANZAC Day as the son of migrants
I grew up in Australia as a classic third culture kid, the child of migrants who came from Malaysia in the 70s. As a…
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Know your students
There aren’t many things that everyone can agree on about our education system. Everything from how schools should be funded to student welfare, pro-…
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