Teachers Notebook

So who am I and why have I started this notebook?

I completed my undergraduate degree in 2006 in Psychology and Biology and during my final year I choose the module ‘Educational Psychology’. At this point in my life I had no idea what I was going to do after university, but this module changed all that. My lecturer Alex Harrop seemed to ignite my curiosity in educational research. I distinctly remember a lecture on behaviour management, and we listened to audio recordings of classrooms, analysing how the teacher was dealing with disruptive students. It sounded chaotic but I was just entrapped in how one person can have such an influence of others in such a calm and collective way. I remember learning about the strategy of ignoring the bad behaviour and only praising the good. I still think about how this actually fits into my classroom practice 18 years on. I then began to look into training as a Science teacher with the intention to move into training as an Educational Psychologist as back then you had to have been a teacher before moving into the field.

Fast forward to me now, still a teacher, never quite making that move into Educational Psychology, but actually very pleased to have never left the hustle and bustle of the classroom. In my current school I have begun to gradually take on responsibly, first as a subject lead, then as Second in Science and now alongside that role I’ve been able to have a whole school T&L role as Pedagogical Leader in charge of our whole school coaching initiative. I’ve just passed my NPQLT (I got my result just yesterday) and it got me thinking……. I love educational research, I’m dedicated to improve my teaching practice and I love to motivate other teachers so maybe I will start this notebook blog to record my thoughts on what is happening in the UK classrooms. All what I write is completely my opinion and I’m not here to preach to others. But I will tell you about what does and doesn’t work in my classroom and also share with you educational research that I come across that sparks my interest.

So that’s me, I’ve started this notebook for me to just be me and maybe motivate others along the way.

Adelle