It has definitely been a very strange week. My wife is working at home, so like many people out there I’m sure, I have my two year old boy full time, alongside trying to wrestle with our new online teaching world.
As joyful as it is getting to spend some time with the wee lad, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is a bit concerned about the sudden void of more intellectual stimulation that this new isolated existence is presenting. I'm sure I'm asking the same question as a number of teachers: what can we do to keep ourselves motivated, engaged and developing in this classroom free environment?
A man who can answer these concerns, is Tom Sherrington. Tom runs the hugely popular Teacher Head blog, and is the author of a wide range of excellent books about teaching and learning. His new book ‘Teacher Walkthru’s' with Oliver Caviglioli, which is out this weekend, is exactly what we need in this lockdown CPD mode. It is a brilliant step by step guide on how to improve all aspects of what we do in the classroom.
In our wide ranging conversation we discuss his new book and explore how teachers can continue to develop – even without teaching, the research and the books that can keep our passion for teaching going, what really does make effective CPD – and what qualities do we need as a teacher to improve? Finally for those who might be using this time to work on curriculum, Tom shares his thinking on how to do it effectively.