Please Note - Next Week Will be Timetable Week B
Reflective Practice News
Mrs Furness, Science teacher, has been focusing on researching new books that are relevant to children and education:
As a zoologist (my dissertation was on primate dominance hierarchies) and teacher I have long been interested in the ideas around gender in the classroom and workplace. I follow Matt Pinkett @positivteacha on Twitter so was excited to read his book (also written by Mark Roberts (@mr_englishteach) when it was published last month.
I read it cover to cover and have since bought four more copies to share with colleagues and friends. It is fantastic but very thought provoking. I know I have fallen into some of these traps in a classroom before! There are some really challenging topics including chapters on mental health and suicide, class and deprivation. Times have changed but stereotypes about girls simply trying harder and boys needing 'competition' in lessons/life and other inaccurate assumptions need to go too. Of course, the secret benefit is that
all
students benefit from high standards, strong expectations and excellent teaching.
There is plenty of research and data in the book but it’s very readable. My favourite idea is that about 'Tender masculinity', something I notice all around me at school and in society generally but still needs to be nurtured. Let’s ban “man-up” as a phrase shall we? I would highly recommend this book to parents, community group leaders, sports and other coaches and in, fact to anyone who spends anytime with young people.
If you don’t have time to read the whole book, here is a great summary in the Guardian:
