Extra: Great Lessons

A teacher since 1987, Tom Sherrington is currently headteacher at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford in Essex, UK. He writes a blog called headguruteacher.

He believes teachers need to focus on extraordinary, one-off lessons, but on things that we do every day and supports this with two related ideas:

• It is the spirit of an idea that is important, not the letter.  It isn’t about sticking to the rules. When good practice is embedded it is organic and doesn’t feel like a stuck-on activity plucked from a toolkit.
• In improving as teachers, we are not collecting tools, we [are] seeking to change our habits… the things we do automatically every day.

Sherrington is currently producing a series of short posts called Great Lessons that focus on aspects of routine practice "– because lessons can be routinely outstanding."

They can be read here:

1. Great Lessons 1: Probing (JAN 22, 2013)
2. Great Lessons 2: Rigour (JAN 27, 2013)
3. Great Lessons 3: Challenge ( JAN 31, 2013)
4. Great Lessons 4: Differentiation (FEB 3, 2013)
5. Great Lessons 5: Journeys (FEB 8, 2013)
6. Great Lessons 6: Explaining (FEB 13, 2013)