Our resident blogger and English Trainee reflects on this week's training...
‘Mmmm,
biscuits’ – this is surely what Homer Simpson would say instead of ‘Mmmm,
donuts’ if, in a parallel universe, he was British and not American. And a
teacher. In a training session today on progressing from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ my
inner Homer (we’ve all got one) was awoken by the following thunk*, which
proves yet again that in teaching everything can be brought back to baked or
confectionery goods:
If an
outstanding lesson was a biscuit what kind of biscuit would it be and why?
So what is
the answer? Bourbon? Hobnob? Party Ring? Jammy Dodger? Chocolate Digestive?
Fortune cookie? The point is, of course, that there is no correct
answer; our trainer simply wanted us to reflect on the ingredients of an
outstanding lesson. It’s not a bad analogy: biscuit means ‘twice baked’ which
to me suggests that an outstanding lesson is done to perfection: you have
shallow learning (the first bake) followed by deeper learning (the second bake)
and then you eat it – profound learning! Unfortunately for us trainees it often
feels like the biscuit tin is just out of reach.
However, as
we learnt today, there is a clear difference between producing an outstanding
lesson and being an outstanding teacher. As one Ofsted inspector put it, ‘An
outstanding teacher delivers consistently good lessons’. It is comforting to
know that a good lesson is not considered half-baked; we don’t all have to be
the Mary Berry of education. That said, the day I get my first ‘outstanding’ it
will be like winning the The Great British Bake Off.
*OED definition: Thunk: 1. Informal
or humorous past participle of think; 2. A "beguiling question
about everyday things that helps you to look at the world in a whole new
light"; 3. The sound of a child's head slamming into a table.
Wyvern Technology College and Upper Shirley High School
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