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Judith Ridge

@msmisrule

6 Nov

Some good things happened at school recently that have borne out my decades-long advocacy of selecting texts that meet the students’ needs, interests and abilities rather than falling back on The Canon and what we think is both Good For Them and in our comfort zone as teachers.

@claire_zorn

I share a pretty disengaged Year 10 class with my HT. We decided to teach @claire_zorn’s One Would Think the Deep this term, and it was such a great choice. When my HT read them the first couple of chapters in class, she said you could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

If you don’t know the book, it’s a multi-award-winning YA (#LoveOzYa) novel about grief and loss, masculinity and love, surfing, sex and scratching your way painfully toward adulthood.

Read 16 tweets

Judith Ridge

@msmisrule

23 Oct

My final observation on teaching from home before return to school on Monday. As you will remember, schools were reassured several times about the need for consistency and an ability to plan ahead. So in good faith that's what we did. Executive staff put in ridiculous hours...

planning what school would look like based on dates that shifted several times. So every time that happened, everything had to be re-organised. The new Premier's unilateral decision to bring us back a week early, released to the media first, of course, less than 24 hours

after the DoE's Secretary released a video to staff assuring us that nothing would change, so thereby putting her in the doghouse along with all our carefully laid plans... For my school, this meant we were now coming back to school in the middle of our two week exam period.

Read 11 tweets

Judith Ridge

@msmisrule

17 Oct

Saw my sister, niece and niece’s partner for the first time today in months. Lovely vegan lunch, wonderful to catch up, then sister and I went for a long walk. Now feet are killing me. Orthotic walking shoes hurting more than helping. 😭

We went to the local dog park and watched the shenanigans, although it got a bit too serious at one point and a poor, anxious corgi got picked up and shook by a big dog who smelt its fear. I like dogs but things can go very bad very quickly.

The big dog’s owners were clearly shocked and got him out of there. Little corgi was OK but still very fearful.

We had a long chat with a couple with an Irish wolfhound called Kat (their 8th!) and there was also a glossy black 14 week old Irish Mastiff who has feet

Read 7 tweets

Judith Ridge

@msmisrule

14 Aug

I thought people might appreciate a bit of an insight into how things are for teachers during lockdown. Please note this is just my personal experience, and is not a whinge or a plea for sympathy. I am fine, but it's hard, and all kinds of things are out of our control.

My load this year is 3 days English, 2 days library. At the start of lockdown, I had just one class (Year 8) that I didn't share at least one period with other teachers. My HT and I share a Year 9 and a Year 10 class, and I had one or two periods of other people's Year 8 classes.

Once lockdown started, this is how responsibility for posting work went: obviously, I'm 100% responsible for my own Year 8 class, and I took on the main responsibility for another Year 8 class where the split was 4/3 and the other teacher has young kids at home.

Read 24 tweets

Judith Ridge

@msmisrule

16 Mar 20

All day I have been listening to experts talk about the pros and cons of closing schools. Not a SINGLE ONE has mentioned the health and well-being of the teachers and admin and other adult staff who keep schools open every day.

They talk about how children are not at risk, but neglect to consider the risk to the adults who work in schools who may be pregnant, immune-compromised, diabetic, asthmatic, with any number of health issues that allow them to work, but make them vulnerable to COVID-19.

I mean, I’ve known since I was an undergraduate how badly people disrespect teachers, but I didn’t realise until this week that we were considered so utterly dispensable.

Read 10 tweets

Judith Ridge

@msmisrule

19 Feb 20

https://twitter.com/msmisrule/status/1225001797221093378

Following this thread from earlier in the term, I'm continuing to do book talks to promote wide reading with English classes from various grades. (3 in one day on Monday! Phew!) Talking one-on-one to the kids about their reading habits (or lack thereof) is proving very revealing.

https://twitter.com/msmisrule/status/1225001797221093378

I'm really explicit with the kids about why reading for pleasure is important, but also with the Year 10s I really hammer home that if they do not start right now building up their focus and attention soan, their reading muscles, then they are going to be at a huge disadvantage.

Of course, the non-readers already are, and they have a real battle ahead to make new habits and lost ground.

Anyway, here's what the non-readers seem to be consistently suggesting to me: they have this idea that to read a book, you have to READ THE BOOK:

Read 21 tweets

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