Category: #thinkery

Death of the Saturday Job

What did you learn from your Saturday Job? I used to pick potatoes for my uncle – which taught me some valuable things about work (and how to throw a potato…)
School and Work

Following some table discussions, this thought emerged about the gap between school and work – and how learning and earning should ideally overlap.
Work Experience

This was a comment by Jamie Dunn which resonated with me. Surely there are better ways to give young people an experience of work?
Social Ties

I really enjoyed listening to George the Poet talk about social ties within the community he grew up – both good and not so good…
Outbreak of Hope

Here’s another thought emerging from a conversation at @dotcomrades – with reference to the vote for Independence in Scotland. I’m fascinated by hope – as its relationship with strong leadership…
A Guide to British Weather

This is my understanding of British Weather. As an Irishman, I’m perfectly qualified to make such judgements…
CAST – Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology

I’m big fans of Kieron Kirkland and Dan Such – both ex Nominet Trust – and their desire to see the world changed. CAST is their new venture…
An Organic Teaching Routine

I met @urban_teacher recently and he asked me to apply a visual metaphor to his teaching routine. I’m not sure if the metaphor of growing stuff is the most appropriate, but it captures the essence behind the various stages of the process. Here’s a sketch of where I started: And here is the result…
Planning Buckets for Scope

I created this image to go with Doug Belshaw’s blogpost on “Setting an Agile School Rhythm” …
Setting an Agile School Rhythm

This was very much an off-the-cuff image for @dajbelshaw’s DML post – but I’m really happy with how it turned out. I picked up on the word Rhythm and that was that…
Eyes wide open

This piece of thinkery was created in collaboration with Doug Belshaw for FE Week – there’s something about how an eye looks and the inner meaning attached to it that is hardwired in our inner machine – its hard to hold its gaze. “The eye is the lamp of the soul”…
Verbal Sunshine

Isn’t it though? I need all the encouragement I can get – so it only makes sense that I should be generous with it too…