2 Blog on Blog

Yes, I know, you can tell when news agencies are running out of ideas when the reporters start interviewing each other. So, a story about blogs in a blog seems to be going in the wrong direction. http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2058253,00.html However, I think there is a potential and relevance in these accounts of the fine grained experience of practioners that could be of real use to The Brightside Trust. It is an easy way to begin to understand what shapes the outlooks of people who we need to understand better. Perhaps we should find practitioner bloggers for all those areas of interest to us.

I had a look at the sites listed in the Guardian article. In terms of the day-to-day experience of teaching, I felt that ‘it’s your time you’re wasting’ (note the address begins with i, not an L which it looks like in the article) http://iytywnm.blogspot.com and mildly melancholy were the best http://mildlymelancholy.blogspot.com. Mildly melancholy is USA based. Mr Hood science teacher at http://mrhood.co.uk/tite has some good detail about science teaching. From my point of view, OneMoreBigAdventure and The Teacher were disappointingly. They seem to spend very little time recording their views and experiences of teaching; rather they give us a broader account of their lives and views about the world; interesting, but not what I’m after. Frank Chalk, http://frankchalk.blogspot.com , is no longer teaching, so his comment are about education policy, as seen by a former trooper, rather than a record of ongoing experience. However, his account of being a new teacher in a difficult school, in his first book, is very good http://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-Your-Time-Youre-Wasting/dp/0955285402/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/026-7549495-4502836?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176803449&sr=8-1 So, if you’re interested in science, follow Mr Hood and if you want to get a feel of the day-to-day experience of UK schools try http://iytywnm.blogspot.com and http://mildlymelancholy.blogspot.com . Maybe we should buy Frank Chalk’s book for the library, it’s not much fun, but it might help people understand the reality of working in a disadvantaged and failing school. If anyone comes across a good experiential blog, in any area, please let me know.