Diary of an (ex)London mum

Until I started teaching in earnest a few years ago, I had not given uhh thought to what makes a good teacher.  I undertook a number of teacher training courses and learnt the technical aspects of teaching.  That did change my perspective as I was more used to thinking with my professional hat on and that did not necessarily make me empathetic to my students’ needs.  It seems simple to say now but I knew where I wanted my students to get to in terms of their learning and taught in the manner that I had observed people who taught me teach me the same material.  In other words I was a good mimic but that did not take in to account what my students needed to help them learn.  So the courses were useful but I found observing good teachers very useful too.  The best observations are the ones done when the teacher is just doing their thing, unaware that they are being observed or that the observation means much.  I found watching the various teachers that B...

Easter has come and gone but the kids are still off till the end of the week.  This is prime time for visiting London.  We did the same from our current home city, to see friends, go to events, visit some of the sites that Baby was too young to go to before.  Having lived there before, we did use our “inside” knowledge to help us get around a little bit more easily. For the last few months I had been travelling between Home and London for work on the odd occasion.  Although work paid for transport, I try to be economical.  Rather than look around too much, I use the Trainline app on my phone to help me look for the cheapest way to travel and to manage my train bookings.  I now book all family train tickets using the app as well.   Most tickets can be issued electronically so you really only need them on your phone to travel- no more digging around for paper tickets or having to collect tickets at the train station.  This works really well and t...