The personalities of Sarah, Chloe, and Lucy represent the three Centres. Chloe is a Type Two (Heart Centre), Lucy is a Type Five (Head Centre), and Sarah is a Type Eight (Gut Centre). Chloe immediately realised that her teacher was not herself. Twos are very sensitive to the emotions of others. This is part of their … More Translating the Unspoken Words
It had been a rough week … More Unspoken Words
An 8 child’s story In the 6th grade a friend and I found a classroom open during spring break. We saw it as an unexpected opportunity for an amazing adventure filled with possibilities. We moved things all around the room; we changed the names on the chalkboard and talked into the tape recorder. We created total … More The Assertive Child’s Tale
Sometimes the most difficult sets are those that are one up from the bottom. Sophie had one of those. A few of the students worked quietly and industriously but the class felt chaotic. The problem with handling the disruption was that the students concerned did not see their actions as disruptive. And the irony was … More Avalanche of Anxiety
Tom was covering a rather difficult lesson. It was a very small group, about 18 in a bottom set. As usual for these sets, it was a mixed bag of students who ‘couldn’t’ but wished they could and students who ‘could’ but couldn’t be bothered to! There was a judicious seating plan in place, and … More Let Down (?) by the Hard Worker
What would a world look like where Darwin’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’ was a life philosophy? As a biology teacher, I am intrigued by how our belief about how the world IS governs the way we act, and indeed the way we consciously or unconsciously believe the world SHOULD BE. As Darwin’s theory of evolution … More Letting Go of the Need to be Perfect
Tom had bombed out in his mock. His teacher Sarah was perplexed. He was an enthusiastic member of the class, and she had expected at least a B. But he had missed the right answers sometimes by a wide margin, and often he had not got the ‘easy’ marks. “Tom, I’d really like to go … More Stressed out over Exams
John grabbed a coffee and slumped into a seat in the staffroom. “It does my head in”, he muttered to himself. Sam heard him and went over to join him. “Which one is it now? Is Casey giving you a hard time again?” “You won’t believe it, but it’s Sasha.” “Sasha who?” “You know, Sasha … More A Falling Star
As Debbie sat down she flung her long hair over her shoulder and I could see the determined set of her jaw and her apprehensive frown. I hadn’t met Debbie yet. I was doing some long term supply teaching, and was given this class as the relationship had broken down with their teacher. Specifically, it … More Showdown in Lab 16
I have just returned from a refreshing few days at the Association for Science Education’s Annual Meeting at the University of Birmingham. There was a wealth of fun, exciting, creative, and innovative ideas, practicals, and demonstrations there…..more than enough to inspire a generation of Nobel Prize winners. But the paradox is that it seems that … More Beyond Our Own Egos to Child-Centred Behaviour Management
The word ‘Compassion’. Is it a new word for you? Have you always used it? Are you using it more now? If you Google the word definition, this graph showing how often it was used in the written form pops up. I am intrigued by this graph. Click on the picture to get a more … More The Fall and Rise of Compassion
Mark’s behaviour was typical of the Type 7 personality, sometimes known as the Adventurer or Epicure. The driver of this personality is Fear, and the coping strategy is to avoid it by focusing on happiness, fun and nice things. For most Sevens ‘work’ is not fun – certainly if it is dictated by someone else. … More Understanding the Reluctant Perfectionist
Compassionate Learning 
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