Ultimately, this study makes explicit something many teachers likely already sense. Experienced teachers differ from novices, but not primarily because they know more. They differ mainly in how they look at what is happening in the classroom, and in what they do next.
This Week in Media
Reading
Starter Villain by John Scalzi. I really liked this. It was fun and, in an unprecedented moment, actually made me laugh out loud like my 7 year old does (or does he do it like me and I’ve just forgotten how?!). Anyway, it’s not too serious and moved quickly.
As always, it was more fun going in knowing very little. The thing with the cats for example I didn’t know about.
Music
Sunrise Sessions III by Ólafur Arnalds Listened to this on my morning walk.
Video
“To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavor. The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal, or two friends talking over a pint of beer, or a person alone reading a book that interests them; and all economics, politics, laws, armies, and institutions, are only valuable in so far as they prolong and multiply such scenes.” C.S. Lewis
Source: Mere Christianity (edited lightly for clarity)
Via 3-2-1: On reducing fear, what matters most, and how life responds to us - James Clear
On Giving Teachers Enough Time
Today’s Unjammed episode is built around a simple-if-implausible idea: what happens when teachers are given enough time to do their work. It’s not just about having enough time to complete all the items off the to-do list, either. (Though that does matter!) More importantly, it’s about what it means for teachers to step into a classroom as their best selves—a win for teachers, yes, but more importantly a win for students.
I feel this one, in my bones. There’s the to do list, but there’s also the deeper worker (spending time thinking, looking after myself, etc etc) and there just ain’t enough time for both.
Day 2 going to the gym in the morning. I think I need to move faster or get up earlier. Got home around 6:40. Which I think doesn’t leave me enough time.
First time having a go at going to the gym at 5am. Getting up and there was fine but need to work on a routine for it I think.
A colleague added the tones for me…
Managed to get Genius on Spelling Bee today and yet still were words I missed. It’s becoming my favourite NYTimes game.
Connections
Puzzle #972
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
Did this one with the kids while they didn’t do their homework.
The automatic mechanism from the 🀄️ machine is just cool.
打麻将
Today is my 100th consecutive day of 10000 steps. Mostly I’ve achieved it with a walk in the morning before walk and then the rest of the day takes me over the line.
A couple of time I had to go for a short walk to make it and honestly that just feels silly. Unnecessary even. So, I’m considering just changing it to one walk a day for 30 minutes. We’ll see.
牛肉刀削面. So good. New favourite place.
On average, almost one-quarter of what teachers say in class is directly related to classroom management.
Something I will try and notice tomorrow.
Apparently, it started with an accident. This coming year will be the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac. Except, the mouth was added the wrong way around… I kind of like them, hence buying a couple that arrived today.
20 back squats at 84kg (12/10)
9600m on the Assault Bike
20 back squats at 84kg (10/10)
21:11. (5 second pb)
Heart rate went up and stayed up. Though those little dips are where I moved from bar to bike and bike to bar.
It matters not at all whether we are holding our breath for a triumph or bracing for a tragedy. For as long as we are waiting, we are not living.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/01/21/henry-james-the-beast-in-the-jungle/
I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.
Haim G. Ginott
Clearly got the taste for it. Ordered this for dinner.
When your colleagues bring in chilli and they say it’s spicy. And considering that we live in a place famous for their spicy food. You believe them. This stuff was potent but amazing.
10 x 1min max effort Assault Bike, 3 minutes rest.
Calories for each round: 20.3, 20.4, 20.5, 20.5, 20.6, 18.8, 18.8, 17.4, 17.1, 18.5
Started out well. Maintained 20calories until 5 minutes and then it got hard.
2 more weeks and I’ll have done 10000 steps a day for a 100 days. Which I just realised will be a 1 million steps.
After 100 days, I am planning to just switch to walk for 30 minutes every day. At the moment, I am doing ‘last minute’ walks to get myself over the line and it just feels silly.