Oh, Brother

April 2, 2026

Several rebootings of everything, much swearing and 17 cups of tea later, it suddenly occurred to me…

Relax, by Terry Freedman. I’m trying to, I’m trying!

A call to Technical Support

August 28, 2019

A call to technical support that was only successful once I’d stretched the facts a bit.

How to fix a paper jam that doesn't exist

August 14, 2019

If your printer keeps telling you there’s a paper jam when there isn’t, you aren’t necessarily going insane. This suggestion worked for me.

ed tech problems: no paper, by Terry Freedman

Problems in the ed tech classroom #3: printer paper

April 4, 2019

Something as simple as the printer’s paper tray being empty can cause mayhem. Here are a few suggestions for dealing with it.

Recent book reviews

Review: The Shortest History of AI

How is it that ChatGPT, Claude and other Al models appear to perform so well at certain complex tasks that some people become convinced that they're sentient — only for them to then promptly fail at simple tasks that even a child could handle?

Review: Teacher Geek

Every so often I like to take a look, or another look, at a book published a while ago, and today I’ve been looking at Teacher Geek, by Rachel Jones.

Review: Teach Fast

The book contains some interesting ideas.

A question of leadership

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference. I think my views can be classified as macro and micro.

Review: Making Good Progress?

Daisy Christodoulou carefully picks apart the pitfalls of various kinds of assessment, drawing on different subject areas to do so.

principles and practice of assessment.jpg

Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment

There is plenty in this book to like.

Review: Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice

Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

Review: One for maths teachers

This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace and a host of other areas and people.

Reviews: Two for History teachers

Two books on the Nazi era.

Review: One for English teachers

No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?