My lesson was inspected and all things tech went wrong

March 5, 2025

I have long been of the opinion that inspectors should just drop in, unannounced.

The 60 MInute Writer

December 2, 2024

My course at the City Lit.

A news update

November 7, 2024

Here are a few items that I hope will be of interest to you.

Writing for blogs

October 11, 2024

Every so often I read some pundit, or usually a journalist pretending to be a pundit, suggesting that blogs are dead. What can I say? They’re not.

Reflections: What's the point of book reviews?

October 7, 2024

So many authors think they ought to be the recipient of the Nobel prize for literature.

Success redefined

August 27, 2024

I’ve been thinking about definitions of success recently.

I was a teenage geek (Updated)

April 15, 2024

One day when I was 15, I was milling around in this youth club trying to look cool, when someone came up to me and asked me if I’d be interested in joining a cinematography club. I’d never touched a cine camera in my life.

7 reasons that the FAIL acronym fails (Updated)

March 30, 2024

Failing is empowering.

Something ain’t right, by Terry Freedman

Bad pitches

March 28, 2024

Examples of how not to try and sell a product or an idea.

Mobile phones: Another ritual

March 7, 2024

Every so often an Education Secretary announces a ban on mobile phones in school (which always turns out to be guidance, not mandatory). It's a sort of non-policy, a statement for the purpose, in my opinion, of wanting to say something, anything.

Teacher admin tasks: the ritual is alive and well

March 6, 2024

In January 2024 the English Department for Education published its initial thoughts on teacher admin tasks, as in what teachers should not be expected to have to do.

This is one of those rituals that the DfE goes through every so often in one form or another.

I don't agree with Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). Here's Why (Updated with downloadable paper)file)

February 14, 2024

A question: is Cognitive Load Theory another example of the emperor’s new clothes?

What I Look For in a Conference revisited

December 28, 2023

I attend a lot of conferences, and over the years I've developed a useful set of criteria by which to evaluate them. Here, then, in no particular order, are my top 14 characteristics of a good conference.

8 Reasons educators should blog

December 28, 2023

I think everyone involved in education should have a blog! Here, in no particular order, are my reasons.

18 Essential Elements of a Digital Financial Literacy Course

December 11, 2023

Here are my 18 suggestions for inclusion on a digital financial literacy course. This is an update of an article first published in 2011.

Ah, those were the days -- not

November 29, 2023

Here at Freedman Towers I have been trawling through the archives, hoping to salvage something of my legacy to donate to the nation, or indeed the world. Anyways, all joking aside, I came upon this email I wrote…

Fun, in the most patronising way you can think of

November 28, 2023

It’s almost unheard of for me to read advertorials or sponsored posts, especially when the words “Advertisement” appears in small print somewhere other than the headline. But the title made me curious.

***Photo by*** ***Windows*** on ***Unsplash***

New online blogging course

November 2, 2023

I will be running another online course in blogging in the evenings of the 17th and 24th November 2023.

But where’s the pen?

September 26, 2023

Spaces and learning; spaces should be designed according to the kind of learning that people would like to experience in them.

Recent book reviews

One for your Geography colleagues perhaps? Review: A Little History of the Earth -- two reviews in one!

For your English colleagues: A Word for all Seasons -- two reviews in one!

For your maths colleagues: The Mending of Broken Bones: A Modern Guide to Classical Algebra -- two reviews in one!

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

For your History colleagues: The Worst Exhibition in the World: Degenerate Art, 1937 -- two reviews in one!

Is The computing Curriculum Too Masculine? Revisited 16 years later!

One of the apparently insoluble problems of the age is how do you encourage more girls to take up Computing? I think a lot can be done, and have done so myself, but I wonder how far a lot of the effort fails to get to the heart of the issue, which could be the curriculum itself, the way it is taught, or a combination of the two?

Book review: The best writing on mathematics, 2016

I think this could be an excellent resource for teachers of mathematics.

For your Eng Lit colleagues? The Penguin Book of the International Short Story -- two reviews in one!

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote!

Two reviews in one: Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals -- art and history

One for your colleagues, perhaps: art, art history, ploitics with a small ‘p’.

Two reviews in one: State of Ridicule: A History of Satire in English Literature -- politics, history, English

One for your colleagues, perhaps. Sperrin has provided a wealth of information that can be used to provide a rich experience for students of politics, history and English literature.

Two reviews in one: A Little History of Mathematics