Brian's Blog

Within the scope of education, leadership plays a crucial role in shaping the future of students, educators, and the broader educational community. True leadership goes beyond administrative tasks and strategy; it embraces the character traits of integrity, humbleness, and faith. These virtues, when embodied by leaders, nurture a culture of trust, accomplishment, and celebration, promoting a sense of flourishing among all stakeholders.  In this longer blog post written to honour the work of a dear colleague, I will explore the significance of academic knowledge and its integration into high-quality teaching and learning curricula. Additionally, I will examine the essential elements of social-emotional wellbeing and the value of offering unwavering support during times of change and innovation. I invite you to continue reading! This article draws upon the extensive experience of a long-standing friend and colleague and is influenced by six other critical educational leaders that I h...

Recharge, Reconnect, and Rejuvenate as an Educator. As educators, we dedicate our lives to our students. We work long hours, riding the demands of lesson planning, grading, and classroom management while often putting our own needs on the back burner. This can lead to burnout, a loss of joy in our profession, and even physical and mental health problems.  However, the holidays provide a unique opportunity for us to recharge, reconnect, and rejuvenate. By taking some time for ourselves, we hit a reset button, allowing us to reconnect with our loved ones, experience moments of pure happiness and feel relaxed.  In this blog post, I will explore how taking a break from the daily grind can bring us immense happiness, enabling us to return to our classrooms with renewed energy and ready to make a difference in the lives of our students. Here are some ways to find happiness in the holidays as an educator. Quality Time with Family and Friends The holidays grant us precious moments to ...

The ability of teachers to organise classrooms and manage the behaviour of the students is critical to achieving positive educational outcomes. Student learning is the primary goal of effective classroom management and thus the inability of teachers to effectively manage classroom behaviour according to Harrell et al., (2004) contributes to the low achievement of at risk students.  Instruction that is effective in encouraging higher rates of academic engagement and on-task behaviour is characterised instruction which has significant to the students, is planned, sequential and logically ordered to develop skills, offers frequent opportunities for students to respond and guides practice through immediate feedback (Carnine, 1976). The use of rules and routines is a powerful preventative component of classroom organisation and management plans. Rules establish the behavioural context of the classroom by specifying what behaviours are expected and the consequences of inappropriate beh...