Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, Raise your hand if you're also overjoyed albeit slightly incredulous that January is finally gone! It seemed impossible, it felt like it lasted 87 days, it rained the vast majority of it, but hey - we made it through. It's now gone, and it left us the new season of Bridgerton as a parting gift, so what more could we want? Tough but fair Today, I am very pleased not only to welcome February, but also to give you some good news: the updated...
4 days ago • 5 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, If you've been feeling a little overwhelmed by, well, *the world around us* with its geopolitical instability, dystopian forecasts about AI-induced mass unemployment and then, to top it all off on a difficult week, the Beckham family feud, let me ressure you: you're not alone. On the flip side, when the world seems to scream at us with no regard for our mental health, sometimes small things will pop up to remind us that not all hope is lost....
11 days ago • 7 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, Writing this on a Saturday might not be ideal, but it wouldn't be so bad if looking outside my window didn't resemble this: Am I being dramatic? Perhaps, though it is foggier than one would wish (and I appreciate that speaking about myself in the third person like a Bridgerton character is probably not helping my non-dramatic image). But the silver lining is that at least I get to write to you, dear teacher, and that is always a pleasure...
18 days ago • 10 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, How was your inbox feeling without my newsletter for two (!) consecutive weeks? I for one hope that both you and your inbox were too busy stuffing your face with pandoro that you didn't even notice. But now that I'm back, here's a platitude you hadn't already heard 5,407 times this month: happy new year! I hope your holiday break was, if not wonderful, at least mildly restorative and that you are now, if not enthusiastically ready to start the...
25 days ago • 7 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, In keeping with the frankly inescapable-these-days Christmas mood, imagine me as your Dickensian ghost of Christmas past: I could have chosen a slightly more intellectual adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but I think we both know I was always going to go with the Muppets. Why? Because I'm writing this email on Thursday, 18 December, and at this time, I'm still technically a year younger. But once you receive my missive, I will have turned one...
about 2 months ago • 8 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, Dare I say: the Christmas holiday break is in sight? I think I dare. I know, anything could happen from here to the end of next week - particularly with the increasing rates of kids being hopped up on sugar as the holidays arrive. However, 14 December feels like a fairly safe date to declare ourselves "teachers who made it to the end of the school year in one piece". And a good measure of the arrival of Christmas is - for me, at least - the...
about 2 months ago • 10 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, It's December! I know you knew, but it is the first newsletter of the new month, so let me take some pleasure in remarking that my favourite month of the year is here. It's not that I dislike the warmer seasons - I'm actually partial to the first spring blossoms and a good old summer's day, particularly in this part of the world where the heat almost never makes me want to rip my skin off. But December, and the Christmas season, are a whole...
about 2 months ago • 10 min read
Join 10,300 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, Sometimes, you'll go through something a bit horrible, only to realise later that you got something positive out of it. And the English language is fantastically imaginative in the ways it has of describing this sort of situation: a blessing in disguise¹ every cloud has a silver lining making lemonade (out of lemons) Not to mention one of my favourite sayings: the only way out is through. This past week, the new concorsi have started, and I...
2 months ago • 7 min read
Join 10,300 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, In recent news that absolutely nobody asked for: snow season is here! And here's a new term for you (or maybe you knew it already, so in that case it's new for me): "snow flurry", i.e. a light snowfall that results in little or no snow accumulation. Which is what happened here, so probably nothing to write home about, but hey - try and stop me. This week has been very hectic: the Ministry saw it fit to finally publish the PNRR2 quiz questions...
2 months ago • 7 min read
Join 10,300 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, What is up with life being so hectic, I've been wondering? Has it always been like this or is it me being particularly meditative as of late? Mind you, not that this meditative state has produced any great insights, but alas... Can you relate? Between the new concorso, the conclusion of Speak Better Teach Better and the end of year rush (6 weeks to go, folks!), I feel like I can't catch a break. If we're in the same boat, and I suspect that we...
3 months ago • 6 min read