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Margaret Paton
Margaret Paton

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Jan 22

My drive to teach

A pedagogy-free beginning This was a country at war in early 1995. My charges, aged eight to 12, in this Zagreb middle school, had experienced dodging snipers taking shots at them from high up on city buildings, sirens forewarning of bomb about to crash land. …

Teaching

22 min read

My drive to teach
My drive to teach

Jan 7

How to kickstart your tech-edged freelance writing career

Where do you start if you want to forge a career as a technical or technology writer? A technical writer churns out how-to-guides, instruction or user manuals, journal articles, FAQs, product specifications, white papers, etc. …

Freelance Writing

11 min read

How to kickstart your tech-edged freelance writing career
How to kickstart your tech-edged freelance writing career

Nov 21, 2021

How to gain positive media coverage for your school’s STEM project

One school’s chicken coop and another school’s solar-powered recycled plastic benches with inbuilt phone-recharging stations. Which will see the light of day as a STEM story published on an online news site, specialist education magazine, or newspaper? It’s all about crafting a story-idea pitch, how, when, and where you send…

Education

5 min read

How to gain positive media coverage for your school’s STEM project
How to gain positive media coverage for your school’s STEM project

Nov 12, 2021

Don’t assume out-of-field teachers are UNqualified — they could just be teaching across boundaries

My latest installment as I delve into the phenomenon of out-of-field teaching as part of my Graduate Research in Education Research at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. Stitched up? Patterning out-of-field teachers using representational and textual tools Quilters sketch, stretch, cut and stitch, much like the process Australia’s K-12 education system undergoes…

Research Methodology

19 min read

Don’t assume out-of-field teachers are UNqualified — they could just be teaching across boundaries
Don’t assume out-of-field teachers are UNqualified — they could just be teaching across boundaries

Oct 9, 2021

Can a methodology take a life of its own?

This was a war where not a drop of blood was shed, nor prisoner held, with no victor or vanquished. It has never earnt a mention in standard school history textbooks. Yet, its impact for societies across the globe has been seismic and it’s ready for the future (at least, I think so). The average layperson knows nothing of the Paradigm War; so intense some speak of it in the plural (Guba 1990, Smith 1989 and Gage 1989).

Methodology

6 min read

Can a methodology take a life of its own?
Can a methodology take a life of its own?

May 31, 2021

Are out-of-field teachers just hole fillers?

How beginning educators teaching high school mathematics out-of-field in regional Australia develop a professional identity Dear reader: I’ve plunged into writing about out-of-field teaching for a post-graduate degree in education research. Here’s my foray into sense-making of this phenomenon. Up to one in three beginning secondary school educators in Australia…

Teachers

15 min read

Are out-of-field teachers just hole fillers?
Are out-of-field teachers just hole fillers?

Mar 13, 2021

Aussie parents of ‘tweens’: how you can help them with their maths schooling

So, your child is about to start upper primary school, and you want to give them the best chance to tackle mathematics? I’m based in NSW, Australia, so this information, and the links I’ve provided, are relevant to this state. First step: the education department The NSW Department of Education gives you an outline of…

Mathematics Education

5 min read

Aussie parents of ‘tweens’: how you can help them with their maths schooling
Aussie parents of ‘tweens’: how you can help them with their maths schooling

Mar 13, 2021

How do you feel about being called a ‘fake’ teacher?

At a time when the globe is relying on university-educated health experts to try to keep COVID-19 at bay with the vaccine rollout, I’m bewildered by those who argue school and university education have nothing to do with ‘real-life’. I recently came across this stance in the 2019 book, Fake…

Education

6 min read

How do you feel about being called a ‘fake’ teacher?
How do you feel about being called a ‘fake’ teacher?

Jan 3, 2021

How out-of-field mathematics teachers can be more ‘flamboyant’

“[They] were not qualified to teach it, did not have stories to tell students and did not personally identify with the subject and so lacked confidence and ‘flamboyance’ in their teaching,” says Dr Linda Hobbs. Almost four out of 10 educators teaching high-school mathematics (years 7 to 10 inclusive) in…

Mathematics Education

16 min read

How out-of-field mathematics teachers can be more ‘flamboyant’
How out-of-field mathematics teachers can be more ‘flamboyant’

Dec 8, 2018

Eight tips for substitute math teachers — from someone who is one

So, you’re a substitute high school teacher and have just been handed your day sheet. There’s a load of math classes on there. You scout around staff room desks for lesson plans — some are sketchy on details. Oh, I didn’t mention you’re not trained as a math high school…

Education

9 min read

Eight tips for substitute math teachers — from someone who is one
Eight tips for substitute math teachers — from someone who is one
Margaret Paton

Margaret Paton

Education writer MTeach|GradDip Comm Mgmt |BA Journalism

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