iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Here's a reminder of a single organic sheet for AQA's Chemistry GCSE. You'll find it in the KS4 folder of my shared resources. www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y1xfx...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

20 years after first reading ‘Middlemarch’, I find I like Dorothea more and Lydgate less. There’s an awful lot in the book that’s great but I find it hard understand why it’s so loved. I enjoyed more all the other Eliot fiction I’ve read in the last year or so.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

Latest read. It’s easy to see how this morally complex novel lends itself well to college courses and book clubs. There’s much to shock and this happens on many levels. I did, however, find the writing clunky at time - it could have been better edited. I will read more Butler.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Latest read: This isn't Gaskell's best-known work, possibly because of the amount of dialect that features. However, it's arguably her most realistic (okay, minus the usual convenient coincidences) and the final 100 pages step things up a gear and pack an emotional punch.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Latest reads. Baldwin’s ‘The White Man’s Guilt’ is a particularly powerful essay and the short stories often make difficult reading. Highly recommended.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

@mikehobbiss.bsky.social @paulclinepsy.bsky.social I’m looking forward to reading this - I’m sure I’ll learn a lot.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Gaskell’s short stories are certainly interesting, and Cousin Phillis has much that is redolent some of the themes in her longer works. However, if you’re thinking or reading (more) Gaskell, I would prioritise the latter.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

'The Song of the Shirt' by Thomas Hood (1799-1845) is powerfully evocative of the 'life' of a needlewoman in the first half of the nineteenth century (c.f. Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Mary Barton' and 'Ruth'). It was an immediate success on its publication. poets.org/poem/song-sh...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

I have just reread the below after a gap of many years. It’s so, so good. If you teach English and haven’t read it, I strongly suggest you do, as it’s the best sort of postmodern novel. Read this Guardian piece to know more. #greatnovels theguardian.com/books/booksb...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

The best subject-specific CPD I have undertaken is writing a comprehensive set of notes for AQA's Chemistry A-level. This continues to be a valuable exercise as I repeatedly edit and refine them in light of lessons, students' queries and exam questions. www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/u8e5n...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

‘Ourika’ is a short story. A bestseller in 1820s France, it’s apparently the first novel set in Europe to have a black heroine and has a fable-like quality. This version was translated by John Fowles, who says it partly inspired his ‘French Lieutenant’s Woman’.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Elizabeth Strout’s books are always deeply rewarding, even more so if you’ve read those that have previously featured certain characters. I have only ‘Abide with Me’ left. If you like Strout, I highly recommend Richard Russo. Start with ‘Nobody’s Fool’.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

‘Shirley’ is an uneven read, as the first paragraph of Lucasta Miller’s excellent introduction, which brilliantly contextualises the novel, makes clear. Branwell, Emily and Anne all died during the writing of this novel.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Recent reading. More on these shortly (probably).

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

This potentially fascinating free book isn't for the faint-hearted - I hope I have the time to read enough of it with care. 'In Their Own Words: What Scholars and Teachers Want You to Know About Why and How to Apply the Science of Learning in Your Academic Setting' www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/grtva...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

You can draw it however you like, providing the arrows start and end in the right place. Honestly, I've never seen it drawn like your second diagram before.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

My latest read - Eliot’s first fiction is full of pathos. It’s also the subject of the final chapter in Catherine Gallagher’s ‘The Body Economic’, which focuses on Malthusian anthropology.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

For anyone that’s interested, this is a great introduction to the cultural sociology of cognition.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

This lovely, humane book, full of warmth and insight, was my most uplifting read of 2024. I highly recommend it. persephonebooks.co.uk/products/the...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

December’s reads, along with a couple of Dickens’s Christmas stories. They were all fantastic in their own way except for ‘Held’, which really didn’t speak to me. The Martin Gilbert was a delight and Elizabeth Strout never fails to deliver. ‘Tenant’ was powerful and illuminating. #books #reading

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

And then there's the word 'amount'. www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rtegh...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

This weekend's marking reminded me that I need to remind my students of the issues with 'it'. Here's a link to the PowerPoint presentation, in case it's useful. You can then convert it to a PDF. www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ogbre...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

I hope the attached helps ‘show’ the stability a little more clearly. #chatchemistry

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 03/11/2024

For me, ‘Cranford’ can’t hold a candle to the other three Gaskell novels I’ve read in the last year. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to glean from it, particularly regarding gender, class and economy in the 1830s to 1850s. It’s still 👍🏻

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

I'm teaching A level Psychology for the first time this year! Cornell Notes provides a potentially powerful learning method for students. So, I wrote some example notes and compiled an associated checklist. Please let me know if you have any constructive comments on the latter.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 13/10/2024

My final Dickens novel. 'The Pickwick Papers' is an (understandably) uneven book containing some wonderful characters and scenes. My favourites include the obvious: David Copperfield, Bleak House, and Great Expectations. I also loved Nicholas Nickleby. The others all have something.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 05/10/2024

I've been teaching respiration to Y8 over the last few weeks (I see them once a week). One challenge is getting them to understand how the different areas we study are connected. So, starting with the equation for aerobic respiration, we made the attached. We'll see if it worked.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 16/09/2024

Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ went through six editions in his lifetime. It grew by a third and many passages were rewritten. The phrase ‘Survival of the Fittest’, coined by Herbert Spencer, first appeared in the 5th edition on Alfred Russel Wallace’s recommendation.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 07/09/2024

In case it's helpful, here's a PowerPoint slide of the History of the Atom timeline below www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/i84h3...

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 01/09/2024

If you want a short book that contextualises Darwin and his work, as well as his thinking’s legacy, this work by Janet Browne really is superb! Think of it as a précis of her monumental two volume biography of Darwin.

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 30/08/2024

This map covers much of the Organic topic of AQA's Chemistry GCSE (triple). The second page allows students to fill out a version with you. A link to the PDF is in the following message. #chatchemistry

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 30/08/2024

This is a reminder of my GCSE digestion graphic organiser. A link to the PDF is in the following message. #chatbiology

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 24/08/2024

The attached is adapted from Linda B. Nilson's www.lsu.edu/academicaffa..., which is, in turn, an adaptation of two academic papers. It's deliberately meant to be generic. Let me know if you have suggestions for improvements. #cogscisci #EduSky

Questions That Self-Regulated Learners Ask Themselves

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 22/08/2024

This is actually a lovely beer!

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 17/08/2024

My latest read and book very much of its time. Abridgements seem to have keep it going. The Rev. Kingsley was a complicated character - pro Darwin, pro Chartist, pro the South in the American Civil War and against the certification of teachers!

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Simon Flynn @simonflynn.bsky.social · 11/08/2024

(Trying out my first post). Some summer reading so far. Very different authors but all so well written. Good books definitely enrich life.

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