iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

"Daddy, will you pull my chair to the window please?" "Of course. Why?" "I want to read and watch the world."

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Lasted a lot longer than their marriage. 😂

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

End of an era: we’re down to the very last roll of double-sided tape. My dad 'liberated' a giant box of the stuff from work and stashed it in the cellar roughly 35 years ago. This Christmas, three and a half decades on, the supply will finally run out.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Oh yes. It was the first question I asked when they approached me. 😂 My day with the little one is sacrosanct!

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

New school; new adventure. Antler, trumpet, scales, boxes and boxes of books... I just wish I hadn't accumulated so much teaching c**p along the way. Thank goodness the new place is open tomorrow so I can move in properly.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

I remember House Points for quality work when in KS2 and being absolutely determined that my house was going to win. I think I was motivated more by the competition than the reward itself.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Sometimes @teachertapp.bsky.social makes me feel like the odd one out...

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Some days I think going part time was the best work decision I ever had. Other days, I know it was.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Led an assembly on ID this week and I thought I'd begin by showing all the various ID I carry in my wallet. Bank card... Driving licence... Donor card... Library card... Gym card... “Gym!?" pipes up one 5 year old, “You go to a gym?”

media.tenor.com

a dog is sticking its head out of a dog door on a door mat .

ALT: a dog is sticking its head out of a dog door on a door mat .

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

I'm still in a whirl from trying, unsuccessfully, to explain what it meant to "rewind" something. 😂

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Took a Y5 class to the National Media Museum today... 👦🏼 Sir, sir, sir. What's that weird thing in this display? It's well shiny. What is it? 👨🏼‍🏫 That, young man, is... a compact disc.

media.tenor.com

a man sitting on a couch says we are so old while drinking from a mug

ALT: a man sitting on a couch says we are so old while drinking from a mug

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

"Daddy!! I do your work!" Sure mate, after staring at the screen all day, you'll probably do a better job answering these NPQ questions anyway.

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Reposted by Richard Elam

Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

I used to be quite an ordinary chap, who had a quite ordinary brain; But now with a toddler, endlessly I'm forced, to read Zog again and again...

media.tenor.com

a cartoon character standing in the middle of a forest with trees in the background

ALT: a cartoon character standing in the middle of a forest with trees in the background

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

My mind works in rhyme, the whole utter time, it really is unfortunate luck; Desperate, I implore, these books I adore, but Gruffalo please, off you..

media.tenor.com

a dog and a stick are standing next to each other on a grassy field .

ALT: a dog and a stick are standing next to each other on a grassy field .

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Now Donaldson's sweet, her books are a treat and I'm glad the little one does read; But please I do beg cos, I fear and I dread I now have a terrible need...

media.tenor.com

a cartoon dragon with a unicorn horn is standing next to another dragon

ALT: a cartoon dragon with a unicorn horn is standing next to another dragon

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

That's just the easy question. We need to then consider... Does X improve learning *here*? Does X improve learning with *our* pupils? Does X improve learning for *all* out pupils? Does X improve learning for *every* teacher? Does X improve learning *all* the time? And so many more...

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Saw this and chuckled; then thought... The World Cup lasts 4 weeks. Fathers in the UK get 2 weeks of statutory leave. So the situation in the UK is that a football tournament lasts longer than the time a dad is given to bond with his newborn child and support his family.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

I'm still struck, by a documentary on Norwegian prisons I saw a while back. The whole system's focus was on successful reintegration. I'm paraphrasing but one governor said something like, "Who cares how long someone spends here if, after we've worked with them, they don't commit any more crimes?"

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Down in Rock, Cornwall. This was Daymer Bay yesterday.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Not quite as relaxing with a two-year old, but equally as revitalising. 😍

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Gorgeous, isn't it? One of my favourite places.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Having just returned from central France I'm definitely a victim of recency bias, but I don't care. I'm asking for a glass of Sancerre and some Loire Valley goat's cheese.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

@teachertapp.bsky.social I'd love to know the difference being a parent makes to this. My answer is *very* different now to what it would have been before the little terror arrived on the scene.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

❤️ I found a (very) old cassette tape with my name on it in a drawer at my mum's house a few months ago and when I played it, it was me as a baby. My dad had recorded me, a few months old, just giggling and babbling away for about 20 mins.

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Reposted by Richard Elam

Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

The biggest killer of young people in the UK... suicide. I'm entering the Great North Run to raise funds for PAPYRUS, helping them to prevent suicides in young people and promote positive mental health. All & any donations gratefully received. ajbellgreatnorthrun2025.enthuse.com/pf/richard-e...

ajbellgreatnorthrun2025.enthuse.com

Richard's page

About us 60,000 determined and dedicated runners make the AJ Bell Great North Run the World’s biggest and best half marathon – famous for its warm North East welcome, unbeatable atmosphere and the mil

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

ajbellgreatnorthrun2025.enthuse.com

Richard's page

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

PAPYRUS, like all charities I guess, are the expert help you hope you never need, but their support has proved invaluable in the past to my colleagues. Please, please help them be able to offer support when it is desperately needed in the future.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

I believe in training he got the takers to tell the keeper where they were going to shoot. The rationale being, they still scored and so in crunch moments the players knew that if they did "their bit" right, the goalkeeper was irrelevant.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Ahhh... a follower of the "Wenger Method". If you kick the ball, hard and where you want it to go, the keeper can't get there.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Sod cognitive load theory, pedagogical know how, Vygotsky, Piaget, and Maslow. This. The ability to detach your expressions from your emotions is the essential element in any teacher's armoury.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Pasty faced Northerner who usually holidays in the Highlands Of Scotland asking for help! 🥵🥵🥵

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Reposted by Richard Elam

Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 07/08/2025

"A.i." doesn't empower anyone. It strips them of belief in themselves and the power of their own minds and hands and abilities and stories. EVERY KID CAN DRAW. EVERY KID CAN TELL STORIES AND MAKE COMICS. Fuck "A.i." for telling kids lies and making them less-than.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

I don't think the French hold much regard for Spanish wine. At £1.20 a bottle, I'm prepared to take one for the team.

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Reposted by Richard Elam

Martin Robinson @trivium21c.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

“We didn’t get smart by sitting still or memorizing lists. We got smart by exploring the world, spotting patterns, making predictions, and adjusting course when we were wrong. That’s how our neural architecture was built…” www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/curi...

psychologytoday.com

Born Smart or Built Smart? The Truth About Intelligence and Effort

What if the truth about IQ was that it wasn’t a number but a moving target? Here's how your habits either sharpen or sabotage your mind, and what to do about it.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

@teachertapp.bsky.social Does it count that two girls in a previous class were cousins with identical twin mothers... and no one had told me!!! Cut to five mins into parents evening and, "I'm glad my niece is doing so well, but how's my daughter doing?"

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

First hill session for a couple of years. My legs now hate me.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

"Teach a lesson" But where @teachertapp.bsky.social? Very different asking an applicant to teach a random lesson to an unknown class compared to visiting them in their own school, teaching their class.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Children are at school for 14 years. That is a long time. It needs to be an enjoyable and fun experience in and of itself. Not just a continual treadmill of prep for the next stage in life.

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Reposted by Richard Elam

Adrian Bethune @adrianbethune.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

🧵 One of the biggest myths in education since I started teaching in 2010 is this: The knowledge-rich curriculum The myth is that knowing more will improve the quality of children's lives. It's built on the lie that knowledge = grades = good job = happiness. It's a lie.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Utterly pointless. I completely fabricated my week long placement working in an non-existant firm of solicitors in Scarborough. 🤷🏼‍♂️

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Favourite place. Favourite person. 🩵🤍🩷

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

When Mummy has heard the word, “No!” once too often.

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Richard Elam @verandathought.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

47th year coming here, and there's still nowhere I'd rather be.

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