Welcome to Philips High School’S Teaching and Learning Magazine – May 2016 - Sharing ideas with teachers!
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Contents 1) Questions to Improve Learning
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2) Secret Teacher: We must end the spiral of negativity in teaching Page 5 3) Life Without Lesson Observation Grades
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4) What’s Your WHY?
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5) Key Strategies for Teaching
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6) Limit Appraisal & Max Professional Development Page 19
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Questions To Improve Learning 9th May 2016 @TeacherToolkit How should teachers ask questions of their students? This blog was sparked by a ‘question’ I heard a teacher ask their students in a lesson. How can teachers frame questions with a more thoughtful choice of language? . A couple of years ago, I first blogged about Pose, Pause, Pounce, Bounce! If you are not familiar with this superb questioning strategy, then I would strongly recommend that you download my resource here for your classroom. Then read the supporting blog to explain the resource in fuller detail. . “I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it” Morpheus – The Matrix Film – 1999 Asking Tougher Questions: In The Question Matrix, I shared how PPPB led to @JohnSayers developing this idea into a 6-step process for questioning students. Or more explicitly, to ask students the ‘right’ questions using the better-framed choice of language. Using questions to: ..• to clarify and assess understanding • to challenge assumption • to evidence for argument • to gather viewpoints and perspectives • to predict implications and consequences • to question the question. .Questions To Avoid: In countless lessons I have taught and observed, the worst type of questions are framed poorly from the start. If this is the case, a poorly asked question leads to: students calling out; closed responses; incorrect answers; surface-learning and less deeper knowledge required. .Let me ask you all, what is the … (asks for everyone to answer; perhaps call out …) 1. Can anyone tell me … (gives the option to volunteer) 2. What does this do … [holds object up] (most hands go up in the classroom) 3. Any leading question which suggests its own answer … It’s better not to ask questions in this way. Don’t waste your breath! Asking Better Questions: Deeper questioning – asked correctly from the outset – anticipates a deeper response from students. When lesson planning, is it useful to pre-plan your key questions for the class/students by keeping in mind lesson objectives and success criteria. Every teacher should ask themselves, do we want students to develop critical thinking skills or to deepen their subject knowledge? 3
.If so, this will determine what type of question to ask and how to word it and ask it. .For example: ‘what manufacturing technique are we using here and how does it compare to [another] manufacturing technique?’ is a good example of a critical skills question, compared to this following example which develops knowledge; compared to similar techniques used in the cotton industry today, why should this industrial revolution [tie-dye] technique be avoided when manufacturing cotton? .Closed Questions: Any type of closed question which demands a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ should always be followed up with an additional question. Even a follow-up ‘why?’ demands more of a response or an opinion from the student as to why they opted for yes or no. This could further be developed by asking another student if they agree or disagree (and then why) with the first student’s response … .Specific and Direct: During any discussion, a single question that is complex can often reap the wrong results. .Instead, try a sequence of questions to build depth and complexity once information is gathered and teased out from students. This can be done in class discussions with ease, but is much harder to achieve over a long period of time. For example, with written feedback as a student develops a written response and evidence improvement. .In class discussions, it is best to avoid more than one question at once. .If you ask more than one, some students may be unsure which question to ask first. This is where the ‘Pose, Pause, Pounce, Bounce‘ technique is most effective. The difficulty with this technique, is teaching yourself as a teacher to pause effectively [including the students], and then having the ability to orchestrate students to respond in a controlled and calm ‘no-hands up’ environment, where all students are asked to respond [even if they answer is wrong]. .The Question Matrix: Asking more meaningful questions are best developed from top left to bottom right in the following image: .If teachers plan and compose specific questions more carefully, questions that will be asked of students, by doing so will help increase student participation and encourage meaningful learning.. .
http://www.teachertoolkit.me/2016/05/09/questioningstudents/?utm_content=buffer63c0f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_cam paign=buffer
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Secret Teacher: we must end the spiral of negativity in teaching The self-pitying blogs and political rants that pervade teaching might be cathartic, but they don’t help our wellbeing. We need to be more constructive ‘The danger is that we teachers feed off the media and get so caught up in the outcry that we fail to maintain a sensible – or even professional – perspective.’ Photograph: I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and the current climate in education is no exception. We’ve all read the headlines: Sats stress made children cry, teachers are quitting in droves, forced academisation against our wills – and so it goes on. The danger is that we teachers feed off the media and get so caught up in the outcry that we fail to maintain a sensible – or even professional – perspective. No politician takes on educational reform with the sole purpose of eroding a workforce or destroying self-esteem For me, it started with articles appearing on Facebook. When the first headlines emerged, it felt like the tone of the national media had begun to shift from teacherbashing to recognising the difficulties our profession faces. I liked and shared posts with gusto. Sympathetic comments and supportive words of encouragement from the online community fuelled an acceleration in awareness-raising. Before I knew it, my newsfeed was full of posts, from disillusioned-teacher blogs to open letters and hyped-up articles of outrage at the latest incompetence from the Department for Education (DfE). With each new directive, the air in the staffroom turned blue. Somewhere in all of this, negativity quickly became the norm. It’s far easier to fight against an oppressive regime than be the lone voice defending it. Just to be clear, I don’t defend many of the recent policy and curriculum changes, nor the way they have been implemented without sufficient consultation or preparation. But what I do defend are the motives behind them. When it comes to the bigger picture, I honestly think policymakers’ hearts are in the right place. Providing a world-class education for our children, raising standards, improving outcomes for children from disadvantaged families and fairer funding are not objectionable aims. No politician takes on educational reform with the sole purpose of eroding a workforce or destroying children’s self-esteem.
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We are inevitably going to be resistant to the upheaval of change – even if it is for the better – because our plates are already so full. But as teachers, we also know better than anyone that the best of intentions are quickly usurped. We’re in the job for all the right reasons and have big ideas about the utopian classroom we would like – achieving academic success through inspired and creative means. Yet many of us probably feel we fall short every day. I’m sure I’m not the only one who, in times of stress, has resorted to dictatorial rule I later regretted. Perhaps one day the DfE will feel the same. And you know what? I like the new primary maths curriculum. Yes, it’s harder, but you can’t raise standards without having higher expectations. I like the focus on reasoning and the “depth over breadth” focus. I even like the early introduction of algebra and so do lots of my year 6s. I don’t like the spelling, punctuation and grammar (Spag) so much, but we’ve found ways to teach it without anyone handing in their notice. I walked into a year 6 class recently during a timetabled art lesson to find the teacher running an extra Spag-revision session. The children had (only slightly) reluctantly accepted this as a pre-Sats measure and had been promised extra art lessons the week after. It struck me that if 10- and 11-year-olds could see this as a reasonable adjustment to meet a deadline, we were preparing them for the reality of later life and the choices we sometimes have to make. Self-pitying blogs and political rants, however cathartic, do not help the fragile wellbeing of our workforce Of course, the DfE has to take some responsibility for our current negativity. I’m sure that if teachers had been better prepared for changes in standards and assessment, with clear guidance and training for a gradual and manageable introduction, we would have been far better equipped to ensure they were successful. And if reforms hadn’t accompanied a shift in Ofsted criteria, a void in information about assessment, threats of academisation and the introduction of performance-related pay we would have been able to maintain a healthy and rational perspective. But I also realised that self-pitying blogs and political rants, however cathartic, do not help the fragile wellbeing of our workforce. Rather it relies on the support we give each other to succeed – harnessing our resources, focusing on the bigger picture and not losing sight of the children’s best interests. Take testing as an example. It has both positive and negative effects. It’s time that could be spent teaching, it can put children under pressure and some would argue it doesn’t tell us anything we wouldn’t already know. But it’s also right that teachers are 6
held accountable for the education they deliver, that children learn to persevere and be resilient with things they find tricky, and that our expectations of learning are high. And we can choose how it works. There is no requirement to do endless class tests, nor to administer the Sats to any child clearly working below the expected level. There is no requirement to test in every subject or every year group, or to increase the time spent on core subjects at the expense of a balanced curriculum. It’s often schools who convince themselves such measures are necessary; we’ve lost sight of the bigger picture. A change of approach might be enough to circumnavigate the destructive spiral we talk ourselves into. If “Why do we have to do this?” becomes “How might the children benefit from this?”, we could get more constructive responses. The prospect of becoming an academy might be terrifying – or an exciting venture into new territory. We may feel we are fighting against changes we wouldn’t have chosen. But a lot of the power to decide how we implement them is in our hands. Positive. Mental. Attitude. Say it through gritted teeth if you have to, but say it. * Written with blatant disregard for Spag conventions http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2016/may/21/secret-teacher-we-must-end-thespiral-of-negativity-in-teaching?CMP=ema-1693&CMP=
Life without lesson observation grades In April 2014 we stopped grading lesson observations. This post looks at why we did it (and why every school should) and what we’ve noticed since. Why we stopped grading lesson observations Judging a teacher on a 30 minute snapshot of their work is ridiculous. It ignores
the other hundreds of hours they spend in the classroom (and out of it) that makes a huge contribution to the outcomes that their students achieve. Would you call Pele a poor footballer because of this miss, or acknowledge his greatness based on the 1281 goals he scored in 1363 games? If we are serious about being a ‘growth mindset’ school, how can it be right to label our teachers in this way? Instead, why don’t we focus on useful, formative feedback? By grading teachers, we are suggesting that only ‘requires improvement’ or inadequate’ teachers need to get better, which again is not 7
helpful. All of us can and should be looking to get that little bit better all of the time. In fact, we all require improvement! It makes teachers teach in an unnatural manner. I was talking to a legendary teacher from DHS called John last week. John has now retired, but always achieved fantastic outcomes from his students. He was recollecting how he hated observations – because he felt that he had to change what he normally did, in order to fit the criteria. What a dreadful thing to do to teachers – what he did worked, so what a shame
that he felt that he had to change what he did? It makes teachers teach safe lessons – in order to reach the criteria. This is not what we want. We want our teachers to try things and take risks in their classrooms. What does outstanding mean anyway? A good teacher teaches well and gets great outcomes for their students. How is this really different to outstanding? Outstanding became a bit of a strange cult, that didn’t really mean anything – other than somebody saying that you were in the club! The next four slides are from David Didau – who has done great work in terms of campaigning for the removal of lesson observation grades. We’ve confused performance with learning and as a result have become convinced that we can observe learning in a lesson. We can’t – learning happens over a long period of time. So, we’ve become used to make bizarre comments about lessons e.g. “all students were learning well.” You would have to come back a few months later to really validate that statement.
When observing, we have often been focused on the wrong things. A colleague from another school told me that he was told by a member of SLT – ‘A lesson can 8
only be good if you use the interactive whiteboard’ How many great teachers have been made to change their great practice, because of advice like this? The things on the following list are not necessarily bad, but they don’t necessarily result in great learning. The (often incorrect) interpretation of the ‘Quality of Teaching framework’ by SLTs up and down the country has resulted in all sorts of myths about great
teaching being perpetuated e.g. group work, independent learning, differentiated learning objectives etc. See an earlier post on mythbusting. This overly prescriptive approach to
teaching has stifled teacher individuality and ignored most of what the research 9
says about great teaching, which is unfortunate. If it works and the students are achieving well, then who cares how you’re doing it! Just do more of it. Lesson observation judgements are highly unreliable – we’re not very good at being consistent! What have we noticed since removing lesson observation grades? As an observer you focus entirely on what is happening during the lesson. You spot all of the good things that the teacher/ students are doing, as they happen. You’re not just looking for things that match the criteria and so become blind to many of the small details, that make such a big difference. You focus on the lesson for the entirety of the lesson – you don’t stop noticing things for the last 5 minutes, because your attention turns to what grade you are going to give. It frees you up to observe what the students are saying/ doing. Because you are
not shackled to a ‘what the teacher is doing ticklist’ you can really spend time watching and listening to the students. The feedback sessions are now far more of a developmental professional dialogue. There is a good discussion about what seemed to be working, what the teacher was trying to achieve and how the students were responding. Then, rather than simply pointing out what was missing from the ticklist, some reflective questions are discussed that might help to develop the teaching even more. Andy Tharby talks about his experience of non-graded lesson observations here. This is much better than the teacher just getting a grade, focusing too much on this and then not really paying too much attention to the feedback because either they are just relieved at being told they are good/outstanding or they are feeling completely flat, having been told they are requires improvement/inadequate. During our last EduBook session, Andy Tharby and I noticed that the language of OFSTED i.e. outstanding, good, requires improvement etc has completely disappeared from the school. Our teachers no longer talk about ‘what they need to do to be outstanding’, but instead they are talking about how students learn and how their teaching can support this. This has been a very significant and welcome shift in the culture of the school. 10
One criticism that has been levelled on schools who have stopped grading lessons, is how can you judge the quality of teaching in your school? This is ridiculous. If we really need to assign numbers to teachers, based on a 30 minute observation, to know about the quality of their teaching, then we are doing something really wrong. We still know our teachers inside out – we know who the really great ones are, and who are the ones who need that extra support with a particular aspect of their work. Without the need for numbers. We know this by looking at their student outcomes, as well as by looking at and discussing their lessons, the feedback that they give to students and the work that their students produce during lessons and at home. We know our staff. It makes you thinks about a whole host of other things that you do. So, like many schools, we used to do marking walks. Leaders would sample student books from each teacher and then make a 1-4 judgement about the teacher on a range of criteria e.g. books marked regularly; feedback is formative; students respond to feedback etc. We have changed this now. Teachers in each department now bring along their books, the whole department has a look at them and then the team identifies strengths and areas for development – with no grading. It’s now far more of a developmental and collaborative process. It allows us to focus on what we think contributes to great teaching – in a tight but loose way i.e. these are the principles that we think make great teaching, but implement them in your own way.
https://classteaching.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/life-without-lesson-observation-grades/
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What’s your WHY? https://newtothepost.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/whats-your-why/ A couple of weeks ago I delivered an assembly to Year 7 students about being the best they can be. Immediately after this I was tasked with delivering an ‘inspirational keynote’ speech to NQTs at a Teaching School Alliance. I presented to both groups the exact same message. The same slides, the same examples. In fact, it was identical. I then began to wonder, maybe this message can be posed to any member of any profession, irrespective of their experience or current level within the organisation. My message was actually a question… I asked the audience, what is their why?
Why do they want to do well/Work hard?
Why should they succeed?
Why should they do their best?
Why should they never give up?
I did not try to give them answers, but instead I just showed them my reasons, why… I shared with them a little about me to show them why I am doing, will do and have done. This was based on when…
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It left me feeling extremely confused. I began to wonder, have we been doing this all wrong for all this time? Have we got this inspirational, motivational, boosting students up thing, wrong? I, think, so… So, allow me to just say the following to you, as it doesn’t matter what I have written here, until you find your why, maybe you won’t fully achieve what you really, truly, can. Because, truthfully, hard work beats talent. (Cough- Leicester Football Club!)
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Key Strategies for Teaching If you led teaching and learning in your school, what key strategies would you want your teachers to use? As part of the ‘teach’ section of our Learning Policy, we are developing a range of key teaching and learning strategies. In this post, I share our progress so far and what we have achieved throughout 2015/16. The Learning Policy defines the consistencies which make everyone’s job easier, and it needs to become common practice in the same way as our Behaviour for Learning policy. In tandem, both of these will drive whole-school improvement. Teach: Learning Policy This is the latest version of the ‘teach’ section which has gone to staff consultation for the third time. There are minor grammatical errors and key terms to be added/removed. For example, numeracy alongside literacy.
This is the latest version (see here). Teaching is a lifetime’s craft. “Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.” (Professor Dylan Wiliam) We are all teachers of literacy. The quality of both students’ and teacher’s language, such as in razor-sharp instructions and questioning, are significant determinants of progress. Make the implicit, explicit. Teachers must be explicit about learning outcomes and key words. Go with the learning: the ‘flow’ of great progress is more important than following a lesson plan. All students must be working harder than the teacher, over time and be able to use the key strategies. Ensure that learning has stuck, through checking that is incisive, systematic and effective. What key strategies can unlock great teaching? What have we achieved? Throughout 2015/16, we have achieved the following in various CPD models:
1. Learning Policy launched – 1st September 2015 (INSET day – 2 hours) 2. Mark explained – 2nd September (INSET day – 2 hours) 3. Plan explained (IRIS examples) – 23rd September (INSET day – 2 hours) 4. Plan explained (part 2) – 25th September (INSET day – 1 hour) 5. Learning Policy review (Mark-Plan) – 14th October (1.5 hours in departments) 6. Departmental Show and Tell – 23rd October (INSET – 1 hour ) 7. Quality first teaching (Differentiation) CPD – 11th November (INSET – 1.5 hours) 8. Research for Learning CPD (external speaker / key strategies) – 9th December (1.5 hours) 9. Literacy (modelling) 4th January 2016 – (INSET – all day) 10. Mark-Plan CPD workshops – 20th January (led by heads of department – 1.5 hours) 11. Lesson Planning CPD – 2nd March – (led by heads of department – 1.5 hours) 12. Launched our staff CPD Menu 14
13. Gifted and Talented – 9th March (INSET – 30 minutes) 14. Launch of the ‘teach’ section of our Learning Policy (this post – carousel show and tell workshops – 1.5 hours) 15. Published our CPD / Recruitment video. 16. Learning Policy quality assurance – June/July We have dedicated at least 30 hours to this in our professional development sessions with staff. Don’t forget, we collapse our timetable every week and give staff 1.5 hours every Wednesday to lead or be part of CPD as a whole-staff, or working together in departments. The Learning Policy has formed almost 50% of our CPD provision this academic year! In our work sample, we evaluated what was working using a triangulated process (involving
IRIS Connect video).
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As a step forward, we developed two key thoughts to whole-school marking: 16
1. Is the work good enough? 2. What impact is ‘the marking’ having on learning? In terms of lesson planning, we emphasised that “we do not require lesson plans, but evidence of planning” and that “there is no expectation to provide lesson plans for any observation.” Of course, newly qualified teachers will need to move through the planning process in some form to be able to understand it, then consider what to keep and what to discard. Planning is not filling in a form. It is a thinking process. 1. Where are the students starting from? 2. Where do you want them to get to? 3. How will you know when they are there? 4. How can you best help them get there? Improving teaching and learning: How can we genuinely improve teaching and learning? In this part of our CPD session, I shared our coaching proposals with our staff. Over the past 3 weeks, I have received numerous requests for staff to be a coach/to be coached. There is no greater privilege than being in a position to coach another colleague. The chances are it will come your way in some form or another and teachers are offered little training in this respect, often adapting their own strategies for supporting colleagues through trial and error, or avoiding some of the worst-case scenarios that they once had to endure.” (Source) You can download my coaching model and presentation here. Key Strategies: In one of our bullet points that forms the ‘teach’ section of our policy, it says: All students must be working harder than the teacher, over time and be able to use the key strategies. Over the past 12 months, we have been a) developing our Learning Policy to include the onepage summary that you can view at the top of this blog-post. Behind each hyperlink, sits the details and examples of each. As part of this process, our staff (over 60 teachers) have been using IRIS Connect to video-observe themselves in the classroom. From a range of footage, we have gathered ‘clips’ to create our own school library of footage. Part of this will be linked to our evolving range of key strategies we would like every teacher to be able to use in the classroom. This will form no-part of an observation template or ticklist culture as we have binned lesson gradings and one-off performances altogether. As part of our evolving proposals, both our key strategies and coaching methodology will have a common vernacular that will be modeled by every adult. As part of our induction process for all new staff and those new to the profession, we will spend between 1 and 3 days inducting all new staff in our Learning Policy and observing the key strategies at work. What are the strategies? So, what do we want our teachers to be able to do to help students make progress? What will be the classroom consistencies – the common vernacular – which make everyone’s job easier? This list will not grow into 100 ideas or 49 strategies. The sample used (so far) is to remain concise and workable so that it has maximum impact on students across the school. From the initial list below, I have highlighted which key strategies we want all our staff to be using in classrooms this term. 17
Use of Yellow Box for feedback; including use of feedback in practical subjects. Think, pair, share. Mass screen (whiteboards) No-hands up and Pose Pause Pounce Bounce. I do, we do, you do (modelling/scaffolding strategy) Other ideas not yet agreed/launched: ‘Not yet’ feedback in written and verbal form C3B43Me – (the aim here is for students to seek 3 responses from peers before asking the teacher) Exit Cards – (a plenary for the lesson; misconceptions etc.) A flying start Use of the second adult in the lesson We hope to capture much of this best-practice with our own IRIS community hub.
Later this term, we plan to have each department ‘show and tell’ how they have used the key strategies in their lessons. We will also be asking each team to propose their own idea from the floor for staff to vote. With this information, we aim to roll out a departmental idea across the whole school for a pilot and implementation throughout 2016/17. 18
I will report back on our progress and share some of the key strategies/resources as they evolve. TT.
http://www.teachertoolkit.me/2016/05/22/keystrategies/?utm_content=buffer1a8b2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_ campaign=buffer
Limit Appraisal And Max Professional Development #ThursdayThunk https://leadinglearner.me/2016/05/19/limit-appraisal-and-max-professional-developmentthursdaythunk/
Most teachers’ appraisal objectives boil down to get some decent results and look to improve your teaching; we’re going to consult on setting these for all teachers, via the policy, as stated below. Now with that done we can focus our time and efforts on helping everyone teach that little bit better.
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An initial meeting in June of the academic year will focus on identifying future professional development needs and priorities followed by a mid-year review to discuss the impact of the professional development agreed. The mid-year meeting will also be used to record of the contribution to the Catholic Ethos and, where applicable, to the professional development support provided to colleagues. The final review meeting during June will again look at these three issues. The Professional Development Dialogue will be guided through a number of key questions which the teacher will have reflected on and prepared thoughts in advance. The proposed questions, used to structure the discussions, are below. Have a go at answering the first two; they’re pretty demanding so this is not in any way a soft fluffy process. 1. What area of professional development would most help and support your further development as a teacher this year? What evidence have you used to identify this aspect of professional practice? 2. Which form of Focused Professional Development (see list below) would provide greatest support for you as a teacher; meeting your needs and having greatest impact on your pupils’ outcomes? 20
3. What wider career aspirations do you have in the next few years? 4. What professional development would support you in these aspirations in the coming year? 5. What contributions have you made to the Catholic Ethos so far this year (mid-year and final review only)? 6. What professional development support have you provided to colleagues this year (midyear and final review only for M4+ teachers)? 7. What has unnecessarily got in the way of you focusing on high quality teaching, assessment and learning in your classroom this year? How could we together remove this/these blocker(s)? 8. What has been the impact of the professional development you undertook this year (final review only)? All teachers will engage in one of the focused professional development activities below. The choice will be made by the teacher unless there are specific concerns about an element of professional practice which needs to be addressed: Fortnightly mini-lesson observation with coaching feedback Fortnightly planning review with coaching feedback Fortnightly marking & feedback review with coaching feedback Lesson study with other colleagues Formative lesson observations (three spaced over time) with follow up focussed professional development on an identified aspect of practice. An integral leadership development project focussed on improving pupils’ outcomes from an accredited leadership course I’ll be interested what comes back from the consultation; fingers crossed that it’s positive. A copy of the policy and the consultation is here. #ThursdayThunk is based on something I’ve been thinking about, discussing, working on or has been topical that week. The thunk is designed to be bite sized and will deliberately be kept short. It will take one small issue or an aspect of something much bigger. The intention is for it to be read in two/three minutes as you’re busy running around at the end of the week or relaxing on your day off.
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