TeachSpark by Aimée Skidmore

I spent the weekend arguing with an app about tired teachers.

I’ve been building a powerful tool to help teachers take one real classroom moment and turn it into one practical student ownership move they can try tomorrow.

And honestly, it feels less like coding and more like coaching an app into existence.

Things I have said to it:

“No, that question would make a tired teacher click away.”

“This needs to feel like relief, not another task.”

“No, that sounds like a consultant wrote it from a hotel lobby.”

“Do not give them another strategy. Help them choose the right one.”

The tool follows a simple process:

1 Notice the pattern.
2 Step back from one piece of the load.
3 Shift that piece back to students.

It is grounded in research, but built from real classroom life: coaching conversations, hallway chats, and all those tiny teacher moments of, “Ugh. I’m carrying too much here.”

It’s nearly ready.

I’m testing it with a few teachers and school leaders first, then I’ll share it more widely.

If you’d like to be one of the first to try it, comment TEST below and I’ll send you the link.

If learning depends on a teacher carrying the thinking, the momentum, the reminders, the next steps, your school is running on teacher overdrive.

It shows up as:
-uneven engagement across classrooms
-students who quietly comply but don’t own the learning
-teachers exhausted from overfunctioning
-behaviour drift because the structure doesn’t hold
-“good lessons” that still feel heavy

This can be solved when student ownership becomes part of classroom design.

I’m running a free online masterclass in partnership with :

From Compliance to Ownership
How to Flip the Load so students think, participate, and take more responsibility.

Leaders who join will leave with:

✔ a clearer way to help teachers spot where ownership is breaking down

✔ one tool you can share to create a common lens across your classes

✔ one practical move teachers can try immediately

✔ a next step that doesn’t require a big initiative

Dates: April 21 or April 29
Time: 17h30–18h30 (GMT+2)
Where: Zoom

Sign up link in bio, or DM me and I’ll secure your spot.

I wish more teachers knew that student passivity is easy to fix,
but not with more scaffolding, jazzy hooks, or interactive games which actually make it worse.

How would it feel to finally...
– Stop carrying the whole lesson on your back
– See students step in without constant prompting
– Leave class knowing they’re thinking, not just watching

I know you’ve tried everything:
– Scaffolding every task so no one falls behind
– Planning high-energy activities to keep them engaged
– Adding checklists, timers, call-and-response routines…

But here’s the truth no one’s telling you:
The more we do for students, the less they do for themselves.

It’s not a motivation problem.
It’s a structure problem.

Students don’t get enough chances to make decisions.
They’re not asked to plan, notice, reflect, or revise.

They’re stuck in systems that train them to wait.

What to do instead:

✔ Build small, repeatable routines that shift the load

✔ Ask students to do what we’ve been doing: diagnose the problem, make a plan, and evaluate the result.

✔ Use strategies that invite thinking, not just correct answers

That’s exactly what we do inside the Student Ownership Sprint—

A 6-week implementation sprint for secondary teachers who want students to think, participate, and take responsibility for their learning - starting immediately.

✔ Clear tools
✔ Real-time coaching
✔ Built for busy secondary classrooms

Want to see how this can transform your classroom? Link in bio

Let’s stop carrying what isn’t ours.
And build classrooms that work, without burning you out.

What if something you’re doing is actually making teaching harder and stealing your joy?

⤷ Not the workload. Not the students. But the way you see your classroom.

We need to pay careful attention to what matters and learn to ignore the relentless flood of impressions around us.

Because those impressions? They shape how we see our teaching and our students.

And when we act on false perceptions, we make things harder than they need to be- and the resulting pressure steals our peace of mind, clarity, and joy in teaching.

I used to fall into the same trap:
Try a new method, before mastering the last one.
Then give more support, without creating passivity.
Then raise the rigor, without losing struggling students.
Then move faster, while making sure no one falls behind.

But when I cut out the noise, the moments I remember: were about connection. About seeing them for who they are, instead of who I assumed them to be.

What changed for me?

1️⃣ I started looking at reality, by actually listening to students.
We expect them to engage with our learning, but how much do we engage with them?
Do we watch them while they work, not to correct, but to understand how they think?
Do we ask them how they experience learning, not just for feedback, but as a habit?
Do we give them real space to show what they know, what they’re capable of?

2️⃣ I stopped doing the work that wasn’t mine to do.

I don’t assume quiet means disengaged.
I don’t rescue them from struggle.
I don’t assume missing homework means they don’t care.
I don’t stress over engagement.

And when I made this shift, everything changed:

The weight I had been carrying? Gone.
Real learning had space to happen.
And for the first time, students truly took ownership.

Teaching is hard. But sometimes, the way we see it makes it harder, or it sets us free.

⤷ If teaching feels heavy right now, join me for The Student Ownership Sprint and I'll show you what worked for me and for the teachers I work with.

Link in bio