Frustrated author, proud Rickenbacker 4003 owner, mandolin and banjo dilettante, Classics teacher, studente di italiano (anche latino), husband and father.
Amersham, South East
Joined January 2019
- Tweets2.4K
- Following527
- Followers391
- Likes7.9K
Mark Walker retweeted
Excellent from @dpatrikarakos
‘The BBC might have averted its eyes. Keir Starmer may stall and squirm. We must not.
‘Because if Iranians are brave enough to face batons and bullets with bare hands, then the least we can do is look at their efforts with open eyes.
‘They are risking their lives to face down one of the world's great evils: Islamist oppression. And for that they deserve our solidarity, not our silence.’
DAVID PATRIKARAKOS: This revolt in Iran is momentous dailymail.co.uk/news/article…
Mark Walker retweeted
I only hope the Iranian protesters know that millions of hearts are with them and how much we admire their courage.
Mark Walker retweeted
This is what the night sky on Mars looks like.
At night, Mars reveals a breathtaking sky filled with more visible stars than on Earth. Because the Martian atmosphere is extremely thin, the stars appear sharper, brighter, and more intense, with little distortion.
Mars is also home to two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos. Phobos races across the sky in just a few hours, rising in the west and setting in the east, while Deimos drifts slowly overhead, glowing faintly like a distant star.
The Martian sky is not completely black. It often carries a soft brownish, dusty tint, shaped by fine particles suspended in the air.
Near sunset, the horizon can glow with a subtle blue halo, creating one of the most beautiful sights in the solar system. And on clear nights, the Milky Way stretches brilliantly across the sky, far brighter than what we see from Earth.
Mark Walker retweeted
I think people need to reframe the conversation around Elon’s “net worth.” As his net worth approaches $1 trillion, it’s important to understand the bigger picture. Elon earned his wealth the right way: by building companies and creating products and services that people genuinely love, while generating enormous shareholder value. He didn’t steal. He didn’t cheat. He built and created.
Elon isn’t accumulating wealth to buy yachts, houses, or vacations. His capital is primarily a tool to pursue outcomes he believes are best for humanity’s long-term future, most notably making life multi-planetary. Building on Mars will be expensive, and much of Elon's wealth will ultimately go towards that, but he’s also investing heavily here on Earth, having created over 600,000 jobs so far across his companies and supply chains.
Elon is the best capital allocator in the world, and has created multiple world-changing technologies that have benefited humanity. That’s why it’s ironic when some people say he should pay more taxes (almost all of his wealth is unrealized stock gains), because that capital would simply be redirected to the government, one of the worst capital allocators.
He paid the single largest tax bill in history in 2021 ($11B) and will likely pay an even bigger one in the future when he exercises the stock options from his 2018 Tesla CEO Performance Award, which are set to expire in January 2028.
The villainization of Elon by legacy media and others will only intensify as his wealth grows. Instead, what they should focus on is the massive value he has created for others and all the good his companies are doing:
• Tesla: Accelerating toward a sustainable future and saving lives with self-driving cars
• Neuralink: Improving the lives of disabled people with brain-implant chips
• SpaceX/Starlink: Bringing internet connectivity to remote areas worldwide
• The Boring Company: Reducing traffic and travel time
• xAI/Grok: Using AI to solve problems, answer questions, and tackle challenges
• And much more
Don’t measure Elon by his wealth. Measure him by what he has built, what he’s creating/building, and all the things that wouldn’t exist without him. That list is long.
Mark Walker retweeted
I love an old book with uncut pages. It's a delightfully tactile experience slicing open the pages as you read, and knowing you're the first person to see these sheets in more than 130 years ... – at Hyde Heath, South East
Mark Walker retweeted
Always a joy to discover an old bookmark hidden inside an old book. This one's a cigar ad. – at Hyde Heath, South East
Mark Walker retweeted
"Amida" - my failed attempt at writing a bestselling epic historical novel. Much of it was scribbled on the train while commuting. It suffered greatly from my literary pretensions. (I've moved on to short stories about detectives and robots, so make of that what you will.) – at Hyde Heath, South East
Mark Walker retweeted
The single most important word in the science of learning:
"automaticity" - the ability to carry out basic skills effortlessly without conscious thought.
Without automaticity, you have to consciously think about every low-level action, which overloads your working memory and leaves no room for higher-level reasoning.
Mark Walker retweeted
Most teachers vastly underrate the importance of prior knowledge. Students with a lot can thrive in any classroom. Students with very little will flounder. This is why you need to explicitly teach all students what they need to know. That’s the equity everyone is searching for.
Mark Walker retweeted
The main issues that edtech can never remedy are a) the behaviours and b) the attitudes/values of the students.
Simply put, most students are not naturally predisposed to work hard on topics that do not present an immediate source of pleasure.
Many students aren’t always interested in what we want to teach them.
Determined, sustained focus is hard work.
Life is full of distractions.
Because of these natural factors, in any cohort of children, a fraction of that will love their subjects, learning, and also possess the character skills and dispositions (perseverance, curiosity, grit, concentration) to learn in a sustained way.
Edtech simply cannot replace that. Human teachers, present in the same space, managing motivation, building habits over long periods of time, are the only option. You cannot build a model of education predicated on a tiny minority of autodidacts, polymaths and self-starters. If you do, you lose the majority. We need schools that cater for all. Edtech undoubtedly presents many wonderful opportunities to us. But it can’t replace the teacher and the classroom.
Mark Walker retweeted
Education degrees genuinely seem completely and uniquely worthless. I have never heard a teacher say they were valuable and many have said they were actively misleading. The student teaching part is definitely useful but it's the only useful part.
Mark Walker retweeted
Writing will always be a useful life skill.
But if AI transforms the economy, will it be an economically valuable skill?
And either way - what does that mean for education?
Latest post from us - link below.
Mark Walker retweeted
📚 GIVEAWAY TIME! 📚
The Scaffolding Effect by @MrsBallAP & @lamb_heart_tea is out now! Full of practical ways to support every student.
Want a free copy? All you have to do is:
✅ Follow us
🔁 RT this post
The winner will be announced on Friday, 1st August, at 2pm. Good luck!
Mark Walker retweeted
🪜 This one-pager explains why explicit guidance outperforms self-discovery models in learning. Based on the research of Kirschner, Clark, and Sweller, it summarises the benefits of feedback and support provided by guided instruction.
🔁 REPOST and get a free HQ copy here: jamieleeclark.com/graphics
Mark Walker retweeted
While I'm on the subject of books featuring my favourite band (forgive me, I know it's niche) ... – at Hyde Heath, South East
Mark Walker retweeted
Did anyone else spend hours hovering over their radio-cassette player, waiting for the next episode of the BBC's Lord of the Rings dramatisation to start? I had the entire 26 weeks on 13 C60 cassettes when it was first broadcast. The CD box set is more convenient, and has a map! – at Hyde Heath, South East
Mark Walker retweeted
The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy CD box set - before the books was this, the original radio series. I would wait for each episode on BBC Radio 4, my fingers hovering over the "Record" button on my little radio-cassette player. Did anyone else do this? – at Hyde Heath, South East
Mark Walker retweeted
Another one of my old and treasured sheet music books - @Status_Quo selections published in 1975. I played along to a LOT of this when I was learning guitar as a teenager - years before anyone could get guitar tab online of course. – at Chesham Bois, South East
Mark Walker retweeted
Some of my most treasured and important books are actually sheet music - the ones I've studied for hours, repeatedly revisited, the ones that have altered how my brain works, not to mention my fingers, hands, muscles. Reading music changes your brain and your body for the better.
