About Me


Find Out A Little More About Me And Why I Created This Website

Hello and thank you for stopping by.As you’ve taken the trouble to visit my website I think it’s only fair that I should tell you a little more about me, to ‘put a face to the name’, so to speak.

My name is Bill Alexander,I’m 60 years old and live in the UK, in the beautiful county of Northumberland, the most northerly county in England, with my wife Pam. We’ve been married for 34 years and have two grown up children.

The first thing to say about me is that I started teaching in 1973 and I guess I’ve taught well over 6 000 students in my career and more than 34 000 lessons. I know I’ve made just about every mistake that most teachers make, but I hope I’ve learned from all of them.

I taught for 36 years in tough urban UK high schools and spent 25 years as curriculum manager and departmental leader for Modern Foreign Languages. I got to work with hundreds of colleagues,and I learned something from every one, even the negative no-hopers, who at least reminded me what not to do, how not to do it and why, frankly, some people are not cut out for teaching but for those who are what a special career it can be.

Fortunately, the vast majority of people I’ve worked with were very good teachers, some of them were truly great, and of course I learned much more from these colleagues than those who just couldn’t cut it.

From the start I was always interested in how people learn and how some teachers were really successful, so I did a lot of research, which I tried to put into practice. Most of it worked so I tried more things and gradually I became recognised, in my region as well as in my school, for my expertise in running successful classrooms where the focus was on learning as much as on teaching.

I was fortunate enough to be in a position as curriclum leader to innovate and encourage others to excel so I found myself able to help colleagues in the way others had helped me. It was great to be able to see young professionals becoming very good teachers and knowing that in my small way I’d made a contribution to their development. I became the lead professional in my school for developing innovative teaching and learning programmes.

What colleagues started to say about me was that I knew a lot of stuff and they often said I should write a book. Nice idea but, of course, where do you find the time when you’re a teacher, husband and father.

A little while ago I decided the time was right to retire early – I had achieved pretty much everything I’d wanted to – but I didn’t see myself being happy just growing vegetables- although that is one of my new hobbies – or putting my feet up. To me retirement was an opportunity to take up a some new challenges. I had some ideas about taking up other projects , one of which was to try to write that book and I’d also qualified as a leadership coach and planned to develop that angle.But once ‘retired’ I found myself busier than ever, being invited to help out at other schools, covering for teachers on long term absence and on maternity leave, running coaching sessions with other teachers. It’s been a time to rediscover things, and be reminded again why I chose to be a teacher in the first place, and it’s been great to stay involved with learners and educators.I still work a few days a week in schools, teaching and coaching.

I then hit upon the idea of building a website – it’s more practical and more fun than writing a book – I thought that other teachers would probably appreciate me sharing what I’d learned over the years. I’d always believed that given the right mindset and motivation, all teachers can learn to be excellent teachers, if they could find information and advice easily.The website also gives other teachers the opportunity to share their experience and expertise.

I’m reasonably computer literate but I’m not at all ‘techie’, and it took me a while to find the right kind of help to build the kind of website I wanted. After a lot of looking around I found SBI and discovered a great way to build a professional website. In my opinion, none of the other website building and hosting progrgams come anywhere near to SBI. It’s helped me start from scratch and has taken me forward step by step in a way I just couldn’t find anywhere else.

Like many teachers I’ve probably worked too hard throughout my career, but eventually I found that it’s possible to work smarter rather than try to work harder. This website gives me the chance to pass on some of the things I’ve learned that have helped me become a smarter teacher.

Throughout my career I’ve tried to keep a balance between the job and doing other things for fun.I’ve played soccer most of my life. I just gave up recently and I’m grateful I was lucky enough to stay fit enough to play pretty regularly, man and boy, for over 50 years.

Here’s a picture of me, taken while I was accompanying some senior high school students on a study visit, in the home team dressing room inside the Stade de France, in Paris, where France won the soccer world cup in 1998. It’s the closest I ever got to big time soccer!

My main exercise these days is walking our dog, Alfie, a very lively Boxer we got from a shelter a few years ago – he’s always ready for walks, two a day most days. You can see Alfie in the picture below.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and giving me the opportunity to share with you a few things about me.I hope you find the information you’re looking for in the pages on this site.

Bill Alexander

Bachelor Of Arts [Honours]

Graduate Certificate in Education

Final Diploma [French] – Institute of Linguists

Fellow of the University of the First Age

Certificate in Coaching – Institute of Leadership and Management


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