Andrew Moore

[John Simkin]

I am sad to announce that Andrew Moore, the moderator of the English section of this Forum, committed suicide last week. He will be much remembered for his willingness to help other teachers use ICT in their lessons. He was also a founder member of the Association of Teacher Websites and the creator of the excellent website, Universal Teacher:

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/

[Guest]

I am sad to announce that Andrew Moore, the moderator of the English section of this Forum, committed suicide last week. He will be much remembered for his willingness to help other teachers use ICT in their lessons. He was also a founder member of the Association of Teacher Websites and the creator of the excellent website, Universal Teacher:

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/

What awful horrible news.

Also a very sad loss to the world of teaching

[Graham Davies]

Dreadful, sad news. I enjoyed reading Andrew's contributions to this forum. This is a great loss.

[Richard Jones-Nerzic]

Very sad news. I was using Andrew's site last week. Such a brilliant, original piece of work. I know a lot of English teachers who will be saddened by this loss.

[Susan Wilde]

I am so distraught at this news.

His death has been subject of great distress on the email Langauge List which was one of Andrew's many projects. I only came over to see if there was a proper tribute for Andrew here, but I was not prepared to hear the terrible cause of his death.

Andrew's contribution to English Language teaching in this country is immeasurable; many of us have used his universal teacher site and engaged in personal email communication with him to discuss apsects of our work. His passing has left many of us feeling personally bereaved.

It is a cruel a shock to find that Andrew was suicidal. How can one with so much kindness and human warmth, who gave so freely to others, have been driven to take his own life?

It is a pity that he did not realise that however much he honestly thought that people would be better off without him, he was wrong ... and that he could not beleive that he could weather whatever low state he had fallen to.

I am so, so sad that Andrew has not had that opportunity to survive his troubles and that all the kindness we have expressed towards him is only following him into a void, rather than supporting him to live on. I feel (no doubt arrogantly?) that I could have helped him.

I am at a loss for words to articulate my pain and confusion.

If we can learn anything from Andrew's demise it must be that even the apparently "super-man strong" amongst us are only human.

We must all take extra care to be kind to our colleagues, to cherish our loved ones and to offer support even when none is asked for.

RIP Andrew

xx

Edited March 6, 2006 by Susan Wilde

[Caterina Gasparini]

It is very sad news for me. I had the opportunity of meeting him in Italy, when he came to one of our national ENIS conferences. I met a really warm and kind person, willing to share his ideas and help his colleague teachers. It is a great loss.

Edited March 5, 2006 by Caterina Gasparini

[John Simkin]

The Guardian published an Andrew Moore obituary today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/otherlives/story...1752801,00.html

Barbara Bleiman and Julie Blake

Thursday April 13, 2006

The Guardian

Andrew Moore, who has died aged 50, worked for East Riding of Yorkshire school improvement service as curriculum project manager for the National Grid for Learning and information and communications technology (ICT). However, his influence on teachers and students extended far beyond his day job through his inspirational work on education on the web.

He set up the Universal Teacher website (www.universalteacher.org.uk) which gives scholars and teachers access to a multitude of resources on English literature and language. The material was always high quality, academically rigorous, but always accessible and never patronising. His more recent project, the Cecil Slack and the Great War website, makes available a wonderful archive of first world war letters and associated teaching resources for history and English.

In all his work, Andrew achieved the ability to speak to teachers and students in both an authoritative and personal voice. His site provides reassuringly clear ideas and advice for students and teachers, offering support to English language teachers.

He was a regular contributor to the Language List, an email support network for English language teachers, often sending thoughtful responses to people's requests for help, whether it be answering a point of grammar or providing suggestions for good resources. On the announcement of his death, the Language List was flooded with emails from teachers expressing grief and gratitude.

Among Andrew's other achievements were being a founder member of the Association of Teachers' Websites, becoming the head of English for the ATW Virtual School in 2001 and acting as the UK co-ordinator of the European Network of Innovative Schools. The "universal teacher" epithet was taken from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, Frost in May, where the poet recalls his own sterile and punitive education as a boy and hopes for something more inspiring for his baby son.

In choosing that as a domain name, Andrew nailed his colours to the mast, deriving inspiration from Coleridge's belief that education should be enlightened and creative, rather than characterised by drudgery and control. Andrew certainly lived up to his aspirations to be a "universal" teacher, and has been more influential than he probably ever knew.

He is survived by his wife Debbie and a son and daughter.

[Caterina Gasparini]

Thank you John for your post.

Italian ENIS schools had a meeting last week and we reviewed the activities of the other national ENIS networks.

Andrew's ENIS site is still one of the best ones.

I do hope his great work may be continued.

[Guest]

The Guardian published an Andrew Moore obituary today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/otherlives/story...1752801,00.html

This seems a most appropriate tribute.

[Dalibor Svoboda]

I met Andrew Moore now and then at the meetings of Virtual School. He was a long standing member of this association. We learned to know each other but we never became close friends. We exchanged nods and politeness when passing and that was it.

In December 2005 did I take part of a combine meeting of Virtual School and Language departments in Salzburg. Andrew Moore was yet another one of the participants there.

This was a pre-Christmas time when beautiful and snowy Salzburg was every morning invaded by busloads from Italy and Germany searching for Christmas spirits.

At some point during that meeting, I and Andy started to talk to each other in a more casual way. He talked about visiting an evening concert at a local church. I answered that I would more than happy to go with him there. He waited for me in the front of the very tiny and rather obscure church hidden in a petty lane outside downtown. We went inside. That evening was reserved for a mass not a concert. Andy apologised for the mistake but we decided to stay anywhere. It showed that Andy was an experienced churchgoer. I was not. I would like to think that I saw his deep believe, his spiritual and profound life focus right there, during that ceremony. But I´m not at all sure of that.

After the ceremony we talked in short sentences to each other. I asked about his Christianity. He answered patiently. That he seldom miss a mass, which amazed me. I asked him if he wasn´t bothered that the ceremony had catholic style after asking him which confession he belonged too. He answered that he was not bothered by different confessions.

I felt slightly unhappy wondering during our walk back from the church to the hotel why did I miss so completely .. during my lived life the Christians message about believes and hopes Andy so easily embodied in itself?

That evening we decided that next morning we must attend the cathedral to listened to the morning concert there. Next day we barely squeezed inside in time for the ceremony and subsequent concert. The cathedral was crowded! But after a while we saw an unpopulated space further away which we move to.

And there we stood quite amazed by the music this first Advent Sunday, December 2004.

So do I remember Andrew Moore.

Edited April 21, 2006 by Dalibor Svoboda