Category: blog of the week
Blog of the week | 24th January 2016
#BOTW this week goes to William Enemy’s post called: Knowledge organisers- more clarity than learning objectives and great for building retention.
In the post William talks about how he has used knowledge organisers in Maths and his post details the practical application of them (which can be applied across curriculum areas).
#neverstoplearning
Blog of the week | 4th October 2015
Following on from Dave Bunker’s great 15 Minute Forum earlier this term which opened up the debate about forming positive relationships with young people and the role of behaviour management in this process, this weeks blog of the week goes to Dave’s post on the matter:
Why telling new teachers to build relationships is bad advice by Dave Bunker.
A great compliment to Dave’s blog is this post by Katie Ashford on the need for high expectations for all students regardless of their ‘issues.’
Give him a break by Katie Ashford.
I have taught too many kids like Palmer, and whilst I still have a lot to learn about building the strongest relationships and providing the best possible support, I am sure about one thing. If you give a kid a break, you reduce your standards for them, and to do so is to allow them to fall to those low standards. We do care, and caring is a thread inseparable from the complex tapestry of teaching. But sometimes, the most caring thing we can do for a child is to raise our standards even higher.
Blog(s) of the week | 20th September 2015
Having spent some time with trainee teachers this last couple of weeks I’ve tried to steer them towards some interesting books that have helped me develop my understanding of teaching and learning. One book in particular that stands out is – Why students don’t like school by Daniel T Willingham. In the book Willingham neatly explains a theory of how we learn and makes the argument that the way schools tend to deliver their curriculum conflicts with the way people actually learn, which may be why schools (secondary in particular) end up trying to ‘get year 11 through’ with last minute strategies rather than addressing the actual problem – are students learning things from year 7 onwards or just covering them?
Just because teachers are teaching does not mean students are learning.
This may be hard to digest, challenging the status quo of how curriculums are traditionally designed. It eeks of the phrase “but this is how we’ve always done it…”
Blog 1: Why students don’t remember what they’ve learned by Joe Kirby
Blog 2: FACE it – a formula for learning by Tom Sherrington
#neverstoplearning
Blog(s) of the week | 13th September 2015
This weeks #BOTW is from Doug Lemov’s hugely successful Teach Like a Champion blog which explains and analyses lots of different teaching methods.
In particular these blogs look into the idea of using student work (both past and present) to model expectations and de-construct answers with students.
Blog 1 – Forget the rubric, use student work instead – In this blog Dylan Wiliam suggests that rubrics quite often mean little to students and that using student work to model expectations instead is far more powerful.
Blog 2 – ‘Show call’ technique – In this blog Doug has captured on video a teacher making great use of student work in the moment to model answers during a maths lesson. If you don’t have access to a visualiser in your classroom you could use the work of students from previous years to model and de-construct success criteria.
#neverstoplearning
Blog of the week | 9th September
With the start of new school year already underway, the first Blog of the week for this new academic year goes to Andy Tharby for his post Three ways to become a teacher again.
…the greatest teachers I have worked with seem magically to combine both – a wonderful depth of subject knowledge and an acute empathetic understanding of how school makes young people feel. That’s what I’m gunning for this year.
Blog of the Week | 14th June 2015
This weeks blog of the week goes to Chris Hildrew for an older post entitled: ‘Closing the gap marking.’
At school recently we have been discussing why pupil premium is important and looking at things teachers can do in order to ‘close the gap.’ This post gave some real practical advice on how the act of marking and feedback is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal as teachers to enable all students to progress with their learning.
It’s the gap between students receiving the feedback and acting on it that we need to address.
How often do we spend a lot of time and effort providing feedback to students but don’t insist on all students acting upon it?
Blog of the week | 7th June 2015
#BOTW this week goes to Dan Brinton for his wonderful insight and dissemination of some research into what makes great teaching. As Dan outlines in the beginning of the post:
This blog is a summary of a Practice Guide by Pashler et al. from 2007, which sets out to provide teachers with specific strategies for instruction and study.
I came across it in a roundabout way via this paper by Dunlosky et al cited in the “What makes great teaching? Review of the underpinning research” by Rob Coe et al.
The central tenet of this particular Practice Guide is that learning depends on memory, which can in turn be strengthened by concrete strategies. These strategies help students to master new knowledge and skills, without forgetting what they have learned.
#neverstoplearning
Blog(s) of the week | 31st May 2015
Two blogs this week that have helped with reflecting on what great teaching may be…
1. Great teaching – Great teachers by Shaun Allison
If you are looking to reflect upon a particular aspect of your teaching this post by Shaun is a great place to start.
2. Teaching better. My pedagogical to-do list by Tom Sherrington
In this post Tom outlines and commits to act on his reflections by listing things he intends to try in order to improve his teaching.
#neverstoplearning
Blog of the week | 17th May 2015
This weeks blog of the week is great reflection on effective questioning and what the purpose of questioning is.
The blog post outlines the reasons for questioning and includes a range of different strategies that can be employed across all subjects. It finishes with a set of questions to reflect on your own questioning…
#neverstoplearning
Blog of the week – 4th May 2015
Blog of the week this week goes to @TeacherToolkit with 10 great tips for tutors.
Whether new or experienced this blog will offer some great tips or serve as a timely reminder.
#neverstoplearning
Never Stop Learning 