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Reactions to #WrongBook

In addition to the pre-publication reviews from some of the most eminent thinkers in education and psychology such as professors Dylan Wiliam, Robert Bjork, Daniel Willingham and Robert Coe, some 'real' readers have had a chance to plough their way through the 400+ pages. I realise this is a big ask but I hope the Amazon reviews below give you a sense of why it might be worth reading. Many thanks for all the kind comments and also for some of the rather blunt feedback. (I hear @HeyMiss Smith has given it a savaging in Schools Week!) Anyway, here's a taste of some [...]

2015-07-04T12:23:59+01:00July 4th, 2015|writing|

Some people on Twitter you may not currently follow but definitely should

Since writing a post 18 months ago recommending people to follow on Twitter, I've since met lots of other wonderful folk to whom I'd also like to draw your attention. To avoid petty rivalries and bruised egos they are arranged in alphabetical order: Gareth Alcott @GalcottGareth - super enthusiastic cheerleader for the College of Teaching and an all round good egg. Greg Ashman @greg_ashman - Australian based science teacher and edu-blogger. Jon Brunskill @jon_brunskill - Another boy genius. And a primary teacher! I know, right? Jules Daulby @JulesDaulby - If everyone who disagreed with me was a lovely as Jules the world would be a happier place. Pedro De Bruykere @thebandb - [...]

2015-07-03T07:45:59+01:00July 2nd, 2015|blogging|

June on The Learning Spy

June was a much quieter month on the blog than May. But despite the page views plummeting I still managed to churn out a fair few posts, summarised for your convenience below: #9 Motivation 6th June Throughout June I continued my uphill plod through the Top 20 psychological principles for teachers. This one was the first of four on what motivates students and looked at the costs and benefits of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. #10 Mastery 7th June Mastery learning is a much abused and very vogue-ish term. This post tried to begin unpicking what it is and isn't. It’s the bell curve, [...]

2015-07-01T11:48:26+01:00July 1st, 2015|Featured|

researchED English & Literacy Conference

A few months ago I asked Tom Bennett if he'd be up for rubberstamping some sort of rEDx project (like TEDx but with brains) devoted to exploring the intersection between education research and English teaching and he came back, quick as a flash, with the suggestion that I organise an actual researchED spinoff. So, under the steadying hand and watchful eye of Helene Galdon-O'Shea, I have. When? Saturday 7th November 2015 Where? Swindon Academy (which is also where I'll be working next year.) What? The theme of the conference is exploring the intersection between 'what works' according to the research community [...]

2015-07-08T20:37:09+01:00July 1st, 2015|English, research|

20 psychological principles for teachers #19 Measurement

This is #19 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning and the second of three posts examining how to assess students’ progress: "Students’ skills, knowledge, and abilities are best measured with assessment processes grounded in psychological science with well-defined standards for quality and fairness." The more I read on this subject, the more it becomes clear how widely misunderstood testing and assessment are. But does this actually matter? Do teachers need to know about such issues as reliability, precision and validity? Isn't this just a matter for exam boards and Ofqual? Well, it's been designated as one [...]

2015-06-30T21:13:23+01:00June 30th, 2015|assessment, psychology|

20 psychological principles for teachers #18 Formative & summative assessment

This is #18 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning and the first of three posts examining how to assess students' progress: "Formative and summative assessments are both important and useful but require different approaches and interpretations." As I'm sure everyone knows, summative assessments are made to establish what students have learned and to provide a quantitative measurement of achievement. Formative assessments, on the other hand, are intended to establish how students are progressing and provide them with the support needed to arrive at their intended destination. Summative assessment takes place after instruction while formative assessment is [...]

2015-06-29T13:55:30+01:00June 29th, 2015|psychology|

20 psychological principles for teachers #17 Classroom management

This is #17 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning and is the second of two posts examining how classrooms should be managed: "Effective class- room management is based on (a) setting and communicating high expectations, (b) consistently nurturing positive relationships, and (c) providing a high level of student support." It's an oft-repeated truism that nobody rises to low expectations. This is as true of standards of behaviour as it is for academic achievement; the more you expect, the higher you place the bar, the less children will expect to get away with. What we accept [...]

2015-07-12T13:06:45+01:00June 28th, 2015|behaviour, psychology|

When is a bad idea a bad idea?

While people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others. Christopher Hitchens Twitter exploded into fury earlier this evening when @MissNQT posted a picture of a training resource she'd been given at a course aimed at helping newly qualified teachers to challenge more able students. I took it upon myself to further propel it into the Twittersphere with this: Hyperbole? Schools Week editor, Laura McInerney certainly thought so. She suggested that were the grid retitled nobody would have gotten aeriated. Here's her edited version: [...]

2015-06-24T22:12:47+01:00June 23rd, 2015|myths|

20 psychological principles for teachers #15 Well being

This is the third of three posts examining social context, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being and the extent to which they are important to learning. This is #15 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning: “Emotional well-being influences educational performance, learning, and development.” What's more important, well-being or academic outcomes? The answer tends to be a no-brainer: almost everyone values happiness above academic ability. This leads, inexorably to a second question, should schools teach well-being as well academic subjects? Intuitively we might think the answer's obvious, but maybe it isn't. What if happiness can't be taught? [...]

2018-02-04T18:18:18+00:00June 23rd, 2015|psychology|

This much I know about John Tomsett's book

I remember reading John's first blog when it appeared in June 2012. Since then his posts have been consistently wise and deeply human. Even when he bangs on about golf, fishing or The Clash. Until I read that John was a headteacher who actually taught - actual classes - I'd never encountered this as a concept before. Since then I've seen him as a lodestone; my ideal against which I measure all other heads. I've had the privilege of meeting him a couple of times and he's as warm, tolerant and kind as you imagine him to be. We sat next to each [...]

2015-06-22T21:18:17+01:00June 22nd, 2015|reflection|

20 psychological principles for teachers #14 Relationships

This is the second of three posts examining social context, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being and the extent to which they are important to learning. This is #14 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning: “Interpersonal relationships and communication are critical to both the teaching–learning process and the social-emotional development of students.” Guess what? Psychologists have discovered that relationship are important in teaching. Who knew? This falls squarely into the 'how obvious' camp and as such seems to require little in the way of investigation. Quite simply, how could relationship not be important to teaching [...]

2015-06-22T07:41:44+01:00June 22nd, 2015|psychology|

20 psychological principles for teachers #13 Situated learning

My next three posts will look at social context, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being and examine the extent to which they are important to learning. This is #13 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning: “Learning is situated within multiple social contexts.” It's fair enough to point out that we're all part of a variety wider social groups. Of course we're influenced by the languages, beliefs, values and experiences of those with whom we interact. And of course these different cultural factors will exert pressures on each other and collide, but what difference does it [...]

2015-06-21T16:39:04+01:00June 21st, 2015|psychology|
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