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Redesigning a curriculum

Mar 25, 2013 | Category: English

Effective reform must start with the understanding that the curriculum is the central focus and the central business of schools. Effective curricula are the sina que non of the system that is capable...

#grammar #Daisy Christodolou #Robert Bjork #cultrural capital #desirable difficulties

Anatomy of an outstanding lesson

Jan 22, 2013 | Category: English

I'd want to make clear at the outset of this post that I no longer believe there is such a thing as an 'outstanding' lesson and would like to refer you to this post. Outstanding lessons are all alike;...

#Of Mice and Men #outstanding lessons #Joan Jett #The Perfect Ofsted English Lesson

Building challenge: differentiation that's quick and works

Jan 19, 2013 | Category: English

UPDATE: These two posts represent my latest think on differentiation: Is differentiation a zero-sum game? April 2015Why do we overestimate the importance of differences? November 2014Since having a go...

#Zoe Elder #Darren Mead #differentiation #Jim Smith #Lesson planning #6 degrees of separation #Before before after after #comparison alley #Lisa Jane Ashes

Building anticipation... How to get kids to look forward to your lessons without dumbing down

Jan 11, 2013 | Category: English

One of the banes of every teachers' life is that endless, whining chorus of, "Can we do something fun today?" The correct answer to this pitiful plea is of course that learning is always fun and that...

#Hywel Roberts #Julius Caesar #The Clash

The GCSE English "fiasco" - Why shouldn't all have prizes?

Sep 02, 2012 | Category: English

Lots of folk have had lots to say about what went on behind the scenes at the various exam boards this summer and throughout it all I've largely kept my peace. Having absorbed the various arguments an...

#English #GCSEs #Gove #literacy #grade inflation

The mathematics of writing

Oct 30, 2012 | Category: English

A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns… The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s must be beautiful; the ideas like the colours or the words, must fit t...

#Phil Beadle #grammar #writing #Dancing About Architecture #maths #Michael Swann

Project Based Learning: I did it my way

Sep 23, 2012 | Category: English

I've finally managed to cobble together my first post since starting back in September. What with starting a new job, teaching A level for the first time in over a decade and languishing in post-publi...

#Ron Berger #Buck Institute of Education #Cramlington Learning Village #Critique #Project Based Learning

Making feedback stick

Jul 16, 2012 | Category: English

There's really no argument about the fact that feedback is pretty important. It sits right at the top of the list of strategies which make the biggest impact on students' progress. If we're not giving...

#Hattie #Triple impact marking #feedback #dialogics

Some thoughts on silent reading

Jul 01, 2012 | Category: English

[caption id="attachment_2287" align="alignleft" width="300"] Is silence is golden?[/caption]"And Johnny, what makes you think that is suitable for silent reading?" "Because Sir, you really would not w...

#Kenny Pieper #accelerated reader #Geoff Barton #Hirsch #Matthew effect #Saint Ambrose #silent reading

Slow Writing: how slowing down can improve your writing

May 12, 2012 | Category: English

NB - my latest thinking on Slow Writing can be found here.Exam season is nearly upon us and English departments across the land will be gearing up to the Herculean labour of training students to churn...

#AQA #Slow Writing #writing