Archive

The importance of reading fluency

Apr 03, 2017 | Category: reading

Following on from a recent post on the folly of forcing children to read along as they are being read to, I presented my thoughts on reading fluency and the problems with 'reading along' at researchED...

#researchED

Global warming in education: Why Schleicher is wrong

Mar 31, 2017 | Category: Featured

Without data you're just another person with an opinion. Andreas Schleicher As we all know - well, most of us - the climate is changing as a result of human behaviour. Maybe we could do something abou...

#Andreas Schleicher #OECD

The problem with 'reading along'

Mar 25, 2017 | Category: reading

It has become an unwritten law of teaching that when reading aloud to students, the teacher must ensure students are reading along in their own copy of the text. This is, I contend, a bad idea. To und...

#working memory #Baddeley & Hitch #cognitive load #phonological loop

The consequences of freedom

Mar 23, 2017 | Category: behaviour

Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, ju...

#mental health #game theory #RD Laing #Thomas Hobbes

What do teachers believe?

Mar 16, 2017 | Category: research

It's well-established that various 'myths' about how students' learn are remarkably persistent in the face of contradictory evidence. In 2014, Paul Howard-Jones' article, Neuroscience and education: m...

#learning styles #Jo Boaler #neuromyths #Paul Howard-Jones

What's the point of school?

Mar 14, 2017 | Category: Featured

Education is a technology that tries to make up for what the human mind is innately bad at.Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate Schools have only ever existed in cultures where culturally specific knowledge...

#Steven Pinker #evolutionary psychology #AS Neill

Some videos of me saying stuff about education

Mar 10, 2017 | Category: Featured

Recently, Swedish education magazine, Lärarnas Tidning interviewed me about my views on various aspects of education. For those interested in seeing me do a very poor Stewart Lee impersonation, they'v...

What's so great about making mistakes?

Mar 15, 2017 | Category: Featured

To err is human.Alexander Pope Making mistakes is an inevitable part of life. We're all wrong about something at some point. Equally obviously, contending with failure, learning to drag ourselves up b...

#failure #Daniel Dennett #mistakes

Do we want 'deeper learning' classrooms?

Mar 09, 2017 | Category: Featured

It's very easy to present a false dichotomy to make our own beliefs and choices seem more desirable than the alternatives. Consider this infographic from the Hewlett Foundation which has been doing th...

#21st Century Learning #deeper learning #Hewlett Foundation

Should we give teachers the 'benefit of the doubt'?

Mar 03, 2017 | Category: leadership

Earlier in the week, Schools Minister, Lord Nash announced that schools should be more like businesses and jettison underperforming staff. According to this TES report he's reported to have said, "“I...

#Dylan Wiliam #intelligent accountability #Lord Nash