Archive

Reading ability: nature or nurture?

Jul 14, 2014 | Category: literacy

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.Matthew, 13:12 The Matthew Effect has become somethi...

#the Matthew Effect #Daniel Rigney #genetics #Katherine Asbury #Keith Stanovich #Robert Plomin

The problem with SatNavs, or how feedback can impede learning

Jul 06, 2014 | Category: learning

I'm not an especially good driver, but I'm a truly terrible navigator. This used to mean that I would get lost. A lot. When I first moved to Bristol in 2001 I bought an A-Z of the city and when drivin...

#John Hattie #feedback #Robert Bjork #SatNav

Now we are three

Jul 03, 2014 | Category: Featured

In a pleasingly synchronous turn of events this post marking the end of the third year of writing The Learning Spy is also the 300th post I've published on the site. That's about a blog every 4 days....

#blogging

Is listening really passive?

Jun 30, 2014 | Category: learning

Listening is a positive act: you have to put yourself out to do it. David Hockney Like many others, I got very excited to see this published on the Ofsted website back in February: Inspectors must not...

#Ofsted #listening #active #ADHD #passive

Listen up: Improving the quality of classroom discussion

Jun 29, 2014 | Category: learning

We have two ears and only one tongue in order that we may hear more and speak less.Diogenes Pupils are asked to discuss stuff in class all the time. As, from time to time, are teachers. Think back to...

#Robin Alexander #Doug Lemov #discussion #listening

Why we disagree: the purposes of education

Jun 25, 2014 | Category: Featured

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.Aristotle (possibly a fake quote) We are fantastically bad at recognising that our beliefs are based not on ev...

What I got up to at the Wellington Festival of Education Part 2

Jun 24, 2014 | Category: Featured

Day Two of the Education Festival dawned rather too early; I was camped out in my van and could have done with another hour or so before the hordes descended. By the time I was decent, and had scoffed...

#Geoff Barton #Nevile Gwynne #Claire Fox #David Weston #Shaun Bailey

What I got up to at the Wellington Festival of Education Part 1

Jun 22, 2014 | Category: learning

Sadly, I missed most of the Friday. I spent the morning speaking at a maths conference (I know, right?) on correcting the mistakes made in the name of ‘numeracy across the curriculum’. If you’re inter...

#AfL #formative assessment #Dylan Wiliam #Wellington College

Who's to blame for the new English literature GCSEs?

May 30, 2014 | Category: English

The sound and fury surrounding text choices for GCSE English literature just won’t go away. The exam boards got their digs in first with Paul Dodd of OCR claiming Gove wanted to ban US authors because...

#GCSE #English literature #AQA #Michael Gove #Jonathan Bate #OCR

Should Ofsted judge 'quality of teaching'?

May 26, 2014 | Category: Featured

We all know, that as well as giving an overall grade, Ofsted give schools an individual judgement against 4 criteria: attainment, behaviour & safety, leadership & management, and quality of teaching....

#Ofsted #TES #lesson observation #Mike Cladingbowl #Sam Freedman