Archive

Everything we've been told about teaching is wrong, and what to do about it!

Mar 09, 2014 | Category: myths

It was great to be back at the IOE for Pedagoo London 2014, and many thanks must go to @hgaldinoshea & @kevbartle for organising such a wonderful (and free!) event. As ever there's never enough time t...

#Dylan Wiliam #John Hattie #Robert Bjork #David Mcraney #Christopher Chabris #Daniel Simons #Katherine Schultz #PedagooLondon14

What I've learned about functional grammar

Mar 06, 2014 | Category: literacy

Yesterday I had the good fortune to listen to Professor Mary Schleppegrell from the University of Michigan talk about how functional grammar is having an impact on EFL students in US schools. Ever sin...

#Lee Donaghy #Michael Halliday #functional grammar #John Polias #Mary Schleppegrell #systemic functional linguistics

The dyslexia debate - is the label 'meaningless'?

Feb 27, 2014 | Category: literacy

Back in May last year I wrote a post which asked whether dyslexia actually exists. Some people really liked it and others (particularly those with children who have been diagnosed with dyslexia) got p...

#dyslexia #Julian Elliott

Don't read these books!

Feb 24, 2014 | Category: blogging

You may have missed it but there was something of a spat on Twitter a few weeks back when one blogger suggested that certain books weren't worth reading. After all sorts of guff about the 'pedagogy po...

#Ofsted #Mike Cladingbowl #The Perfect English Ofsted Lesson

Ofsted's Evaluation Form: the next skirmish!

Feb 22, 2014 | Category: Featured

The 'do they/don't they' buggers' muddle of whether or not Ofsted inspectors are supposed to grade lessons hasn't really been put to rest. Schools' National Director, Mike Cladingbowl's attempts at cl...

#Ofsted #lesson observation #Mary Myatt #Mike Cladingbowl #Evaluation Form

Are we any clearer? Ofsted explain what they do and don't do

Feb 21, 2014 | Category: Featured

The story so far... On Tuesday I, and four other education bloggers met with Ofsted's National Director of Schools Mike Cladingbowl to discuss, among other things, now and why lessons are graded by Of...

#Ofsted #lesson observation #Mike Cladingbowl

What if there was no outstanding?

Mar 16, 2014 | Category: leadership

The cynics are right nine times out of ten.H.L. Mencken Does the outstanding grade retard innovation or drive us towards excellence?This is just a flight of fancy; a thought experiment. What would hap...

#motivation #Joe Kirby #outstanding

Watching the watchmen: Is Ofsted fit for purpose?

Mar 16, 2014 | Category: Featured

You may remember a blog I posted back in December: Get ahead of the curve: stop grading lessons written after being invited to chat to Jonathan Simons and Harriet Waldegrave, the authors of Policy Exc...

#Ofsted #Policy Exchange

Why AfL might be wrong, and what to do about it

Mar 12, 2014 | Category: myths

Some cows are so sacred that any criticism of them is fraught with the risk of bumping up against entrenched cognitive bias. We are fantastically bad at recognizing that our beliefs are often not base...

#AfL #Dylan Wiliam #Graham Nuthall #Robert Coe

Getting feedback right Part 2: How do we provide clarity?

Mar 05, 2014 | Category: assessment

As discussed in yesterday's post, I am currently working on the assumption that there are only 3 meaningful purposes of feedback: To provide clarity To increase pupils' effort To increase pupil...

#feedback #clarification