Archive

Force fed feedback: is less more?

Jan 26, 2014 | Category: Featured

It is commonly and widely accepted that feedback is the best, brightest and shiniest thing we can be doing as teachers, and the more of it the better. Ever since Prof Hattie published Visible Learning...

#Dylan Wiliam #John Hattie #feedback #Robert Bjork #Andy Day

A tale of two lessons: further thoughts on the Cult of Outstanding

Jan 20, 2014 | Category: learning

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, i...

#outstanding lessons

Some reviews of The Secret of Literacy

Jan 18, 2014 | Category: literacy

To further whet your appetite for my forthcoming book and in the spirit of shameless self-promotion, I thought I'd share a couple of pre-release reviews. (Just in case you weren't aware, it's out on 3...

#Alex Quigley #Tom Sherrington #The Secret of Literacy

How can we make classroom observation more effective?

Jan 14, 2014 | Category: learning

If the belief that it's possible for untrained observers to pitch up in lessons and grade their effectiveness is comparable to a belief in witchcraft, (and Professor Robert Coe's research confirms tha...

#Doug Lemov #lesson observation #Robert Coe

Coming soon... the secret of literacy revealed

Jan 10, 2014 | Category: Featured

This isn't really a post, more a shameless piece of self-promotion. I would normally cringe at the idea of publicly bathing in the warm glow of congratulations but in this case it feels exciting enoug...

#Doug Lemov #The Secret of Literacy

What you may have missed on The Learning Spy in 2013

Dec 17, 2013 | Category: blogging

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a teacher in possession of an internet connection, must be in want of an annual review for each of the education blogs to which they're subscribed. As is t...

Principled curriculum design: the English curriculum

Dec 16, 2013 | Category: English

The tragedy of life is that one can only understand life backwards, but one must live it forwards Søren Kierkegaard Back in March 2013, I wrote about the principles underlying my redesign of a Keys St...

#Dylan Wiliam #grammar #Alex Quigley #Joe Kirby #Daisy Christodoulou #Debra Myhill #Threshold concepts

Can a good teacher teach anything well?

Dec 14, 2013 | Category: learning

I used to work for a headteacher who was fond of saying "We're teachers of children, not teachers of subjects." This was justification for having non-specialist teachers in certain shortage subjects....

#knowledge #pedagogical content knowledge

Some dichotomies are real: the 'and/or debate'

Dec 06, 2013 | Category: Featured

I get quite cross when I hear people who really should know better dismissing the knowledge/skills debate as a “mindless dichotomy". It’s not. The ideological opposition between proponents of these vi...

#knowledge #skills #Angela Duckworth #resilience #Stephen Tiernay

The shocking mediation of Ofsted criteria by 'rogue' inspectors

Nov 10, 2013 | Category: training

There's a lot said and written about what Ofsted do and don't want to see in lessons, and it turns out a lot of it is nonsense. Fortunately though we have Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector, saying...

#Ofsted #Sir Michael Wilshaw #Old Andrew #Mary Myatt