Archive

It's not what you know... oh, hang on: it IS what you know!

Nov 09, 2013 | Category: learning

I'm fed up of people who should know better saying they're bored with the false dichotomy of skills versus knowledge. The knowledge vs skills debate is always worth having because it conceals a more f...

#bloom's taxonomy #knowledge #SOLO #Joe Kirby

What is (or isn't) language doing in PGCE?

Oct 28, 2013 | Category: literacy

After yesterday's post on the subject of how to improve the PGCE, Lee Donaghy tweeted me to point out that I had neglected to mention the importance of trainee teachers learning knowledge about langua...

#Lee Donaghy #Michael Halliday #PGCE

The times they are a changin': how can we improve the PGCE?

Oct 27, 2013 | Category: Featured

Back in the dim and distant mists of time when I embarked on my Post-graduate Certificate in Education, there was no other way to train as a teacher. Much of my training was interesting and I largely...

#Teach First #Joe Kirby #Doug Lemov #PCK #PGCE #School Direct

Ask not what's wrong with Twitter...

Sep 29, 2013 | Category: blogging

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou s...

#Twitter #John Tomsett

Get ahead of the curve: stop grading lessons

Dec 11, 2013 | Category: blogging

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead Over the past few years I’ve been articulating my obje...

#Ofsted #lesson observation #Policy Exchange

Black space: improving writing by increasing lexical density

Dec 09, 2013 | Category: writing

Style ... is not—can never be—extraneous Ornament... ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manusc...

#Slow Writing #nominalisation #EB Strunk #Kerry Pulleyn #lexical density #Stephen King

With great power comes great responsibility: an apology

Dec 08, 2013 | Category: blogging

Every now and then I'm faced with the realisation that I can be a bit of a twat.I'm sure I regularly upset people by making carelessly forthright assertions about what they should or shouldn't be doin...

#Dickens #Harry Potter

Awards Season 2013 - my votes in the Edublog Awards

Dec 07, 2013 | Category: blogging

It's that time again. The rhythm of the year inevitably reaches a staccato climax as the Edublog Awards, or Eddies, trundle laboriously into view. And happily the voting process appears much less flaw...

#edublog awards #Old Andrew #Tom Sherrington #Laura McInerney

What 3 things would you do to help a teacher improve?

Dec 03, 2013 | Category: training

If there was no OfSTED, no league tables, no SLT... just you and your class. What would you choose to do to make it GREAT?Do that anyway...Tom SherringtonEvery teacher needs to improve. Not because th...

#Ofsted #Zoe Elder #coaching #Dylan Wiliam #Tom Sherrington #Dan Heath

Has lesson observation become the new Brain Gym?

Nov 16, 2013 | Category: training

I've thought a lot about lesson observation over the past couple of years and have come to the conclusion that it is broken. What is most worrying is that it is almost universally accepted as the best...

#Ofsted #Sir Michael Wilshaw #Graham Nuthall #Robert Bjork #Joe Kirby #Chris Moyes #lesson observation #Mary Myatt #Matt O'Leary #Robert Coe