Some people on Twitter you may not currently follow but definitely should
Since writing a post 18 months ago recommending people to follow on Twitter, I've since met lots of other wonderful folk to whom I'd also like to draw your attention. To avoid petty rivalries and bruised egos they are arranged in alphabetical order: Gareth Alcott @GalcottGareth - super enthusiastic cheerleader for the College of Teaching and an all round good egg. Greg Ashman @greg_ashman - Australian based science teacher and edu-blogger. Jon Brunskill @jon_brunskill - Another boy [...]
June on The Learning Spy
June was a much quieter month on the blog than May. But despite the page views plummeting I still managed to churn out a fair few posts, summarised for your convenience below: #9 Motivation 6th June Throughout June I continued my uphill plod through the Top 20 psychological principles for teachers. This one was the first of four on what motivates students and looked at the costs and benefits of intrinsic [...]
researchED English & Literacy Conference
A few months ago I asked Tom Bennett if he'd be up for rubberstamping some sort of rEDx project (like TEDx but with brains) devoted to exploring the intersection between education research and English teaching and he came back, quick as a flash, with the suggestion that I organise an actual researchED spinoff. So, under the steadying hand and watchful eye of Helene Galdon-O'Shea, I have. When? Saturday 7th November [...]
20 psychological principles for teachers #19 Measurement
This is #19 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning and the second of three posts examining how to assess students’ progress: "Students’ skills, knowledge, and abilities are best measured with assessment processes grounded in psychological science with well-defined standards for quality and fairness." The more I read on this subject, the more it becomes clear how widely misunderstood testing and assessment are. But does this [...]
20 psychological principles for teachers #18 Formative & summative assessment
This is #18 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning and the first of three posts examining how to assess students' progress: "Formative and summative assessments are both important and useful but require different approaches and interpretations." As I'm sure everyone knows, summative assessments are made to establish what students have learned and to provide a quantitative measurement of achievement. Formative assessments, on the other [...]
20 psychological principles for teachers #17 Classroom management
This is #17 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning and is the second of two posts examining how classrooms should be managed: "Effective class- room management is based on (a) setting and communicating high expectations, (b) consistently nurturing positive relationships, and (c) providing a high level of student support." It's an oft-repeated truism that nobody rises to low expectations. This is as true of [...]
When is a bad idea a bad idea?
While people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others. Christopher Hitchens Twitter exploded into fury earlier this evening when @MissNQT posted a picture of a training resource she'd been given at a course aimed at helping newly qualified teachers to challenge more able students. I took it upon myself to further propel [...]
20 psychological principles for teachers #15 Well being
This is the third of three posts examining social context, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being and the extent to which they are important to learning. This is #15 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning: “Emotional well-being influences educational performance, learning, and development.” What's more important, well-being or academic outcomes? The answer tends to be a no-brainer: almost everyone values happiness above academic ability. This [...]
This much I know about John Tomsett's book
I remember reading John's first blog when it appeared in June 2012. Since then his posts have been consistently wise and deeply human. Even when he bangs on about golf, fishing or The Clash. Until I read that John was a headteacher who actually taught - actual classes - I'd never encountered this as a concept before. Since then I've seen him as a lodestone; my ideal against which I measure all [...]
20 psychological principles for teachers #14 Relationships
This is the second of three posts examining social context, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being and the extent to which they are important to learning. This is #14 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning: “Interpersonal relationships and communication are critical to both the teaching–learning process and the social-emotional development of students.” Guess what? Psychologists have discovered that relationship are important in teaching. Who [...]
20 psychological principles for teachers #13 Situated learning
My next three posts will look at social context, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being and examine the extent to which they are important to learning. This is #13 in my series on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning: “Learning is situated within multiple social contexts.” It's fair enough to point out that we're all part of a variety wider social groups. Of course we're influenced by the [...]
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