The glamour of grammar: in context or not?
It's something of an understatement to say that glamour and grammar are not usually closely associated in many people's minds. One of the 100 words David Crystal uses to tell The Story of English is ‘grammar’. It turns out that grammar and glamour come from the same root. Grammar originally meant the study of everything written but, as reading must have seemed like an almost magical skill to your average medieval peasant, grammar became [...]
What if we stopped making the same mistakes?
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Henry Ford Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results. Fake Einstein quote How many of us have worked in schools which have as one of their teaching & learning priorities differentiation, questioning, or assessment & feedback? Most of us, right? You'll be hard-pressed to find a school which isn't working hard on trying to [...]
Still grading lessons? A triumph of experience over hope
Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. Francis Bacon To paraphrase Rob Coe's seminal research, yesterday's National Teacher Enquiry Network (NTEN) conference at KEGS in Chelmsford was a triumph of experience over hope. just hoping we're doing the right things is potentially worse than useless: it might be downright damaging. This was a gathering of teachers and school leaders from a wide range of settings, all of [...]
"The kids absolutely love it!" The phrase that launched a thousand gimmicks
I attended a TeachMeet recently where a number of the presenters argued that their teaching strategy of choice was worth trying out because, "The kids absolutely love it!" This seems to me to be a wholly inappropriate reason for teaching something. Then, in a wildly irresponsible fit of despondency, I tweeted the following: Predictably several people saw fit to take me to task, saying variously that I sounded "really boring", [...]
“The kids absolutely love it!” The phrase that launched a thousand gimmicks
I attended a TeachMeet recently where a number of the presenters argued that their teaching strategy of choice was worth trying out because, "The kids absolutely love it!" This seems to me to be a wholly inappropriate reason for teaching something. Then, in a wildly irresponsible fit of despondency, I tweeted the following: Predictably several people saw fit to take me to task, saying variously that I sounded "really boring", [...]
Questions that matter: method vs practice
We talk a lot these days about pedagogy, but what do we actually mean? Obviously, we know what the dictionary definition is: the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept, but I think we're far more concerned about methodology than we are about practice. I just came across this list of questions that should preoccupy teachers on Barry Smith's blog and thought they were so useful [...]
Is there a way to avoid teaching rubbish in English?
I’ve had an idea! For a while now I’ve been increasingly disgusted at the way English language has been dumbed down as a GCSE subject. Really, what is the point of asking pupils to analyse leaflets for RNLI or websites about skateboarding? What’s the point of committing so much time and effort to teaching kids how to write like tabloid journalists? I can see an argument for teaching English as [...]
Practical differentiation: high expectations and the art of making mistakes
Differentiation? I hate the word as I hate Hell, all ludicrous bureaucracy, and thee! Er... Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet Differentiation is one of the darkest arts in teaching. The generally accepted position is that differentiation is wholly good, and this is the cause of the wracking guilt felt by harrowed teachers: it may well be good, but it's bloody hard work. My bottom line is this: any policy predicated on [...]
Is extending school hours really such a vote winner?
This morning saw the world light up with hysterical headlines proclaiming the end of days. School holidays would be slashed from 13 to 7 weeks and kids forced to spend 9 hours a day in school. The Sun: Tories plan to keep kids in school nine hours a day, 45 weeks a year The Mirror: Conservatives mull forcing children to attend school between 9am and 6pm EVERY DAY for 45 weeks a [...]
An Ofsted inspector reviews The Secret of Literacy
Over the past few weeks I've publicised some of the reviews for my new book. The advance notices I've received have been universally positive and deeply gratifying. The idea that such thinkers and writers as Doug Lemov, Alex Quigley and Tom Sherrington should all be so effusive is something of a relief. But in traditional style, I have left the best (or at least my favourite) review til last. As the [...]
Force fed feedback: is less more?
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 in 2009 we have had conclusive proof: according to Hattie's meta-analyses, feedback has the highest effect size of any teacher invention. QED. And this has led, unsurprisingly, to an avalanche of blogs (many of which I've [...]
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