Ask not what's wrong with Twitter…
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 see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Matthew 7: 3-5 What's wrong with Twitter? Nothing. Not a damn thing. Twitter does what it does brilliantly and I [...]
Is failure just a lack of practice?
Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho! You must learn to fail intelligently. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. One fails forward towards success. Thomas Edison Show me a teacher who doesn’t fail every day and I’ll show you a teacher with low expectations for his or her students. Dylan Wiliam I've written a fair bit over [...]
Hang on in there: could encouragement be more useful than praise?
Last week I expanded on some of my doubts about the concept of praise, particularly the current consensus that we should be going out of our way to praise effort. I concluded by saying, "no one would disagree with the power of a sincere compliment – the difficulty is in knowing the difference. Maybe we should start thinking about how best to encourage pupils to learn." I intended to spend the week [...]
Is praise counter productive?
I had an interesting discussion with Tim Taylor this morning. He said, "At best, praising effort has a neutral or no effect when students are successful, but is likely to be negative when students are not successful." But what could possibly be wrong with praise? Surely praise is one of the most fundamental way to motivate pupils? Teachers are, generally, keen to praise pupils, and pupils , generally, welcome and expect [...]
Hats, schmats: what really matters is the quality of debate
I feel the need to make a few things clear. A few days ago I wrote this: Six Silly Hats (When is it OK to mock stuff you think is daft?) and some of the response I got suggested that I was confused on several points. I clearly had no idea what the hats actually were (I do) I had gotten confused about the metaphorical nature of the hats and that [...]
Six silly hats (When is it OK to mock stuff you think is daft?)
Who doesn't love wearing silly hats? Christmas dinner just wouldn't be the same without popping on a paper hat and looking like a complete buffoon for the duration. But does this kind of behaviour have a place in education? And if you think not, is it acceptable to poke fun at those who disagree? So, firstly, let's establish whether or not Edward de Bono's Thinking hats actually are silly. Harry [...]
A model lesson? Part 2: Marathon vs sprint
Last week I questioned the concept of outstanding lessons full of gimmicks that look great but ultimately may not result in much actual progress being made. Instead, I argued, embedding classroom routines and ensuring consistency are far more important in the long run. And, as classroom teachers, we're in it for the long haul. Who cares whether an individual lesson is a thing of beauty if your GCSE results are [...]
A model lesson? Part 1: routines vs gimmicks
It's been a busy week this week. What with starting at a new school, getting up before 5 to drive two hours on Monday morning, living an Alan Partridge-esque existence in a particularly horrific Travelodge, and risking whatever credibility I might have by teaching a 'model' lesson in front of colleagues I'd barely met to kids I'd never met. That this was in any way successful is largely down to the [...]
AfL: cargo cult teaching?
OK, so here's a quick summary of the story so far: A few days ago I suggested in a blog post that maybe AfL 'wasn't all that'. Lots of lovely people kindly got in touch to point out that I clearly hadn't got a clue what AfL actually was, and then Gordon Baillie wrote a really rather good response in defence of AfL on his blog. Right? Right. At this point [...]
Chasing our tails – is AfL all it's cracked up to be?
Is it blasphemous to doubt the efficacy of AfL? While purists might argue that it's 'just good teaching', we teach in a world where formative assessment has become dogma and where feedback is king. (Don't worry, I'm not about to start upsetting the feedback applecart although there are occasions when pupils can benefit from it being reduced.) But AfL as a 'thing'? I'm not just talking about some of the [...]
Motivation: when the going gets tough, the tough get going
If ever you get embroiled in a discussion on Learning Styles you may well be confronted with the chestnut of motivation. Learning styles, it seems to me, are all about motivation and management, and nothing whatsoever to do with learning. There is of course a correlation between learning and motivation but often they get conflated. Much of what goes on in classrooms is predicated on the belief that if kids [...]
Making Meaning in English
Learning Spy CPD
*NEW* Intelligent Accountability
#Cleverer
#PsychBook
#WrongBook
The Secret of Literacy
The Perfect English Lesson
Join Over 10,000 Subscribers Learning from David Didau
Become Part of David Didau’s Network and Further Your Teaching Career.
