I wrote 125 posts in 2014 bringing the running total to 336 posts. Here are the ten most popular this year:

  1. Why do so many teachers leave teaching? (February 2013)
  2. The Cult of Outstanding™: the problem with ‘outstanding’ lessons (January 2014)
  3. Work scrutiny – What’s the point of marking books? (January 2013)
  4. Marking is an act of love (October 2013)
  5. Where lesson observations go wrong  (July 2013)
  6. What is good behaviour? (January 2012)
  7. Slow Writing: how slowing down can improve your writing (May 2012)
  8. Why AfL might be wrong, and what to do about it (March 2014)
  9. Building challenge: differentiation that’s quick and works (January 2013)
  10. What I learned from my visit to Ofsted (February 2014)

It’s slightly depressing that only three of these posts were actually written last year. While it’s nice to have some old favourites, I wonder if this is how Noddy Holder and the boys feel each Christmas?

In no particular order, the posts I most enjoyed writing this year were:

Why ‘triple marking’ is wrong (and not my fault) Setting the record straight on the current marking fetish.

What if we started trusting teachers? – Maybe they might be happier and more productive?

I ♥ rote learning – why drill doesn’t necessarily kill

Can we trust the evidence of our own eyes? No. There should be a little more distance between seeing and believing

Do I lack the courage of my convictions? Why I think it’s fine to change my mind.

Reading ability: nature or nurture? – Some fascinating stuff on heritability and environment.

Why I changed my mind about the SOLO taxonomy – I still get approached by last of folk asking me to endorse something to do with SOLO. This is where I refer them.

This is what I think – I list of things I believe

One step beyond – assessing what we value – designing an English curriculum and assessment system with Belmont School

What if we stopped making the same mistakes? – Maybe we could make new ones?

It would make me exceedingly happy if they were more widely read.

Here’s what WordPress have to say:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 650,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 28 days for that many people to see it. Read more…

Happy New Year.