Assessment… Trying to get better with retention and retrieval practice 11 Mar 202111 Mar 2021 We are in the process of putting together a new curriculum. And with a new curriculum, comes new knowledge...potentially. Like many, as I think about new units, I also think…
Curriculum… Fostering pupil voice and their experience of texts 7 Mar 20217 Mar 2021 Over the lockdown period, I had the fortune to join a series of English and Media Centre webinars with Barbara Bleiman, who is an absolute legend in the English world. …
Teaching and Learning Revisiting old posts: Foldables 2 Mar 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN MARCH 2014 On Saturday I attended the Pedagoo conference. It was a great day and opportunity to touch based with Twitter colleagues. Having been to a number…
Leadership… Reflecting on old posts: Moving from Inadequate to good 2 Mar 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN APRIL 2016 In the fifteen years I have been teaching, I have had the honour and privilege to work in two schools during challenging times and then,…
Curriculum… Revisiting old posts: Collaborative planning 1 Mar 20211 Mar 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN MAY 2017 Last year Kaz Armstrong, our KS3 Subject Lead and the English department collaborated to create a Key Stage Three curriculum that we felt would equip…
Teaching and Learning Revisiting old posts: Displays set the tone 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JULY 2017 This term a key priority for the department has been on creating the right environment. Displays, you see, set the tone, establish the culture, support…
Teaching and Learning… Revisiting old ideas: When ideas from Twitter come together 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN NOVEMBER 2017 I love reading and, as a result, I love teaching reading. Just this week, I got over-excited reading Oliver Twist with year 8, getting into…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: knowledge 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JAN 2018 - talking about knowledge since day dot. This isn’t a radical blog post but I kind of promised myself I would write more this year…
Teaching and Learning Revisiting old posts: Explode a quotation 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN 2017 Jamie Clark originally introduced this idea and it is something we now use at the start of every lesson. It's a simple idea but has had…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: interleaving and recall 28 Feb 2021 Over the past year, I've been conscious that we haven’t interleaved our texts as much as we should and that our pupils’ retention is poor so, this term, I've spent some time addressing…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: My work with Quizlet – quotation retention 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN MAY 2018 There is no doubt the embedding of short, concise quotations throughout literature responses supports pupils to hit Band 5. A member of #teamenglish did a…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: The importance of Do it Now tasks in aiding short-term and long-term recall and retention. 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JULY 2018 Last year, our then deputy, Michael Goves, introduced a lesson framework to the academy for teaching that consisted of a Do it now, the imparting…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: learning intentions and success criteria 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN APRIL 2019 Visible Learning Feedback Last term, my wonderful school sent me to the Visible Learning conference in Edinburgh. It was an absolute privilege to be able…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: Evaluating and growing learning 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JANUARY 2020 Teaching a new curriculum is an overwhelming and daunting prospect for any classroom teacher. There are a multitude of decisions to make and the first…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: Slow and steady wins the race 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POST ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 17TH 2020 One of the things I am hearing a lot about at the moment is the need to strip back, focus on foundational aspects…
Teaching and Learning Reflecting on stepping learning 26 Oct 202028 Feb 2021 I really enjoyed the Engchat last week hosted by Susan Strachan. The initial question was framed with regard to our ‘less able’ pupils and how we teach inference. The ability…
Assessment… Reflecting on Rosenshine… 4 Oct 202028 Feb 2021 Rosenshine Principle 1 and 7: daily, weekly and monthly recap. Our school Teaching and Learning focus has been on exploring the Rosenshine principles. In essence, Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction are…
