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Why we've got planning and marking all wrong (part 1)

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 23:06:11 +0000

Why we've got planning and marking all wrong (part 1):

Many people would argue that DIRT time solves this conundrum; that if pupils are responding to feedback then Good is being done. But is that really the case? If we ask a child to re-write a paragraph using three adjectives, have they therefore learned to improve their use of adjectives? Or have they simply learned that whatever they do, there’ll be more work to do next time? And if every task comes with a follow-up, how do they now when the follow-up is administrative or unique to this task, and when it’s a key point for learning that will be useful again and again? And each time we craft a good follow-up task that really hits the nub of learning for one pupil, how many others end up with a time-filling task, or something out of their reach, or that misses the point?

As school leaders, we need to be aware of that in implementing...

Mon, 09 Feb 2015 00:03:52 +0000

As school leaders, we need to be aware of that in implementing institutional change. This well-known grid devised by Tim Brighouse is worth revisiting:Managing Change from Tim Brighouse via Vic Goddard Managing Change from Tim Brighouse via Vic Goddard An incoherent vision leads to confusion; a lack of incentives leads to opposition. A poor action plan leads to a false start.

"things that are of questionable practical value to peoples’ lives should be introduced for a..."

Sat, 07 Feb 2015 18:17:45 +0000

“things that are of questionable practical value to peoples’ lives should be introduced for a reasonable period, so that students can get a flavour for a topic and a sense of why it might be worthwhile pursuing it further. But after a point, students should be free to choose whether they wish to take it further, or do something else instead”

- https://pedagoginthemachine.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/schools-dont-kill-people-rappers-do-in-defence-of-dave-from-telford/

"Learning is invisible. Any judgement made in the class room about how pupils are learning is..."

Thu, 15 May 2014 00:06:52 +0100

“Learning is invisible. Any judgement made in the class room about how pupils are learning is guesswork at best. Any attempt to turn this information into data is witchcraft.”

- This is what I think | David Didau: The Learning Spy

"We value autonomy and respect individuality This principle is rooted in a recognition of the reality..."

Sun, 11 May 2014 23:17:44 +0100

“We value autonomy and respect individuality This principle is rooted in a recognition of the reality that teachers are different and have different styles. It’s a challenge to the view that ‘consistency’ is one of the holy grails of school leadership, an approach which is frequently seen in schools, manifested in such horrors as planning forms which insist on a particular lesson structure, the expectation for learning intentions on the board at the start of every lesson, for every lesson to have a starter or plenary, a literacy / numeracy element, or a particular feedback system to be used across the school. The idea behind this craving for consistency, I suppose, is that students will 'get used to it’, and consequently morph into more successful and eager learners. There’s probably some value in this thinking, but the risk of de-professionalising and disempowering individual teachers is considerable, leading to disengagement, a strong sense of being told what to do and how to do it, and tokenistic adherence to policies (albeit probably only in observed lessons). If the unintended outcome of coveting consistency of practice is a lack of authentic engagement from teachers, then the benefits are utterly dwarfed. Therefore, we try hard to encourage flexibility and choice in the ways that teachers teach, rejecting the 'one size fits all’ approach in favour of a view that, whilst we believe that some core elements of practice are important enough to merit sustained attention, decisions on style, form and approach in the classroom are best left to individual teachers and faculties.”

- Principles of Professional Learning

"If a significant revision is made to the learning model and paradigm, it is vital that the..."

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 20:29:20 +0100

“If a significant revision is made to the learning model and paradigm, it is vital that the underlying culture and values empower people, from teachers to parents, to collaborate, think, and act in ways different to those they may be accustomed to.”

- http://learning.wales.gov.uk/docs/learningwales/publications/131003-ict-steering-group-report-en.pdf

"Kids don’t know what they’ll enjoy because they haven’t experienced all that much of the word yet..."

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 14:19:58 +0100

“Kids don’t know what they’ll enjoy because they haven’t experienced all that much of the word yet and it’s up to us to expose them to things which they won’t choose to do in their own time. But not because it’s fun; because it’s new and important and will make them more knowledgeable and interesting.”

- The problem with fun | David Didau: The Learning Spy

"Curiosity is not something we talk about in schools, but it is more important now than it has been..."

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 11:41:22 +0100

“Curiosity is not something we talk about in schools, but it is more important now than it has been in the whole of human history. It used to be that a curious child would learn something. Now all of human knowledge is available at the touch of a button, which gives curious children a serious advantage. Anything they would like to learn about or do, they can find out about in an instant. So what does that mean for children who are not curious? They are going to be left far behind, creating what is known as the “curiosity gap”. I am not sure that we really know if children are born more curious or less curious, or whether there are things we can do to encourage and enhance their curiosity. Perhaps the most important thing we can do in the field of education is figure out whether we can make children more curious.”

- Learning to match a world of beauty - News - TES

"A teacher’s job is not to make work easy. It is to make it difficult. if you are not challenged, you..."

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:10:51 +0100

“A teacher’s job is not to make work easy. It is to make it difficult. if you are not challenged, you do not make mistakes. if you do not make mistakes, feedback is useless. John Hattie Visible Learning”

- Thinking like a writer « The Learning Spy

"Above all else we need to resist the temptation to ALWAYS ROLL OUT things that work for one Trojan..."

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:16:09 +0100

“Above all else we need to resist the temptation to ALWAYS ROLL OUT things that work for one Trojan Mouse as a Trojan Horse to the rest of our staff because the one almost certain way to kill a newly hatched chick of an idea is to remove it from its hot house, pop it into the light and cold and noise of public scrutiny and ask it to sing and dance for an already suspicious audience.”

- Bring on the Trojan Mice | kevenbartle’s Blog

"At the risk of sounding hubristic, I’m probably one of the more experienced..."

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 20:49:23 +0000

“At the risk of sounding hubristic, I’m probably one of the more experienced classroom-tech-deploying teachers you are likely to meet. And everytime I’m like, “Oooh, we need a device for this part,” I’m also like, “Crap. Is there any way I can avoid this?””

- f(t): What’s Annoying

"When everyone has access to the same tools …then having a tool isn’t much of an..."

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:38:31 +0000

“When everyone has access to the same tools …then having a tool isn’t much of an advantage. The industrial age, the age of scarcity, depended in part on the advantages that came with owning tools others didn’t own. Time for a new advantage. It might be your network, the connections that trust you. And it might be your expertise. But most of all, I’m betting it’s your attitude.”

- Seth’s Blog: When everyone has access to the same tools

"And that’s when I realized — it’s not enough to embed technology. It’s possible to embed technology..."

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:33:56 +0100

“And that’s when I realized — it’s not enough to embed technology. It’s possible to embed technology in every aspect of teaching and learning and it still be a completely teacher-centred classroom. The teacher in control of what is learned, how it’s learned and for a large part, how students show their learning. This needs to change.”

- The Difference | Inquire Within

"(I wonder if we told students to vote with their feed how many would get up and walk out of classes..."

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:01:10 +0100

“(I wonder if we told students to vote with their feed how many would get up and walk out of classes that weren’t meeting their needs?)”

- Why I Still Like ISTE | The Thinking Stick

"To paraphrase Steve Jobs, “technology alone is not enough” in our schools today. We need a massive..."

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:42:36 +0100

“To paraphrase Steve Jobs, “technology alone is not enough” in our schools today. We need a massive paradigm shift if we are going to save our schools, our kids, and our teachers. My own verdict is that we are at an incredible moment of opportunity, a transitional time, but that right now, in 2012, we are courting an Epic Fail. We are expecting too much of the wrong thing. We are judging classroom success by antiquated, arbitrary, and confusing standards that, in themselves, fail our kids and their teachers—even in those schools around the world where kids’ test scores are superb. The test scores (whether high or low) are part of the epic fail because the tests themselves too often replace real learning as the point and purpose of education. If we are going to talk about ethics and responsibilities in the 21st century classroom, we can’t just “add on” new digital tools but we have to rethink the basics of connected, interactive, participatory learning.”

- The Ethics and Responsibilities of the 21st Century Classroom: Part One | DMLcentral

"We’ve noticed that culture eats policy for breakfast."

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:33:08 +0000

“We’ve noticed that culture eats policy for breakfast.”

- Future Behaviour The perfect behaviour management policy - Future Behaviour

"According to Hattie and Timperley (2007), feedback “… needs to provide information specifically..."

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:43:52 +0000

“According to Hattie and Timperley (2007), feedback “… needs to provide information specifically relating to the task or process of learning that fills a gap between what is understood and what is aimed to be understood.” “Specifically,” they add, “feedback is more effective when it provides information on correct rather than incorrect responses and when it builds on changes from previous trails.””

- The Power of Feedback | blog of proximal development

Assignments need goals, not dates

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:28:48 +0000

Assignments need to stop having dates on them. Assignments - such as they may be -need to have goals instead.

Via Karl Fisch ( http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2012/02/ideas-id-like-my-future-principal-to.html?m=1)

"Anyone in education knows there is a fast-growing community of teachers online doing their best to..."

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:58:28 +0000

“Anyone in education knows there is a fast-growing community of teachers online doing their best to share the best tools, the best content and the best news ideas that they can. But what educators and parents alike are asking is, “Where do I find the best-quality content?””

- Opinion: Why Apple’s iBooks Initiatives Won’t Revolutionize Education | GeekDad | Wired.com

From Hugh - http://gapingvoid.com/2012/01/06/real-success/

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:59:00 +0000

From Hugh - http://gapingvoid.com/2012/01/06/real-success/