There is so much I love about
@DavidDidau
's latest offering, but this is probably my favourite sentiment. Leaders: ensure teachers can focus on teaching.
.
@Doug_Lemov
(and co) has done it again. I'm 50 pages in with absolutely reams of ideas for improving student culture. Practical, research based, mission driven. A must-read.
If there is anyone out there still considering doing an NPQH, don't.
I don't think I have ever before experienced such a mess of pointless bureaucracy.
I am loving everything about how our Senior Teacher for coaching, Jenny, has translated teacher coaching to the online setting using
@Doug_Lemov
's remote teaching techniques ๐
Shout out to the new and trainee teachers this year, smashing it from two metres away from their classes, with basically half the strategies we all rely on to teach great lessons ๐ช
Just finished this masterpiece from
@C_Hendrick
and
@P_A_Kirschner
. The best summary of the best science of learning I have read. How did I miss this? What other brilliant education books have I missed?
This is my literal book in my literal hand.
Unfortunately, I chose to open the fortuitous packet at work while simultaneously trying to have a "challenging" conversation with a child. My facial expressions may have confused him somewhat.
I sort of feel like we should only be saying things along the lines of "thank you for your effort in creating and sharing resources to help children learn at this difficult time. I have created this which you can use too which might help children learn even more."
I genuinely laugh out loud within about 3 minutes of
@OakNational
's Latin lessons. A reminder that you can learn Latin from scratch, for free, here. Latin is for everyone!
2 week half term: one of the many decisions for work/life balance my school has made. I am celebrating by spending 20 hours on a plane and being out of contact for 12 days ๐
Impeccable behaviour, a curriculum full of cultural capital and challenge, underpinned by the belief in the potential of all children: my aims for
@ArkSoaneAcademy
On Saturday, I'm speaking
@researchED1
about something I've not said much about before - how do we make school a place children want to come to? I'm excited to talk school culture with all the fellow edu-geeks ๐ค
So, someone asked for a link to my book today, and I drafted the email saying 'don't have a link sorry' and then I looked on Amazon for a laugh and OH MY GOODNESS THERE IS AN ACTUAL REAL LIVE LINK TO MY BOOK and I am in no way freaking out over this.
Finished preparing my talk for
@researchEdhome
next Friday! ๐ I'll be sharing five MASSIVE ERRORS I made and what I'd suggest doing instead. I'm keeping it super short at about 25 minutes, as who has an attention span anymore?!
First week done; stayed to 5pm once this week and that was the latest. That's the norm. Excited to talk about how we can make teaching a sustainable profession
@researchED1
tomorrow
I'm increasingly feeling STAR/SLANT is the most important thing to get right this year. Impossible to do whisper corrections up close or to use proximity; pointless to do non-verbals if no one is looking at you.
My school's commitment to no email after 6pm, no email at weekends or holidays, and no 'saving up email and sending it all first thing' has absolutely transformed my workload this year. Would recommend.
Covered year 8 yesterday. Checking for understanding after reading, I asked: 'so how did Anne Boleyn convince Henry to marry her?' child replies: 'is it because, in the words of Beyonce, if you like it then you should have put a ring on it?' Mainly happy that song is still going.
Unlike every other teacher I know, I'm back to school today. Yesterday, I was dreading it and thought I'd be full of jealousy for everyone else still on holidays. But actually I just feel really rested and really purposeful and really happy to be here โค๏ธ
MUST READ: from the top Head of Maths in the world,
@danicquinn
, on the phenomenal results in Maths (23% achieved grade 9. Try and read to the end if you can scrape yourself off from the floor after that shock)
I would LOVE to hear what genius ideas other schools have for how we can ensure assessment, marking and moderation of TAGs don't lead to excessive workload. What are people putting in place?
Happy weekend! I am celebrating by re reading one of my all time favourite education books, Progressively Worse by
@RobertPeal
. I've seen so many people tweeting about it recently and I can't wait to love it all over again โค๏ธ
I'm writing a book! This one is focused on the practical aspects of leading a school: what do leaders actually DO, step by step, to make things work? Calling for leaders to share your great practice so it can be broader than just my experience.
Imagine working in a school from scratch, where you had the ability to shape the entire school for the young people of Ealing. We're hiring a VP, AP, Head of Maths, Science, English and a SENCo. Have a look:
Pretty exciting times as we celebrated the roof going on
@ArkSoaneAcademy
's first building, and I was given a (non crucial) bit of cement to sort out ๐ช
To everyone I have talked the ear off about the greatness of this latest offering from
@tombennett71
today: sorry/not sorry. It is absolutely as good as everyone says it is. A must read for teachers and leaders at all stages of their careers.
I'm still chasing the whole year-group university visit dream and finding a lot of explanations as to why they can't host us. I do find myself wondering what universities are using their outreach budgets on...
If they're ready to do GCSE questions in y7, why don't we put them in for a GCSE? If they're not ready, why are we doing them? Says Ben Walsh
#WLFSHistory
A colleague recommended this to me as the "best science teaching book I have ever read--perhaps the best teaching book." So far, it does not disappoint. Superb concrete examples along with succinct theory of education.
@adamboxer1
-- incredible job ๐
My sixth formers did not know who Marie Antoinette was this morning.
Sometimes I don't know where to begin with cultural capital.
As it is, fairly sure I've embedded some major misconceptions from my impromptu off-the-cuff version of the French Revolution. ๐ฌ
Is this the best book on school leadership? (Yes.) Decide to focus on the things that genuinely improve student outcomes: curriculum and lessons. Relentlessly communicate why and how these things make the difference. Thank you to
@mide_9
and
@KatieMarshall25
for recommending!
"This is not a war & the rules are not weapons. There is nothing wrong with a quiet, hardworking class who never shout out... Many children actually prefer them": great post on classroom rules from
@bennewmark
Currently reading this by my last Headteacher, Alison, who created a beautiful and brilliant school I adored working in. Her love, integrity and commitment shines through. Incredibly uplifting reading
Well worth 15 minutes to listen to the profile of one of the most inspiring people in education: Sir Mufti Hamid Patel. What he has done with
@StarAcademies
, his wider influence on the sector, and his personal narrative are all spellbinding.
It is safe to say I have never had such difficulty shortlisting for roles before. Incredible quality of applications for Soane's founding VP and AP. I'm in awe.
If it's about school leadership but not in this book, it's probably not worth knowing about. A must-read for school leaders or those aspiring to school leadership in my view
@TomRees_77
In a publication about PP underachievement: 'The most important thing we need to do is to empower the child to believe โI can do it."' 1. Right, because no school has thought of that. 2. The *most* important thing?! How about teach them?!
Say what you like about Ofsted, you can't deny that
@amanda_spielman
has driven the inclusion of solid research on what works in schools. "What works best to educate children now?"
#rED21
Ah! So to get those top grades, we just need to ensure they know enough to provide a thoughtful critique in terms of politics, economics, gender, aesthetics, class, morality, psychology, philosophy as well as teaching English Literature. Got it.
Sad to have to leave
#TENC18
early... But it was worth it to pick up this absolute beauty ๐ apologies to anyone I accosted with puppy photos today (everyone)
The amount of CPD on offer right now is insane. I loved
@missaaja
's session last night and am enjoying catching up with
@ESteeleEmma
sharing the great stuff that happens
@DixonsTA
๐to
@NiallAlcock
!
Just finished it. So much we can apply in our classrooms today, now, with the smallest of tweaks. Some stuff to embed and explicitly teach, but lots of it is really easily do-able! Teachers of all essay subjects need this in their lives!
This is great from
@bennewmark
: . I've been reflecting that my central issue with PPTs is the focus is on the activities and not the text. If you have a central PPT you tweak for your group, you tweak what the kids do. (1/2)
I'm speaking for the amazing
@researchEdhome
, following a week of stupendous and inspiring talks (eek), and I'm going to start by breaking my cardinal rule, so tune in to find out why I'm dead to me at 11am
I'm so proud of this book. As a long-standing fan of
@researchED1
and all it has done to transform the way we consider education in the UK, it was an honour and a pleasure to get to work with these phenomenal educators.
Out today! The latest guide in our popular
@researchED1
series sees
@jo_facer
and a team of expert contributors explore evidence-informed, practical strategies to support teacher development. Available from and other book retailers.
#TeacherPD
#EduTwitter
One of my favourite things I did last year was get to contribute to the working group helping with
@profbeckyallen
's musings on data. I spent the meetings in awe of her and so many other colleagues, and learned a great deal. I think it is worth a read:
@HeyMissSmith
I once had a friend ask to "meet for lunch during your lunch break". I was like if you can get here between 12:45 and 12:50 I will wave out of this particular window