This blog is my contribution to the Curriculum in Science Symposium organised by Adam Boxer. Links for other posts are below. With Ofsted announcing a focus on curriculum and nearly three quarters of secondary schools in England being free to make their own curriculum choices as academies, the ground for asking questions about curriculum is … Continue reading The best which has been thought or said?
Part II In my previous post, I argued that teacher autonomy is worth sacrificing when it comes to decisions about behaviour systems. I suggested that this is the only way true consistency can be achieved and that consistency is essential for good behaviour to flourish. This is because good behaviours are good habits, which are … Continue reading Teacher Autonomy: Part II – Curriculum & Teaching
I am incredibly excited to share a guest post from the authors of The Writing Revolution themselves: Juditch C. Hochman and Natalie Wexler. They conclude the Writing in Science Symposium with a reflection on each of the contributions so far, and share their thoughts on how the ideas can be extended and applied to subjects … Continue reading Writing in Science: Guest post by Hochman and Wexler
How valuable is teacher autonomy? It seems like a no-brainer. But like with most interesting philosophical questions, nuance makes the answer more conflicted than first meets the eye. Whilst I've seen some discussions of teacher autonomy spiral into straw-man arguments and caricatures of robots ... I hope this sparks a sensible debate. In this post … Continue reading Teacher Autonomy: Part I – Behaviour
The task of teaching pupils how to write is not reserved solely for English teachers. You cannot teach writing devoid of content, and you cannot truly say you teach a discipline unless your pupils become proficient at explaining the ideas of your subject in prose. So, teaching writing through your subject is inevitable. Starting with … Continue reading Writing in Science: A Symposium
On Saturday 9th June, I was lucky enough to attend and speak at my first reserachED in Rugby, hosted at the stunning Rugby School, by the marvellous Jude Hunton. Here, I share my talk with some additional thoughts I didn’t have time to explain. This talk represents my vision for a curriculum. Introduction I find … Continue reading Designing a Science Curriculum: my #rEDRugby talk
On Tuesday 29th May, the second ever #cogscisci 'Meeting of Minds' event took place. It was a thought-provoking day full of discussions about the applications of cognitive science to science learning! My talk was about how procedural knowledge should be practiced differently to declarative knowledge, using the teaching of Maths in Science as an example. This … Continue reading Procedural & Declarative Knowledge: My #CogSciSci Talk
The culture of observations at Michaela is truly phenomenal. It provides a structure conducive to genuine improvement and honest reflection. Observations at Michaela are frequent, low-stakes and random. Since starting in September (around 24 teaching weeks), I have been observed around 70 times by other Michaela teachers. That's right - 70! Observers are typically in … Continue reading Observations at Michaela
It’s so easy, when we really want our pupils to answer a question correctly, that we give them cues to help them reach the answer. Sometimes we see our pupils still struggling and we become tempted to offer them a just-a-few more cues to help them get there. Finally, they give the correct answer and … Continue reading Retrieval Cues: Do Your Questions Help or Hinder?
I started teaching at Michaela Community School in September 2017. Learning about, applying to and joining Michaela has permanently transformed my view of education forever. Learning about Michaela has been like constantly learning new threshold concepts: my view of the world dramatically changes with each new embedded idea, and I acquire a new lens with … Continue reading The influence of Michaela
