Latest Posts
Selecting vocabulary to teach
I have spent more than a decade writing about vocabulary and working with a range of teachers across primary, secondary and colleges. Over that time, I've come to think differently about one of the most important, but tricky aspects of vocabulary instruction: deciding which words to explicitly teach.
What should we do about 'reading for pleasure'?
Take the time to sit with Rebecca for a moment. It was in the school library that I sat across from Rebecca. At the end of a long autumn day – for us both – I attempted to spark her into life, nudging her to give her best effort to catch up
The 3Rs - Reading, writing, and research to be interested in #79
In the last fortnight, flashes of sunlight and daffodils have brightened the days, whilst government announcements and interesting new resources keep coming to light too. In this edition, I share my latest writing on 'levelled readers' and disciplinary literacy, along with a new video on why independent study
What teachers think about disciplinary literacy
It can sometimes feel like primary school and secondary school teachers inhabit different worlds. It is no surprise then that teachers at different phases have diverging views and beliefs given their dissimilar experience. The saying goes that primary school teachers teach the whole child, whereas secondary school teachers teach their
The psychology of SEND labels
What if your child struggles and falls behind their peers? When it comes to the topic of children struggling in school and education, parents can experience profound feelings of fear or worry, or hope and relief. Students can feel the same array of strong emotions whether they struggle or not.
Note-taking by hand or by AI?
There is a lot of warnings and worries when it comes to using AI in education. Teachers understandably worry that if ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar AI chatbots, do all the hard work and thinking, then students will opt out and learn less. The idea of 'cognitive offloading' each
Learning by hand
What if the brave new world of AI and assistive technology means that we stop learning by hand? Would we lose any learning it the translating from handwriting screen tapping, or from note-taking by hand to receiving summaries from an AI chatbot? On one hand, it seems absurd to argue
6 strategies to support reading for students with SEND
Shared reading is vital for every student to succeed in education. Reading in the classroom helps build knowledge, develop ideas, boost vocabulary, fuel creativity, and so much more. But we know that some students with additional special educational needs can struggle to develop their reading comprehension and engage in shared