Latest Posts
Teacher professional development is hard!
Every teacher can recite awkward experiences from their teacher professional development past. Pleasing all the teachers all the time, with various approaches, is simply hard work! Years later, I can still remember my left/right brain training (twice - by the same trainer!), as well as undertaking coaching approaches, and
Metacognition - New and Updated
Metacognition is a well known term but perhaps less well understood for some busy teachers. Education Endowment Foundation guidance on the topic of 'Metacognition and Self-regulation' has always proven popular and now it is new and updated so it is well worth returning to explore. It is helpful
Feedback: A message in a bottle
Approaches to feedback, such as written marking or 'whole class feedback', are popular classroom strategies that are undertaken daily with students of all ages and stages. But do they truly land with students in the ways we intend? Or is it like a message in a bottle, cast
Dyslexia: Issues with definitions and diagnoses
Teaching a struggling reader, whether they are seven or seventeen, can be a gut-wrenching experience. It can make the typical tasks of a school day difficult and sap the enjoyment out of learning. It is no surprise then that every teacher, and parent, wants to get to the root of
What do we mean by high expectations?
"They can because they think they can." ('Possunt quia posse videntur') Virgil's 'Aeneid' High expectations can be a mysterious thing. Something ineffable. You can understand them when you experience it. You may be able to tell a tale about when someone had
Scaffolding and PEAL paragraphs
"Scaffolds are not intended to be permanent. If everyone has a scaffold all of the time, it's not a scaffold, it's just your lesson plan." 'The Scaffolding Effect', by Rachel Ball and Alex Fairlamb Teachers understand that scaffolds can be vital supports
Supporting struggling writers
The saying goes that what gets assessed gets taught. But for teachers, when it comes to the act of writing to learn, that is not always true. Students can spend thousands of hours writing in the classroom, but if they struggle with writing it can still remain unaddressed. Why is