“The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly.” (Ausubel, 1968 in Wiliam, 2016) The…https://improvingteaching.co.uk/2017/02/12/why-formative-assessment-matters-the-power-of-prior-knowledge/
Why formative assessment matters: the power of prior knowledge Read More »
School improvement is a complicated business. And improving a large comprehensive is almost a totally different process to establishing a new school (I’ve done both). A high proportion of the mega-success stories we hear about are from new schools or schools that have closed and re-opened: they set up the curriculum from scratch, hire the
Turning a tanker – in a perfect storm. Read More »
I had the privilege of being in Tom Kendall’s classroom recently, and saw something wonderful. A child in Year 7 said something that showed he’d understood something essential to arithmetic development, or advanced conceptualisation of arithmetic, or an important threshold … Continue reading →https://tothereal.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/must-all-maths-teachers-do-this/
Must all maths teachers do this? Read More »
Teacher educators – those who train, support and develop new and existing teachers – play an important role, but they often have to learn on…https://improvingteaching.co.uk/2017/01/29/eight-priorities-for-teacher-educators/
Eight priorities for teacher educators Read More »
This is part 3 of a series of blogs on my new book, Making Good Progress?: The future of Assessment for Learning. Click here to read the introduction to the series. One frequent criticism of memorisation is that it doesn’t lead to understanding. For example, a pupil can memorise a rule of grammar, or a definition of
How can we close the knowing-doing gap? Read More »
Time I feel like joining London Business School to study for an MBA. Let’s see what that’ll cost me. £70,000… ouch! But okay. Actually hang on… I know I’m going to have to relocate to London to do this, so … Continue reading →
I’ve been reconsidering good ways to begin lessons and share objectives. Looking beyond writing objectives on the board (and perhaps copying them into books), Rob Phillips (2001)…https://improvingteaching.co.uk/2017/01/15/starting-a-lesson-with-initial-stimulus-material/
Starting a lesson with Initial Stimulus Material Read More »