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Top-down observation and feedback models are flawed. Time for change.
(NB This post does’t work if you can’t see the images/diagrams: ) Earlier this week I tweeted this short twitter thread: The more closely I work with teachers and schools/colleges, supporting CPD processes of various kinds, the more I realise just how woefully inadequate the standard ‘top-down drop-in and give feedback’ approach is.. I’m now … Continue reading
Collection of recent ideas for better teaching and better teacher development.
I’m going to write something soon about the process of teacher observation and feedback and the way I see that moving forward. Meanwhile, I’ve been writing a lot about the things I see from the perspective of an observer – for teacher and for leaders. Here’s a collection in case you missed any: Blogs … Continue reading
Deeper Learning for All: Five things to do more of.
A couple of weeks into term and, so far, I’ve had the privilege of observing 40 or more lessons. I’ve seen lots of excellent lessons – it’s such a joy to be around when a teacher is doing great things; where you think how lucky these students are to be here in this room with … Continue reading
Curriculum Murmurations #2: Secondary Models Analysis. Compromises!!
This is the second in a series of posts about the direction of travel with curriculum thinking. The introductory post is here: Curriculum Murmurations #1. Thoughts from 2019. The image of a murmuration captures the sense of a system looking for direction with all the twists and turns and fluctuations. In this post I am … Continue reading
Solve Learning Problems at the Source: Start back with what they know and build.
I have found that a very useful frame of reference for exploring teaching and learning is to think about the things students find difficult to do and then to work backwards analysing the reasons why. Even if you are a great teacher, not all your students ace the test or produce exemplary work. Why is … Continue reading
Schema-building: A blend of experiences and retrieval modes make for deep learning.
Learning is complicated so it can be useful to use conceptual models to help understand and discuss it. For me, a powerful concept is the idea that we organise ideas, knowledge, the things we learn, in patterns of connected information called schema. Schema-building is at the heart of this diagram by Oliver Caviglioli for … Continue reading
The @teacherhead Blog Amp #3
#3 4th January 2020 Previously: The @teacherhead Blog Amp #1 The @teacherhead Blog Amp #2 Full Name : Dan Rodriguez-Clark Twitter @name: @InteractMaths Blog Post Title: My Assumptions about Learning Blog url: https://www.interactive-maths.com/blog/my-assumptions-about-learning Short blog description: What it’s about. (100 words max): I take a look at the assumptions I have about learning to aid in Better Conversations. … Continue reading
Ending the decade on a high. It’s been an education!
The last decade has been an amazing time for our family. 10 years ago my children were kids of 11 and 7; now they’re young adults of 21 and 17. Watching them grow up has been the central joy of our lives. I wrote about the moment my daughter went to university here – it … Continue reading
Curriculum Murmurations #1. Thoughts from 2019.
A murmuration of curriculum. That’s how my wife – a secondary Deputy Head – described the current state of things nationally. It’s a great image: the energetic but chaotic swirling around of individuals trying to stay together, following-the-leader in short bursts within a flock that has no overall sense of direction; patterns emerging here … Continue reading
7 Deadly Difficulties in Teaching.
Increasingly I feel that teacher development, performance review and the whole apparatus around lesson observation should place a strong, central emphasis on understanding the challenges that teachers face in securing the learning of all the students in a class. It can often be extremely difficult even for experienced expert teachers to nail every student’s learning … Continue reading
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