teacherhead
CPD
Re-reading Nuthall’s Hidden Lives of Learners. Insights from a classic.
“If we are to understand how teaching relates to learning, we have to begin at the closest point to that learning; and that is students’ experience.” Nuthall. 2001. Lots of people have written reviews of Graham Nuthall’s Hidden Lives of Learners published posthumously in 2007. It’s often cited as a must-read by conference speakers, including … Continue reading
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
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
Feedback? I don’t want to hear it. Here’s why.
Giving and receiving feedback is part and parcel of school life – but it is complicated. Here are some thoughts based on my own recent experience with it. Recently I’ve run a couple of courses for commercial training providers where, as a matter of routine, they ask for feedback from delegates. I’m assuming the purpose … Continue reading
#CPD: Meeting half-way. Changing minds, shifting the inertia, overcoming the resistance.
In my work as a travelling teacher trainer, in amongst the enthusiasts with welcoming smiles, I meet plenty of teachers who are being compelled to sit and listen to me. It’s not as if they are being held forcefully against their will but you can be sure, given a completely free choice, they’d be … Continue reading
Are Rosenshine’s Principles “just common sense”? #rED19
In my work supporting teacher development, I always refer to Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction as a major go-to source of ideas, linking findings from cognitive science and other research to classroom practice. There are lots of reasons for these ten principles gaining a wide audience, one of which is that, to many teachers, they feel … Continue reading
Teachers can only improve themselves. But how?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the process of teacher improvement – naturally enough, given that this is my full-time job these days. Increasingly I think that we need to be very clear to understand the process as a very individual one and less of a general one. Essentially teachers are only going to improve … Continue reading
Great CPD. Poor CPD. What are the signs?
When I visit schools in my consultancy work or teacher-trainer role, I usually pick up on signals that indicate to me something about the school’s attitude to professional learning. Sometimes I’m blown away by the energy and commitment to it and I feel my input has a chance of feeding into something with impact; sometimes … Continue reading
Global profession. Global message.
It’s great to travel and see the world; but it’s great be back home. Time to unwind and reflect. I have just returned from delivering five days of training at schools in Lebanon, UAE and Oman. Each of the participating schools was very different, each with their own charismatic leadership teams and idiosyncratic teachers; each … Continue reading
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