They’ve arrived!

Really proud of this. The product of 3 years work with an amazing team Claire Woozley Amy Rose Daniel Blackburn et al OrmistonAcads

I am SO EXCITED that this arrived while I was at work. It’s going to be an essential book for any English teacher, Head of English, Trust Lead - how to plan and implement a knowledge rich curriculum.

So pleased to have contributed - thanks to David Didau for being so generous.

Very productive team day working on curriculum and writing progression.
OAT English David Didau Claire Woozley Daniel Blackburn

I’m just going to share again this blog I wrote last year.

We find ourselves again in the midst of mock marking and I really think the focus is on the wrong things - the grade isn’t the important bit, the patterns and the feedback are.

#edublogshare mrbteachesenglish.wordpress.com/2023/11/15/moc…

I’m not a history teacher, but this article chimes so much with what I’ve been thinking about assessments and the way that they all too often guide teaching and pedagogy. Really enjoyed reading this!

What’s being suggested is a return to generic skills based approaches which deny students knowledge the world is built on. They’re not going to ‘discover’ physics, geometry or the joys of Shakespeare.

Reducing knowledge-rich approaches to just learning facts is a tired trope.

I’m starting to think that the 100,000 word limit on my thesis isn’t going to be nearly enough. Or, I’m just going to have to get much better at editing…

I am, unfortunately, not shocked by some of the replies to this suggesting that staff *can’t* uphold the school rules because it’s too much work, or they they *shouldn’t* because of a supposition that rules are somehow harmful.

No wonder teachers are leaving.

New blog post: How we're using Classical Texts in our English curriculum The Classical Association OAT English

Huge H/T to David Didau for his leadership and support and getting me started on all of this.

Here’s a short blog about how my planning process has shifted, now that I use a visualiser so often in my lessons. It might be interesting to someone!

⁦Team English⁩ #EduBlogShare mrbteachesenglish.wordpress.com/2024/02/15/pow…

Tom Bennett OBE It depends. If 'coursework' were genuinely the work of the course, done in classrooms, then I think it could be reasonably fair. Once you allowed students to take the work out of the classroom, it was always hard to authenticate, and with AI, now impossible.

Goodness, no! There’s so much work showing how unfair coursework is for students who don’t have the same ‘support’ as others, it entrenches inequality.

Did the TAG/CAG debacle teach us nothing? A sudden rise in grades nationally showed the unreliability of the system.

A *wonderful* day spent watching students grow in confidence and talk about some really interesting topics. Thanks Talk The Talk: Oracy for coming in, and for students from Venture Academy Victory Academy and CNS for being so brave and working so hard!

OrmistonAcads

John Hattie explains the difference between a teacher with high expectations and one with low expectations. The Center for Literacy & Learning #plaintalk2024

Inconsistencies in expectations, routines, and work ethic breed resentment, with staff pitted against each other and students seeking out preferred staff. Ignoring these inconsistencies and further, allowing them to deepen is like taking a wrecking ball to school culture.

Good leadership is above all else basically competent. Good leaders know lots about the areas they have to make decisions in. When this is true stuff like charisma etc become of minimal importance.

Love this as a metaphor for school improvement!

Here it is! 12th July - National D&T Conference!!! £100 per department (up to 5 staff) a few more speakers and companies to add. Booking is OPEN!!! THE BIG D&T MEET 2024!!!! stem.org.uk/cpd/533748/big…🌟