‘Our greatness is not in how much we acquire,
but in integrity and the ability to affect those around us positively’
[attributed to & paraphrased from] Bob Marley
It felt like 2013 was the start of something good on the blogosphere. Like what? In the six months since its inception in May, the Echo Chamber has posted almost 2,000 posts and had over 125,000 views. It’s not about the numbers, but we are seeing an explosive proliferation of accessible opinion about education online.
All this spurred me on to read some 50 books on education, post 60 blogposts, publish 3 books and write some 200,000 words on education in 2013. Here is a collection of books I’ve read, blogposts I’ve written, blogposts that have encouraged me, and the education bloggers whose ideas most often influence my thinking.
20 of the books I read in 2013
13 of the blogosphere’s most inspiring posts for me in 2013
- 7 Kids (Red)
- How To Teach (Harry Webb)
- What’s the point of education? (Harry Fletcher-Wood)
- What is the purpose of teaching English? (Tessa Matthews)
- A curriculum & assessment system that works [in Maths] (David Thomas)
- Principled Curriculum Design: The English Curriculum (David Didau)
- Does memorisation get in the way of learning? (Kris Boulton)
- Why and how we should teach grammar (Daisy Christodoulou)
- Marking: Boulder or Butterfly? (Katie Ashford)
- OFSTED get it right for once (Andrew Old)
- 10 reasons to love teaching (Tom Sherrington)
- Releasing the touchpaper problems (Laura McInerney)
- 2014 – Reasons To Be Educationally Cheerful (Alex Quigley)
20 of my favourite education bloggers in 2013
(alphabetical order)
- Andrew Old
- Alex Quigley
- Daisy Christodoulou
- David Didau
- David Thomas
- Echo Chamber
- Harry Fletcher Wood
- Harry Webb
- John Tomsett
- Katie Ashford
- Kev Bartle
- Kris Boulton
- Laura McInerney
- Matthew Hunter
- Phil Stock
- Redorgreenpen
- Sam Freedman
- Tessa Matthews
- Tom Bennett
- Tom Sherrington
10 posts on top thinkers in education in 2013
- Siegfried Engelmann
- Dan Willingham
- E.D. Hirsch
- John Hattie
- Doug Lemov
- Paul Bambrick Santoyo
- Daisy Christodoulou
- Dylan Wiliam
- Michel Thomas
- Ken Robinson
10 of my favourite posts of 2013 on this blog
10 most viewed posts of 2013 on this blog
- Sir Ken
- Dylan Wiliam
- Observations
- Great Leadership
- John Hattie
- Great Teaching
- Direct Instruction
- Snake Oil
- Marking
- Seven Myths
10 most problematic things in education in 2013
- OFSTED
- Graded Observations
- Behaviour
- Levels
- SLT stuck on levels
- Gimmicks
- Snake Oil
- Burn Out
- Performance Management
- Sir Ken’s TED Talks
10 posts on cultural capital in 2013
- The skills-knowledge debate is worthwhile
- Observer calls knowledge pointless
- Skills are being separated from knowledge
- Teaching skills without knowledge fails
- Knowledge is vital for skills
- Knowledge-led curricula work
- Knowledge-led lessons work
- Knowledge-led units work
- Knowing about rhetoric is useful
- Teaching improves by focusing on knowledge, memory & practice
3 books published in 2013
Books I’d like to read in 2014
In 2014, I’d like to read more broadly. If subject knowledge is as vital for learning as I think it is, I’d like to learn more about the stories of literature, art, music, maths and science. Few bloggers seem to blog much about the content of their subjects, so I’d like to write more on that this year.
If the greatest leaders create leaders, perhaps the greatest bloggers encourage others to blog. Let’s make 2014 a year to remember on the blogosphere – and get others online.
Thanks Joe. You’ve made a massive impact on the blogosphere since you started. I hope you manage to keep the output flowing in 2014. Good luck with all you are doing….it’s inspiring and I also important work! Tom
Reblogged this on The Echo Chamber.
Thanks for your posts, I’m really enjoying your blog, and, as you mention, feel excited about the proliferation and interest in educational tweeting and blogging which I have just begun to get involved with last year.
Also, I can recommend Gombrich’s story of Art!
Est
Joe, without doubt, you have influenced so many of us who subscribe to your blog and look forward to your weekend posts. I would never have bought and read Leverage leadership if it were not for your post on it – for that alone, thank you! Looking forward to more educational debates in 2014.
Debbie
Thank you for your blog – always a good read.
Enjoy EH Gombrich. ‘Little History’ is genius and you should add ‘Art and Illusion’ to your pile.
Your pictures of books stacked up reminded me of this song:
Thanks for sharing your blog is wonderful…..imeshlab
Thanks Joe, If you are planning to graduate from college or pursue an advanced degree then you always want to present yourself in the best way possible. One of the best ways to do this is to do well on standardized tests. for more clickhere
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