Category Archives: Teaching

Golden needles in a haystack: Assessment CPD trove #4

School leaders and teachers are strapped for time.  What is the best free, fast, flexible CPD out there on assessment? What can we read that has the highest impact in the least time? There are no silver bullets, but here … Continue reading

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24 hidden gems and the golden thread of CPD #3: Curriculum

Teachers and school leaders are trailblazing a golden age of professional learning. 150,000 *now free* National Professional Qualifications over the next 3 years with a codified body of knowledge and evidence as a ‘golden thread’ journey of ITT, ECT, middle … Continue reading

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Three Assessment Butterflies

Winston Churchill once said ‘success is stumbling from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.’ Looking back now on assessment in our first year at Michaela, I can now see what I was blind to then: we stumbled and blundered. What mistakes … Continue reading

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Drill and Thrill

Is drill demotivating and demoralising, killing motivation and pupils’ ability to think for themselves? Far from demotivating, I’ve found carefully designed subejct-specific practice drills to be highly motivating for the pupils in school, as self-reinforcing cycles of drill and success, … Continue reading

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Knowledge improves teaching

Knowledge is powerful: it empowers our pupils to achieve in their academic subjects, to understand the world and to live fulfilling lives. It should be one of our highest priorities in our teaching. There are some who take umbrage with … Continue reading

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Life after Slide Sprawl: 4 Renewable Resources

One of the many things I got wrong in my last school was resourcing. I spent hours making vibrant, colourful slides with plenty of images. I’d work on weekends and late into the evenings creating slides and making them visually … Continue reading

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