There is much talk of the flipped classroom and of flipped learning – some of you may have attended FlipCon UK this week (Twitter was positively alive with it!). The terms, which are frequently used interchangeably, concern, at a basic level, what would have otherwise been covered in class being covered at home and in…
As a headteacher one of the most frustrating things I had to deal with was parents who complied with their children’s fragility and, however well-meaningly, gave their children excuses that would get them out of things they didn’t want to do… Let’s take the case of a student that we will call Mick. I was delighted…
Hallbankgate Village school opened it’s doors to teachers from across the country who were eager to discover how the school grows curious, independent and resilient learners. Here’s the first of a short series of blogs uncovering what we experienced. In June 2014 Hallbankgate Village Primary school was awarded the Gold Standard through the Learning Quality…
When working with teachers I often mention Carol Dweck and her work on developing a growth mindset. Most teachers nod knowingly and say they have heard of it. When pressed, many fewer have actually read much of her work, such as her excellent book ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success’. Nonetheless, teachers across the country…
Many of us look back at the early years of our own kids and wonder how we managed to ‘muddle through’. I, for one, wish I had known then what I know now! Parents go from a world of independence, adult company, and, for most of us we hope, a state of relative competence at…
It was interesting to read The Chief Inspector of Schools referring to Key Stage 3 as the Wasted Years in his address to the ASCL conference on Friday. For many years, Y8 – usually the second year of secondary education – has been called the dip year; when learners’ initial enthusiasm for their new teachers and varied…
Here’s a workshop activity that I have been using recently that seems to go down well with students and their teachers. As learners enter the room, they find this image waiting for them with the instruction: What’s going on here…what questions are you asking yourself? I then harvest comments: Some numbers are going up…some are…
World Book Day: at once a wonderful innovation to encourage enthusiasm about books amongst children and parents…. and a busy parent’s last-minute nightmare! It is Wednesday 2 March, midday, and whilst idly surfing facebook ahem doing important social media research, I notice that World Book Day is less than 24 hours away. A slight sweat…
Over the years, when I ask teachers in secondary schools to Tell me what your students are like as learners, they invariably respond in the same way: They do expect to be spoon-fed and for their teachers to do the thinking for them. I find this strange since I know that this is the last…
