Category Archives: Uncategorized

Dogmatism: the tendency to lay down principles as undeniably true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others. It’s no surprise that in many industries (in-fact, in many aspects of life), things happen just because it’s ‘always been this way’. In the education sector, it might be the way playtimes are run, lessons areContinue reading “Dogma – a call for change”

As mentioned in my previous blog (Year 6), here is the Excel data sheet, free for your school to use. The sole purpose of this design was to make data input easier for teachers whilst providing all the mock SAT’s data for leaders to analyse over time, as well as a handy overview in prepContinue reading “Year 6 data tracker”

Working in Year 6 can seem daunting for some, especially if it’s your first time. Some feel their subject knowledge isn’t good enough and that the pressure can be too much; others worry about the behaviour that can come with teaching older children. However, from my own experience and with working/ supporting a number ofContinue reading “Year 6”

Visualisers…what more is there to say? I get it, and for most reading this, I appreciate I am preaching to the converted. Yet, fascinatingly, I still hear many of my teaching colleagues operating without them despite advocating their effectiveness. I am aware that teaching does not lend itself to just one effective approach but consideringContinue reading “Visualiser”

“Forgetting focuses remembering and fosters learning; remembering generates learning and causes forgetting; learning causes forgetting, begets remembering, and supports new learning.”                                                                                                   Bjork (2015) Our ultimate goal as teaching professionals is for children to acquire all the necessary learning, and more if possible, efficiently and securely. Having an understanding of the theories behind how theContinue reading “Retrieval ‘for’ learning”

“Writing is an extension of memory.” (Willingham, 2017) The written language is a relatively new concept in the history books, compared with the existence of speech; it is used to permanently capture and store one’s memory. Writing is a coding system that allows meaning to be shared and understood, spanning from logographics (Hieroglyphics as anContinue reading “Unboxing vocabulary”

First and foremost, if you haven’t seen this BBC Radio 2 video recording of the famous Stephen Fry expressing the love of language, I urge you to watch it now. I have always strongly advocated that writing is a form of art. Through recording our own thoughts and feelings via letters, diary entries, text messagesContinue reading “Delicious vocabulary”

Whether you are new to teaching, an experienced teacher, or in fact, a professional of any kind, you should be sure to reflect, identify and articulate your moral purpose. Your moral purpose is the epitome of all your decision-making; whether it is the reason you go to work, see your friends, partake in hobbies orContinue reading “Moral Purpose”

In my blog “The Invisible Lead Balloon”, I highlighted a number of informed strategies that could be used to maintain engagement for learning. Once you feel confident employing these strategies, the next thing is to question, then decide, which are best to ensure children are engaged with learning. It is important to note that engagementContinue reading “Complete the Circuit”

We all know and understand the importance of careful, well-thought out planning and preparation that lays the stage for the magic of learning to happen. I remember early on in my teaching career, I would spend a long time ensuring I had mitigated against the potential barriers to learning as well as the step-by-step progressionContinue reading “The Invisible Lead Balloon”