Effective marking, there are a growing number of blog posts on the topic at the moment. Basically we are being advised to through in a pinch of meta-cognition and a smattering of feedback and whallop, we have a recipe for, I do not know exactly, but lets say 6+ months accelerated progress. For the record, I am also an advocate of DIRT time (Dedicated Improvement and Reflection Time). I am also .... Read more and bookmark.
Thursday evening was spent in the company of some very accomplished and highly qualified researchers, who also happen to be teachers. One of four regional meetings (London, Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham) hosted by Dr Kay Graham and Rachel Morris - Improving Teacher Quality Division, Dept. of Education, it was the Departments’ second effort to engage with the teaching community .... Read more and bookmark.
Today was an important day. Today I was supporting two colleagues, discussing lesson observations and defining a route way towards more effective teaching and learning. However, instead of discussing teaching and learning, professional development, we were discussing lesson observations inequalities. The inequalities of being observed – being observed teaching a high ability group .... Read more and bookmark.
Most recently we have released a Scheme of Learning form / template that presents a year plan, through to unit or lesson outline plan, which feeds either a lesson plan or Lesson Observation form. I was asked by a number of teaching colleagues to explain the inclusion of a “feedback / recap / relearn lesson” in the “Scheme of Learning” (SoL) and how we envisage it will be .... Read more and bookmark.
In case you did not know Schools currently improve their league table position if pupils move over the C/D borderline. This gives schools a huge incentive to focus excessively on the small number of pupils around the 5 Cs borderline. …the current accountability framework discourages schools from focusing on the lowest attaining pupils. The 5 A* to C measure also encourages schools to .... Read more and bookmark.
What has been my experience of a VP role? More importantly, where can I define my impact? Honestly, with the immediate introduction of a new MIS and new timetable, a heavy teaching load, a broad breath of leadership responsibility, I barely had time to consider impact until my colleague was appointed in May. With the second VPs appointment, academic and pastoral definition was created, though .... Read more and bookmark.