Educational Book Recommendation - Responsive Teaching - by Harry Fletcher-Wood

The latest evolutionary discourse on cognitive learning and teaching theory. This book has a foreward by  Dylan Williams and is excellent.

Written by an experienced teacher and teacher educator, the book balances evidence-informed principles and practical suggestions. It contains:

• A detailed exploration of six core problems that all teachers face in planning lessons, assessing learning and responding to students.
• Effective practical strategies to address each of these problems across a range of subjects.
• Useful examples of each strategy in practice and accounts from teachers already using these approaches.
• Checklists to apply each principle successfully and advice tailored to teachers with specific responsibilities.

This innovative book is a valuable resource for new and experienced teachers alike who wish to become more responsive teachers. It offers the evidence, practical strategies and supportive advice needed to make sustainable, worthwhile changes. (from Amazon description)

From cognitive learning to the latest and best ways to turn AfL and any other technique into something that impacts learning of every child in the class. Its not what we do in class but how we respond to what we do in class and change the teaching to take learners further. One of the best out there currently.

Step Into Headship - End of Term 2 Break

So I chuckle to myself about the title as I write it. It is the end of term 2 break and yes, I am very nearly broken. Or at least my energy has been sapped. That kind of sapping that recalls those student years, the PGCE feeling or the NQT year... and the one after! 

A soft falling into a duvet, that swallows me whole and refuses to let me out. "No," it whispers. "Do not get up today..." the hiss of persuasion assaults the brain. And half a week slides by. And then suddenly on the Tuesday - wide awake at 5 in the morning. What has happened? Ahh but yes... Guilt prods and pulls the covers away. "Up," it says. "you have a list of holiday tasks...get on with them or else you wont relax!" and Guilt is right. Whilst Duvet offers the escape and comfort, guilt pulls on my clothes and makes me trudge

into work to get those essential task out of the way. The last look through of the SEF, the review of next year's calendar, a handful of jobs that sat on my desk over the last two weeks of term. And I wont relax again until they are done. 

That's okay. If I get it done before next week then I can enjoy most of next week. That is until Guilt starts to fight with Duvet again for the start of Term 3. And you know 'the night before feeling' Guilt always defeats Duvet - that's always a sleepless night!

Educational Book Recommendation - An Ethic of Excellence by Ron Berger

Despite the advent of the kindle and e-books, educational books are still best bought in paper. Here is my recommendation to support your own research and development. 

An Ethic of Excellence

"...Drawing from his own remarkable experience as a veteran classroom teacher (still in the classroom), Ron Berger gives us a vision of educational reform that transcends standards, curriculum, and instructional strategies. He argues for a paradigm shift - a schoolwide embrace of an "ethic of excellence." A master carpenter as well as a gifted teacher, Berger is guided by a craftsman's passion for quality, describing what's possible when teachers, students, and parents commit to nothing less than the best. But Berger's not just idealistic, he's realistic - he tells exactly how this can be done, from the blackboard to the blacktop to the school boardroom....." from Amazon.co.uk

A superb book. Many schools are searching for that mystical jump from good to outstanding. In this book Ron Berger outlines how children are encouraged to explore projects and that the excellence/outstanding is a culture that is developed over many years. He used the collection of portfolios of examples of the very best work. These were then used each time a project was started. Examining these portfolios was an active process where the best features or characteristics were highlighted. Ron Berger shares these stories with a wonderful narrative voice that carries you easily through the text. Great book.  

Mixed-Up on Assessment Make-Up

This is a mixed-up post that reflects the mixed-up status of where we are at. In the mixed-up world of life after levels we are striving to find stability, a validity and a robustness to our assessment procedures.  We started back in 2013 with

a reflection of the learning ladders that we were using. Many descriptors used where archaic and not a reflection of the curriculum and the learning that took place. We had a robust writing assessment system – a little bit paper/time heavy but one that Ros Wilson had produced. We decided to redo our Learning Ladders and use what we knew to try to get ahead of the game. As the new government and new curriculum came in and out went levels, we forged ahead with our ‘new’ system. The first thing that happened is that with the mastery curriculum in Maths we changed our Maths Learning Ladder to reflect this single year group set of attainment targets. Our Reading and Writing Learning Ladders used Ros Wilson and the philosophy that learners can be at a variety of different levels to create continuums to track progress. Sound philosophy, redesign, implementation and BOOM! Slowly over the course of two years it all went downhill. The sound philosophy led to an overwhelming presentation of options to the regular teacher. The difference between the use of the Maths Learning Ladder and the English Learning Ladders meant confusion rained down. There wasn’t a set methodology to lay out to teachers. Now teachers don’t want complications with their assessment system – they want the simplest system to give the maximum information. We’ve battled with these systems over the last couple of years and that brings us to today.

Comparative judgement, descriptor non-validity, data triangulation. Our current journey is the one upward through the miasma of different ideas and conflicting theories. But its okay. No, it really is. We all want the same outcome. Clarity, simplicity (as much as possible) and return to focusing on learning. This current battel has temporarily swamped the important cultural shift or paradigm change of that from teaching to learning. Roll on the next two years.

Step into Headship - Term 2

Think I am overly focused on the inspire part

Strategic plan, the needs of the five new teachers, building maintenance, new contractors, recruitment for next year, interviewing for a new deputy head, regular visits to the Mainsite the list goes on and getting into class slips from my fingers. 

I'm ridden with the guilt of needing to set an example in every department. Displays - must try to do one of the best in the school, assemblies - must sing and dance and have one of the most significant messages, teach a lesson - must have the children going home talking about it to their parents as a memorable lesson. I know it's not sustainable. I know it's not achievable but still the guilt persists. Is this the same guilt that drives teachers to commit the hours extra of their time to ensure the children get the best? 

Almost at this point - just not quite yet!

So what's the answer? I ask myself what will count as success over the course of the year. I choose two elements that if I am successful in, I will feel that I can count it as a good first year. First of all - the parents have identified the joint schools'  events as a source of stress and teachers and middle mangers have made similar comments over the last year. This will be one of my targets. Secondly, the school will go through a BSO (British Overseas Inspection) later in the year. I will use this as the second marker. To come out of that without any significant weaknesses and to give pointers on our road to success. 

So to next week. Interviews, assemblies and more importantly - at the top of my list is to get into all the classes and spend some time working with children and talking about where they are up to. 

Step into Headship - The Beginning

With almost five weeks gone and three to four weeks preparation in the summer before that, I feel that I have lived a lifetime as a new head. In reality it is barely a drop in the ocean. It was a list of firsts that had to be ticked off.

• My first admin meeting
• My first leadership team meeting
• my first day with all my teachers in
• My first briefing to the teachers
• My first setting the tone for the year briefing
• My first day with the children in 
• My first Parent's Introductory Evening

Each left with the thought - roll on one year. I kept thinking that when I got through the firsts, I would get to routine. And in the routine I would be able to find the time to do the things that I most wanted to do. But in actual fact, each of these moments were powerful moments. Each of these times, I opened my philosophies up for examination. Each of these times I shaped the thoughts of those around me in how they viewed me. Each of these times I built the way that the team would react to me when asked to do what I want. 

It all went so well so far but it hasn't been all plain sailing. I had been building a model of Extra-curricular activities in my mind. The idea was based around that there should be some continuous provision of activities that some teachers do that become the school's identity. Maybe an ongoing football team and a chess team. Not all the ECAs would be prescribed but just a handful to give that identity. I then spoke to my deputy- and here is the rub - not about my vision but about wanting to fill some of the ECAs first. He dutifully and with a selling enthusiasm, put it out to the staff. The ECA rota was filled for the term and low and behold the two ECAs that I had asked to be done were not taken up by any teacher in the school. I stubbornly decided to do both of them myself. This is not a solution. This was not done well. The vision is where the staff should have been brought in. Lesson learnt. Now onto my seconds of everything. 

Educational Blog Recommendation: Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything

Blogs are hard to keep up to date with. Here are my recommendations of educational blogs worth reading.

Kathy Schrock's 

Guide to Everything 

Kathy Schrock is on the innovative edge. But not the edge that doesn't seem quite relevant yet. She explores all the best practices and research that could directly impact upon your own practice or understanding. She has a well organised site with great resources readily accessible.  
From Personal Learning Networks(PLNs), Ipads in the classrooms, to Assessment and rubrics-she covers a wide range of areas in a concise and practical way.


Some good articles worth checking out:

http://www.schrockguide.net/recommended-books.html -  useful Computing reading list

http://www.schrockguide.net/digital-storytelling.html  - link after link to developing digital storytelling

http://www.schrockguide.net/60-tech-tips-in-60-minutes.html - 60 ideas

Creativity for an Unknown Future - A Tool for the Curriculum

Use This Grid Strategically to Embed Creativity in Your Curriculum

To prepare children for the uncertainty of the future we need to ensure that we are promoting creativity within our curriculum. In order to do this I have curated the most commonly cited methods that help to ensure that children think creatively. 

Simply choose one of the elements to focus upon each half term. Ensure that they are securely embedded in your curriculum by planning for their use carefully, including them in planning documents and sharing practice between staff during an evaluation period.

Download the document here to use in your school.

MUST WATCH: Richard Gerver - Leading Change

Author of my favourite book- Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today, Richard Gerver discusses the process of change

Educational Book Recommendation

Despite the advent of the kindle and e-books, educational books are still best bought in paper. Here is my recommendation to support your own research and development. 

Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today

"...Education is the platform for our success or failure, but is our system still fit for purpose? Will our children be equipped to face the challenges the future holds: the rapidly changing employment patterns and the global environmental, economic and social crises ahead of us? Or will our children grow up to resent their school years and blame them for their unfulfilled potential and achievement?

Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today explores these questions in the context of early schooling and primary education, presents powerful arguments for change and highlights strategies that offer a solution...." from the Bloomsbury website

Richard Gerver sets out how the school that he led developed their own curriculum. The curriculum he sets out seems to be both inspirational  and then very real and within reach at the same time. Key  Skills sit along side innovation and enjoyment. This is a model of the true creative curriculum.

This book is immensely enjoyable and very easy to read. Whether you are leading a school and want to see flashes of inspiration or are looking to redevelop your curriculum to take in the broader range of disciplines, you will definitely get something out of reading this book. It should be on every teacher's bookshelf.

Educational Book Recommendation

Despite the advent of the kindle and e-books, educational books are still best bought in paper. Here is my recommendation to support your own research and development. 

Evidence Based Teaching by Geoff Petty

"...Evidence Based Teaching is for teachers with some experience. It makes use of the most rigorous research on what has the biggest impact on achievement, and shows how to use this in your teaching..." from the EBT website 

 Geoff Petty analyses the collection of research by Marzano from America and John Hattie from New Zealand in terms of the effect on learning. You will be surprised as some common myths are shown to be not so relevant (class size, finance etc) and less surprised at the methods that are the most effective. 

This book also looks at how to make best use of these methods and further how to conduct evidence based research in your own classroom so that you improve the learning of the your children. For anyone with a thirst for more educational insight. Easy to access and understand. This is a must for anyone's educational library. 

Tweetdeck - As esssential as Twitter

Educational Tool Recommendation

If you use and recognise Twitter as an essential tool for Education: used for keeping up-to-date on the latest educational thoughts and developments; communicating with a network of people for answers to educational conundrums, then Tweetdeck must be also considered as an essential.

You create an account then sign into it with your twitter and Facebook accounts. Where as I don't use it with a Facebook account, it allows me to sign in with my personal twitter account (used for following the football and comedy etc) and also sign in with my educational twitter account. The account I dedicate to all things teaching. This is the account I spend the majority of my working weeks using. but with both accounts attached I can switch between the two at will to browse or to tweet and keep both audiences separate.

Tweetdeck can:

• send tweets from either account
• filter to multiple streams, searches and hashtags
• schedule tweets
• be accessed via a chrome add-on
• be downloaded to the desktop

These functions make it as valuable an add on as twitter itself. Don't open twitter, open Tweetdeck.

Educational Blog Recommendation

Blogs are hard to keep up to date with. Here are my recommendations of educational blogs worth reading.

Edutopia 

Edutopia has a lot in it. It is a huge site with article after article of the quality that you would normally find on a pay site. But this is the George Lucas Foundation education site and his philanthropic gesture (alongside Bill Gates and others) is essential in the current climate of education reform both in the UK and the USA. Education is currently stuck in a rut focused quintessentially on standards, measuring children against these standards and then beating them into submission with the results. Anybody, with even a smidgen of an academic brain about them, knows that the education system must change in order to prepare our children for the future. Edutopia is out there spreading the word. Quality reading around the right ideas. 

Some good articles worth checking out:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/summer-reading-for-educators-2013-mark-phillips - Summer reading

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/tech-in-schools-defining-terms-matt-levinson - Technology in Schools terminology.

http://www.edutopia.org/schools-that-work?page=1 - Schools that work

Apps for Educators

Apps for phones and computers whether desktop, laptop or tablet are those mini programs that provide the user with the best experience based on their needs. Although there are so many recommendations for apps for educators out there, I am amazed at how few are used. 

Evernote

The definitive in note-taking, list making, curating websites and blogs, clipping articles to share with peers, writing a shopping list at home that is accessible in the shop and for many, the very engine through which they run their businesses. 

Evernote's beauty is in its cross platform simplicity, synchronisation and web browser add-on. Whilst perusing twitter feeds and the many websites and blogs that are recommended, find one that you enjoy and might want to share - with the add on to Chrome or Firefox or other browsers, simply press the clipping tool and the page is clipped into your Evernote notebook. From there it can be emailed to those with whom you wish to share it. 

Download onto your phone and at the airport you can retrieve your online flight details with the press of a button. It even synch's between different platforms so if you use a PC at home but have an iphone - Evernote shares the same info. 

Linked Social Media - A Cautionary Tale

How's your social media network coming on? Do you feel that Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Youtube and Blogger are providing cpd as good as anything else (and in some people's cases - better)? Do you have Twitter and Facebook connected?

I am knocked out by the connections that these social media give me. I have an endless supply of up-to-date articles about the latest tech and reminders of good solid educational practice. I have an educational twitter account and a website and Facebook page called House of Teacher. Each is interconnected with the other which means that I can update one and the others update too.

But my enthusaism was unchecked. I had also unwittingly linked my youtube account to my twitter account. Two weeks ago I created playlists for each of my babies. Series of videos that would keep them quiet for twenty minutes after dinner. It was lovely. The children woudl sit at the computer and sing nursery rhymes, phonic songs and my two year old was learning the properties of shapes. Meanwhile my wife and I would have a quiet cup of tea after dinner.

As is usual with the advent of a second baby, my dedication to upkeep my tweeting wanes every few weeks. So it took me some time to return to my twitter account and even then it was only when I noticed the side bar on my blog telling all my followers that I had been adding these videos.

Now in this case it is pretty harmless, but the lesson is therein. Link your accounts by all means but think carefully, nay plan carefully - map out what you are doing and what is linked. That way you can be sure that you are showing, displaying, informing or telling what you want to tell and not opening up your whole life.

Educational Blog Recommendation

Blogs are hard to keep up to date with. Here are my recommendations of educational blogs worth reading.

Kathy Shrock's Kaffeeklatsch

The goddess of all things ed tech. Kathy reports on all the latest developments and often gets her hands on tech before it has been released.This is a good example of such an article.http://blog.kathyschrock.net/2012/09/wipad-ipad-wireless-projector.html?view=sidebar Kathy is a great exponent of PLN. That is using ed tech in a collaborative/networking way. This post is a great example of why to connect to good educational blogs and tweeters. http://blog.kathyschrock.net/2012/04/i-love-my-twitter-pln.html?view=sidebar

As well as her blog she is an excellent tweeter and well worth following.  @kathyshrock

Finally - have a look at Kathy Shrock's Guide to Everything

Use Your Favourites Toolbar Properly

You probably fall into one of two categories: those that never use there favourites and have to search for everything from scratch, those that use their favourites but it is just a huge long list of everything you have regularly looked at and all those other things you linked for no apparent reason. 
Use your favourites properly. Create a number of generic folders such as:

• Home
• Work
• Hobby
• News
• Children

And just add the things that you will need to access regularly. Alongside this you can add a folder of maybes or possibles - those websites that seem interesting and you might want to come back to but you can't yet decide. 

Favourites really comes into its own when you use the same browser across multiple devices - desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile - use one such as chrome with a signed in account and voila - websites are at your fingertip the same on every device. Therefore projects for work or for hobbies are not limited to particular times and devices. 

App for Educators

Apps for phones and computers whether desktop, laptop or tablet are those mini programs that provide the user with the best experience based on their needs. Although there are so many recommendations for apps for educators out there, I am amazed at how few are used. 

Twitter

The best example of the app, for everyone who knows, out there. Twitter feeds teachers and educators with everything they need to know. 

My own twitter feed can be found at @mcdermottrich

At a simple level teacehrs just need to search a few hashtags which include:

#edchat, #ukedchat or #education. These will provide a whole new world to teachers out there. 

Educational Blog Recommendation

Blogs are hard to keep up to date with. Here are my recommendations of educational blogs worth reading.

Harvard Business Review 

Business based magazine and blog articles that are as relevant to the management and leadership of schools as they are to the business world they are aimed at. Keeping employees happy or ensuring that communication is honest and efficient are principles that apply to both worlds. Articles aren't overly wrong and I find the titles help me to identify the ones most relevant to me. Intelligently written without getting into hyperbole and technicalities.

Recent post of note - http://hbr.org/2013/04/in-the-company-of-givers-and-takers/ar/1

The principle that people fall into the two categories of giving and taking and that boundaries have to be drawn to create a balance in employees.  

Essential Books for Primary/Elementary School

Over the last ten years or so I have become aware of how the fashions and fads that are new initiatives have diluted many strong traditional aspects of schooling. Going back further and the classroom was alive and rich in the depth of study through the use of class readers. This was the place of some of the very best cross curricular work. Texts used year after year led to revised effective programs that taught good literacy skills whilst allowing grammar to be taught in a context. To this end, my thoughts have turned regularly to what kind of books I would like to see embedded across a school and its curriculum.

A selection of Roald Dahl books from/including: The Fantastic Mr Fox, BFG, James and The Giant Peach, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, The Twits, Matilda, The Witches, The Magic Finger...

Beowulf - there are so many different versions but this one by Brian Pattern is accessible for children as young as seven.

Clockwork by Philip Pullman

Jabberwocky by CS Lewis

Poetry by Roger McGough

The Sound Collector by Roger McGough

The Listeners by Walter De La Mare

I know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Goodnight Moon by Mary Wise Brown

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morporgo

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

The Mixed up Chameleon by Eric Carle

Oh Fabjous Day Collected by Sandy Brownjohn

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

The Guard Dog by Dick King Smith

The Hodgeheg by Dick King Smith

The Rattle Bag edited by SeamusHeaney and Ted Hughes

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

Where's Wally? (various) 

Magazines and Comics - as many as possible in as many places as possible

Charlotte's Web by EB White

Percy the Park Keeper by Nick Butterworth

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

Traditional Tales including: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Little Red Riding Hood, The Gingerbread Man,Cinderella, The Ugly Duckling - These need to be revisited many times so that children internalise their structures and devices. For six to eight year old children use with alternative versions such as Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs or Goldilocks by Allen Ahlberg.

Myths and Legends including: Theseus and the Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus,

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

 by Mark Haddon

Anything by Michael Rosen

Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson

Silly Verse for Kids by Spike Milligan

 

Five Children and It by E Nesbit

Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Lots by Julia Donaldson like The Gruffalo and The Snail and The Whale.

Holes, There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett


 This is far from a comprehensive list and I have realised that it will need to be developed and refined over time. These texts should be incorporated through a number of platforms within the school including:

• class reader
• guided reader
• shared reader
• class library
• school library
• recommendations list
• holiday reading list
• extended reading list
• home reader