Ayellet McDonnell

Why we shouldn't be making things too easy..

When pupils going into Year 6 were asked what they thought about ability tables, their responses related to the level of interesting work they were given:

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The Easter holidays are here, so I have a copy of Primary Reading Simplified to give away.

Just **repost** this post to have a chance to win.

The winner will be selected 19th April.

Two core ideas underpin effective inclusive teaching:

1. Cognitive similarity
2. Instructional sensitivity

Let’s dig into both…

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Teaching without slides – just diagrams and dialogue – we co-constructed these models this week:
Year 7: Allen's rule
Year 10: Lung ventilation
IB1: Positive feedback drivers of climate change
IB2: Viral evolution
I explain how to teach this way in #DifferenceMaker #EnactingSystemsTheory

🧵An important part of the primary experience is having a lovely time- adults ringfencing the unique state of childhood and ensuring that primary is a glorious place to be little. Playful and joyful are not the antonyms of high standards and aspiration.

If Christmas is not feeling so happy:

Thanks @megvertebrae.bsky.social for this gem from Maya Angelou

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."

#EduSky

Vitally important thread for history teachers about using sources in the classroom and why and how we all need to do it better. In a nutshell, sign up for Hodder's webinar on this from @paulalobo.bsky.social taking place on Monday!

Very interesting thread. Certainly lots to think about. 🤔

'Neuroplasticity' is everywhere, but what do we really mean when we talk about the ever-changing brain?
Let's dive deeper than the buzzword and explore the evidence with a model.

Larry Cuban was invited to be part of a five member panel at Google to discuss the impact that AI will have on teaching and learning in schools. This is what he said.

https://3starlearningexperiences.wordpress.com/2024/11/22/is-ai-the-newest-in-a-history-of-educational-hypes/

EfratFurst - Understanding Understanding What is understanding from the "learning brain" point of view? Exploring the components of 'understanding' (with some visual examples) What can be applied in the classroom? and how can we help stu...

Can we do a little thread where people post blogs they read a while back and think others should read?

Mine is this by Efrat Furst. Post yours below!

sites.google.com/view/efratfu...

Friendship as Intervention; How can we improve pupil attitudes towards school through varied social experiences? How can we use pupils' focus on friendships to enhance their experiences of school?

Friendship as intervention. Pupils focus on friendship as a central aspect of school life. How can we use this to improve their experiences of school? wix.to/E9nYD2n

#UKEd #UKEdBlog #AcademicSky #EduSky

1. Honestly think a really good SLT role would be one that is Friends and Relationships.
I don't think this is frivolous. When asked it is these (with toilets and food) they worry most about. For many it's their favourite thing about school.

#UKEd # EduSky
Gary Klein (Snapshot of the Mind. P258) chapter 7.2 Training versus Evaluation.
The non-learning when being evaluated. Uncomfortable poke for Learning Walks?

Walking the talk Well hello there, and welcome to update #091!

New post:

Walking the talk:

Why has there been a tendency to privilege writing over speaking & listening?

While oracy has recently gone further up the agenda, it’s odd that high quality talk in classrooms has often been regarded as an optional extra...

open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...

YouTube video by Christopher Such The Reading Map - A Primer

Following a few requests from teachers and school leaders, I've made a short video on the key ideas that I think teachers (and parents/carers) need to know about reading development, based on my reading concept map.

youtu.be/JvtUxB5WM1k?...

Streaked tenrecs and improving reading Have you ever seen a ‘streaky tenrec’? Probably not. For pupils sitting the key stage 2 SATs reading assessment, they likely met the tenrec and the wildlife of Madagascar for the first time.  The fir...

🚨 NEW POST 🚨

'Streaked tenrecs and improving reading'

"No assessment is perfect – and the KS2 SATs reading certainly isn’t. So, we should replace it with something better, right?"

alexquigley.co.uk/streaked-ten...

Oliver is such a lovely man, and his talks always provoke your thinking. This particular one at #ResearchED24 was inspiring.
Thank you for including us in your experiment Oliver 😊
Highly recommend it for those of you attending #ResearchED Surrey.

The Transient Information Effect.
This step-motion by the BBC of the Olympic javelin comp. shows you the parts of the movement. Unless you know these positions, you wouldn't see them however many times you replayed the video. Each part disappeared in their unfolding.

He might be smiling, but these can be really tricky barriers to effective implementation in schools. #rED24

Time
Expertise
Capacity
Cognitive overload
Competing priorities

@lwilliamsjones.bsky.social speaks such sense about school leadership. He’s my absolute SLT goals.

#ResearchED24 Great start from @pepsmccrea.bsky.social
Distraction, routines, ratio, norms & alignment

Boosting children’s cognitive control does not result in behavioral or neural changes - Nature Neuroscience Cognitive control is crucial for present and future success and therefore is a frequent target of interventions. This study showed that training cognitive control in a large sample of 6–13-year-old ch...

We’ve known for a while that ‘brain training’ rarely leads to any transferable benefits in things beyond the trained task… but this new study takes it a step further and finds no neural (as well as behavioural) changes.

‘Brain training’ doesn’t even change the brain!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I don’t want to go back to the bad place so if you’re part of the edu-exodus & looking for people to follow, I’m going to start a little thread of some familiar faces from edutwitter already posting here.

Please tag people to this thread as I know it’s tricky to get started when you first join.👇🏼

This is brilliant! It is so important to distinguish between automaticity and familiarity in the classroom.

#EduBlogUK

#EduBlogUk
#UKEd #Edusky