James Durran

Drama in English: what embodied learning looks like Revising for GCSE using drama strategies

What a heart-warming, inspiring blog by Andrew McCallum, describing a superb lesson by English teacher Maddie Lynes! It reinforces the view that drama activities do not just create engagement & pleasure but are a highly effective way of embedding learning.
www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/drama-i...

On ‘checking for understanding’ and feedback loops A lot is being written and published at the moment on adaptive teaching, and particularly on how ‘checking for understanding’ happens in classrooms. It strikes me that some of the discourse risks o…

Lots of great stuff on here at the moment on 'checking for understanding' (and on #adaptive_teaching generally.) At its core, it's all about #feedback_loops.
jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/o...

Explaining in the classroom: the importance of relationship I see a lot of explaining happening in classrooms, and I did a lot of explaining as a teacher. It’s a key aspect of instruction, which has been much theorised and written about. For what it’s worth…

NEW blog post: on the anatomy of great #classroom_explanations and the importance of #relationship

jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/e...

😂

Efficiency is an educational vice How ‘efficiency’ derailed education

This is such an important perspective, which is so often missing from discussions of "what works" in education. From @bernardandrews.bsky.social
bernardandrews.substack.com/p/efficiency...

Explaining in the classroom: the importance of relationship I see a lot of explaining happening in classrooms, and I did a lot of explaining as a teacher. It’s a key aspect of instruction, which has been much theorised and written about. For what it’s worth…

NEW blog post: on the anatomy of great #classroom_explanations and the importance of #relationship

jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/e...

1970s Hillman Hunter

How important is #relationship to teacher explanations?

NEW blog post on the anatomy of great #classroom_explanations.

jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/e...

1970s Hillman Hunter

How important is #relationship to teacher explanations?

NEW blog post on the anatomy of great #classroom_explanations.

jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/e...

This is an absolute banger. Sharing with mentors and trainees today! THANK YOU.

Thanks Terra!

This is why children need phones on the way to and from school.

Teaching talk Classroom strategies for the explicit teaching of spoken expression When we think about how to develop pupils’ talk in the classroom, it is natural to focus on the ‘opportunities’ we’re provi…

On #teaching_talk

Developing pupils' talk doesn't have to be about special activities - it can (and should) be organic to everyday classroom teaching.

As schools and teachers turn their attention to #oracy, I thought I'd repost this old blog post.
jamesdurran.blog/2019/08/14/t...

Teaching talk Classroom strategies for the explicit teaching of spoken expression When we think about how to develop pupils’ talk in the classroom, it is natural to focus on the ‘opportunities’ we’re provi…

On #teaching_talk

Developing pupils' talk doesn't have to be about special activities - it can (and should) be organic to everyday classroom teaching.

As schools and teachers turn their attention to #oracy, I thought I'd repost this old blog post.
jamesdurran.blog/2019/08/14/t...

But I do think your "never" and your "always" (even though clearly rhetorical) are rather misleading!

When I was a teacher, I think I was (at the risk of sounding arrogant) seen as an expert. But I was able to be an AST and then an SLE. Maybe we need similar designations.

Daughter currently studying Weimar Germany for GCSE. A constant theme in conversation is the reliving of terrible, terrible mistakes.

All my life, I've heard that first-past-the-post voting prevents giving influence to dangerous extremists. And now it seems like it might actually put them into actual power.

Thread.

Interesting!

Fascinating!

This historical perspective should be part of the English curriculum.

I was fine back to 1300. (At university, I had to read and translate much earlier, but it's faded!)

Supporting children’s early word writing download this article This article outlines how to support children with their early word writing. Specific literacy skills for supporting early word writing Successful word writing is a complex ta…

Supporting children’s early word writing

writing4pleasure.com/2026/01/19/s...

Sorry. I'll take down the quote tweet. I was cross, because it felt like I was being dismissed, talked down to and labelled.

The knowledge *his* amazing teachers have, and which means he learns, is about what helps him focus & what keeps him regulated. They might, colloquially, refer to these as about "how he learns best", but they are not to do with cognitive science.

My child has an EHCP. None of his barriers are about cognition. But they do affect his ability to learn.

I was engaging in good faith but probably expressing myself ineptly.

Not sure what you're referring to here. I've clashed with some of the more arrogant edulads at times, over their certainties. Not aware of offending you & certainly wouldn't intend to. 🙂 Exciting to have a "history" though!

The point is that when people say that individuals learn in different ways, they mean all sorts of things which DO vary. There may be a definition of learning which doesn't vary by individual, but that's not what people mean.

Learn, as in...
- make neuronal connections?
- form memories?
- respond to specific inputs?
- cope with particular learning situations?
- be able to engage or invest?
- respond to conditioning?
- respond to suggestion?
- sustain focus on information?

Does it depend on what we mean by "learn in the same way"?

The dynamic ‘writing sequence’ The publication of the DFE’s new Writing Framework has prompted many primary schools to review their practice – whether that means making some deep changes, or just making tweaks. In response to th…

NEW POST on teaching #writing and on planning for a 'dynamic' #writing_sequence. For #primary teachers (and secondary #English teachers too) reviewing how they teach writing, this graphic may (or may not!) be helpful.
jamesdurran.blog/2026/02/18/t...

Famously, modelled for the painting by Peter Stringfellow.