Vetch, (cream) meadow sweet.
How can we improve
the quality of our teaching?
Here is the transcript of the speech I gave at the Labour
Teachers Brighton Teachmeet this weekend.
If there’s one thing that most of us in education agree
on,
it’s that teaching quality is what matters most in
schools.
Intuition tells us that everyone remembers a great
teacher they were taught by.
Research now shows just how big a difference
teaching makes to student achievement.
So this strikes me as a crucial question: how can we
improve the quality of our teaching?
Teachers know that the quality of our teaching depends
most on what we teach,
how we assess it and how we
develop: curriculum, assessment and training.
Knowledge, Memory
and Practice
What I’ve realised is this: improving teacher
training, assessment and the curriculum,
relies most on three pillars: knowledge, memory and
practice.
I’ve realised this partly through experience, and partly
through research.
Instinctively, it seems like common sense. Subject
knowledge is important for teachers and pupils.
So is remembering what’s been
learned; it’s no just good forgetting it all.
And no one improves without practice.
Scientific research shows the vital importance of
knowledge, memory and practice.
Decades of evidence from cognitive psychology has these
sharp insights for teachers:
Background
knowledge is vital for all skills,
including reading, critical thinking and problem-solving
skills.
Long-term
memory is vital for learning:
if nothing has been retained in long-term memory, nothing
has been learned.
Deliberate
practice is vital for all and any improvement in teaching,
learning, and anything else, from sport to music.
In my teaching, I’ve found that the more you apply these
ideas, the more insight you get from them. In my English classes, the more
knowledge my pupils have about the text and context,
the more perceptive their analysis is. Mnemonic cues and
recall exercises prevent them
forgetting what they’ve learned. And extended writing
practice drills with precise,
instant feedback have dramatically accelerated my pupils’
achievement.
Training,
Assessment and Curriculum
But we haven’t yet applied these insights fully. We
haven’t realised their potential.
I’m convinced they can be a blueprint for improving our
teaching through the curriculum,
assessment and training.
We could memorably sequence the cultural capital
that pupils need to succeed in our school curricula.
This is the curriculum project that Dame Sally Coates,
headteacher as Burlington Danes,
who transformed the school from special measures to
outstanding, is now working on.
We could redesign our flawed assessment regime that
prioritises cramming into short-term memory over accumulating enduring
long-term memory. This is the assessment project
that Daisy Christodoulou, now Head of Research at ARK, is
working on.
We could include the scientific research on knowledge,
memory and practice in initial and ongoing teacher
training.
I’ve lost count of the number of teachers who have asked
me, why aren’t these ideas being shared
in initial teacher training? Why did it take me two years
before I heard about this?
Many, many teachers come through ITT and years of
CPD without realising,
or even hearing about the benefits of cultural capital,
long-term memory or deliberate practice.
This is the CPD project that David Thomas, Head of Maths
at Westminster Academy,
is now working on: putting practice into CPD.
So some schools are ahead of the curve on this.
And when you ask Sally, Daisy, David and others who are
at the leading edge of this curve,
they tell you, all the early signs are, these ideas raise
academic achievement.
Culture Shift
Now, there is no one lever than we can pull in Whitehall
to improve the quality of teaching.
This is a culture shift, a mindset shift, a long-term
change I’m talking about.
But there are three simple steps we could take straight
away.
First, we
could share the curricula that have been developed in English schools
for knowledge accumulation as examples, such as
Pimlico’s Key Stage 3 curriculum.
Second, we
could scale up a mastery assessment system designed for enduring memory,
such as ARK’s Maths Mastery system.
Third, we
could spread the cutting-edge research on the power of practice into
CPD & ITT
nationally adapting Doug Lemov’s work for the UK.
Knowledge, memory and practice empower us as teachers:
all are within our sphere of influence. Government can create the conditions
for this culture shift by sharing the best practice
that is already out there. But it’s up to school leaders
now to put powerful knowledge,
memory and practice at the heart of our curriculum,
assessment and teacher training.
That, above all, will do most to help us as teachers
improve.
https://pragmaticreform.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/teaching-quality/
Turbo Charged Reading: Read
more>>>Read fast>>>Remember more>>>Years later
Contact
M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com
You can TCR software
and engineering manuals for spontaneously recall –
or pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve
read.
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps
you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com gives many ways
for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com which takes
advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.
