Great TeachingInformed Wisdom in the Heat of Every Day PracticeTom Sherrington

Headteacher, Highbury Grove School, Islington

@headguruteacher

#educationfest

Most lessons I ever teach…

Via @jprofNB

Teaching and Learning Priorities at HGS 2016/7

Explicit KnowledgeReading: a planned daily dietCultural CapitalQuestioningFeedback and improvementExcellence ExhibitionsRhetoric; oracy as pedagogy

Contemporary educational ideas all my staff should know aboutVisible Learning; John HattieFormative Assessment; Dylan WiliamCognitive science; Daniel T WillinghamDesirable Difficulties; Robert BjorkAn Ethic of Excellence; Ron Berger‘Below the line’ learning; Guy ClaxtonGrowth Mindset; Carol DweckPygmalion Effect; Robert Rosenthal

The basics matter

After millennia of battle the surviving G’Gugvuntt and Vl’hurg joined forces to attack the Milky Way in retaliation. They crossed vast reaches of space in a journey lasting thousands of years before reaching their target where they attacked the first planet they encountered, Earth. Due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was swallowed by a small dog.

Key findingsThe two factors with the strongest evidence of improving pupil attainment are

1. teachers’ content knowledge, including their ability to understand how students think about a subject and identify common misconceptions

2. quality of instruction, which includes using strategies like effective questioning and the use of assessment

A few key ideas from research: Memory: space and interleave content; test and

re-test and re-testMetacognition – model the thinkingGrit/ Growth mindset – applied to specific

strategies – can be developedHomework: yes it works – in specific forms and

conditions and not in othersThe Pygmalion Effect happens – students rise

or fall to meet your expectations.

Most data systems:

Grammar = Knowledge

Dialectic = Exploration

Rhetoric = Communication

Know, Explore, Communicate

Balance: Staples and DeviationsMode AYou ExplainYou ModelThey practiseCheck and give

feedbackTest them. And again

a bit later.

Mode B• Explore; Discover• Hands-on Experience• Inspire some AWE • Go off piste• Make things; do

projects; set open-ended tasks, give choices,

80% 20%

Differentiation and ChallengeMUST, SHOULD, COULD learning objectives. To a good approximation, it’s sensible to give

everyone the same diet aiming for the top but then do THE GARDENING:

Top End, SEND/EAL , Everyone else

Behaviour – It’s all about motivation and habits

Stay RAMPed: Relaxed, Alert, Motivated and Positive

Signal, pause, INSISTAffirm and follow through:

‘You establish what you establish’

Bill Rogers

Language of Choice Use the system; it’s there to support youFix the damage.

Literacy Say it again but better; set standards for speech New words: rehearse, apply, recall, reinforce Do lots of reading in class; model reading.

Hard WorkBursts of Glorious Silence; Time limits; Completion

goalsDeveloping a growth mindset requires some early

success; Reward effort and perseverance over performance

Construct opportunities for students to achieve excellence.

Homework: You’re not doing it for me, you’re doing it for yourself

QuestionsEveryone answers; use think time; use pairs or

names or whiteboards; probe and probe againGo meta – how do you know what you know?

Feedback Mark lean; feedback early Insist on responses. Only do marking at the rate it can be actioned; don’t

drownRedraft via critique: simple, powerful. (Ron Berger)

Per ardua ad astra

Thank You

@headguruteacher