Alex Quigley's Blog, page 12

Prioritising Writing Progress

Do our pupils need support for bolster their writing development? In my last blog, I posed the question about whether there was a hidden problem with the damage wrought by the pandemic on pupils who have joined secondary school. The evidence of a dip in national date at both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage …

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The post Prioritising Writing Progress first appeared on The Confident Teacher.

Is the ‘Instructional Coaching’ wave about to crash?

Is ‘instructional coaching’ the next big thing? Maybe I should be a little clearer: by ‘next big thing’, I wonder whether a nation-wide wave of enthusiasm for this particular professional development vehicle will soon wane, and the promise of coaching will quietly fold into mass of unshared failures in schools. In their book, ‘The Next …

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Is there a hidden writing problem in secondary schools?

Are pupils new to secondary school this year prepared for the challenges of academic writing? After a couple of terms of secondary school, it becomes clearer whether pupils are getting to grips with the academic demands. As they write narratives in English, essays in history, notes in science, or annotate in art, pupils are expected …

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Literacy and Inclusion

A vital factor for inclusion in schools is pupils’ literacy skill. Put simply, reading, writing, and communication are the cornerstones of school success and prerequisites for inclusion. Consider the inferences and implications of the following: ‘Only 14% of adults in the prison population have GCSE level or equivalent in English language/literacy.’ ‘An assessment of the …

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Translating the School Curriculum

Read this… ‘Liz Truss culpa de su caída política al ‘establishment’ económico del Reino Unido La ex primera ministra conservadora defiende su rebaja de impuestos y asegura que “nunca se le dio una oportunidad real” de impulsarla El modo más fácil en política de admitir errores sin admitir culpa es asegurar que todo fue un …

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Getting Reading Fluency Right

‘Ro-man soc…i-e-ty… The army tried to con…q…u…er new lands for their v…ast Em-p-i…re.’ It is all-too common to hear arduous attempts at reading aloud in classrooms. Particularly with younger pupils, well-meaning enthusiasm, stretching their hands into the sky, is often followed by dysfluent reading. Teachers go on to select pupils to build their practice and …

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10 Tips for Using Revision Guides

It is the time of year when well-meaning parents pay for a legion of revision guides and they sit atop all the book charts.

The sobering truth is that the purchase is both optimistic and likely lacking in the specific supports and guidance required to use it well.

The post 10 Tips for Using Revision Guides first appeared on The Confident Teacher.

Learn to write Like an American President

Benjamin Franklin may be one of the most interesting people in modern history. Born into poverty, leaving school aged 10, he then became a famed president, inventor, thinker, and writer. His story of teaching himself to write may be a little famous too. Franklin, without a teacher, and with very little formal schooling, was determined …

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5 Free Research Reads On… Retrieval Practice

Perhaps the most popular of all cognitive science topics is retrieval practice. It is popular, practical for teachers, familiar enough compared to lots of common teaching habits (quizzes and similar) and it has lots of research to explore its impact. Right now, we hear notes of caution around potential lethal mutations, such as mandated quizzes …

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What is the Problem with ‘Skills’ in Schools?

Can you explain what skills are and how to develop them? Did you feel confident naming some of the key skills? Maybe you cited the more popular skills cited – literacy, numeracy, or perhaps ‘problem solving’, ‘critical thinking’ or ‘teamwork’. After some naming of skills, could you confidently explain the ‘how’ of developing those skills? …

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