Becky

The Easter holidays are the perfect time to sample a new podcast to then do properly once term starts. If you enjoy TBFM, please do share this so we can reach more teachers!

Re-sharing this about how and why we’re deconstructing assessment in KS3 open.substack.com/pub/becky70451…

21st March is World Poetry Day. Does anyone have any advice or ideas or experience of launching and delivering this event in a secondary school? Thanks!

For mentoring, do schools provide teachers with additional time to do this or payment, or both?

@supernova2gold It’s a work in progress but we currently report home formal assessment scores. These are converted to %s and we send home class average and year average too.

@Becky7692 What really resonated with me is that ARE grades are difficult to make sense of (even as a teacher with knowledge of curric. descriptors), and even if a child is GDS, then what? Can I ask how you report performance or progress home now?

Blog number 2 - deconstructing assessment at KS3! @becky704511/note/p-188273518?r=6nf4bd&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@becky704511/n…

@supernova2gold We’ve had a lot of debates! And some journeys have been longer to get to a point where we are all confident that what is being assessed has been explicitly taught.

@Becky7692 I can imagine how monumental a shift that must have been. Were there any subject areas where there was disagreement about disciplinary knowledge forming the backbone of a subject?

@supernova2gold It’s had to be a whole school change, where we’ve moved to objective measurements of the curriculum. Curriculum leaders have had to completely re think how we assess in order to achieve this whilst still ensuring we are stating true to curriculum disciplines etc.

@Becky7692 I love this. In leading KS3, I’ve been giving lots of thought to this. I agree where we use WTS, I think we lose specificity about what Ss can or cannot do. Would love to know what steps curriculum leads took to make this happen?

@tegan_nastassja @Team_English1 We teach a new unit each term, but each formal assessment includes a knowledge test of prior/current knowledge as well as independent application.

@Becky7692 @Team_English1 Do you teach a new unit each half term, or do you assessments reflect a combination of teaching/ recall up until each assessment point?

I am looking at redesigning our KS3 English Assessments - could anyone provide a rough idea how how you assess at KS3? Additionally, how many summative assessment/ assessment points do you have during the academic year? @Team_English1 #assessments #teaching #english

Shocking new MRI study on 3–5 year olds: Just 2 hours of interactive screen time per day is linked to measurable loss of white matter in the brain. Professor Mike Nagel (University of the Sunshine Coast): “White matter is myelin — it insulates axons like plastic on a wire. Deficits in myelin early in life mean deficits in neural connectivity.” The more screen time, the greater the white matter loss — especially in areas tied to language development and literacy. Nagel’s first reaction (as a researcher and father): “Wow… I was not anticipating seeing anything like that. It hadn’t occurred to me that something as little as two hours a day was having such a profound effect.” Parents: Has this changed how you think about screen time limits for young kids — or do you think the risks are overstated?

Our journey into curriculum design - hopefully the start of a series of blogs! open.substack.com/pub/becky70451…

@adamboxer1 Thank you 🙃

@Becky7692 great Q, just asked the team so I will get back to you asap

We've seen a FLURRY of requests following the launch of Carousel's Student Homepage. It means you don't need to share links, and students can find all quizzes from all subjects quickly and easily. All part of our commitment to make students' and teachers' lives easier!

@martha_0824 @Steplab_co @Carousel_Learn Our first step was to create the culture of going into each others’ lessons and learning from each other. And we’re only just moving onto pairing staff up for coaching cycles… it’s positive thus far!

@Becky7692 @Steplab_co @Carousel_Learn Ah thank you for this! Do you use this for instructional coaching for all staff?

I don’t know if I have the reach for this but wondered anyone’s personal views of their schools using @Steplab_co or @Carousel_Learn Teaching for CPD? We have demos planned for both but any insights greatly received to help a bigger picture

NEW EPISODE This week, we are joined by the OG and GOAT of education podcasting 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁CRAIG BARTON!! Craig knows so much about great teaching, it was a privilege to interview him: open.spotify.com/episode/7dzRdW…

@Mr_Raichura Thanks for the reply. We have big department (22 teachers. Quite a few work 0.6/0.8) so pretty impossible. If have to split, what works best? 🙃

@Becky7692 Lots of factors at play but overall I’m a fan of one teacher per class.

Can any science teachers help with the following debate: to teach by discipline at KS4, or to teach sequentially? Which is the best method?