BenM

"When will I ever use this?" "How is this useful in my life?" Not everything we learn in math has to be applied. Math can be seen as an art as well.

Raising standards in reading - ten core secrets based on what effective schools do: teachwire.net/news/pie-corbe…

Reading aloud is a high-leverage practice that has the capacity to support complex thinking and to provide access to disciplinary knowledge. open.substack.com/pub/marymyatt/…

@Ed_Realist @johnthenoticer It does if it shows what might be possible with existing teachers. Good teachers change students a lot and I believe around 80% of our teachers could be as good as the current best 20% with the right kind of support if (and it's a big if) they are willing to work at improving.

@paulg If this were a medical chart, the iPhone release would be labelled ‘onset’.

Drawing on over 1,000 studies on teaching writing, Professor Steve Graham will propose five principles for creating an evidence-based writing program in his keynote. Book your place to discover what these principles are: hfl.mobi/NPEC26SOCIALS @HertsEnglish

Priti Patel has called the UK's return to the Erasmus student exchange scheme a ‘betrayal of Brexit’. Or in translation: ‘a good idea’

@dylanwiliam @edudissenter having texts opened up by a skilled reader: layers of meaning. That journey starts with reading and talking about stories with young children. Attentive reading habits can be modelled and are important, even if you don’t do a literature degree- the ability to closely read texts

@dylanwiliam @edudissenter I was particularly struck by how the focus should be more on “deep content exploration and opportunities to read across genres” and it made me think there is a golden thread from the youngest years. When I think back to some of the best seminars in my degree I remember

Do reading comprehension skills exist?

Supporting Children With SEND To Be Great Writers: A Guide For Teachers And SENCOS writing4pleasure.com/supporting-chi…

Owen Barfield changed C.S. Lewis’s mind by arguing with him for twenty years. They met in Oxford in the early 1920s and almost immediately disagreed about everything that mattered: truth, meaning, and whether modern progress had actually made people wiser. Lewis believed humanity had matured by abandoning myth, while Barfield argued that modern man hadn’t outgrown myth at all, but had lost the ability to see the world as meaningful rather than merely mechanical. Their argument became so constant that friends called it “the Great War.” Eventually Lewis admitted that Barfield was the single greatest intellectual influence on his life, writing that “Barfield never made me change my mind; he merely made me think that I was wrong.” Barfield did not convert Lewis, but without that relentless friendship, Lewis later acknowledged that his conversion might never have happened at all.

I have a new book out in a month, fully illustrated throughout by Matthew Taylor Wilson. It's a fable for children, about a tree...thing, in part inspired by the loss of the Sycamore Gap Tree. And you can read more about it and pre-order here: waterstones.com/book/tree-thin…

ICYMI:

Ian Bauckham is right. Written papers are still the gold standard. Plus, schools should strain every sinew to avoid habituating students into screen dependency. Handwritten exams are the purest, says watchdog thetimes.com/article/e7605e…

The Amazing Generation co-author @catherine_price (along w/ @JonHaidt) explains how to use the holidays to reset your family’s relationship with their phones buff.ly/vwMsip2

One third of 8th grade girls spend 7+ hours per day on social media. Meaning: that's pretty much all they do. From @jean_twenge generationtechblog.com/p/the-mind-blo… How about if we treat puberty as if it were an important developmental period? Let's raise the age to 16 and be done with it.

Recently-announced £5m book funds for secondary schools to be underpinned with #UnlockingReading training, says DFE. Find out more: readingzone.com/news/recently-…

Christmas should feel magical for all children. But not all families have the same access to books. Help share the timeless joy of reading this festive season to the children who need it most. Donate today and make a child feel special. 🎁

Take pupils back in time to explore The Last Days of Pompeii! This award-winning exhibition brings history to life with artefacts, VR & metaverse experiences, 360º projections and more. Open at Immerse LDN till 15 Mar 2026. pompeii-experience.com/london/ @Pompeii_Ex #ad #sponsored