Kashby

@MrMetacognition I think ignoring what you *think* you're good at can be dangerous too. It's really hard to effectively RAG anything. Putting all of your attention on your perceived weak spots risks letting your strengths suffer. I have to ask pupils to RAG but I think it's mostly time wasting.

As a sector, we’ve got a lot better at understanding what makes for effective revision, but have we got better at helping students choose the right things to work on? There’s certainly been a change in recent years, from both teachers and students, towards more effective forms of revision. It feels like more and more students are aware of the Leitner Method, brain dumps, retrieval and so forth. I’d also suggest that there’s less re-reading and highlighting going on than occurred in the decades before. This is all good, of course. But one area that I don’t think has improved as much is students choosing the right things to study. All too often, students focus on areas which they’re already strong at, or know that they will be successful with, because they like seeing that higher score. Much of this is human nature. We don’t naturally like to push ourselves, so being successful and staying in our comfort zone is a great place to be. Our status quo is ease. But effective revision - thinking hard; thinking deeply - isn’t easy or comfortable. It’s hard. It’s tiring. Effective revision should be on topics we’re likely to struggle with; get more things wrong on. But this is why it is so powerful. There are things we can do to improve this. For example, really working with students on effective RAG rating (note working with students, not just telling them to do it). Personalised study plans are also great, and QLAs can shine a lot of light on crucial areas to focus on. But we also need to build a culture. A culture where students know revision isn’t easy and comfortable, and instead understand that it should, or rather, must, be difficult, uncomfortable and challenging. What are you already doing about this in your settings?

@adamboxer1 It pains me that it does, but it happens. (1) Does B have substantial responsibilities impacting their work (2) Is B getting the development they need to narrow that gap? (3) Does anyone care that the gap arose? (4) Who protects teacher A from the fallout?

Imagine two teachers, A and B. They teach in the same school and the same department. They both have 15 years of experience and teach a similar mix of students. Every year, A's students' grades are much higher than B's. Should Teacher A be paid more than Teacher B? Please RT!

@adamboxer1 Context matters, it depends on the pupils and the school. Used well they really do change the game, especially for SEND/EAL. Ad hoc IT use can't be compared to well trained, thoughtful practice. Adaptive teaching at its best. Tests/exams/practice exams on paper, if possible.

No student should be allowed to use a laptop, tablet or phone in class. You might think you "can use them well" but you can't, sorry. You stand to lose everything for a tiny gain that will never materialise.

@LucindaKeal @adamboxer1 Have been in your shoes. It's really tough, I found comparing my test results to everyone elses' for each unit test helpful. Didn't win me any friends, though!

@Kate_Phys @adamboxer1 I hope so 🤞

NEW POST We talk a lot about getting better at teaching, but perhaps we don't talk enough about getting worse at teaching. Link in reply 👇👇

@LucindaKeal @adamboxer1 *spotted not sorted! And they may not look how you expect them to look.

@LucindaKeal @adamboxer1 If they can see results they may come round? It's a long wait for that first set of GCSE results! If they have a PLC, volunteer. If they don't, offer to start one. There are likely people who agree with you, they're just in another department and haven't sorted you yet.

@adamboxer1 Kids can't manage to get to the front of the line to pee at break, or get to the front of the queue to buy lunch at lunchtime. Their stressed teachers are seeing 200 kids in a day. Schools near me are overcrowded, understaffed and the breaks are too short. This breaks some kids.

I always get told off for this, but you can spend 5 minutes in any school these days and figure out pretty quickly that there are way too many students with special arrangements like toilet passes, extra time, time out passes etc etc

@cravenscience1 @adamboxer1 matthewfrench.net/pubs/jedres.pdf this?

@adamboxer1 Wasn’t there something about handwriting that is legible but not super easy to read makes the students pay more attention?

I guess I should just hand in my notice then

NEW EPISODE Watch this video. Listen to the whole thing. It's proper quality. x.com/adamboxer1/sta…

youtu.be/v2QYH3I4gCU?si… So impressed with the #courage and #eloquence of these two @PriorPark students who spoke in Friday's #neurodiversity assembly. They were passionate advocates for the type of education that we offer here at Prior Park - truly #inclusive and #caring.

@doublestops8 @Teacherglitter There is research out there that backs this approach. Y7 are more likely to get split teaching (i.e. multiple maths or English teachers) and that is demonstrably not good for them (or their teachers)

@Teacherglitter For many years I taught in a secondary where year 7 was treated as a foundation year. Eng, maths, humanities taught by their tutor in their form room - it worked well to aid transition.

Whether we ‘moly coddle’ our year 6 children too much or secondary are ‘too hard’ something fundamentally needs to change. And me being kind and compassionate doesn’t need to be the change. I am sick of kids coming back to visit upset (over many years) including my own.

@TeacherTapp Is it a surprise to anyone that AP Physics 2 (and then AP Chemistry) are Chat GPT's worst subjects? Homework apocalypse (via @teachertapp) oneusefulthing.org/p/the-homework…

@TheWave Thanks!

@Kate_Phys No need to book spectator tickets. Spectators can now access the site free of charge.🤙

@TheWave booked a beginner's lesson for my son. Do we need to book spectator tickets? Will we be ok to go and watch without one?

@AhmedKhattabUK Can help to regularly say 'imagine this was a maths question'... Disproportionately so. When I taught both maths and science it made a big difference to how I framed maths in science.

In a maths exam kid will easily do: 'Work out x to the power of y and the angle of the xy over a to the power of b without a calculator while standing on your head..' In a science exam will have no idea how to answer: What's 60% of 5 dm3? What is going on here?!

@caslonantique @adamboxer1 She had a lovely time today! I do miss Barbie from my old work who had knee length purple hair.

@adamboxer1 @adamboxer1 Pfft. Barbie's going on the Van de Graff on Friday!

It turns out that I am the odd one out for not using toys, games or some other gimmicky shtick in science lessons 🤣🤣🤣

@dgs_science @DrWilkinsonSci Argh!! 1.7 *metres*

@dgs_science @DrWilkinsonSci Tallest freestanding tower using 1 sheet of A4 paper. My record is about 1.7 cm, I am told over 2m is possible.

Science teacher Twitter, suggestions needed for a Science Club activity without equipment/kit from techs. I forgot to order anything and am already in their bad books so need an activity that’s pen/paper/printing only… 🤔

@sarita204sharma @ChatPhysics @Hookean1 @IOPTeaching @tmscienceicons @CERN Red cross museum is worth a visit too!

Organising a trip for my Physicists to CERN. Any suggestions or pointers to get started @ChatPhysics @Hookean1 @IOPTeaching @tmscienceicons @CERN

@MrARobbins I have been thinking about this a lot! Nice to see it articulated so well, it's a thorny, loaded issue.

New Blog A tale of two HoDs. How different HoDs approach the same problem due to different ideas about what is most important adam-robbins.com/2023/02/13/a-t…