Stephen Lim

With the new Ontario language curriculum coming out, I highly recommend teachers listen to season 3 of the Science of Reading The Podcast. Each episode breaks down the strands of the rope with practical strategies. Super informative. /1 open.spotify.com/episode/55Ivtz…

Plenaries to lessons in general in schools risk being ill-conceived and a waste of time. Why waste time asking a child to write something on a post-it that you taught them 15 minutes ago? Just keep teaching to the end, and ask them in the next lesson a few days or week later what they remember. More challenging, yes, but more likely to assist the process of embedding in long term memory when spacing is introduced. If you added up the time spent on bad plenaries, I suspect it would be quite an eye-opener.

What works in spelling instruction? New study on how to teach it effectively and the pre-testing effect: - Copying spelling words might be one of the least effective things we ask pupils to do. - Generating answers before learning can improve spelling, even when pupils are wrong. - The benefits of testing grow over time, not immediately. - What matters is not how many times pupils see a word, but how often they retrieve it.

Why are so few people interested in doing retrieval practice properly? I had a Friday thought: doing retrieval properly is fundamentally a technocratic process. It involves systems, policies, processes and relentless accountability for relatively boring things (both staff and students). Its benefits cannot be seen immediately, and take months and years to manifest. It doesn't lend itself to quick things or resources you can post and get a million likes and requests for downloads. Also, it's especially important for the students who are targeted by the "inclusion" agenda, but particularly hard to implement properly for those students. It's much easier to land on less effective approaches for them. There is less resistance. And, therefore, it isn't exciting or fashionable or sexy. It's hard work. It's dry. It's technocratic. So people scroll on by, and focus on something else instead.

For a long time setting in maths has been seen as "symbolic violence" that harms low attainers. But now a major study by the EEF & IoE shows setting has no negative impact on low-attainers & positive benefits for high attainers. theguardian.com/education/2026…

This article by @profbeckyallen on maths setting is also a must read. The EEF study shows lower attaining students have lower maths self confidence in mixed ability classes than in sets. Becky suggests this is because mixed ability classes give them a daily reminder of how far behind they are their peers. The "labelling effect" from mixed ability classes is worse than that from setting. substack.com/home/post/p-19…

@RahimNathwani @tomloveless99 @mpershan @NickGibbUK In 2014, Boaler predicted math anxiety would soar in England b/c of it. What soared afterwards were England's PISA and TIMSS scores in math. fin/

Retrieval practice is going wrong in a lot of classrooms, why? It usually works best in the middle of a pipeline: after explanation, before performance.

Congratulations @PNeerja!!! Very much deserved!! It has been an honour to work & learn alongside you over the past two years! Thank you for your leadership and everything that you do to support your staff and students.

One Pager by @XpatEducator static1.squarespace.com/static/5c47c0b…

Do students need to deeply master every vocabulary word we teach? 🤔 Short answer: No. This conversation challenges common misconceptions and offers practical, manageable ways to strengthen comprehension through vocabulary. Click to Listen! 🎙️ ow.ly/wAxw50YjofR

A brilliant post. A must read. @PNeerja @ZohrinM

It's the Easter holidays (2026), and I have two copies of Primary Reading Simplified to give away! For your chance to win, simply retweet this tweet *or* reply below with the name of a children's book that you love. (Or you can do both to double your chance of winning!)

@IESResearch @sheri_ainslie @PNeerja @ZohrinM

The PRISMS Toolkit helps grades 6–8 educators deliver evidence‑based reading interventions. It includes short instructional videos, step‑by‑step routines, PLC tools, walkthrough tools for leaders, and implementation guidance. #PRISMS #Literacy ies.ed.gov/ncee/rel/readi…

This data is absolutely nuts, and reflects a lot of my concerns about observation based CPD (like coaching): Lots of teachers simply not understanding the feedback A majority not knowing *how* to do the thing or feeling capable of executing it (c.f. "When done well") A majority having no actual desire to do the thing Thank you @TeacherTapp for the data, and a reminder to download and engage with it!

From a recent newsletter. Fluency is often misunderstood. It is not about reading faster. It is about freeing students to focus on meaning. When fluency instruction is intentional, students move from decoding words to understanding text. #AngelaHanlin #AllMeansALL

@MmeLockhartLDS @TrentUSoE @PNeerja @ZohrinM

@SoLInTheWild Amazing @PNeerja @ZohrinM

I love, love, love revision days prior to an assessment. It’s how I attempt to effectively mitigated the “illusion of knowing”/Dunning-Krueger Effect in my students. I often say to them: “You don’t know what you don’t know until you know you don’t know it”. I say it so frequently a student suggested I make a sign and just point to it. So, of course, I made one. 😂 Here’s my general revision day procedure: 1️⃣ List all relevant information for topic/concept from memory in pencil. 2️⃣Check relevant readings, flashcards, handouts, etc. and revise in red pen. 3️⃣Turn and Talk with partners comparing/sharing and continue to revise in red pen. 4️⃣Cold call students to share information using targeted retrieval questions for information they just revised. Again, continue to revise in red pen based on what you hear from peers. 5️⃣ Provide additional models, diagrams, explanations, etc. using visualizer as needed. Make more red pen revisions if necessary. 6️⃣Wash, rinse, repeat for each concept on revision guide. 7️⃣Complete a success criteria checklist to identify key areas to focus on for more individual preparations using flashcards, revision guide, I can…statements, etc.

Great CPD isn't about "raising awareness." It's about real change in real classrooms. If your CPD doesn't change people's practice, it's a waste of time.

@SoLInTheWild @PNeerja

Here’s a lesson routine for simplifying the explicit teaching of new content I’ve found success with. It may work for you too. It may not. I think it will. Let me know what you think. 1️⃣Introduce guiding questions for lesson reading (3-4 per lesson) 2️⃣FASE read one “chunk” of reading at a time 3️⃣Explain concept using concrete examples and analogies (e.g., The Caribbean is vulnerable because it is sitting in the geographic “bullseye” for hurricanes to hit.) 4️⃣Hightlight/annotate key information in the text for each guiding question 5️⃣Turn and talk sharing/comparing highlights/answer to guiding question 6️⃣Cold call answers/“can you add/build on what ____ just said” for guiding question 7️⃣Choral response to guiding question when applicable (e.g., What are hurricanes categories based on? Sustained wind speed! What else? Potential damage!) 8️⃣Create a flashcard for Leitner spaced practice system using guiding question and highlighted information. 9️⃣Repeat for each remaining guiding question/chunk. 🔟 Practice flashcards for part of Do Now at the start of lesson the next day and at increasing intervals based on individual student retention (e.g., 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks)