An Unconventional Seating Plan Designed to Benefit Focus and Learning After years of search and experimentation, this teacher finally hit on a room layout that allowed for efficient shifting between whole class, small group, and independent work.

An Unconventional Seating Plan Designed to Benefit Focus and Learning
www.edutopia.org/article/clas...

@impactedgroup.bsky.social My article refers to your excellent work on belonging.

How can schools measure ‘belonging’? There’s a growing focus on increasing pupils’ sense of ‘belonging’ in schools, but to succeed we need to find ways to ‘operationalise’ the concept, writes Jean Gross

If we really want to increase pupils' sense of belonging in schools, we need to find ways to measure the concept, writes @jeangrosscbe.bsky.social

Lack of student engagement is a hot topic, affecting attendance and attainment. This short CPD programme focused on response to mistakes had a massive effect. It enabled teachers to create a culture of learning rather than one of judgement and evaluation www.researchgate.net/publication/...

The Pros and Cons of Homework (in 6 Charts) The case for homework isn’t black and white, so we looked far and wide for research to shed a little light on the matter.

The Pros and Cons of Homework (in 6 Charts)
www.edutopia.org/visual-essay...

A Video Project That Asks Students to Celebrate Their Classmates Teachers who worry that parent conferences may not convey the ‘everyday magic’ of the classroom can include these video clips in their talks.

Lovely idea
A Video Project That Asks Students to Celebrate Their Classmates
www.edutopia.org/article/pers...

6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students Support every student by breaking learning up into chunks and providing a concrete structure for each.

6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students
www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffol...

front cover of 'Concept Cat' book: white cartoon cat on blue and green background. Sitting on open partially covered pages of the book showing teaching sequences for 'cost' and 'cube.'

'Concept Cat: teaching concepts on the Early Years' has landed. Concept Cat has gone down a storm already, and this new book make sit easier to implement. It provides a 'how to' guide for teaching 150 common concepts such as 'few, next to and cube.'
Details:
www.routledge.com/Concept-Cat-...

What an Award-Winning School Leader Has Learned From Shadowing His Students A simple practice has led to schoolwide improvements and a better learning environment, says Principal Matthew Sloane.

Every leader, every teacher should have this opportunity.
What an Award-Winning School Leader Has Learned From Shadowing His Students www.edutopia.org/article/what...

What an Award-Winning School Leader Has Learned From Shadowing His Students A simple practice has led to schoolwide improvements and a better learning environment, says Principal Matthew Sloane.

Every leader, every teacher should have this opportunity.
What an Award-Winning School Leader Has Learned From Shadowing His Students www.edutopia.org/article/what...

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Educators! Do you want to know how to best engage parents and families in children's learning?? 👩‍👦

✅ @jeangrosscbe.bsky.social is an education expert and author. See our blog for her top tips for effective parental engagement 👇
bit.ly/42rcC8E

Really interesting OECD research report on what constitutes high quality teaching. Social and emotional learning one of the top five. www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

I do hope social and emotional skills will figure in the final curriculum review report. Curricular SEL programmes shown to raise attainment as well as wellbeing indicators. @beckyfrancis.bsky.social

Sign the Petition Protect authors’ livelihoods from the unlicensed use of their work in AI training

I just found out that one of my books has first been pirated and then used by Meta to train its AI. No acknowledgement and no money came my way.
This has to stop. The Society of Authors have organised this petition to the UK government. Please show your support.

chng.it/FqvrjYKVvW

Vocabulary, spoken language and oracy are issues in many schools. Over many years @lang4think.bsky.social & I have refined our approach into 'Word Aware', a whole school approach for developing vocabulary.
Next online training session is next week. thinkingtalking.co.uk/finding-a-wo...

Motivational messages from teachers before exams: Links to intrinsic motivation, engagement, and academic performance This mixed-method study explored teachers' motivational messages before exams and their impact on students' intrinsic motivation, engagement, and acad…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reassuring messages like 'I'll be here to help you whatever you need' worked best in inspiring pupils before exams and improving their grades
Silence was especially unhelpful.

Get Your Kids Talking With These 105 Conversation Starters Talking to children deepens your bond and develops their communication skills. Inspire some back-and-forth with these conversation starters for kids of all ages.

www.parents.com/conversation...
I'm watching Adolescence on netflix. We all need to have more conversations with children. Try these conversation starters for all ages. Please share.

Cooperative Learning Groups I love having cooperative learning groups in my classroom. I believe they are important to incorporate in the classroom when so many students test high for the interpersonal multiple intelligence. …

turnerteaching.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/c...
Oracy people..
Nice ideas here for a table tub of resources for group work.

The Science of Student Motivation Noted author and psychologist David Yeager on the common mistakes we make when giving feedback to students, and how to tap into purpose and belonging to make classroom work more meaningful.

Do loook at the bit about feedback conveying belief in the student , and all he is saying about curriculum relevance.
The Science of Student Motivation www.edutopia.org/article/the-...

I was very surprised to see oracy not mentioned, in view of what the government have said about it and Peter Hyman's influence.

<em>Reading Research Quarterly</em> | ILA Literacy Journal | Wiley Online Library The article explored the impact of topic background knowledge (TBK) on children's language ability development and reading-related emotional factors. TBK refers to the foundational knowledge that chi....

Important research, albeit in China, showing the importance for oral
language development of developing background knowledge before sharing books
with 5 yr olds doi.org/10.1002/rrq....

Here's How a Small Break From Your Smartphone Can Boost Your Mood | KQED What would happen if you blocked the internet from your cellphone for two weeks? A bunch of millennial researchers wanted to answer that question. Here's what they found.

Research with adults found switching off internet on smartphone for a few weeks was as effective as antidepressants www.kqed.org/mindshift/65...

Jon's brilliant words 'With a packed curriculum and punitive accountability, some schools look to shift “complexity” somewhere else' sum up current inclusion problems exactly . So good I wrote them down!

Why the work on mainstream inclusion cannot get stuck looking at mainstream in isolation

The @tesmagazine.bsky.social leader this morning, available via the free Daily newsletter. If you haven't signed up, do so now in your free Tes profile.

You can read it below.

email.tes.com/t/cr/AQiOjhA...

How to create autism-friendly classrooms that benefit everyone From simple changes to school decor to self-regulation training, inclusive practices can have a huge impact without breaking the bank

How to create autism-friendly classrooms that benefit everyone: @jeangrosscbe.bsky.social in @tesmagazine.bsky.social: www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

It’s never too late: Spotting and supporting SLCN at secondary school - SecEd Many secondary students have unidentified speech language communication needs. How do SENCOs and teachers support them?

The data suggests that nearly half of secondary students with #speech #language #communication needs are going unidentified. What can schools do to spot these young people & give them the support they need? https://buff.ly/4bd9NvY #SendTips #Teachers #Sponsored #edusky

Clip from front cover of book showing the title 'Language for Behaviour and Emotions' A practical guide to working with children and young people.

We receive regular rave feedback about 'Language for Behaviour and Emotions', but you can learn to use it even better on one of our courses.
The next 2 day course starts on March 5th, also in May. @melaniespeechie.bsky.social @lang4think.bsky.social
Details: thinkingtalking.co.uk/finding-a-wo...

To deduce meaning of a new word from text you need to be able to read 95 per cent of the other words. So weaker readers need audiobooks and being read to in order to grow their vocabulary.

Creating the we: Ideas for building pupils’ belonging in school - Headteacher Update This article offers practical ideas for how primary schools can build belonging and inclusion for pupils

A sense of belonging might just be key to reducing absence & inspiring pupils to want to be in school. Jean Gross offers some practical ideas for how primary schools can set about building belonging and what she calls the ‘we’ – buff.ly/3QC5TmE #schools #inclusion #edusky

Podcasts in class could tackle reading ‘crisis’ Children’s enjoyment of listening to audio has now surpassed that of reading, finds survey

National Literacy Trust report today www.tes.com/magazine/new...
on potential of listening to podcasts to increase children's reading enjoyment. Could I add that weaker readers need lots of podcasts or being read to to increase their vocabulary.