Particles

Misconceptions, research and progression of ideas through KS3. This guide is based around the Particles topic which my school teaches in the autumn term of year 7. This topic includes: Arrangement and movement of particles in solids, liquids and gasesUse of the particle model to explain: changing shape and compression, changing shape, density, expansion and …

My year teaching Physics

Back in July 2019, what seems like a lifetime ago, my Head of Faculty told me that I would be teaching GCSE Physics for the first time, taking over a group for year 11. I was quite pleased. I have an A Level in Physics and even studied some during my first year at university …

Curriculum, Connections and Covid-19

It's been a very long term. We deserve a break. But already I find myself thinking of the challenges that await us in the autumn. Many of my students had very successful lockdowns. I am proud of them. Next year they deserve a curriculum that builds upon the work they have done in remotely. Others …

7 Days in March

Sunday 15th March - 8 days before lockdown Mr Mountstevens, he of the elegant analogies to curriculum and leadership, Mini Mountstevens and I went for a walk. It was the longest walk that Mini had ever done and we were very proud of her. We were enjoying the sunshine and the signs of spring. We …

Feedback From Afar

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That is how we improve.” Bill Gates The EEF defines feedback as “information given to the learner or teacher about the learner’s performance relative to learning goals or outcomes.” As teachers, in our classrooms, there is a constant dialogue between students and teachers. We can use …

Filling the tool box

Procedural Metacognitive Knowledge If you are unfamiliar with metacognition, you might like to read my introductory post here, before continuing with this one. How many of us have had students say, "I thought I understood it but then I couldn't do the exam question"?  This is often a result of the inability of a student …

A little better all the time

This autumn, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I improve my practice as a teacher. Literacy has been on my mind for a number of years, first as a member of a school literacy group and more recently after hearing Amada Fleck (@AJTF71) present about the reading demand of the new Science GCSEs. But …

Helping Hansel

Meet Hansel and Gretel... Hansel is a confident student. In lessons he feels like he understands the content and can answer the questions. At home he completes his homework and every so often reads an article because someone once told him that would help him to get into a good university. Gretel has the same …

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

What is metacognition? Metacognition is commonly divided into two components: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive reflections (Quigley et al. 2018).  Metacognitive knowledge refers to what learners know about learning and this may be broken down further into knowledge of self, knowledge of tasks and knowledge of strategies (Cambridge Assessment 2017).  An alternative categorisation (Schraw 1998) divides …

Curriculum: The why, the what and the when

A colleague recently asked me to recommend some articles for faculty leaders to read when planning their curriculum. I thought I would share it here, in case it was of interest to anyone else beginning their curriculum journey. I think of curriculum design at three different levels: The purpose of the curriculum, the "why", the …