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A light-hearted look at your new best Friends in the classroom! Take a stroll to Central Perk with me as I introduce you to six effective learning strategies you may want to get to know better! Retrieval Practice – Rachel What you see is what you get. Delightful as they are, it is probably fair to say that neither Rachel, nor retrieval practice, are particularly complicated compared to some of the others. They’re easy to read, likeable and popular! And, like the 90’s hairdo craze inspired by Miss Green, pretty much everyone’s having a go at this one! There’s plenty of examples out there under the # and some really great books to help too such as ‘Powerful Teaching’ by @PoojaAgarwal and @PatriceBain1, and ‘Retrieval Practice’ by @87History.   Chandler – Interleaving What does he do again...?! No-one understands what Chandler does. And no-one really understands what interleaving does. (OK, some of you do, but be honest, this is the one you shuffled to

On picking up the latest leadership book to hit the market I was looking forward to a refreshing and useful read, and I’m pleased to report that Matthew Evans did not disappoint! Evans comes to the field not only with a wealth of practical school leadership experience, but also with a particularly relevant disciplinary background stemming from an interest in business management developed early in life. Unexpected Directions As an experienced teacher of economics and business (and graduate in the field) I was intrigued to see how much Evans would draw upon the theories of leadership and management often presented in degree programmes or leadership training courses. His conclusions are in fact interestingly drawn more from the fields of cognitive science and evidence-based practice in teaching and teacher education. And this is one reason why all current and prospective school leaders should read this book. The critique offered of leadership even as a concept, in addition

Intentional Interleaving This post provides economics examples (from teaching UK A Level Edexcel Economics A specification) related to my 'The Shape of It' mathematics example given in my previous blog post, 'Turn over a new leaf...' . Please read that post for wider discussion and general understanding of interleaving. Teaching Elasticity Students of A Level economics need to understand and be able to use four types of elasticity – price elasticity of demand (PED), price elasticity of supply (PES), income elasticity of demand (YED) and cross elasticity of demand (XED). These concepts are all similar in many respects, but each is slightly different. Previously I have taught the definition, formula, calculation, interpretation, diagrams and factors affecting PED and then provided students with practice on this sub-topic. I have then proceeded to teach PES and provided practice. This would be classed as ‘massed and blocked practice’. After PES (I am bor

“What is interleaving?”  Answering this question is rather like answering the question, “what is healthy eating?” It’s complicated. Eat Your Greens Answering that eating vegetables is likely to be healthy would be correct in the eyes of most. Propelling the cabbage soup diet? Probably not. The core and important ‘vegetables are healthy’ message can become warped when taken to an extreme. The best answers to the question involve balance and sense, but there is no single answer and interpretations vary. And so it is when understanding interleaving. The core ‘mixing up topics is useful’ message of interleaving can unfortunately become seriously contorted beyond recognition and bereft of value when applied without careful thought. Only precise understanding and delicate application appear to deliver the benefits of this interesting, research-based and valuable strategy and thus these are what I encourage you to pursue. So, let me take you on a journey. Let’s explore this