mrthomasmaths.com
The Power of Practice - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/07/power-practice
David Thomas' Blog. The Power of Practice. But innate ability is a distraction from the real cause of good performance – practice. Practice is the single most important component of success in Maths. Practice matters because knowledge growth is compound. And it’s compound because:. A Connections strengthen memories. B Mastery frees up working memory. C Fluency solves problems. Getting better at practice must be a national priority. 1 Increase the quantity of practice. 2 Increase the quality of practice.
mrthomasmaths.com
There Is a Magic Bullet: How to reduce teacher workload
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/12/magic-bullet-reduce-teacher-workload-one-fell-swoop
David Thomas' Blog. There Is a Magic Bullet: how to reduce teacher workload in one fell swoop. Teaching is a tough job, with a tough workload. It isn’t easy, and it isn’t going to become easy either. But it can and should be manageable. Sadly in too many schools workload can become excessive, and can do so without improving teaching. But there is one policy that would reduce teacher workload and. Improve lessons in English schools:. Abolish the Quality of Teaching judgment in Ofsted inspections. More So ...
mrthomasmaths.com
August 2014 - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/08
David Thomas' Blog. Monthly Archives: August 2014. The Thinking Cycle: why education is a battleground, and what to do about it. The dominant fields of thought in education are popularly considered to be traditionalism and progressivism, and generally defined in terms of the issues they disagree over . My contention is this:. The dichotomy in education. The battleground in education is too often defined by the micro-level disagreements, which mask the underlying approaches to thought that are the origins...
mrthomasmaths.com
The Romance of the Poor but Bright - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/05/romance-poor-bright
David Thomas' Blog. The Romance of the Poor but Bright. Last year I attended the Evening Standard’s debate on the future of London Schools. I can’t remember much about the evening, but one phrase sticks in my mind. 8220;The romance of the poor but bright”. But the gap in Oxbridge entry is the pretty face of the problem. The far uglier face is the gap in life outcomes for those who take least well to education. With rich parents they may go to a non-Russell Group university. With poor parents they...They ...
mrthomasmaths.com
7 Keys to Classroom Habits That Stick - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/04/7-keys-classroom-habits-stick
David Thomas' Blog. 7 Keys to Classroom Habits That Stick. Last week, in the 1 Big Secret to Good Behaviour. Habit is the solution to this problem. Habits bypass decision-making and go straight to action. Regardless of the state of self-control, habits get to work and manage your behaviour. Classroom habits that stick. And I mean meticulously. This is where you shape the routine of the habit cycle (see this post. Complete exit question on exit card. Put folders in the cupboard. Dismissed table by table.
mrthomasmaths.com
July 2014 - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/07
David Thomas' Blog. Monthly Archives: July 2014. None of Your Business: The role of government in an autonomous school system. After a Twitter debate yesterday on whether removing National Curriculum levels was a good thing (hint: it was), I realised that the main point of contention lay in what we actually thought the role of government in education is. Rather than continue skirting around the issue, I’m going to lay out what I think. The role of government: to decide on the ends of education. Given we ...
mrthomasmaths.com
The 1 Big Secret to Good Behaviour - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/04/1-big-secret-good-behaviour
David Thomas' Blog. The 1 Big Secret to Good Behaviour. Good behaviour is all about self-control. It’s about the self-control to delay the gratification of having a chat/staring out of the window/arguing with Mr Smith/stabbing Jamie with a compass, in favour of the much less immediately appealing orderly learning environment. Students with self-control can resist these temptations to follow rules and learn. But self-control isn’t that simple. Depleted self-control means poor behaviour. When you act out o...
mrthomasmaths.com
Assessing Without Levels - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/06/assessing-without-levels
David Thomas' Blog. Exam season does not a good blogger make. However I have attached below the presentation myself and another colleague from school gave at the National Mathematics Conference in Kettering on Saturday. It covers the principles of our approach to assessing without levels, which will be expanded on when our software is built and ready for wider use! 140608 Assessing Without Levels (Kettering). This entry was posted in Teaching. June 16, 2014. The Romance of the Poor but Bright.
mrthomasmaths.com
September 2014 - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2014/09
David Thomas' Blog. Monthly Archives: September 2014. Here is my presentation from Saturday 27th September’s National Maths Conference in Kettering. 140927 Data-Driven Department (Kettering). This entry was posted in School Leadership. September 30, 2014. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Join 87 other subscribers. The truth about the UK’s anti-immigration vote. Why Nicky Morgan needs to set a curriculum for teacher training.
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3 Teaching Techniques That Made My 2014 - David Thomas' Blog
http://www.mrthomasmaths.com/2015/01/3-teaching-techniques-made-2014
David Thomas' Blog. 3 Teaching Techniques That Made My 2014. At the start of this academic year I wanted to really put the theory of learning I knew into practice. Here are three teaching techniques I tried that I’ll be taking with me into 2015. We know that interleaving concepts and procedures is a desirable difficulty. That improves learning. This year I’ve made it my aim to never teach a lesson that uses only one topic. 2 Spaced testing of *everything*. The second way is through an idea I’ve borrowed ...
