David Rogers

This is the final post of six reflecting upon the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference held at Berkhamsted School.   This post will provide an overview the closing keynote session by Bill Rankin . The session definately came away with the prize for most entertaining, and in the graveyard slot this was needed.  Especially for people like me who have trouble concentrating at the best of times!  I’m going to focus on some of the main themes that I took away from the session, and my thoughts about them.  I’m not certain about the scientific basis for some of this as I’m still following them up, however the points have created some interesting discussion.   The first thing that got me thinking was this slide.  In a nutshell, young people’s brains are inactive during class.  I tried to link this to my own experience.  Of course, the immediate reaction is to dash the notion on the rocks of sillyness.  However, think beyond my...

This is the fourth of six posts reflecting upon the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference held at Berkhamsted School.   This post will talk about Bill Lucas’ keynote session. I didn’t make too many notes from the second keynote session.  I have to admit to being more than a little sceptical when I’,m greeted by an ‘invite’ to sign up to a network for £500, but I kept an open mind.  The session was delivered in a contrasting style to the first and focused on ‘ Expansive Education’ .  I’m not going to talk about the network, but about the three things that I took away from the session. 1. The BayHouse educational journal I am currently Professional Tutor and have the CPD brief.  Coming across Bay House’s journal was a revelation.  This is something that I am following up, not least because the school is only a short stretch of water away from my own.  This could be an excellent way in which to engage and stretch teachers who are...

This is the second of six posts reflecting upon the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference held at Berkhamsted School.   This post will provide an overview the first keynote session. Alistair Smith opened the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference on Saturday with a simple question and a call to arms.  He simply asked what got us up in the morning?  Also, what got us all together on a Saturday to learn more? The slides used have been made available here , and contain a number of useful models and ideas for school leadership.  The main points I took from the keynote were (as written, summarised and reflected upon in my analogue notebook): How much do we, as teachers, know the research?  If we are to ignore the ‘Ofsted Whispers’ and take back control of curriculum and pedagogy then we have a responsibility to understand the research that underpins teaching and learning.  This links to another session I recently attended where Neil Mc...