David Rogers

I have a massive problem with lessons.  The focus upon lessons, instead of sequences of lessons.  Stuff doesn't get learned within neat chunks.  Knowledge has more chance of sinking in over time. Skills get honed by application to other, unknown contexts. I'm privileged to be able to visit many lessons, but recently I've been on the hunt. It's clear when learning has been focused over many lessons as opposed to a one off whizz bang performance. Artefacts are made and links are made.   Take our recent exhibition of technology and art work.  This stuff takes real time to put together. The mystery was created through some giant arrows throughout the school: Inside, the work was displayed: Of course, the fruit of extended learning is found all over the school. Real learning takes time, and real learning needs to be really quite difficult at times. When was the last time you went looking for it?  When was the last time you ...

I've written before about the  mundane-whizzbang  ratio.  I'm nearing the end of my first year as a senior leader and I thought I'd share one of the niggles I've picked up. It's the importance of the single lesson observation. It's not something I've noticed before.  When leading a department, my message was always clear: it's about what we do everyday, not the single lesson.  It's sad that teachers think that the main way in which they are measured is through the lesson observation. It's a situation that I'm determined to sort out. Take the spork above.  My wife may have gone mental when I invested my hard earned folding money on a titainium spork, but it's really good.  It knows it too. So how do teachers know how good they are?  You only have to look into books to see the quality of work over the whole year and the pride that their students show.  You can tell when young people are able to articulate what they ...