Such an important post. I remember noticing that my skills waxed and waned as I switched schools. When I went to international schools, my pedagogy improved as the academic expectations were huge, but my classroom management got lazy (the students weren’t nearly as behaviourally challenging).
When I then went to Australia, I didn’t (then) have the tech infrastructure or planning time to do many of the intellectually challenging things I had previously loved, but my behaviour management quickly became the focus.
It’s great that David’s school invested in coaching for that additional support. It’s a game changer, especially when someone like you can point out blind spots.
Oh no, it's me! There are so many great teaching moves that I used to make that I...don't anymore. I feel like this year I'm finally coming out of the fog of post-covid and remembering how to be a good teacher again.
Great post. I think teachers sometimes get worse because there is so much to do. They get burned out, and when it's a practice that isn't supported in a particular school, it's hard to build that practice (say, white boards) if other teachers aren't doing it too. Thinking about this post from Robert Pondiscio: https://thenext30years.substack.com/p/the-voices-we-dont-hear-teachers.
Thank you for this. I find that my school's current cpd doesn't improve my practice at all. I have learned to work around this by simply buying every book and listen to every podcast I can. I feel your sadness when I see my fellow staff fall into routines of teaching that are limited.
Adam, you are one of the educators I use to supplant the cpd I receive at school to ensure I am at least trying to get it right.
DW talks about the Knowing - Doing gap. Most teachers know what good formative teaching and assessment techniques are, they just don't employ them, or did them once and just stopped or do them 'a bit'. Perhaps they default to what's easier or within their teaching arc or, as you say, they work in a place where it isn't consistently expected and reinforced.
I actually think "Most teachers know what good formative teaching and assessment techniques are, they just don't employ them, or did them once and just stopped or do them 'a bit'." isn't true - most teachers in my experience don't know. In this department for example, everything I said was 100% new to everyone in the department other than David
Such an important post. I remember noticing that my skills waxed and waned as I switched schools. When I went to international schools, my pedagogy improved as the academic expectations were huge, but my classroom management got lazy (the students weren’t nearly as behaviourally challenging).
When I then went to Australia, I didn’t (then) have the tech infrastructure or planning time to do many of the intellectually challenging things I had previously loved, but my behaviour management quickly became the focus.
It’s great that David’s school invested in coaching for that additional support. It’s a game changer, especially when someone like you can point out blind spots.
It's so interesting how the teachers/students/expectations that surround us shape our teaching.
Oh no, it's me! There are so many great teaching moves that I used to make that I...don't anymore. I feel like this year I'm finally coming out of the fog of post-covid and remembering how to be a good teacher again.
sounds like you're heading in the right direction!
Great post. I think teachers sometimes get worse because there is so much to do. They get burned out, and when it's a practice that isn't supported in a particular school, it's hard to build that practice (say, white boards) if other teachers aren't doing it too. Thinking about this post from Robert Pondiscio: https://thenext30years.substack.com/p/the-voices-we-dont-hear-teachers.
Thank you for this. I find that my school's current cpd doesn't improve my practice at all. I have learned to work around this by simply buying every book and listen to every podcast I can. I feel your sadness when I see my fellow staff fall into routines of teaching that are limited.
Adam, you are one of the educators I use to supplant the cpd I receive at school to ensure I am at least trying to get it right.
DW talks about the Knowing - Doing gap. Most teachers know what good formative teaching and assessment techniques are, they just don't employ them, or did them once and just stopped or do them 'a bit'. Perhaps they default to what's easier or within their teaching arc or, as you say, they work in a place where it isn't consistently expected and reinforced.
I actually think "Most teachers know what good formative teaching and assessment techniques are, they just don't employ them, or did them once and just stopped or do them 'a bit'." isn't true - most teachers in my experience don't know. In this department for example, everything I said was 100% new to everyone in the department other than David