David Didau | The Confident Teacher

Feb 21 2014

Progress being made, but OFSTED are still Requiring Improvement

Uncategorized / By Alex Quigley / 4 minutes of reading

(Image via http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-its-only-ofsted-17/) Over four months ago I wrote an article beginning with the question: ‘What does Ofsted want?’ I stated that this question is perhaps the most powerful question in English education and has the most impact upon our practice in the classroom. The leverage that OFSTED has over our school system is huge …

Progress being made, but OFSTED are still Requiring Improvement Read More »

Jan 18 2014

On Grading Lesson Observations

Uncategorized / By Alex Quigley / 4 minutes of reading

“Are you ready for your annual lesson observation Mrs Crane?” It is clear that the topic of lesson observations is an emotive one for all teachers. Few topics arouse fear and unease like the prospect of being judged on your ability to teach in a singular lesson. Still, too often, the norm is that this …

On Grading Lesson Observations Read More »

Oct 12 2013

DIRTy Work

Uncategorized / By Alex Quigley / 7 minutes of reading

Excuse the cheap pun of a title. With all the public furore about the Daily Mail I couldn’t help but be mindful of a tabloid headline! DIRT, if you didn’t know, is an acronym. Apologies if you are tired of acronyms, but admit it, sometimes they are just plain useful. DIRT stands for ‘Dedicated Improvement …

DIRTy Work Read More »

Jun 16 2013

Improving Written Feedback

Uncategorized / By Alex Quigley / 7 minutes of reading

This week I gave a seminar at TeachMeet Clevedon. I am going to post more fully on my topic of teachers getting better by undertaking ‘deliberate practice‘ sometime soon. One smaller aspect of my presentation was how teachers can improve written feedback, both to improve learning and to marginally reduce the time taken to give …

Improving Written Feedback Read More »

Apr 9 2013

Cracking the Academic Code

Uncategorized / By Alex Quigley / 7 minutes of reading

‘I speak therefore I am’ Ten years ago I moved from my home in Liverpool to become a teacher in York. I went to the Liverpool University so my accent, dialect, and my language more generally, was largely unchanged from my time at school. Of course, I had undertaken lots of reading and language development …

Cracking the Academic Code Read More »

Mar 1 2013

‘Gallery Critique’ in the Classroom

Uncategorized / By Alex Quigley / 7 minutes of reading

“I believe that work of excellence is transformational. Once a student sees that he or she is capable of excellence, that student is never quite the same. There is a new self-image, a new notion of possibility. There is an appetite for excellence. After students have had a taste of excellence, they’re never quite satisfied …

‘Gallery Critique’ in the Classroom Read More »

Jan 12 2013

Top 10 Group Work Strategies

Uncategorized / By Alex Quigley / 14 minutes of reading

If I am continually vexed by any one question in education it is ‘how can we enhance student motivation?‘ Of course, I do not have the answer, and if there is one it is multi-faceted, complex and, frankly, not going to be solved in this blog post. From my position as a classroom teacher, I …

Top 10 Group Work Strategies Read More »

A great read - I look forward to reading your next blog and beginning to figure out some sound solutions…

I do think it needs explicit instruction that narrows the focus, yes. A bank of questions / a checklist /…

A really interesting read! For the ‘ask the editor’ section, how do you get the students to know what to…

Thanks a lot for your valuable blog. I do appreciate reading and learning frrom " Crafting Great Sentences". I like…

Alex, for me, your post and perspective gets to the heart of what subject learning SHOULD be all about: encouraging…