Tap on a tweet for the full thread…
There've been *loads* of cracking education threads shared in the last term.
To ease you into the festivities, here are 30 of the finest:
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) December 18, 2022
Variation theory is a powertool for building understanding in the classroom. But many teachers have never even heard of it.
Here's what variation is and how to use it:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) December 11, 2022
What's happening in AI right now, and what does it mean for education?
I asked GPT-3 (a chatbot) 10 questions about cold call to illustrate:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) December 4, 2022
How does time spent in direction instruction vs peer interaction vs practice/assessment impact learning? And does the answer differ by subject?@profsimonb et al analysed the performance and data from 250+ teachers to answer these Qs.
Here's what they found:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) December 1, 2022
🚨BIG NEWS🚨
Today sees the launch of our Steplab Coaching Hubs.
Instructional coaching is hard to get right. These are 12 schools who're making it work and generously opening their doors to share what they've learned.
Here's the lowdown:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) November 23, 2022
QUIZ TIME
Teachers, how well do you know your science of learning?
Let's find out. Here's 21 questions:
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) November 19, 2022
Last weekend I posted a quick & dirty #cogsci quiz on Twitter.
It got around 10,000 responses per Q and a few teachers have asked for a summary of the results, so here goes:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) November 27, 2022
Ever wondered what AI thinks of teaching?
I fed an AI art generator with 20 education prompts and here's what it came back with. Thread:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) November 13, 2022
What can a 1930s court case involving an Atlantic tugboat tell us about the ethics of evidence-informed practice?
Here goes:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) November 6, 2022
I've spent the last 3 years writing a book on teacher expertise.
Here are the most important ideas I've learned around:
→ What expertise is (and is not)
→ What causes it
→ Its emergent properties & limitsLet's go
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) October 16, 2022
When it comes to learning, practice is important.
But it's not sufficient.
Let's break it down:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) October 9, 2022
For the last few years, the World Bank (@wbg_education) has been working on a scalable approach to teacher coaching.
Their model has just been released 🎉
Here's a quick rundown:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) October 3, 2022
The best teachers and leaders tend to think 'upstream'.
What do I mean by that? Here's what you need to know:
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) September 25, 2022
I've been thinking hard about the science of learning for the last 15 years.
Here are 5 big ideas that every teacher should know, and how they hang together.
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) September 19, 2022
Over the last 12 months I've devoured hundreds of cracking edutwitter threads.
To ease you into the new term, here's 40 of the finest:
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) September 3, 2022
Teaching that improves achievement tends to lower enjoyment (and vice-versa), except for:
→ Hands-on participation, physical movement, or peer interaction
→ Communicating behaviour expectations & establishing routinesHere's what you need to know about this new study 🎓
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) July 24, 2022
The best thing we can do to foster pupil success is to teach well. However, it's not the only thing…
It can also be helpful to 'frame success'
A thread on what framing success is, why it's important, and how to do it well
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) July 17, 2022
Choice can be motivating. But in the context of school, it may be better to focus on building 'buy-in'.
Here's why, and how:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) June 12, 2022
A thread on teacher practise *outside* the classroom: why it's such an important part of PD, and how we can do it well.
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) May 8, 2022
You might have heard that instructional coaching is one of the most powerful forms of PD for teachers.
But what exactly is it? Here's my perspective on the fundamentals.
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(with some bonus dodgy drawings) pic.twitter.com/Ax53p8Bh3z
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) May 1, 2022
.@DixonsAcademies are currently codifying their approach in a series of free videos
→ Powerful insights around building culture
→ Sweet blend of evidence + expertise
→ Typical Dixons humilityCheck it: https://t.co/jknaJ3L5Jr pic.twitter.com/u7Dxu15bZ3
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) April 24, 2022
"Time spent trying to evaluate teachers would be far more effectively spent supporting teacher improvement." — @dylanwiliam pic.twitter.com/dBbH2sa8PV
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) April 8, 2022
Over the last 10 years, I've had the honour of learning from some incredible teacher educators.
One of the things they tend to double down on is effective 'modelling'.
Here's what modelling is, why it's so powerful for PD, and how to do it well:
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) April 3, 2022
🎓 A new review by some of the biggest hitters in educational research identifies 6 common misconceptions about PD.
Most teacher educators will be familiar with these, but here's a quick summary just in case.
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) March 20, 2022
Problem → Sometimes it can be helpful to put prompts/information on lesson slides to support our teaching, but this stuff doesn't always support pupil learning.
Solution → TeacherGlasses™ 🤓
(semi-serious) thread:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) March 14, 2022
In a typical lesson, vast amounts of information move back and forth in myriad forms. These 'modes' of communication place different demands on our limited cognitive capacity, ultimately shaping what our pupils think about.
How we communicate influences what gets learnt.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) February 20, 2022
Attention is a finite commodity.
In any lesson, the more attention consumed by distraction, the less remains available for learning.
First, minimise distraction.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) February 6, 2022
*Essential* reading for teacher educators.
This 2021 study by @EmilyHanno offers some of the most nuanced insights yet on the various impacts of teacher coaching.
Let's walk through the findings…
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) January 26, 2022
Habits enable effective teaching. But they also inhibit professional development.
This is what Feldon calls the 'double-edged sword of automaticity'.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) June 7, 2022
Classroom teaching is one of the hardest tasks ever devised. Compared to brain surgery, it's a breeze.
Yet many people think it's easy.
This is the 'paradox of teacher expertise'.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) January 16, 2022
Why is teaching so hard to master?
Several reasons. But one biggie is the noisy relationship between teaching and learning.
Aka the 'low-fidelity feedback loop'.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) January 9, 2022
How does classroom success influence motivation for learning, and what can we do about it?
A thread:
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) October 31, 2021
It can be useful for teachers to have a mental model of the main processes involved in learning.
Here's mine (thread):
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) October 25, 2021
For folks who can't make my #rEDSurrey21 presentation on developing expert teaching, here's a short summary:
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) October 16, 2021
Today, the EEF released a systematic review which challenges the way we think about effective Professional Development (PD).
A thread on my interpretation of what they found and why it's important.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) October 8, 2021
A short thread on one of the most critical concepts in planning for learning:
→ Backwards design pic.twitter.com/jVxxCBsads
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) October 3, 2021
A short thread on *trust* in the classroom: why we need it and how teachers can build it.
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— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) September 26, 2021
Norms influence learning, motivation and behaviour. However, the strength of this effect depends on how much we feel part of the group.
→ Norms are mediated by belonging.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) September 12, 2021
We are heavily influenced by the behaviour and attitudes of others. The effect is particularly powerful when a large proportion of a group act in a similar way.
→ These unwritten rules of conduct are known as 'norms' and they play a HUGE role in school.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) August 8, 2021
Two things often overlooked when establishing routines:
1. Design of the cue
2. Effort of the initial action— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) July 25, 2021
Routines can be powerful tools for learning. However, they often fail at launch because we try to achieve too much too quickly.
→ Increase the chances of routines getting into orbit by focussing on consistency first, then ramping up the level of challenge.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) July 18, 2021
Routines offer serious value for learning.
However, they take time and effort to establish, and often come with an initial dip in performance. During this phase, it can be tempting to give up.
→ This is what @JamesClear calls the 'Valley of Latent Potential'.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) July 11, 2021
Routines redeploy attention
→ They enable students to spend less time thinking about the *process* of their learning and more time thinking about the *content* of their learning.
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) July 4, 2021
*Essential* idea for teacher educators:
The 'Optimal Adaptability Corridor' → what it is, and why it's useful
🧵A thread… pic.twitter.com/QGHk8J4SGT
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) May 23, 2021
James Scholz (and friends) are taking 'studying' to a whole new level.
What exactly are they doing?
🧵A thread…
— Peps 🎓 (@PepsMccrea) June 6, 2021
Hi, I’m Peps. I write ultraconcise books for teachers → check them out.
Want to be the first to know when I release a new book or paper? Add your details below, just don’t expect emails too often.