Carly Waterman Profile picture
May 9, 2022 10 tweets 7 min read Read on X
A 🧵 of my #rEDBerks presentation on the tensions between research and practice from the PoV of an actual, tired, real-life Headteacher. @rEDBerks

My preamble: don’t be deceived - I’m pro-research, honest. I just think we need to apply criticality and hold our views lightly. 1/
Massive leaps forward as a profession. Much to celebrate. Summarised beautifully by @joe__kirby in this blog from last year pragmaticreform.wordpress.com/2021/08/28/sci…

Also, best long term bet, clear moral imperative and a move away from ‘folk teaching’. All good. 2/
But beware.. distortions, cargo cults, over reach, not value-free, slavish application.. perhaps we get a bit star struck with research & forget to exercise caution?

Does the research respect your context? Has it been tested in a similar context?

A persistent tension😬 3/
Research reveals new insights.. so be mindful of what we perceive as truth or received wisdom.

Kraft & Papay eg below👇 Shout out to @Barker_J for sharing it at #rEDBrum

The teacher plateau we all know to be true? Turns out.. perhaps not true. 🤯 4/

scholar.harvard.edu/mkraft/publica…
Are we seeking empirical answers to philosophical questions?

Eg ‘What is learning?’

Should we reduce this Q to something merely scientific? Or is this a far bigger question than can be answered with the simple model of memory that’s everywhere these days?

Buy this book👇

5/
Also.. things change. What might we be applying now that we’ll laugh at in 20 years? Research keeps shedding new light… what’s the next big thing in education?

Read this book👇by @profbeckyallen @head_teach and @Waldenkent

6/
Exercise caution and develop criticality…

Try thatsaclaim.org to help you.

Hold ideas lightly. Beware ‘expert’ opinions (is it research or just masquerading as research?).

Be like Burr.. wait and see what way the wind will blow (one for the Ham fans there 😁).

7/
And don’t get caught up in the fidelity fallacy. No theory survives contact with reality. Fidelity isn’t possible.. instead make context king.

EEF Implementation Guide👇..we love it, right?

Ever applied it with fidelity in real life? Erm.. no.

You know what? That’s okay. 8/
Kick ideas around. Tinker with them.

Knowledge of your context, your school, is just as important. It’s the site of most interest.

With thanks to @_Esther_Gray and this👇blog esthergray.co.uk/2022/04/24/the…

9/
So great that @researchED1 provides a forum for a mature, nuanced & sensitive debate around research & evidence. This is clear from many sessions I saw at #rEDBerks and #rEDBrum and #rEDWarr.

Positive, pluralistic, optimistic.

A privilege to be part of it.

10/10 🧵 ends. 😁

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Carly Waterman

Carly Waterman Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @CarlyWaterman21

Oct 6, 2023
Incredible speech from @DAT_JThompson from @DixonsAcademies at @CSTvoice conference today. WAY too much for a thread.. but I tried!

🧵On purposeful implementation of Dixons’ Big Moves..

Love it.. go big or go home, right? 😎

1/13
A healthy organisation has minimal politics & minimal confusion 🙌

✅ clarity
✅ cohesion

‘You or your work are never going to be undermined’

What an extraordinary thing to know and feel every single day! 💪

2/13
Absolute clarity requires:

✅Simplicity
✅Relentless will to over communicate

So.. When we fall short it’s visible.. good!

Constantly learning!

3/13
Read 13 tweets
Nov 9, 2022
🧵

If you haven’t read Graham Nuthall’s The Hidden Lives of Learners, I would highly recommend it. It’s solid gold. If you have read it, read it again. It’s even better a second/third time.

Here is a summary of a few of his findings in 9 tweets👇 Image
1. Learning is highly individual.

✳️ Kids know approx 40/50% of lesson content already
✳️ But the ‘what’ of the 40/50% differs from kid to kid
✳️ All kids experience the classroom differently
✳️ Approx a 1/3 of what a kid learns in a lesson is unique to them
2. Learning is a sequence of encounters, each building on what came before.

✳️ Kids make sense of new concepts if they can relate them to concepts already known.
✳️ New concepts need to connect with those known concepts in planned, related, successive encounters.
Read 10 tweets
Jun 13, 2022
🧵
On leadership team briefings..

At our school, the leadership team have a daily briefing at 7.50am. It’s deliberately operational, but it’s impact goes far beyond logistics.

1/11
It’s ostensibly about cover & on-call and the day’s events etc etc.. (important and thrilling stuff!😊)

But it’s a ten minute window that can make or break a day, that can inspire or derail, that can motivate or make you want to get right back in your car and drive home.

2/11
Knowing how crucial this ten minute window is for the leadership team, I decided to seek some feedback on how I run the briefings to refine and sharpen my practice.

And then I decided not to. I decided to do something else instead.

3/11
Read 11 tweets
Apr 12, 2021
I’m excited by our big push on reading @lodgeparkacad for the Summer term. Building on the groundwork we’ve put in place for 2 years now, we’re putting reading FRONT & CENTRE 🤩

Here’s how👇

(warning: long thread, probs should have done a blog 😂)
1. The groundwork; being diligently laid since Feb 2019...

✅ Created a culture of reading for purpose & pleasure
✅ Teachers read daily
✅ Reading age tested for all
✅ 30 mins silent reading per day
✅ Big push on our chosen reading scheme
✅ High profile praise & rewards
2. We’re channeling additional covid funding into reading, in particular supporting early readers to decode and become fluent.

Using the expertise of @cherb94teaching, we’re using @RuthMiskinEdu to teach phonics to those who need it most - in all year groups.
Read 20 tweets
Feb 26, 2021
Some reflections on the system for awarding grades this year.

▪️Highly imperfect system, but it’s what we’ve got. Let’s be pragmatic and positive.

▪️Try not to be so upset by the imperfection that you start thinking exams are perfect; they are preferable, not perfect.

1/9
▪️Don’t be fooled into thinking that loads of mocks/tests/assessments are the answer. They’re not. Great teaching is the answer.

▪️Don’t put Yr11/13 on a treadmill of tests just for the sake of ‘evidence’. Devote the time to teaching greatly 😊

2/9
▪️Don’t get hung up on comparability with other years/schools. No point right now. Focus on your students and their next few months instead.

▪️Have faith in your team. We did similar last year under crazy conditions and we did it with integrity. We’ll do it again.

3/9
Read 9 tweets
Oct 27, 2020
THREAD: Found my grandmother’s O Level exam papers from 1954.
(kids got to keep their papers? 😮)

They’re fascinating.

Do we demand more or less of kids today?
What do the papers tell us about the curriculum in 1954?
Could you answer the questions?

1/15
Mathematics Paper 1.

2/15
Mathematics Paper 2

3/15
Read 15 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(