10 research articles I highly recommend for new English teachers.

This one is a must read for anyone interested in cognitive science and teaching English.

Kayun, Kalyuga and Sweller (2016) The Effect of Worked Examples When Learning to Write Essays in English Literature

/1 I was in two minds whether to post about this one.
The language is very 'researchy' and arguably therefore not as teacher friendly.

BUT, cognitive science research conducted within the domain of English is rare. So, I'll (attempt to!) keep it brief, but here goes...

/2

#researchfornewEnglishteachers

10 research articles in 10 days that have influenced how I teach English over the past 10 years.

Number 2⃣ is all about grammar.

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#Englishteacher #Englishgrammar #teachingenglish We know 'every teacher is a teacher of literacy' but, let's be honest, the teaching of grammar is often viewed as a nightmarish task that should be relegated to English teachers' classrooms. The trouble is, English teachers - especially ECTs - may find it tricky too.

2/13

❓Do we need to confront the uncomfortable truth about writing instruction?

📈 In his recent research article, 'Changing How Writing is Taught', Graham (2019) highlights some perennial problems.

⬇️ Here are some key messages from his paper: 💬 "While there are many factors that influence children’s development as writers, including poverty, genetics, and biological functioning, many children do not receive the writing instruction at school that they deserve or need."

pp. 278

**THREAD**

What does explicit vocabulary instruction look like in the English classroom?

Here are some examples taken from when I teach 'Of Mice and Men'.

1/ Word selection always comes first. The words I have selected will not be encountered when pupils read the text, so word selection (Tier 2 and Tier 3) is about ensuring pupils have the tools - the words - to engage meaningfully and maturely with complex themes as they arise.

2/

*** THREAD ***

Three really useful Google Chrome extensions for Google Classroom. 1️⃣

Mote: voice notes and feedback.

This is an efficient tool for recording and posting verbal feedback. Mote is fully integrated into Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and Google Classroom. This makes it incredibly accessible and easy to use.

T H R E A D:

Reading @HuntingEnglish's post on KOs got me thinking about *Vocabulary Word Lists*.

I see lots of people sharing, with good intentions, lists of words relating to topics. Reflecting on evidence pertaining to #ExplicitVocabularyInstruction, here are some thoughts. 1. Creating a word list to give to students is, in itself, ineffective - especially if the words will not be encountered in the text being studied. Also, giving students a word list prior to the explicit teaching of vocabulary is likely to cause extraneous cognitive load.

Here are my musings on the 'remote' aspect of #blendedlearning so far. No original thoughts here, just of a synthesis of snippets from research and blogs that I have read. Links to key readings included. I've tried to highlight some helpful adaptations teachers can make... ...to exploit what technology has to offer when planning for asynchronous or synchronous lessons.

Big thanks to ideas included from: @RobDav1es, @BarriMoc, @MrsDJIandS, @MrWiseCHS, @ImpactWales and @smanfarr. Your insights and suggestions have really helped.

Doing a little reading on #blendedlearning. The #RemoteLearning Guidance Report by @EducEndowFoundn is excellent, but I’m keen to dig a little deeper myself. So, I thought I would share some insights from research articles as I go along.

First #ResearchReview is on...
1/13 'Quality in a Blended Learning Environment' by Fray, Fisher and Pumpian (2013).

I like the title. It highlights an important goal for teachers right now: strive for high quality blended learning experiences for all pupils. We can't forsake quality when BL is here to stay.
2/13

*Thread*
I recently delivered an introductory Science of Learning workshop to teachers, middle leaders and senior leaders and thought I'd share what I covered. There is a wealth of wonderful information available but here's what I decided to include in a 1hr CPD session.👇 Opening slide: this was a chance to get teachers thinking and talking about common misconceptions within education. We discussed how some are so heavily ingrained that teachers may still struggle to disregard them. Info. is from: Deans for Impact, 'The Science of Learning'.